Hello everyone! I'm thinking about writing a story, long-ish short story or very short novel. I need some ideas, as I only have a vague idea of what it'll be about.
i'm thinking it will be set in the near future, possibly post-semi-apocalyptic, but that's as far as I've gotten. I need ideas for characters, settings etc.
If I have sufficient criteria, I'll write it here for you to enjoy!
No offense to your idea, but isn't that the stereotypical approach to post apocalyptic?
Perhaps, it would be humanity's recovered from it, but are without many things and people constantly scrabble for power. Okay, that's the basic idea, but I need characters and settings, or at least a vague idea of them
The headlights of the car scythed through the 10pm darkness as though it wasn't there. The car did not look unlike a Bentley R-type, but it had less curves, a slightly longer profile and an electric-hydrogen engine that made its approach unnoticeable.
The car wove about the bends of the mountain road, which cut through a lush pine tree forest, and stopped outside an imposing mansion, with a large glass dome on top. The driver stopped the car, got out and walked toward to the front door. Behind him, the car was swallowed up by a hydraulic plate which took it underground, while two doors with gravel on top replaced the missing ground.
By this time the driver, a tall man with raven hair who was wearing a long black coat, and simple dark clothes underneath had already unlocked the door and stepped inside. A simple entry hall with a lush deep red carpet floor and dark wood paneling greeted him. The man ignored the various door on the side and continued through into a huge library, which was round and sported the glass dome on top. The library stacks were on the sides of the hall, with the center clear. At the other end of the room two curved metal staircases, on either side, rose up to a small balcony with a door behind it. The man chose the left staircase and went up it, his boots clanging gently on the metal. He reached the balcony and opened the door and stepped through.
ok so i just read the expert and it seemed like was quickly written and just a little bit choppy sounding. But thats not what you asked is it? Ok so i got an idea for what you could continue on with the man (im gonna call hiome Raven because you said he had raven hair) walks into the room the house once belonged to rich busniuess man Bently Winthrop who was killed by the local gang after the colapse of society or what ever happened and Raven is a merchant now he loots the deads house and takes thier possesions to sell to surviors althoungh the is no real use for money now adays maybe Raven has some sort of need to feel like its before the (whatever happened) maybe something tramatic happened where he feels a need to cling onto the past (suggestion his wife died) Raven is stealing valuebles and nessisary supplies from the late mr. Winthrop then you have flashbacks tho explan what happened to him because he sees thing s that remind him of his wife
so there we go the basis plot line of an apocaliptic short story hppe you like it just came off the top of my head
I know it's choppy, I did write it quickly. It's a developmental phase. Anyway, I'm giving you guys the full past, so you can help me build the story's future.
Not 20 years ago, the world was as it is to you, reader. Society was at a height, with technological advancements being made every week. Bio-mechanical limbs, holographic maps, TVs everywhere in the home.
Corporations and Governments shared an uneasy peace, till one of the corporations, known as Unorthodox Industries, named after its creator, a woman called Tatiana Orthdox. Unorthodox Industries made a grab for power, wresting control from every government. Wars soon followed
At that time (insert protagonist name here) Was a mere 15 year-old, who joined a Government army and in another 14 years he had his own Wrest Squad, the titles given to elite squads who were in charge of taking over the toughest facilities. Squad 34, as they were called, were taking a weapons plant when a trap was sprung. (protagonist) watched his men be blown apart by a mixture of toxins, hydrogen and petroleum.
(protagonist) lost his left arm and leg, and cashed in most of his savings for bio-mech limbs, and left the military. Soon after,the Corporations and Governments fired their last shots, not nukes, but chemical weapons. Disease, instant death and woe followed, and the two factions collapsed.
The world was left ruined and desolate, except for some areas in Europe and Asia. (protagonist) Lived through it, and got rich off it. The Corporations' facilities offered ample things to steal, and he found an abandoned mansion near Nice, France, and settled there.
Shortly after building his car, known as the Cassus 27, and nicknamed the Raven, after its black color and silent engine, he saved a young man who was being attacked in a small town near Nice, and ever since Gerard has been loyal to (protagonist)
Unbeknownst till now, Unorthodox Industries has lived through it as well, and is making another power grab, one which is completely unstoppable.
I got some points :- There was a peaceful community. A person or some other community has voilating their rights. A person from them stands up for their rights. But gets no help from his own community. Gets defeated and villians make an example out of him. This scares his community so bad that whenever someone stands up, not only they dont help him but voluntarily help villians to suppress his voice. YOU FIGURE OUT THE REST. (Actually i wrote a short story 4 years ago with this theme.)
Okay, next bit of the story. This is a flash back of the man, whose name is Kol Narren, nicknamed Ghost.
The gentle swaying of the bay was the only indication that their craft was turning. There was no engine noise, and no one could see them outside, as it was pitch black and the cloaking of the T-010 dropship concealed them as well. Kol's team, comprised of three men and two women, were sitting on the basic gel seats around the load bay. They wore black tac gear, short for tactical. Their helmets were smooth polymer, with a slick, non-reflecting visor which wrapped around past the eyes to give them better peripheral vision. Kol himself wore mostly the same thing, but his helmet had a full face oval visor instead of the thick band.
