Non-threaded

Forums » Writing Workshop » Read Thread

Find proofreaders here, useful resources, and share opinions and advice on story crafting.

Project Red Storm: The Martian Genocide

2 years ago
Mizal suggested I make a thread to track progress, so here it is.

I haven't started writing yet, but I believe I have come up with the perfect title now, which took a lot of time.

The story will be about a girl with special powers being recruited by an Earth government to deal with a rebellion on the Mars colony.

The background is pretty complicated since this is set in the future of my main setting, but I'll make sure anything important is worked into this story naturally.

I'm planning for it to be about 15,000 words, with at least four endings.

Project Red Storm: The Martian Genocide

2 years ago
Commended by mizal on 7/23/2021 12:43:01 PM

Oh this is for the manifest destiny contest right? Which category will you be writing in? Sci-fi? If so, them that's really cool! My mind always draws a blank if I was asked to cook up ideas for a sci-fi story. Never had a true passion  for the genre.

A few questions have sprung into my mind. Hehe, let's see if I can pry some information out of you.

the protagonist

To start of with something simple, what kind of powers does she have? Why does she have those powers? How did the government come to know that she had special powers?

I can imagine that if her powers were that powerful that the government would be use her as a living breathing atom bomb. If she is a child according to your description, I could imagine that she has a lot of pent-up emotional problems or trauma. Perhaps you could play with that.

the rebellion and planning

Why are the rebels fighting anyways? Is it because of a rising feeling of nationalism amongst the martians or is it due to other reasons. Most of the time most rebels actually hate each other. They are just like any political party. A lot of people bickering with many different viewpoints and personal goals. The only thing that keeps them together is their mutual hatred of the ruling government. 

You can see this in many revolutions in the past. The most famous example might be the russian revolution where people had overthrown the czar. Amongst the group of rebels were not only communists, but also socialists, liberals, soldiers and even a few members of the nobility. After the czar was overthrown the different factions went on to kill each other in another civil war.

Oh I saw the word genocide pop into the title of your thread. If you want to have something more akin to a one-sided fight, you might want to look at the louisiana slave revolt. If you read into the records or the wikipedia article, you can get some really interesting ideas out of it. Atun-shei also has made a pretty good youtube video about it if you are not much of a reader. I do have to warn you that stuff gets pretty graphic; decapitated heads and stuff.

wordcount

You said the background is a little complicated and that you planned to have it be around 15.000 words with four endings, so I have to give you a little warning beforehand. 

15.000 words will probably not be enough to tell such a story well, especially with an elaborate background story and four endings. I came to find this out when I started to write my own stuff. Proper characterisation is hard to do with 15.000 words. It sounds like a lot, but you will notice that you quickly burn through it.

I suggest that you either make the scope smaller (instead of dealing with a full rebellion, make the story about a battle or a mission with the rebellion as a nice backdrop) or just plan to write a little more words or you have to rush some parts.

Conclusion

This is all what I have to say. I look forward to your story!

Project Red Storm: The Martian Genocide

2 years ago
I like having someone take this much interest in this, but I cannot answer any of the questions about the protagonist because as Wrenby said, spoilers!

The rebellion has already happened when you arrive, the story won't get too much into the build up to it since the character is 14 and has a limited understanding of politics anyway.

I think 15k will be enough, but I can do more if I need to and if I have time.

Project Red Storm: The Martian Genocide

2 years ago
This sounds interesting, the title is eye catching. But if genocide is in the title, that makes it sound like it happens every time. Spoilers!

Project Red Storm: The Martian Genocide

2 years ago
I have so much writing to do today and tomorrow.

So, so much...

Project Red Storm: The Martian Genocide

2 years ago

Lol

Project Red Storm: The Martian Genocide

2 years ago
I have a complete story finished up to one ending in google docs so it's not impossible, there's just no choices yet.

Project Red Storm: The Martian Genocide

2 years ago
I have 5000 words but don't think I'll be able to finish the other paths, and it still needs to be all copied over to the site. As I just found out in a couple of hours I'm being dragged out of the house for some bullshit today, because it's "healthy" for me to be around people I don't like who are all having food I can't eat.

Project Red Storm: The Martian Genocide

2 years ago
Ah yes, enforced gatherings where you're the one who should feel bad for not being present some mandatory number of hours in a noisy place full of people you don't want to be around, how I don't miss them.

When you're an adult you'll still have to deal with this in a sense, but at least you'll get paid for it.