...anyone in the mood to help? Creative question and many answers needed?

Question

So I am in this mood to write. Now, I have a few story ideas brewing in my mind, but I was wondering what the general public would think. I want to write something aimed for teenage to adult audiences. If none of the ideas sound good, I'm open to any suggestion!! Please help- I'm in that mood.

MY IDEAS

Holocaust story- I'd try not to make it like all the other ones, focusing more on a romance between either a German man and a Jewish woman, or two Jews being torn apart

Modern day 'teen type' drama-
a). Kid A loves Kid B, but then Kid B dies, Kid A must learn to cope while Kid C comes into the picture (something else would happen that's dramatic)- involves horses
b). Kid A moves to a new town after his father dies and meets Kid B and falls in love with her. But Kid B is being abused by her mother.

Fantasy- A young child goes missing and the frantic mother looks for her. She was kidnapped by her father, who is living Elsewhere as the ruler of a world full of everything you can possibly imagine. Would be more violent.

Fantasy- A sort of Romeo and Juliet love story with a fantasy world and a mortal world fighting. A young man falls in love with some sort of fantasy creature (elf or something) and trouble arises.

Answer 1

As a published author, here is my opinion:
Each of these ideas, by itself, is a retread. There's nothing wrong with retreads by themselves, and a lot of people will pay good money to read something that's exactly like something else they've read a hundred times. That's why Western and romance novels make so much money. But if you REALLY want to write, and want to hook an audience that will come back time after time, you need to take a bigger risk.

How about combining ideas? What if you were to lay some of your fantasy ideas over your Holocaust story? What if the violence of the war were to open some kind of gap to a war-torn otherworld. Since you seem to want to write a love story, you could work in a romance between a Spirit and a Nazi soldier. For a purity-minded society like the Third Reich, this could be a cataclysmic choice, good for narrative drama and conflict.

I was listening to an interview with Tom Waits, and he explained why, when he writes songs for movies, he doesn't retell the story of the movie. He said, "If there's two people, and you both know the same thing, one of you is useless." As a writer, you need to think the same way. If you come up with a story that just anybody could have written, then somebody probably has. You need to come up with story ideas that are unique, stories that only you could write. When you do that, readers will beat a path to you, and you'll sell more books than you can possibly comprehend.

Answer 2

I really like the Holocaust idea, and the use of the 1st added fanasty use the holocaust as the violence and use teen idead B for the reason the father took the daughter work it all together

Answer 3

I'm a teen and like the moder choice B the best. maybe the dad could die in the 9/11 plane crash and was on a business trip of some sort and at the beginning show how close the kid was to their dad and either they aren't close to their mom or they are-you pick. good luck and hope this helps. let me know if you ever publish your book (I'd buy it) maybe have some animals of some sort.

Answer 4

I would steer clear of the Holocaust idea - unless you want to spend a ton of time doing a ton of research. Why not write about what you know? Stick with the kid kind of stories. I kind of think the one about horses might work the best. C.

Answer 5

good stuff i really like it