❛ the lazy writers ❜ Collab Story Planning

[Ranger of the North]

-Why does the city want to control/brainwash its residents? I can't really think of any good motives that would work
-How does the city control/brainwash its residents? Words, histories, and other propaganda, forcing them to live their lives believing the brainwash
-How do the rebellious people know the city is doing this? They live in the lies and know the false truth and therefore can tell that it is lies
-How do the rebellious people rescue children from the evil city? Kidnapping/people disappear/so still kidnapping/consented kidnapping
-Who is in charge of the evil city; who is in charge of the rebellious rescuers? the hero; the old friend of the hero/villain (not sure)
-Where do the rebellious people live and how does their society function? outskirts, where the criminals are thrown, the bad place;;;they are led by the villain and full of rescued people, not sure what happens to criminals.... or whatever
-How was the evil city formed and what major events led up to it? we can develop this as we go on (tehnically its supposed to be the good city, people just dont know what goes on behind the scenes i think)

(I've highlighted the points I want to add to)
1) I'm thinking maybe the outside world is a dangerous place. The more people who remain in the city, the less want to explore, and the more money the council rakes in from the workers. Then the baddy's (posing as the goody) motivation could both be to get richer, and to save lives? c:
2) The rebellion may have been started by a former council-worker who was close to the instigator of the hold-people-in-this-city-forever-movement. Since the project was originally started to protect people, they were super on board with it, but when their companion started going money-mad and getting tyranical they decided to cut and run.
3) I've been imagining them outside the town and in the wild where no one else is brave enough to venture; they're probably, I'm thinking, a pretty nomadic group so they can wander where they please and rescue/kidnap from all areas of the city.
My thoughts; feel free to add on or something ^^ c:


Lys, what's discord? o.o

[The Worst Username]

-Why does the city want to control/brainwash its residents? I can't really think of any good motives that would work
-How does the city control/brainwash its residents? Words, histories, and other propaganda, forcing them to live their lives believing the brainwash
-How do the rebellious people know the city is doing this? They live in the lies and know the false truth and therefore can tell that it is lies
-How do the rebellious people rescue children from the evil city? Kidnapping/people disappear/so still kidnapping/consented kidnapping
-Who is in charge of the evil city; who is in charge of the rebellious rescuers? the hero; the old friend of the hero/villain (not sure)
-Where do the rebellious people live and how does their society function? outskirts, where the criminals are thrown, the bad place;;;they are led by the villain and full of rescued people, not sure what happens to criminals.... or whatever
-How was the evil city formed and what major events led up to it? we can develop this as we go on (tehnically its supposed to be the good city, people just dont know what goes on behind the scenes i think)

(I've highlighted the points I want to add to)
1) I'm thinking maybe the outside world is a dangerous place. The more people who remain in the city, the less want to explore, and the more money the council rakes in from the workers. Then the baddy's (posing as the goody) motivation could both be to get richer, and to save lives? c:
2) The rebellion may have been started by a former council-worker who was close to the instigator of the hold-people-in-this-city-forever-movement. Since the project was originally started to protect people, they were super on board with it, but when their companion started going money-mad and getting tyranical they decided to cut and run.
3) I've been imagining them outside the town and in the wild where no one else is brave enough to venture; they're probably, I'm thinking, a pretty nomadic group so they can wander where they please and rescue/kidnap from all areas of the city.
My thoughts; feel free to add on or something ^^ c:

I like the idea of "dangerous outside world" for sure! I'm thinking of a few reasons why the outside world is dangerous, so I've got a basic, messy history here:


On some alternate timeline or perhaps in an alternate world (is this alt-world fantasy, real-world sci-fi, real-world dystopia?) some relatively small country with a small military did something--perhaps allying with a bigger country to defend itself--that made a lot of other countries angry. So maybe the bigger country had a lot of enemies, and those enemies decided to declare war by attacking the smaller country.