A symbol of an arrow going down appeared on their HUDs, amid the rest of the readouts, which were simple, comprising of a pulse readout, a scanner reticule which lay in the center and targeting reticule on the side which would head to the center and move around when they took up their guns.
They all got up, took their assault rifles from the sling on their back, and moved towards the back. The pilots voice emitted from a speaker; "Right, boys and girls. Another impossible task made possible by Wrest Squad 34. You know the drill, be careful, shoot people only when need be and try not to die. Good luck!" With that, the rear door opened and the squad simply jumped out, without a word. They fell 790 feet before activating the rotors which folded out on their backs, slowing down the remaining 20 foot fall. They all landed in a crouch, studying their surroundings, which were just desert dunes and a squat, concrete building in the distance. They all immediately surged forward, and in ten minutes they were outside the building, waiting as Kol sawed his way in with a laser.
The sight that greeted them wasn't in the briefing. Instead of rows of robots making gun, they saw a white laboratory, with a single man in a lab coat looking at them with undisguised terror. Kol simply walked up to the man and shook him. "What is-" was all he got out before a tabletop next to his men exploded. Jen, a young, fast and smart woman screamed as her flesh was seared off, before falling silent as flames engulfed her. The noise was terrible, a constant roar mingled with the screams as more of Kols men were incinerated. Kol threw the boffin in front of him, the cruelest thing he ever did, and saved himself as the last of the blast dissipated. His left side was destroyed, his arm missing and his leg all but fallen off. The bodies were everywhere, unrecognizable and charred. Kol dragged himself out of the hole in the wall, and pressed a button on his wrist before he succumbed to unconsciousness.
Kol strode into the bedroom, a smaller version of the library, with another glass dome over head, a four-poster bed in the center, with two bookcases standing next to it like sentinels. A door led off to a study, another an en-suite bathroom. There was a table next to the door, with a framed photograph of a slender woman in evening atire. Kol dug into his coat, pulled out his handgun and laid it on the table, next to the photo. He then simply stood, eyes closed, recounting the events of so short yet so long ago. His yes flashed open and he slammed the photo down. He did not need to be reminded. He undressed, got into bed and slept the second his head touched the pillow.
Same time, HQ of Unorthodox Industries Doctor Ellis Gravolen fingered her oversized, typically mens wristwatch nervously, as her technicians buzzed around a huge monolith in the centre of the lab, checking nearby computers and noting down who-knows-what on ec-boards, the standardized clipboard of today, which were electronic.
Ellis jumped as she sensed a hand on her shoulder, and stood stock still as a voice came from whatever was on the end of the arm. "Ah, Ellis. I hoped to find you here. Is everything in place?" Ellis turned to look at Tatiana Orthdox. "y-yes ma'am. We've isolated the mini-routine and subroutines and can proceed with the test now." "good. I'm glad to hear it." She nodded to Ellis and walked away to stand at a gantry above the monolith, waiting. Ellis flipped a switch on the console in front of here, and the monolith started to hum. It grew louder and louder, and suddenly ZAP!!
As soon as the bewildered techies and Orthdox herself recovered, Ellis heard the cutting voice of Orthdox. "Where is it!!" She bellowed. The monolith was nowhere to be seen.
The only time he'd been sedated was when they chopped off what was left of his limbs. The rest was a dreamy, but still real, state, as the new, shiny black limbs were put in place of the old ones, connected to the nerve pathways and putting metal stubs into the shoulder and hip to hold it in. It had been painful, and according to Doctor Rivell, he had screamed in potent agony as the nerve pathways were sealed. Rivell was a scary man with a bald head. He had heard these cries many times before. Kol wasn't his first patient by a long shot.
When he was briefed on his new limbs, Rivell mentioned he had added a small defense pistol into the top of the lower arm, near the wrist. It could be activated with a thought, and reloaded by pressing a small button under one of the armor flaps. Kol had asked why Rivell had put it in, but Rivell simply turned and walked off down the hallway, already intent on taking someone else's damaged limbs away.
Ellis was seated on a hard metal chair in the execution room. The room was white, bare walls and white floor and ceiling. In front of Ellis was a simple metal table, at which seated at the other end was Tatiana. "I must say, Ellis, that your recent failure was not too surprising. You've already stuffed up several times before, and now Dr. Creed is creeping up on you. In fact, he's taking your place, which will be open in a few moments."
"Please, Ms. Orthdox", said Ellis, "Give me another chance. I only need- " "No. I'd expect this from lesser beings, but not you Ellis. You have outlived your use. Bye, now." Nad with that, Tatiana got up and left the room through a heavy metal door, leaving Ellis' cries behind. When Tatiana was gone, several bits of wall opened to reveal small jets, which spurted out a grey mist.
In the space of a minute, the woman known as Dr. Ellis ceased to exist.
those aren't really aproprate and wat too informal i mean she's about to die not like shes just going for a walk
I think that's the point. It's hollow and empty, instead of a meaningful and sorrowful goodbye. It conveys the "I've already forgotten about you because you don't matter and I don't care" tone.
