Hello!
I am having a bit of trouble coming up with a plot for my story. I have a lot of good characters in mind and a general idea of the story setting, but not much else. I want to write a story that puts magic in a modern context. I have this idea that after WWII and the atom bomb madness that the magical world essentially had a massive freakout; like a "clutch-my-pearls we're no longer the most powerful people in the world" sort of freakout. Instead of trying to adapt to all the new technology, the magical world just kinda rejects it out of hand and any form of technology becomes super taboo because of how scared everyone is.
My main character is a technopath named Alice who was born in the magical upper-class. When she was young she suffered a tragic accident that forced her to have her leg amputated; all the healers her family went to said that nothing could be done, so Alice invented her own prosthetic leg. Instead of being proud of the fact that a 6-year-old made her own prosthetic leg she essentially gets disowned for being adept at technology.
As she grows up, she's ostracized by the magical community but also the tech community (who are largely unwilling to accept her because she's a female).
Other than that, I really have nowhere else to go. Please let me know if you have any ideas of what I can actually write about.
Thanks so much for any help you can provide!
~Toni
What if she had made the decision to stop practicing her tech magic in order to be accepted? So then the story starts with her maybe hiding the truth about herself with everyone because it went so badly for her at first? Then she could like, I dunno, go to "magic school" (which is overdone, so you probably shouldn't do that) OR do what every magical person does at age 16 or something and get a master for her to apprentice under. And maybe he could be either a fellow underground technopath or ANOTHER long-forgotten type of unapproved magic wielder, and through him she starts to learn how the magic community silences those who say opinions they don't like or wield powers they don't like. After that you could either have to maybe decide to run away with her master to a secret place where taboo magic users are planning to overthrow the government (probably also overdone…), or maybe she could decide to dedicate her whole life to making peace between the public magic community and the ostracized one. Maybe she works to find a bunch of allies, and swear to run for some kind of office, or maybe push her master to run for some kind of office. Then the villain(s) could be the government using violence to stop her (and she wasn't even using violence in the first place), and/or some greater end-of-the-world kind of villain (maybe this villain is a human who is equally scared of magic as the magic community is afraid of technopaths).
OH. That last part makes me think, what if she runs away from home all on her lonesome to live a life as a human, get a degree in some STEM college, and live her life as the technopath she was always meant to be. At least, that's her plan. But then maybe it gets ruined by the human community ostracizing her, too, for being a magical user (I don't know if you want normal humans to kind of know about magic to a degree?). But maybe she met a normal human friend, who is afraid of magic, but once this person gets to know her they decide that maybe magic isn't all that bad….
I dunno, I'm basically spouting ideas here. Maybe you can use something. :P
All of my suggestions would be identical to @Masterkey ’s, so…. ;)
Idea: Alice has been hiding her powers for a while now, until it suddenly becomes apparent that the people of this world need technology. Magical drugs that require medical cures, diseases that require too much magic to heal everybody of, epidemics of viruses previously eradicated that can only be efficiently cured with vaccines, etc… Suddenly the world needs technopaths, and medical magicians, and all the other types of people it's rejected. Alice, who is a known technopath, is recruited to join a government program attempting to modernize the world. Maybe try working with that.
I thought I'd quickly jot ideas down about this plot before reading anybody elses, so I'm sorry if they are the same:
- If it's the modern era that she's living in, why not start the story not really showing that she's magic, but sort of just slip it in there haha. If she's 17/18 then she won't have a technology based professional job straight away under any normal circumstances. Why not give her a part-time job at a coffee shop, and it's a pretty old and crappy coffee machine, so the first clue you give to her being magic is her just fixing the machine real quick when a guy is begging for his expresso.
- Who's your bad guy? Ya lass is a technopath, so somebody relating to water or ice might be a good conflict. Water beats electricity most of the time when it comes to destroying machines, but it doesn't leave your character at a too big disadvantage cause electricity and water is pretty mad.
- If she's got a prosthetic leg, include moments without it. When she's home and is having a break from the crazy, she takes it off, chilling out.
- so the plot I was generally thinking of was:
Alice is a normal teenager, but she loves her ability despite being disowned for it. Her parents still loved her, so gave her enough money to live on, but Alice wanted to save most to pay for uni and college. Her mentor could be her technology teacher/tutor, an old yet funny woman who often says smart things that Alice doesn't notice until she gets home and really thinks about because she normally follows these comments with a silly joke.
One day, she notices that she has a new neighbour. A boy/girl around her age who tends to be quite rude around her, giving her a look that she knows well, but can't quite place.
This person isn't used to all the modern technology, and Alice often notices this. They appear at her school/college and it seems that where-ever they have been, a wet and broken computer or phone will follow. This really annoys Alice, as it's bloody hard to get into a technology based college/uni without a printer to be able to hand in her work.
After a conflict where somebody notices that they can use water/ice, many people start recording and taking pictures of him/her, and Alice notices how badly they freak out. She feels like she has to do something, and starts an electronic pulse to break all of the nearby phones. Both of these happenings appear in the news, but because the phones have all been broken, there is no footage or proof, however the magical world is aware of these two powers, and after sending an 'Observer' to see if Alice is a threat, they assume that she has brain washed the girl/boy.
While trying to get into a technology based college/Uni early, she has to deal with a control freak friend with an attitude problem, and a bunch of 'Observers' and other agents of the Magical Government (MG?) which are attempting to stop this 'rebellion' when really she just wants to get into education. The main plot is that, but there are a ton of subplots where she is trying to get into, or while she is in, the college/Uni of her dreams, and how she has to deal with all the stigma while succeeding there.
- Subplot ideas:
The old lady teacher is used as a hostage, finds out about Alice's powers and when Alice is trying to help her free, she makes jokes and comments about them, and ends up dying mid-joke which throws Alice into grief where she realises the dangers of the government and it affects her dream a lot because she's more focussed on stopping the government from killing non-magic people, of whom they are scared of and yet belittle and see as simple creatures of habit.
-The boy/girl is constantly getting into trouble at school/college and needs help with work because when he/she was training as an observer, they never needed to do bloody trigonometry!
There's ma ideas haha :P
I know its been three months but if you are wanting to come back to this Idea or still havent figured out what you want to do, here's my two cents.
Something that i've always found helpful is to think about what your character most wants. So, Does Alice desperately want to fit in to the human world? Does she want her family to love her again or does she now resent them? if you were in this character''s shoes, what would you do (other than have a breakdown)? would she run away and try to find others like her? is there a tragic thing like a natural disaster that makes the two worlds aware of each other and they need someone to bridge the gap? Are the worlds aware of the existance of the other or is it like Harry Potter where the magic world is hidden from the well-known muggle world? these will all effect what your character does and what they want. they could become a Han Solo type thta runs off, builds fancy gadgets and makes money that way. there are always lots of things to play around with.
If you still don't like whatever you come up with, I would suggest you read. One book/ series I would reccomend you look at for your specific world would be Artemis Fowl. Look there for inspiration on how magical worlds and technology can mix. The two worlds are pretty separated but the two main characters bring it together well. Or you could try looking at basic archetypal plot outlines. find a generic plot that you like and you think fits your character and work from there.
