If they asked me I could write a book.

[TANGODANCER]

Nicked the title from song lyrics, but...

They say that everyone has at least one book inside them. I 've written three, and a couple of novellets on here with SOTWA, (He then went on to write The Wanderer and published it) and I got to wondering if any of you did write one, what topic would you choose? Would you write it in the first person, choose a fantasy, western, horror or crime theme and where would your location be?
I know some areas of Spain quite well so that's where I based mine. Let's here from some of you as there is a decent degree of intelligence on here and a lot of you read quite extensively. Let's be having you then...

[KeeeeeeeBaaaaaaab]

I was actively pushing the idea of getting a book written about me and a mate trying to participate in 80 different sports in 80 different countries. You can guess the title from that premise. We got as far as meeting a couple of agents who liked the prose and the idea, and even had a TV company interested in pitching it to a few digital channels in the hope they''d cover it. The idea crashed and burnt through a combination of too much interference from everyone, not enough faith in us and logistics.

Eighteen months later, someone wrote a similar book, and about four years later Channel Five had Rory McGrath and Paddy McGuinnes doing an evolution of my idea around Britain. C'est la vie.

[Verbal]

I like writing. I just never get around to doing anything due to being quite hectic.

My idea at the minute involves an accident occuring on the underground - a tunnel collapsing on a train, trapping the people inside. I'm trying to think of ways to develop it so that the carraiges become tribal, which will be interesting and probably mean spanning it over a few weeks/months (which itself brings questions of WTF is happening on the ground...). Shall see. I have some form of plan for it atm.

[KeeeeeeeBaaaaaaab]

I like writing. I just never get around to doing anything due to being quite hectic.

My idea at the minute involves an accident occuring on the underground - a tunnel collapsing on a train, trapping the people inside. I'm trying to think of ways to develop it so that the carraiges become tribal, which will be interesting and probably mean spanning it over a few weeks/months (which itself brings questions of WTF is happening on the ground...). Shall see. I have some form of plan for it atm.

It's the London Underground - carriages wouldn't become tribal - even with a collapsed tunnel people will still look at the first person to speak as if they had a smoking ticking rucksack on their fecking back.

Sorry, didn't want it to sound so blunt.

I like the idea, but I also have a very cynical mind. Anyway, debris from earthquake renders two trains immovable in a long piece of rail on the Victoria Line. Some leave train without any thought that line is still heavily electrified. Nothing for days as lots of death and what not. Food runs out. Carriages become more desperate. Holes cut in carriage floors to expose lines so invaders fall through and fry. People eat each other. Critics compare to Uruguayan rugby team eaten in plane crash. Essentially, best twist would be that no-one lives happily ever after. Well, they are in London....

[Verbal]

I like writing. I just never get around to doing anything due to being quite hectic.

My idea at the minute involves an accident occuring on the underground - a tunnel collapsing on a train, trapping the people inside. I'm trying to think of ways to develop it so that the carraiges become tribal, which will be interesting and probably mean spanning it over a few weeks/months (which itself brings questions of WTF is happening on the ground...). Shall see. I have some form of plan for it atm.

It's the London Underground - carriages wouldn't become tribal - even with a collapsed tunnel people will still look at the first person to speak as if they had a smoking ticking rucksack on their fecking back.

Sorry, didn't want it to sound so blunt.

I like the idea, but I also have a very cynical mind. Anyway, debris from earthquake renders two trains immovable in a long piece of rail on the Victoria Line. Some leave train without any thought that line is still heavily electrified. Nothing for days as lots of death and what not. Food runs out. Carriages become more desperate. Holes cut in carriage floors to expose lines so invaders fall through and fry. People eat each other. Critics compare to Uruguayan rugby team eaten in plane crash. Essentially, best twist would be that no-one lives happily ever after. Well, they are in London....

tunnel collapses. Train and people trapped. First ten days spent looking at the guy with the backpack who might want to blow you up too. Kick em while they're down, eh?

It was going to be on a late night train, so not like packed. But yeah, apart from that, I was thinking basically one carriage become cannibals whilst the other just try to sit it out. Probably going to stretch it out for months. But yeah, a few of the ideas included dead people piled up in the corner, commuters afraid to sleep in case they're eaten, people considered 'dangerous' kept under guard, etc. human values vs survival. Dunno if anyone will live yet. I was going to have it as the front carriage too, but I need to work out what to do with the driver.

Should be fun.

[KeeeeeeeBaaaaaaab]

Driver can keep giving the passengers glib remarks about the situation until he realises that the situation is actually quite bad, which is when he lashes out at everyone in an amazingly aggressive manner then goes on strike.

Not really pertinent to the story, but is very realistic.

Late evening train is perfect - get the complete diaspora of people, from late working businessmen to people out to the theatre to pissed up people who have had a long liquid lunch to tourists to students to hoodies. Late night train doesn't realistically give you this range. Divide them up into groups, but not too obvious that you've thought about which groups would mix well, and not too obvious tat you've put the obvious opposites in. Wouldn't want, say, the theatre goers and hoodies together, because that's just too obvious.

As for the guy in the backpack idea, he wouldn't last ten minutes.....

Actually, if you want to carry on this conversation in a less public, more secure intellectuall property wise environment, PM....

[Puskas]

I like writing. I just never get around to doing anything due to being quite hectic.

My idea at the minute involves an accident occuring on the underground - a tunnel collapsing on a train, trapping the people inside. I'm trying to think of ways to develop it so that the carraiges become tribal, which will be interesting and probably mean spanning it over a few weeks/months (which itself brings questions of WTF is happening on the ground...). Shall see. I have some form of plan for it atm.

Wasn't there a sketch on The Day Today doing somerthing similar?

