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Need to Brainstorm a Short Fiction Idea

   
Need to Brainstorm a Short Fiction Idea

Hi everyone,

I want to buckle down and actually exercise my storywriting talents, so I found an anthology site that's looking for urban fantasy short fiction submissions. The theme of the anthology centers on the Green Man Myth. I would love to brainstorm some ideas with the community to see what kind of story I should piece together.

Basically, I need to write a short story that's urban fantasy and it needs to involve the Green Man in some way, shape or form, and that's literally or figuratively speaking.

Any ideas?

I'm not sure asking people to come up with ideas for your short story is the best way to go about this. If the subject matter of the anthology doesn't inspire you to write something, maybe you should look around for something else that you're more interested in? Or investigate the subject matter further and find some aspect of it you connect with?

Fair enough. I suppose the intent of this brainstorming thread is to stir some ideas for me to research further. I just need an idea where to start, or perhaps where to take the story.

Quote:
Originally Posted by pisceanpaul View Post
Fair enough. I suppose the intent of this brainstorming thread is to stir some ideas for me to research further. I just need an idea where to start, or perhaps where to take the story.
With the continued development of "green cities", where more effort and money is spent on green belts, parks, and green open spaces, it might be sufficient to allow the green man to manifest once more, probably only in cities with larger parks, and ones with a focus given to use of non iron-based technologies (especially given the historical aversion of the fae to iron, and the association of the green man to either the fae or nature itself, both of which tend to avoid rebar reinforced concrete).
How would the green man manifest? To what level would it be possible? What would he bring?
What if the green man was a herald of nature, and in his path nature reclaimed its own once more? What then would happen in big cities fallen upon hard times, with deserted factories and industrial areas now inhabited only by rats and other vermin, and occasionally homeless people and addicts. With that as the source of "nature", how would the green man look or act? Could he be as warped as the environment around him, and if so, could he be redeemed by a sufficiently large effort to change the environment by converting ruins to parks, planting flowers and gardens?

Any use?

I'm a fan of Philip K Dick's approach, "Fifteen Ways to Write about a Trash Compactor Repairman," which spawns more nuanced and interesting approaches as you get past the most obvious storytelling ideas.

The first idea that jumps out at me is Khidr's legend about drinking from a magical spring. I like the idea of a story where an immortal looks over our world, seeing its marvel through the lens of history.

Or maybe the Green Man is a harbinger of decay, and nurses the growth of new life in the shadow of death. So, like, wandering around Detroit, rejoicing in the fall of the city and the rebirth of the plants there. Just a thought.

- Logain

I'm suddenly reminded of a human-interest story I read in the New York Times. An ER doctor at St. Mary's Hospital wrote a series of columns telling of his relationship with a fellow named Manfred Greene. Greene was an older gentleman who showed up in the St. Mary's ER in late October of 2007. He appeared quite old, with gnarled limbs and a stooped posture, but he had a full, thick mane of unruly brown hair and clear, piercing hazel eyes. When he shuffled into the ER, he appeared to be suffering from hypochromic anemia ...

Yeah, not really. But it's an evocative piece, wouldn't you say?

Decide whether your Green Man will be the main character, or someone/something the main character encounters. From there, setting becomes important. A Green Man story set on the streets of New York City going to be very different than a Green Man story in the wintry forests of Manitoba, which will be quite different from an encounter with the Green Man in the Everglades at midsummer.

I like a concept including green being about a wall street man and the greed of money. Maybe the rise and fall of a man willing to sell anything to make the mighty dollar, people around New York and traders alike call him the "Green Man" because of what he can do. Might be worth looking into with all the buzz about the economy.

I think the best place for you to start is in what inspires you. Forget about the Green Man for a moment; what are your favourite books/movies/stories? What kind of stories really "get" to you? What do you want to read?
Kevin Smith--though he was talking about podcasting and film making--said that the best creative impetus comes from consuming the entertainment you enjoy, then looking for stuff that you'd like to see, but doesn't exist yet--then go out and create it. Easier said than done sometimes, but there you are.

So...what kind of story about the Green Man would you like to read? Go write that.





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