Young Writers Society

Basically, it would seem my imagination saves its best workings for some select times at night when I'm sleeping. A couple of weeks ago I had this dream, and now I've decided I might actually turn it into yet another novel...

First, the dream...

[spoiler]Surreal.
It took place in a not-so-distant future in a way, since I was there and wasn't anywhere over twenty years old; but, at the same time, everything was different.
Technology was apparently quite advanced. I was living on my own... and, while everything was somehow dark and eerie - always covered with a fog - it was also covered with trees everywhere.
So one day I find myself in this park; and as I look around, I find my guy's friends playing american football... Just some sort of scrimmage, per say, without uniforms or anything... just a bunch of guys that got together to play.
But my guy isn't there, and I can't help but wonder where he is, and to miss him dearly. Next thing I know I leave the park and jump on a train... all the roads I go through are surrounded by trees. For some reason I arrive at my destination in a car... It's a small shack somewhere far out from the city. I get out from the car and an old man comes out to meet me from within his workshop.
"I need to use your time machine." I say.
"It's not a time machine - it's a second chance." His eyes seem to ask for a good reason to want to use it.
Out from my pocket I pull out a bunch of little pieces of paper, each with a different time and place written on it.
That's when it switched into flasback mode.
I'm 15 or 16 again. I'm at my current house; and, for some reason, my guy shows up at my doorstep. We've never actually talked much. He hasn't said anything, neither have I, but somehow we both know we have mutual feelings for each other. We get to talking, and then a storm starts brewing.
That's when I woke up... The rain never actually fell, and I never got to see the "explanations", but somehow I knew them anyway.
We fell in love and were happy together; that is, until there was some sort of misunderstanding that drove us apart. He kept trying to explain, thus the pieces of paper he sent, but I refused to talk to him.
And so the years went by; we remained apart until that day I went to the park and somehow everything about the misunderstanding became clear. I'd been wrong all along.
And so I went with the old man to try and go back to change things.[/spoiler]

So that was the basic inspiration of it all. At first it was just this dream I had and really loved, but then one day I was talking with a friend and ended up telling her about it... what surprised me was she actually loved it... so I told other friends and they all said I should really consider making at least a short story out of it.
And then it got really personal, since in the dream it was me I just couldn't make up these characters in their entirety... which is why everyone, or at least the main characters, are based on real people - something I think will definitely add to the story.

Right... by now I've defined the misunderstanding that originally drove them apart:

Chase (the guy) gets a scholarship offer in a city very far from where Samantha is (one thing that does need defining is why she's so dead set on staying exactly where she is, and her going with him isn't an option)... He goes off to tell her about it, but with the intention of actually proposing and telling her he's going to stay with her [all the sappy romantic stuff here]... Yet when he goes, she doesn't let him finish, and becomes stuck in the part about him "leaving". She feels partly betrayed, but also doesn't want to hinder his future, so she refuses to talk to him after that.

Ohh, and something else... the title so far is Rewind, and the basic idea is that when you go back, you do just that - rewind. It's not like Back to the Future or actual time travel kinda thing... No young and older version of the same person or "you can't see yourself 'cause the universe will explode" kinda thing... You literaly rewind, but obviously keeping the knowledge of everyting that happened and how it needs changing... that clear? haha

Okay, yeah, so, opinions??

I absolutely love that idea. I read your dream and I was entranced in it, I would love to see it become a work of writing.

PM me and let me know of updates! please keep me posted


- Butters

Do the trees everywhere have any symbolic meaning, you think? That would be neat!

Anyway, it sounds like a good idea! However, I think it would be better to try and develop the event that drove them apart, a bit more.

It might just be lack of information, but from what I got, it seems like Samantha feels betrayed about him leaving, but why would she refuse to talk to him? It would seem logical that she'd want to spend as much time with him as possible before he left, right? Also, if Chase is about to propose to her and he didn't even get around to explaining to her that he's going to stay with her after all, I think he'd be pretty much dead-set on TELLING her ASAP, especially knowing that she got the wrong impression.

Unless Chase himself gets mad at her (and misunderstands her) thinking that she's being selfish and doesn't even feel happy for him getting the scholarship.

Anyway, I'd be a little careful. This sounds A LOT like 17, Again. I haven't seen the movie personally, but I know that the MC regrets giving up a scholarship opportunity in order to marry his lover, and wishes to "get a second chance" at his glory days by becoming 17 again.

Obviously your story has its own originality and I know there's probably a lot more to it. It all depends on the execution of the story, but the scholarship thing just was a little familiar

It sounds awesome.

HOWEVER you have to be careful. Time travel is tricky and it can cause MAJOR plot holes. It's so tricky it's not tricky any more (if that makes sense).

If you ever post it, tell me. I'll wait for it. ^^

Audy wrote:Do the trees everywhere have any symbolic meaning, you think? That would be neat!

I'm not sure. I mean, the dream was that way, but I'm not sure if it would mean anything in the actual story. Like, I think it was important to pinpoint the rather utopian-ish feeling in the dream by making nature be in its best moment... but uhm, I don't know, haha

Anyway, it sounds like a good idea! However, I think it would be better to try and develop the event that drove them apart, a bit more.

It might just be lack of information, but from what I got, it seems like Samantha feels betrayed about him leaving, but why would she refuse to talk to him? It would seem logical that she'd want to spend as much time with him as possible before he left, right? Also, if Chase is about to propose to her and he didn't even get around to explaining to her that he's going to stay with her after all, I think he'd be pretty much dead-set on TELLING her ASAP, especially knowing that she got the wrong impression.

Unless Chase himself gets mad at her (and misunderstands her) thinking that she's being selfish and doesn't even feel happy for him getting the scholarship.

I think that's the biggest problem with this whole thing... Me, personally, I always think you should hear someone out, so when in the dream this version of *me* was refusing to speak to the guy she loved over a misunderstanding, it just seemed like whatever had to have been something incredibly huge to make *me* not speak to him. The whole scholarship thing was actually pitched to me by a friend, but I guess it obviously needs to be develope further.
Although maybe it's just a whole personality trait when it comes to Samantha - running away. Like, she'd want to be with him, but at the same time she might feel she couldn't deal with a goodbye; so, rather, she just avoids it altogether.
As for Chase, he obviously tries to get to her, but she just keeps avoiding him. Doesn't show up where he wants to meet her... until he finally decides it's over and takes the scholarship after all.

Anyway, I'd be a little careful. This sounds A LOT like 17, Again. I haven't seen the movie personally, but I know that the MC regrets giving up a scholarship opportunity in order to marry his lover, and wishes to "get a second chance" at his glory days by becoming 17 again.

Obviously your story has its own originality and I know there's probably a lot more to it. It all depends on the execution of the story, but the scholarship thing just was a little familiar

Haha, yeah, I've seen that... But in my own defense, I thought of this way before I even knew that movie existed. Or Ghosts of Girlfriends Past for that matter... Still, though, I think the only constant would be the idea of getting a scholarship offer, which can always be changed if I end up thinking of something better.
I just didn't wanna go with a cliched idea of him cheating on her or something... lol.

Kara Hargreaves wrote:It sounds awesome.

HOWEVER you have to be careful. Time travel is tricky and it can cause MAJOR plot holes. It's so tricky it's not tricky any more (if that makes sense).

If you ever post it, tell me. I'll wait for it. ^^

Haha yeah, plot holes are definitely something I'll watch out for... and thanks, I'll be sure to PM you ^_^