After the smaller country was attacked, it started to collapse on itself. Many small rural communities were bombed, and the only thing that the small country's military could protect was one capital city. Lots of people started rushing to the capital city. To keep those people safe, the military took control of the government (perhaps it was previously a monarchy with a weak king) and let no one outside, for fear that they'd be attacked.

The fighting quickly moved away from the smaller country, but the people stayed in the capital city out of fear. Rumors spread: everything from enemy soldiers waiting outside to radiation poisoning to primitive communities started outside that would kill any intruders. Even some of the highest members of government were afraid to leave, so the city quickly devolved into a mess of soldiers marching through the streets, overpopulation, and starving people. Hundreds decided to face the odds and make a break for it, none ever to return.

The military leaders hurried to set up a system of factories and farms so that there were enough resources. The people were still afraid, and no one had a reason to leave anymore. Even more rumors spread about what had happened to the runaways.

Eventually, the city started to settle back into place, but everyone was still afraid. A leader came to power who got it into their mind that the "common people" were stupid lambs that needed guidance, and besides, the new leader was paranoid about more escape attempts--they worried that the people who had left were plotting against the city. They wanted to make their country great, like they believed it had been before the attacks, so they set strict laws into place. No one was starving or suffering, but everyone was brainwashed and used as part of the new leader's machine to make the country "better".

Some people, perhaps through tragedy at the hands of this new leader, decided that nobody should have to live this way (as Ranger suggested, maybe a higher-up started it) and those people made a plan to escape and take as many children with them as possible. They took children because common sense: the children had weaker opinions and they'd endured less brainwashing than adults.

Well, that's my history--does anyone have any suggestions for making the history better, or a different idea entirely?

[gankwizard]

I like where we are going with this

[Ranger of the North]

-Why does the city want to control/brainwash its residents? I can't really think of any good motives that would work
-How does the city control/brainwash its residents? Words, histories, and other propaganda, forcing them to live their lives believing the brainwash
-How do the rebellious people know the city is doing this? They live in the lies and know the false truth and therefore can tell that it is lies
-How do the rebellious people rescue children from the evil city? Kidnapping/people disappear/so still kidnapping/consented kidnapping
-Who is in charge of the evil city; who is in charge of the rebellious rescuers? the hero; the old friend of the hero/villain (not sure)
-Where do the rebellious people live and how does their society function? outskirts, where the criminals are thrown, the bad place;;;they are led by the villain and full of rescued people, not sure what happens to criminals.... or whatever
-How was the evil city formed and what major events led up to it? we can develop this as we go on (tehnically its supposed to be the good city, people just dont know what goes on behind the scenes i think)

(I've highlighted the points I want to add to)
1) I'm thinking maybe the outside world is a dangerous place. The more people who remain in the city, the less want to explore, and the more money the council rakes in from the workers. Then the baddy's (posing as the goody) motivation could both be to get richer, and to save lives? c:
2) The rebellion may have been started by a former council-worker who was close to the instigator of the hold-people-in-this-city-forever-movement. Since the project was originally started to protect people, they were super on board with it, but when their companion started going money-mad and getting tyranical they decided to cut and run.
3) I've been imagining them outside the town and in the wild where no one else is brave enough to venture; they're probably, I'm thinking, a pretty nomadic group so they can wander where they please and rescue/kidnap from all areas of the city.
My thoughts; feel free to add on or something ^^ c:

I like the idea of "dangerous outside world" for sure! I'm thinking of a few reasons why the outside world is dangerous, so I've got a basic, messy history here:


On some alternate timeline or perhaps in an alternate world (is this alt-world fantasy, real-world sci-fi, real-world dystopia?) some relatively small country with a small military did something--perhaps allying with a bigger country to defend itself--that made a lot of other countries angry. So maybe the bigger country had a lot of enemies, and those enemies decided to declare war by attacking the smaller country.

