Okay, so I’ve been tossing an idea around for ages and I’ve decided (it was @inventrix’s fault 😉 to make a go at if for April CampNano.
Basic idea: Every Crime Procedural, every Medical Show, every Serious Detective Show (maybe not those; I don’t watch those) seems to go through a series of episodes – there’s The Bondage Episode, the Furry Episode (Bones combined those into the pony play episode), the little people episode, the wrestling episode (Bones, again, combined those into little people wrestling), the Hoarders episode… and so on.
What I need:
A list of episodes.
A cast, or ideas about a cast.
A hook. I’m thiiiinking it’s urban fantasy, but not absolutely certain.
Ideas for takes on those types of episodes.
Help?
(Eta: looking at writing either 4-10,000-word episodes or 8-5,000-word orrr 6-6,667-word episodes, at least to begin with.)
(Eta2: @pritchmr – this is a cool webiste with tons of TV tropes http://designthroughstorytelling.net/periodic/ )
Episode Idea List
cult!
computer hacker
mild-mannered-academic-is-actually-a-killer
government conspiracy
non-government conspiracy (Illuminati)
crazy house party gone wrong
missing child
serial killer
Buried treasure
supernatural problem is actually a frame-up
[Supernatural] critters gone rabid/feral
– Something that started or happened a long time ago (e.g. something triggered by someone trying to retrieve the loot from a famous crime, or finding a dead body long after the death and having to figure out what happened)
– What looks like a murder turns out to be an accident in the end.
– LARP
cross-cultural misunderstanding gone horribly awry
operating in unfamiliar territory (possibly not useful for such a short run)
lying to protect the actual guilty/responsible party
being from some other world
Circus!
Urban Fantasy Episodes Idea List
The Werewolves
The Fae
Cast Ideas
the nerdy one,
the pretty one,
the sassy/snarky one,
the pragmatic/”brawn” one,
the smart but quiet one.
Kid genius (Shut up, Wesley!) – why not a girl kid genius for once? Need not be obnoxious.
unstable personality in some way
roll “the pretty one” and “the brawny one” togther into the rogue/acrobat/cat burgler; have the obvious combat heavy be a gunbunny or spellslinger.
the pet or mascot
the “pet” is the mentor.
the student/apprentice with common sense the teacher lacks.
the charismatic one (sometimes overlaps with the con man?).
the anti-bureaucrat (the one who can find records and cut red tape).
the nosy reporter.
the one who has a fling-of-the-week
the steady couple (trio, …)
UF Cast Ideas
a witch/wizard,
a vampire,
a werewulf or an ordinary human who turns into a werewulf at some point,
an ordinary human,
someone in a mentor role
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How about a twist and instead of it being urban fantasy (fantasy pasted onto a modern setting), why not something similar but in a true fantasy setting? (Some magical kingdom’s equivalent of CSI, for example.) Or in an alien one? An alien planet’s crime procedural where it intersects humans (they have a human department, say).
Ooh, that’s an idea!
My biases, they show. 🙂 This format would happily support, say, Jin and Bianna supported by Aud and Sage establishing a PI team …
*laughs* yes, but I’d rather do a new cast/new people
<big eyes>
This is supposed to be an entirely fun project for me.
<nod> Sometimes it’s hard to tell which bits you’re having fun which, which bits are chewing on you and need to get written down, and which bits feel like obligations. Sometimes it’s more obvious.
DND comes and goes for me. I mean, I’m contemplating a DND novel(la) later this year. But right now I don’t want to untangle canon and I don’t want to deal with being asked if I change canon, if that makes sense? (Bug invasion. That one’s pretty much an obligation).
Yeah, there were a few DND bits a while back that were strained, and I thought you were Done With That, but then wandered back and it seemed less bad. <ponders canon tracking> Mostly I’ve seen a wiki or database, but they rot so easily that if you’re not your cuppa (or your fanatic fanbase’s cuppa) they’re just a headache. But “I’ve seen” limits the sample set a lot … must be articles on this … hrm.
Nng, I don’t like it when the strained /shows/, sorry. I have wikis for a few things. But some of it is, like DND – it grew out of a freewrite story. So sometimes I have to go back and change things. I should show you my potential list of projects for 2014.
Didn’t meant it like that! Apologizing for sharing your writing is not in order. Pretty much ever, barring things on the order of deliberate plagarism or writing fanfic about a real person who didn’t want fanfic written about them. Changing canon is a fine and sometimes necessary thing. I appreciate having changes called out, as I am detail-oriented that way, but that does not put obligation on you. And I would be very curious, but again, that’s very much not a “should”. 🙂
Hrrrrm. Changing canon with notes like NB: This changes extant canon… that I could do! Oooh, rpf, yeah no. I wrote it while waiting for traffic court yesterday: 1. Addergoole Book 1 (done) and kickstarter 2. Addergoole book 2 and kickstarter 3. Rin & Girey draft complete (and maybe ks) ~ Edally posted ~ inner circle posted ~ Missing orders posted? 4. Aunt Family and/or Space Accountant novella 5. Episodes Project/Anthology 6. ~something else~
<bounce bounce bounce!!>
I thought you’d like that! 😀
Episode idea: The problem seems to be a fantasy group, e.g. witches or vampires or werewolves, but is a frame-up by someone else, probably a normal human. All complicated by a group on wanna-be whatever fantasy group you’re using and a few real ones who are flying below the radar…
Cast: the pet or mascot. Cast: roll “the pretty one” and “the brawny one” togther into the rogue/acrobat/cat burgler; have the obvious combat heavy be a gunbunny or spellslinger. Cast: the “pet” is the mentor. Cast: the student/apprentice with common sense the teacher lacks. Cast: the charismatic one (sometimes overlaps with the con man?). Cast: the anti-bureaucrat (the one who can find records and cut red tape, maybe also forge paperwork / detect forgeries, …). Cast: the nosy reporter. Cast: the one who has a fling-of-the-week Cast: the steady couple (trio, …) Episode: supernormal critters gone feral / rabid / … Episode: cross-cultural misunderstanding gone horribly awry Episode: operating in unfamiliar territory (possibly not useful for such a short run) Episode: lying to protect the actual guilty/responsible party
I don’t watch much of that kind, but let’s see what I can come up with… – Something that started or happened a long time ago (e.g. something triggered by someone trying to retrieve the loot from a famous crime, or finding a dead body long after the death and having to figure out what happened) – What looks like a murder turns out to be an accident in the end. – LARP
Woah I’d forgotten the LARP episode!
Yay, I said something useful XD
Lots of useful!
Not a crime show one, more a “flexible setting” one, is a being from some other world (could be planet or dimension depending on setting) that just wants to go home but is hard to communicate with. See E.T.
ooh, fun!