Categories: Fantasy
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Scott:
Suggestion: go Kafkaesque with your premise. In Franz Kafka's "The Trial", Joseph K. is arrested and put on a trial.? But he doesn't why, what he is accused of doing, what he is supposed to be guilty.? And no one will tell him even as he's found guilty and sentenced to death.
So have a modern day Joseph K.? He's popular,? lots of friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter, etc.? Maybe he's even a celebrity, a social influencer on the internet.? Whatever.
Then the inciting incident:? he wakes up one day to find he has been ghosted.? By the whole world.? No one will respond to him on social media or email; no one reads his Twitters or "likes" anything he posts on Facebook or on Instagram.? No one emails him or responds to emails; no one calls or return his calls.? He doesn't know why, what he has done wrong, and no one will tell him.
fwiw
Scott:
Suggestion: go Kafkaesque with your premise. In Franz Kafka's "The Trial", Joseph K. is arrested and put on a trial.? But he doesn't why, what he is accused of doing, what he is supposed to be guilty.? And no one will tell him even as he's found guilty and sentenced to death.
So have a modern day Joseph K.? He's popular,? lots of friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter, etc.? Maybe he's even a celebrity, a social influencer on the internet.? Whatever.
Then the inciting incident:? he wakes up one day to find he has been ghosted.? By the whole world.? No one will respond to him on social media or email; no one reads his Twitters or "likes" anything he posts on Facebook or on Instagram.? No one emails him or responds to emails; no one calls or return his calls.? He doesn't know why, what he has done wrong, and no one will tell him.
fwiw
Scott:
>>at least let me ask why you think the premise doesn't work? Not even in a fantasy?
Viewers will suspend disbelief for factual fabulism, for fantasy story worlds that are untethered from how things are in the real world.? But they will never suspend disbelief for emotional fabulism, for motivations and feelings that are untethered from how people feel and are motivated to act in the real world.
I have no problem believing that the protagonist in your premise covets attention.? That's an all too human motivation.? But I am unable to suspend disbelief that the response of the ruling elite is to imprison him in some kind of ghost costume.? All. They.? Have. To. Do. Is. Ignore. Him.? For a narcissist, to be ignored is a living hell.? He becomes a ghost simply being ignored.
Furthermore, there is nothing in the logline, nor have you offered any reason in the discussion thread why I should sympathize with him.? He's done nothing in the reel world of the story to earn the attention he craves.? Nor to earn my attention as a movie viewer in the real world.
Again, my 2.5 cents worth.
Scott:
>>at least let me ask why you think the premise doesn't work? Not even in a fantasy?
Viewers will suspend disbelief for factual fabulism, for fantasy story worlds that are untethered from how things are in the real world.? But they will never suspend disbelief for emotional fabulism, for motivations and feelings that are untethered from how people feel and are motivated to act in the real world.
I have no problem believing that the protagonist in your premise covets attention.? That's an all too human motivation.? But I am unable to suspend disbelief that the response of the ruling elite is to imprison him in some kind of ghost costume.? All. They.? Have. To. Do. Is. Ignore. Him.? For a narcissist, to be ignored is a living hell.? He becomes a ghost simply being ignored.
Furthermore, there is nothing in the logline, nor have you offered any reason in the discussion thread why I should sympathize with him.? He's done nothing in the reel world of the story to earn the attention he craves.? Nor to earn my attention as a movie viewer in the real world.
Again, my 2.5 cents worth.
The ghosting and turn into a ghost parallel is nice, but the premise doesn't work.
Perhaps phrase it differently and place it in a world that's closer to ours. For example: After all his followers ghost him, a Youtube celebrity befriends another social-media reject to...
Lastly, the goal is unclear. Now that he's found an ally ghost, what are they going to do about their predicament?
Does ?reject? mean kill? Otherwise why does he become a ghost.
You could have two stories here that run parallel. What if, a ghost from old school days is connected to a modern day case that mirrors their own?
Isn't being a ghost being dead and isn't that permanent? I feel if you made out your character joined a cult that dealt in spirituality and during a transcendent ritual he wanted out you could have an thriller inside the mind as they fought back against death