After the smaller country was attacked, it started to collapse on itself. Many small rural communities were bombed, and the only thing that the small country's military could protect was one capital city. Lots of people started rushing to the capital city. To keep those people safe, the military took control of the government (perhaps it was previously a monarchy with a weak king) and let no one outside, for fear that they'd be attacked.

The fighting quickly moved away from the smaller country, but the people stayed in the capital city out of fear. Rumors spread: everything from enemy soldiers waiting outside to radiation poisoning to primitive communities started outside that would kill any intruders. Even some of the highest members of government were afraid to leave, so the city quickly devolved into a mess of soldiers marching through the streets, overpopulation, and starving people. Hundreds decided to face the odds and make a break for it, none ever to return.

The military leaders hurried to set up a system of factories and farms so that there were enough resources. The people were still afraid, and no one had a reason to leave anymore. Even more rumors spread about what had happened to the runaways.

Eventually, the city started to settle back into place, but everyone was still afraid. A leader came to power who got it into their mind that the "common people" were stupid lambs that needed guidance, and besides, the new leader was paranoid about more escape attempts--they worried that the people who had left were plotting against the city. They wanted to make their country great, like they believed it had been before the attacks, so they set strict laws into place. No one was starving or suffering, but everyone was brainwashed and used as part of the new leader's machine to make the country "better".

Some people, perhaps through tragedy at the hands of this new leader, decided that nobody should have to live this way (as Ranger suggested, maybe a higher-up started it) and those people made a plan to escape and take as many children with them as possible. They took children because common sense: the children had weaker opinions and they'd endured less brainwashing than adults.

Well, that's my history--does anyone have any suggestions for making the history better, or a different idea entirely?

I like it! That still kinda leaves the question of how the rebels survive outside the city walls without being discovered/captured/killed by other people, though? Maybe the humans knew of an upcoming natural calamity, like a meteor-strike or something? They tried to band together, but that plan failed, and the second faction (second to our current characters) eventually drifted away and got wiped out by the disaster.
Oh! We should also totally make it set while the planet (I'm presuming it's Earth?) is just new! Then we could stick with just a few humans on an entire planet, and add now-extinct animals like dinosaurs back in or something!

[The Worst Username]

Oh! We should also totally make it set while the planet (I'm presuming it's Earth?) is just new! Then we could stick with just a few humans on an entire planet, and add now-extinct animals like dinosaurs back in or something!

How new, though? I mean, the planet was just a lifeless rock covered in volcanoes, then in ocean, for more than a few millennia, and by the time microbes and other early life forms started appearing, there wouldn't be much for people to eat, and I don't even think there was an ozone--maybe we could start when humans first appeared? I love the idea of extinct animals, though! Maybe some creatures that went extinct when humans were around (megafauna, et cetera) if we want to be scientifically accurate, or we can throw in earlier creatures if we want.

But yeah, the first question also needs answering. Perhaps the main city assumed that the remaining people outside of it died off (maybe there were a lot of bombings of the rural parts of the country during that war I suggested) and since they were so busy with their own problems, that left the outsiders plenty of time to form small civilizations. I'm not sure how they would survive after that, though. I imagine the city does routine sweeps of the country to check for the famed rebels. I guess the rebels/rescuers would have to be pretty crafty, so maybe they live underground, in a thick forest, in a cave system on ocean cliffs, on a boat...if anyone has some ideas, throw them at me.

[Ranger of the North]

Oh! We should also totally make it set while the planet (I'm presuming it's Earth?) is just new! Then we could stick with just a few humans on an entire planet, and add now-extinct animals like dinosaurs back in or something!

How new, though? I mean, the planet was just a lifeless rock covered in volcanoes, then in ocean, for more than a few millennia, and by the time microbes and other early life forms started appearing, there wouldn't be much for people to eat, and I don't even think there was an ozone--maybe we could start when humans first appeared? I love the idea of extinct animals, though! Maybe some creatures that went extinct when humans were around (megafauna, et cetera) if we want to be scientifically accurate, or we can throw in earlier creatures if we want.

