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Advice Needed for Story Idea



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Fri Feb 03, 2017 11:06 am
Writing4Joy says...



Hi all, so I'm after some advice and thoughts on a weird but unique idea I have for a story. I've had the idea in my head for a while now and I'd really like to start putting all my thoughts on paper I just don't know where or how to start or if it's even worth persuing.

Anyway, the short version of the story is about two cousins who get stuck on an island and fall in love. Now I know that it might sound a little disturbing and strange at first but I really believe if it's written well it could be great. I'm not talking about a cheesy romance, I want it to be a meaningful narrative about two young people surviving together, the effects of isolation and solitude etc. The characters will most likely been teens experiencing their first love and I'd like to begin the story with their normal lives, then some kind of accident when they get stuck together. Obviously problems arise and challenges are overcome and then their infatuation begins while on the island. Id like to also finish the story with her having a baby then they are rescued and then I begin to cover life after their audeal, so how the family and society reacts to their story and so on. The story is sort of insprired by the movie Cast Away, and I'm not sure as to whether to write it in script form or a novel or maybe something else. Specifically, I'm also looking for advice about if I should write it all from the girls perspective or alternate between them and if I should use first or third person and which tense ect. Generally any feedback and thoughts about this idea would be very much appreciated. Thank you. :)
  





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Fri Feb 03, 2017 11:41 am
Virgil says...



I don't really know why these two have to be cousins. You show no real reason of how it improves the plot of the story rather than if they were two strangers or something of that sort. You don't really establish their gender, but I'm going to assume it's a male/female relationship since they happen to have a baby. The thing is, I don't really see why you have this idea for them to be cousins and to fall in love--it doesn't add anything other than the feeling of being uncomfortable for the reader.

You say it's a survival story, and sure, I want to believe you, but every single survival story takes place on an island. That's an exaggeration, but I'd like to see something different than that old cliche because I don't know how you'd be doing anything different with the idea at this point it time. It seems like a basic survival story with two cousins falling in love being thrown in there. What's the moral of the story? Is there a message to be gotten across? Let's go back to the cousins. How is it possible that they're the only two people who have survived landing on the island? Are there any more that they end up finding? How do they get stuck on this island?

There's a lot of questions that you leave unanswered here that are important to the story. I'd rather see this as some sort of platonic love if you choose to do it because I feel the message would be better gotten across in that way. I wanted to note that this reminds me a lot to the show Lost, where something similar happens but it's not seen as okay all that much and I won't go into too much detail about that.

I just think that writing about it will romanticize the idea that it's okay to do, and sure, in places of the world, it's socially acceptable, but you seem to be doing it just to make the story more "unique", and it doesn't do that for me. If it's from a plane crash or something of that sort, I doubt the both of them would be the only ones left on the island but I'm not exactly sure of the circumstances of that in this point in time.

I also want to know the genre of the story and what the island is like, since we don't really know too much about that. Is it a well-known island, an abandoned one? I really do doubt that there is an island that hasn't been discovered at all in the real world, so I'm thinking it has some sort of fantasy element tied to it, but I'm not sure. Don't let my thoughts or criticism hinder your idea, but that's what I thought of it. The idea or concept is only an aspect of the story, so I'm not saying that it's going to be ruined by this idea immediately, I just don't feel all that strongly for it.

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Fri Feb 03, 2017 3:00 pm
Lightsong says...



I find the idea interesting. I always look forward to how characters handle challenges and hardship that come their way.

Personally, I don't view cousin-to-cousin relationship as disturbing since it's not incest, but I have heard it attracts unwanted effects. This article for example claims marriage between first cousins 'doubles the risk of children being born with birth defects'. So instead of taking it as an issue of public's perspective, treat it as a medical problem. Surely one of them would be aware of the negative effects they're going to have should they continue the relationship.

But, yeah, that's the risk. Medically, it's not encouraged, but if they accept it, then, why not? I'm more interested in how they're going to survive in the island. Making one of them has baby seems too much since I think it'll make the novel unnecessarily long. As for your question:

Specifically, I'm also looking for advice about if I should write it all from the girls perspective or alternate between them and if I should use first or third person and which tense ect.


Your choice. Since this hasn't been written, we don't know yet which perspective is better. However, you'd want to write through an important PoV, so consider if both of them have equal importance to the story or if one gains a bit more role. That can be your clue. Also factor in your writing style whether you're more familiar with fixed one PoV or multiple. Since it's going to be a first draft, feel free to experiment. :D Same goes to tense, though generally most books are written in past tense.

I wish you good luck in this. :)
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Sat Feb 04, 2017 9:38 am
Writing4Joy says...



Thank you both for the feedback so far I really appreciate it. Nikayla, I see what you're saying about the whole island cliche, I didn't really think about it that way but now that you point it out I might consider a different approach. Also, I know it's unessary for them to be cousins but for some reason I just find it interesting to explore what would happen in that situations and to be honest I intend for it to be a controversial story because I want people to question the idea of normalcy and also the effects that isolation can have among other things. As for the main message/moral I'll have to keep thinking about as it's still a very rough idea at this point.
  





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Sat Feb 04, 2017 10:36 am
seeminglymeaningless says...



Heya :)

Two stories that come to mind with this premise is Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews and The Island by Richard Laymon.

The first is about four children locked in an attic, resulting in the two older siblings falling in love and having sex. Sequels to the books follow their story when they escape and how they end up back together, despite the taboo of their incestuous relationship.

The second is about an adult family holidaying at a private island and their boat explodes while they're on the beach. A lot of stuff happens, but basically the main character ends up keeping all the females on the island in cages and has relationships with all of them (two of whom are twins and in the same cage). Eventually one of the women/girls will get pregnant and it ends with the idea that the main character may not even go and seek help when that happens.

I guess my main point is that incestuous stories are not unique. Neither are island survival stories.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't write it.

My second point is that if you're going for an incestuous relationship, why write about cousins? That's sort of mild. Go for brother/sister or half-brother/half-sister or uncle/niece - you get the idea. Go big or go home. Why? The characters would then be rebelling against their feelings even more and it would heighten the tension. Alternatively, you could write about a different type of relationship without incest. Step-mum and step-son? Two best friends who are strictly straight but fall in love? Two people with 30 years separating them in age? etc

If you choose to write in the POV of the male, make sure you do your research. Ask a few guys how they'd feel if they were stranded on an island with their sister. How would they react? What would they do if they started to notice their sister sexually? What do they notice first? How does their body respond? etc

Third person is pretty safe as a reader can insert themselves into the character if they want to. When it's in first person the reader has no choice - they're the ones committing incest. Second person is weird and probably not a great idea.

In terms of tense, any would work. Past tense tells the story that has happened. Present tense tells the story as it is happening. Don't write in future tense, lol.

All the best! Just start writing. Your ideas may develop and become rich with meaning.

Cheers,
Jai
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