Drill Down Into Story Ideas II

[marycatelli]

This is fun.  So I'm going to offer a few more here, for people who didn't find the first ones inspiring -- or who did, and would like to do more.

So, hmm. . . .

Here's one


I like the stairway. Reminds me of something Hobbiton would have.

The old man strikes me as a natural for a mentor. But then, he might be constrained to be a hero. (Turning things on their head often makes for better stories.) If the young men or even young women were taken out by the Evil Wizard as his obvious foes, the youngest prince, still in the nursery, might come stalking along the street to hunt him down as the only unenchanted wizard. Or he might have set out on his own. He looks dejected enough for that.

Or maybe it's the woman who's stirring up the fire. My muse doesn't find her inspiring; dismisses her as a servant.

For those who are not afraid that the title would trap the muse:Rembrandt's Philosopher in Meditation

And here's another



Less overt potential for conflict there. An ending image, I would almost think. Still, even the denouement can sometimes inspire the rest of the story -- I notice that the trees are birches, which are swift growing trees that move in after distribance, such as fire. A story about a blight that has to be broken.

Having children would also be the logical consequence of breaking such a curse.

(The title is Carl Larsson's Spring_Princess)

And here's a third


More obviously mentorish than the first, what with all the symbolism -- the cupid, blindfolded, adorned with roses over a blazing lamp, the death's head, adorned with poppies over a quenched lamp, two golden butterflies to symbolize the soul -- this woman is one you consult with all due respect. Probably a priestess.

(The title is Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "Sibylla Palmifera".)


Part of bittercon

Comments

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

The woman at the birches has a cynical, devious expression. She's up to something whose necessity has annoyed her but whose likely success amuses her. She's putting the child up to something which will puncture some situation.

Maybe her noble father who disowned her is now passing through the wood of the king she since married, and the groom she bribed to sabotage her father's coach has done his work, and at her palace the dinner without salt is prepared. So all that remains is for this charming unknown child to invite her father to take shelter....

I bet she's loaded the salt shakers with jalopena pepper, though.

[marycatelli]

Hmm? And here I thought she was pleased and proud to be showing off the child. Perhaps to a group of her, or her husband's, supporters, demonstrating that there is an heir.

Of course, you put that first, and the target for the villain is obvious.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Oh, she's pleased and proud, all right! She's made a good, powerful life for herself -- maybe without aid of a husband. Now she's in a position to solve the old family quarrel without straining herself. Maybe it's larger than just her vs her father; a father who would disown her about salt, may have disowned or imprisoned her mother and/or siblings for other trifles, and be planning a war.

So her project is very worthwhile, and is drawing to a very happy conclusion.

[marycatelli]

So why spike them with pepper? Impressing the heck out of them with her queenly graciousness would work better -- especially since her poor beleaguered father faces the prospect of his daughter behaving so much better than he did.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Because I wanted something piquant and mischevious in the story? To keep it from being too serious. She's basically solving her problem by playing a prank. Prankishness kind of lets her father save face, as though his misdeeds weren't serious enough to need serious repentance. So it's not such a heavy repentance/forgiveness trip for any of them.

While he's imprisoned on suspicion of whatever, he's in the Tower of Luxury prison. Everything is of the finest comfort, the most elegant food. Except that it lacks salt.

Toward the end, he starts sending orders to release the other relatives, who show up to visit him, one by one. A party starts to accumulate. Each relative brings a different condiment: chutneys etc. None of which is a good substitute for salt (though by our standards, it adds up to a lovely spicy feast). Finally the daughter comes with real salt, reprising some line of the quarrel that parted them.

[marycatelli]

But, taking your idea -- hey, maybe her husband can plant something on him and catch him as a thief! Then he can reveal the truth so that he knows that his daughter can be innocent in spite of the evidence against her.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

And her father sees that the various other relatives he has accused of thievery etc, can also have been -- framed!

By the evil Vizier or such, who is now due for retirement anyway.

Anyway the evidence/crimes shouldn't be all that serious: funny stuff turning up in the father's luggage.

Because the woman in the picture is not mean: it's a face of mischief.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

PS. While they're at it, they frame the Vizier for this framing! That is, the planted objects seem to have been planted by the Vizier, so it now appears that the Vizier has turned against the father also.

[marycatelli]

Of course. Evil Viziers are wonderful devices to spread evil wherever they go.

[marycatelli]

I was thinking of a fairy tale where a simpleton had wished the king's daughter pregnant, and somewhat later had wished something into the king's pocket to prove his powere. (In between, he and the princess had been married off and become king and queen of a new kingdom, and he had been transformed into a sensible and intelligent man, but those are the relevant details. 0:)

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

That's new to me. Of course I was thinking of the common King Lear thing where a father is offended when his daughter says she loves him like salt; then as a neighboring queen she serves him such a meal.

[marycatelli]

Yes, it does seem to inspire thoughts of fairy tales. And King Lear is, of course, a fairy tale in fancy dress. I really read someone once arguing that one evil daughter would have been enough -- as if the king in a fairy tale could have two daughters! I've read tales where he had three, and then the middle daughter just vanished from consideration.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

So the king's two daughters, after some reading, decide there must be a third daughter lost somewhere, and set out to find her?

This could get them in a lot of trouble with their Evil Vizier, since in fact the 'king' is an imposter set up by the E.V., and the fact of only two daughters is the clue to his lack of royal blood (along with all their strawberry marks being fake).

So the trail to their real ancestry leads through Frau Holle's land....

[marycatelli]

And off they go through the land where fairy tales are true, and everyone knows it.