But yeah, the first question also needs answering. Perhaps the main city assumed that the remaining people outside of it died off (maybe there were a lot of bombings of the rural parts of the country during that war I suggested) and since they were so busy with their own problems, that left the outsiders plenty of time to form small civilizations. I'm not sure how they would survive after that, though. I imagine the city does routine sweeps of the country to check for the famed rebels. I guess the rebels/rescuers would have to be pretty crafty, so maybe they live underground, in a thick forest, in a cave system on ocean cliffs, on a boat...if anyone has some ideas, throw them at me.

Oh, right, sorry; I was thinking from my viewpoint: that the world and everything in it was created in six days XD
Uhm... should we just say it's a sparsely-populated planet somewhere? And then we can throw in extinct/wacky stuff however we like, if the rest of the thread agrees. That way we hopefully shouldn't have too many conflicting ideas or contradicting aspects XD :p

Ooh, I quite like that! Should we have more than one faction of rebels, d'you think? Like, would they have grown so big that they could start inhabiting the rest of the planet semi-properly, or should we just stick with the main One, so they're easier to deal with? XD

[The Worst Username]

big snip

Oh, right, sorry; I was thinking from my viewpoint: that the world and everything in it was created in six days XD
Uhm... should we just say it's a sparsely-populated planet somewhere? And then we can throw in extinct/wacky stuff however we like, if the rest of the thread agrees. That way we hopefully shouldn't have too many conflicting ideas or contradicting aspects XD :p

Ooh, I quite like that! Should we have more than one faction of rebels, d'you think? Like, would they have grown so big that they could start inhabiting the rest of the planet semi-properly, or should we just stick with the main One, so they're easier to deal with? XD

Oy, I didn't even consider creationism! Yeah, "sparsely populated planet" seems like a good way to avoid controversy/a potential huge debate about the origins of the universe on a writing thread, lol. Extinct wacky stuff sounds great, and we can use some modern wacky creatures like coelacanths, Tasmanian devils, and pretty much every animal that lives in New Zealand nowadays.

As for the factions, I'm not sure! There could be a network of groups spread out over the continent, each having a different territory and different goals. Some could be focused on planning to take down the city, some (like ours) could be rescuing children, some could be attempting to contact other nations (if there are any), some could be just trying to survive. We could do, I don't know, three main groups to start?

Maybe there could be just a few, so the rebel societies could trade, ally with each other, battle each other, et cetera (and that'll likely generate some conflict during the buildup of the novel, where most of the action scenes will just be kidnapping and avoiding patrols by city-folk).

More worldbuilding stuff:

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-What's the geography, biome, and size of the land this country is in? (mountainous region, island, forests...)
-What do the people in the city and rebel faction(s) look like?
-What does the city look like? (Tons of factories, towering skyscrapers, suburbs, ancient buildings)
-Which religions do the people in the city and the people in the rebel faction(s) follow?
-If there are multiple rebel groups in the wild, how do they interact and how are they different from/similar to one another?

While we're working on all this worldbuilding, there's also a lot of other junk to cover--like the plot. Anyone have ideas for a basic arc?

[Ranger of the North]

Oh, right, sorry; I was thinking from my viewpoint: that the world and everything in it was created in six days XD
Uhm... should we just say it's a sparsely-populated planet somewhere? And then we can throw in extinct/wacky stuff however we like, if the rest of the thread agrees. That way we hopefully shouldn't have too many conflicting ideas or contradicting aspects XD :p

Oy, I didn't even consider creationism! Yeah, "sparsely populated planet" seems like a good way to avoid controversy/a potential huge debate about the origins of the universe on a writing thread, lol. Extinct wacky stuff sounds great, and we can use some modern wacky creatures like coelacanths, Tasmanian devils, and pretty much every animal that lives in New Zealand nowadays.

