Should I write a story on this?

[BlueStorm]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=5877489&mesg_id=5877489

It's a dream I had this afternoon just before I woke up.

I am already formulating my ideas for it but I am kinda scared to write it up and post it as I am afraid of my ideas and characters being stolen. I have a certain character that I made up and love but I am afraid that someone would steal it, get it published and make something of it. I guess I have always been this paranoid because my mom has always warned me about this, yet she is always encouraging me to share my ideas and art work as I "might get the right people that would want you to work with them."

I am so confused.

Blue

[Orrex]

1. Of course you should write the story

If you're worried about someone stealing it from your post on DU, then don't post anything further that's specific to the story. You can safely ask for pointers, and you can probably exchange PM's with a willing critic without worrying about your idea being stolen.

Alternatively, if you've posted it here on DU and someone steals it thereafter, then you can cite the date of your post when you claim original credit for the idea. Overall, I'd say that it's unlikely that someone would steal your idea outright; science fiction is a broad genre, and there are more than enough stories for everyone.

To be honest, I'd be more worried about the undeniable influence of Star Trek in your story. Although you take pains to assure the reader that it's not a Rodenberry ripoff, you still make three Trek references in the short synopsis you posted. If you as the author can't go four paragraphs without falling back on Star Trek imagery, then there's no way that a reader won't likewise make the same connection. If you do write the story, your first task should be to make sure that it's not derivative of Trek or any similarly well-established sci-fi universe.

Sorry if that's not as specifically helpful as you'd hoped...

[BlueStorm]

2. Thank you so much...

Yes perhaps there was a Star Trek influence in my dream. I used to be a big Trek fan. Maybe I'm channelling Roddenberry?

This was a dream and I was pointing out the things that I thought were like ST but clearly it wasn't. The Federation that I have is similar to alot of ST parallels but there are differences. To list them all at this point would probably make this a long post.

But I will try to come up with something.

The character that I have is a weather controlling individual. She is rubenesque and has brown hair. She is a lesbian and has a girlfriend named Monique. She is a member of an alien elite intel/mercernary group headed by a royal family of the alien planet. (Not the one in my dream, a different one.) She also has a way of contacting the "Gaia Realm" a realm of plantary energies ie "spirits" such as the Great Lakes Spirts.

She was kidnapped by a trillionaire oil baron who tortures her to create Katrina for his own selfish needs. She remained under his rule for six months until she was rescued by the elite group.

She stayed in NOLA for a while with friends to help her with her trauma. During her tenure she finds out about a race of people who live off planet who are like her. After she gets back her guilt of NOLA is too strong so she leaves the city, however she starts to get in pain so her friends contact the race of people who deem that it is necessary for her to connect with the Spirit of NO.

Ok it's weird.



This I want to include in my dream thingie.

[Orrex]

3. I suggest changing the setting

Any story that involves a plot to "create" the Katrina disaster is bound to seem cruel and exploitive, at least as long as people are still trying to put their lives together in its aftermath. The kidnapped-to-control-the-weather angle is interesting, though, and you should easily be able to transplant the idea to an entirely fictional disaster, perhaps striking some other location so as not to seem simply like Katrina with a new name.

I don't doubt that your concept of this galactic governing entity is very different from the Star Trek Federation, but in that case you should rename it. "Federation" in sci-fi is too closely identified with Roddenberry and his progeny.

Also, from the scope of what you've described, I think that you've framed out a novel, rather than a short story. That's fine, of course; just be aware of the necessary differences in plot and pacing when you start to write it.

[BlueStorm]

4. I'm also an artist as well, more of a comic book artist..

Though I am not as great as the Marvel or DC comic artists I do hope that I will be able to go to school and learn. This is one of the things that is driving my life, my creativity.

Yes you are right about the Katrina angle, even though that is what I originally have in my head I most certainly would not make that a plot in a real-life story line. The parts of my ideas that would be deemed controversial would be changed. The original fantasy just stays a fantasy.

Here are some of my drawings just to show you what I do:











And my attempt at black and white inking techniques.