XD cool-cool~ c:
Yess, most of our birdies are kinda weird XD

Ooh, I quite like that! Should we have more than one faction of rebels, d'you think? Like, would they have grown so big that they could start inhabiting the rest of the planet semi-properly, or should we just stick with the main One, so they're easier to deal with? XD

As for the factions, I'm not sure! There could be a network of groups spread out over the continent, each having a different territory and different goals. Some could be focused on planning to take down the city, some (like ours) could be rescuing children, some could be attempting to contact other nations (if there are any), some could be just trying to survive. We could do, I don't know, three main groups to start?

Maybe there could be just a few, so the rebel societies could trade, ally with each other, battle each other, et cetera (and that'll likely generate some conflict during the buildup of the novel, where most of the action scenes will just be kidnapping and avoiding patrols by city-folk).

O.O oooh !
Stalkers, we need opinions! XD
I kinda like the three separate groups working together in different places, I think... But trading and stuff does sound cool, 'cause you could have several different cultures... DECISIONS, HELP

While we're working on all this worldbuilding, there's also a lot of other junk to cover--like the plot. Anyone have ideas for a basic arc?

Um. Malix is captured, Cassia tracks him down, she finds out the truth, decides to help rebels, frees her country-folk? Or she should totally die.
Is'at basic/detailed enough? XD


-What's the geography, biome, and size of the land this country is in? (mountainous region, island, forests...)
I've been thinking of wild forests outside the city; makes it easier for rebels to hide. Sandy wastelands lie to the far East, and mountanous ranges to the West.. or something cx

-What do the people in the city and rebel faction(s) look like?
Um. Normal? XD

-What does the city look like? (Tons of factories, towering skyscrapers, suburbs, ancient buildings)
I've been imagining it like an over-sized village; quaint, middle-sized houses and stuff like that ^-^

-Which religions do the people in the city and the people in the rebel faction(s) follow?

-If there are multiple rebel groups in the wild, how do they interact and how are they different from/similar to one another?

There. I've filled out my opinions so far, anyone feel free to add on like I did with the previous one! c:
The second-to-last is red because I'm not sure; the last because I want to make sure there's going to be more than one faction, first :p

[The Worst Username]

O.O oooh !
Stalkers, we need opinions! XD
I kinda like the three separate groups working together in different places, I think... But trading and stuff does sound cool, 'cause you could have several different cultures... DECISIONS, HELP

Eh, maybe we could do both? Like Maize and Phthalo (what even are these placeholder names) are allies, so they help each other with rescue of children/sneakily covering up one another's tracks when city patrols come about. Maize is on neutral terms with Chicken Bag, so there's some trading and mutual help going on, but Chicken Bag is enemies with Phthalo, so they fight a lot.

Yo stalkers! We need some opinions on this!
*shouts into abyss*
*tumbleweed*

Um. Malix is captured, Cassia tracks him down, she finds out the truth, decides to help rebels, frees her country-folk? Or she should totally die.
Is'at basic/detailed enough? XD

Thank you! Worst is too lazy to look for the plot herself whoops

I've been thinking of wild forests outside the city; makes it easier for rebels to hide. Sandy wastelands lie to the far East, and mountainous ranges to the West.. or something cx

Ooh, I like that! And what if we have three main rebel groups, and each one is in a different "section"/there are three main rebel groups spread over two sections, and a fourth group comes into play later which exists in a different section? Also, I'm kind of thinking of making the country an island, or at least having some large body of water somewhere--what do you think? I'll sketch up a map if I can.

-What does the city look like? (Tons of factories, towering skyscrapers, suburbs, ancient buildings)
I've been imagining it like an over-sized village; quaint, middle-sized houses and stuff like that ^-^

Ooh, cool. You never see dystopia novels with quaint, suburb-ish evil cities.

-Which religions do the people in the city and the people in the rebel faction(s) follow?

Maybe we should make some up? I mean, religion doesn't have to be a big focus or anything, but maybe part of the city's propaganda is making the people worship a God designed by the city to sort of give the people something to follow, if that makes any sense? We could also have a monotheistic rebel group, to balance out evil monotheistic city, and maybe a polytheistic group, an atheistic group, a group that worships sprits/ancestors...

-What do the people in the city and rebel faction(s) look like?

I guess having a few different races could be nice? This is high fantasy, so we won't really have to focus too much on race, but it would still be cool. "Normal?" I'm sorry but that's so funny

@Stalkers

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[b]What do you all think of the more than one rebel faction idea? [/b]

[Ranger of the North]

I've been thinking of wild forests outside the city; makes it easier for rebels to hide. Sandy wastelands lie to the far East, and mountainous ranges to the West.. or something cx

Ooh, I like that! And what if we have three main rebel groups, and each one is in a different "section"/there are three main rebel groups spread over two sections, and a fourth group comes into play later which exists in a different section? Also, I'm kind of thinking of making the country an island, or at least having some large body of water somewhere--what do you think? I'll sketch up a map if I can.

Yeah, that sounds alright to me; I always imagine an ocean, but I'm not sure where it would be.... Maybe it lies to the South? I kinda imagine it as 'overflowing' into the desert, too, as it goes further East~

-Which religions do the people in the city and the people in the rebel faction(s) follow?

Maybe we should make some up? I mean, religion doesn't have to be a big focus or anything, but maybe part of the city's propaganda is making the people worship a God designed by the city to sort of give the people something to follow, if that makes any sense? We could also have a monotheistic rebel group, to balance out evil monotheistic city, and maybe a polytheistic group, an atheistic group, a group that worships sprits/ancestors...

Do you think we could do something like in Luther's time, or something? The city rulers could be like the churches back then: 'thou must stay/work here and giveth us thy riches or thou shalt be damned 4eva'. The rebels disagree with this harsh teaching bc the entity everyone/most believe in is actually pretty okay, and whatever rulebook/doctrine/I don't know the correct word/whatever they read/follow says nothing of the kind, anyway. I think it could be interesting, playing with that, but if you're not comfortable with it then that's okay >^.^<

-What do the people in the city and rebel faction(s) look like?

I guess having a few different races could be nice? This is high fantasy, so we won't really have to focus too much on race, but it would still be cool. "Normal?" I'm sorry but that's so funny

I think we should just make people people c: Some have black skin, some have white skin, some have brown skin, some have red, some yellow, some tan etc. etc. and that's good; it plays a part in who they are, but no one looks down on them because they have more or less melanin.
XD everyone's normal! also I had to make sure you didn't mean aliens XD

Um. Malix is captured, Cassia tracks him down, she finds out the truth, decides to help rebels, frees her country-folk? Or she should totally die.
Is'at basic/detailed enough? XD

Thank you! Worst is too lazy to look for the plot herself whoops

XD no problem XD

-What does the city look like? (Tons of factories, towering skyscrapers, suburbs, ancient buildings)
I've been imagining it like an over-sized village; quaint, middle-sized houses and stuff like that ^-^

Ooh, cool. You never see dystopia novels with quaint, suburb-ish evil cities.

Lol, true; I've never thought about that before :p

O.O oooh !
Stalkers, we need opinions! XD
I kinda like the three separate groups working together in different places, I think... But trading and stuff does sound cool, 'cause you could have several different cultures... DECISIONS, HELP

Eh, maybe we could do both? Like Maize and Phthalo (what even are these placeholder names) are allies, so they help each other with rescue of children/sneakily covering up one another's tracks when city patrols come about. Maize is on neutral terms with Chicken Bag, so there's some trading and mutual help going on, but Chicken Bag is enemies with Phthalo, so they fight a lot.

Yo stalkers! We need some opinions on this!
*shouts into abyss*
*tumbleweed*

@Stalkers

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[b]What do you all think of the more than one rebel faction idea? [/b]

Lol, c'mon, guys; this is turning into a collab between Worst and myself rather than a LW group story XD Worst we shall be famous