Commuter train gets delayed just outside London - reporter goes there after 15 minutes to see the first signs of "Lord of the Flies" type activities....

Still - go with it.

[Prufrock]

Sounds very lord of the flies-y but interesting.

I'm renowned for loving Oscar Wilde, but one of the few quotes of his I seriously belieive is,

"in every first novel the hero is the author as Christ or Faust." Bear that in mind.

[Verbal]

For the record I hadn't read about Lord of The Flies until mentioned in this thread - must have been copied by the Simpsons too for an episode IIRC.

Haven't seen that on The Day Today, puskas, will try and note it when I next watch it though.

[Worthy4England]

I'm renowned for loving Oscar Wilde...

During or after his death?

[superjohnmcginlay]

I'm renowned for loving Oscar Wilde...

During or after his death?

During his death? You sick bastard.

[Verbal]

Driver can keep giving the passengers glib remarks about the situation until he realises that the situation is actually quite bad, which is when he lashes out at everyone in an amazingly aggressive manner then goes on strike.

Not really pertinent to the story, but is very realistic.

Late evening train is perfect - get the complete diaspora of people, from late working businessmen to people out to the theatre to pissed up people who have had a long liquid lunch to tourists to students to hoodies. Late night train doesn't realistically give you this range. Divide them up into groups, but not too obvious that you've thought about which groups would mix well, and not too obvious tat you've put the obvious opposites in. Wouldn't want, say, the theatre goers and hoodies together, because that's just too obvious.

As for the guy in the backpack idea, he wouldn't last ten minutes.....

Actually, if you want to carry on this conversation in a less public, more secure intellectuall property wise environment, PM....

Aye, was being tongue in cheek with backpack guy...also, a bit obvious to put him on it.

I agree with the idea about late evening...it'd be interesting to think whether people would initially mix. For instance, if someone was in a carriage on their own would they even make an effort to explore the others...I mean, most of the time we're on the tube we are suspicious of who is around us. IDK. That could be boring.

I might actually start to write this over the summer to be honest. It'd be good to get a plan down and start writing.

I'd be happy to PM you, but to be honest I'd be unsure what we'd be doing...bouncing ideas around?

[Verbal]

I'm renowned for loving Oscar Wilde...

During or after his death?

During his death? You sick bastard.

NECRO, NECRO.

[Raven]

I've tried but just too thick and useless at grammer etc

First was a comedy about a boy who managed to make wings and fly and got quite far and the ideas down but just could not carry it on and get to a satisfactory ending

Second was a fantasy about the barriers of magic between our worlds and others breaking down, again had all the ideas but got stuck and lost enthusiasm

[Soldier_Of_The_White_Army]

I'm currently writing two - a fantasy novel called 'Shadow Board' and my autobiography (trust me, me life has been far from boring!)

The Mist of Clarity (the sequel the 'The Wanderer') is currently in mid publication and should be out in three months.

I'd encourage anyone to write a story of their choosing, as there really isn't any feeling like writing the final sentence to a novel.

He's the prologue to 'Shadow Board' just for interests sake (please forgive any spelling or grammar mistakes as it's still in the rough):


Shadow board
The game of the gods



Mark cox




Prologue

It would be with a degree of ignorance to think that our universe is both the beginning and end of all things. The truth of the matter is that there is only one universe. Though the endless span of planets, solar systems and galaxies is thought to be all and everything, it is in fact one of four.
Not four universes, but one universe, broken into four dimensions. Same planets yet containing very different atmospheres and natural compositions, and are home to endless hordes of life forms.
These dimensions, though it may seam the case, are not entirely left to their own devices. That is the job for ‘The Attentive’.
The Attentive are the caretakers of the universe; ever watchful, and always present. They are supreme beings, immortal and omnipotent. They see all; every action, decision, birth and death of every life form in existstance. Above all, they stop any chance of the dimensions ever merging. They are the balance of all things.
Yet there have been a few occasions since time began, when creatures break through their dimensional plane onto ours.
When a person reads about mythical creatures, such as the infamous ‘Bigfoot’, ‘the Loch Ness Monster’, and even the most mythical creature of all, ‘The Dragon’, they aren’t necessarily always a depiction of someone’s imagination.
Our planets four dimensions are each ruled by four of the Attentive:
Sera – who watches over planet Earth’s second dimension, a dimension dominated by creatures of the sea, due to what we may refer to as ‘evolution in reverse’
It has always been believed that we evolved from the sea into land animals, yet, millions of years ago in the second dimension, the land creatures, slowly took to the water.
While there were creatures that still remained as land dwellers, it was the seas that were dominant with life. From the ‘pitters’ tidy squid like fish, as small as plankton, to the kings of the oceans, the mighty ‘Mallorious’, huge whale like creatures, twice the size of our Blue whale. Though unlike the whale, the Mallorious is carnivorous; a near perfect ambush hunter that attacks from beneath, much like our Great White shark.
Demator – who watches over Earth’s third dimension, a dimension were the dinosaurs still rule the earth. Housing creatures from the ‘Dodo’ to the grand Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Vanery – the watcher of Earth fourth dimension, the dimension of the mythical; the creatures of legend. The likes of The Minotaur, Titan and the Dragon roam this world.
Korious watches our dimension, and thanks to mans insistence on self destruction of their planet, he had be judged and found guilty. One representative from human kind would now have to fight for mans right to exist against chosen creatures from the other dimentions.
The Shadow board was about to be played.

[Raven]

Ohhh thats very good and intrigueing/intriguing, you spell it

[TANGODANCER]

The Guardians, the "Magi" if you will, who protect the boundaries of a parrallel world, five hundred years behind our own, are also the topic of my three books, set in southern Spain at the end of the Moorish occupation there. Effectively, my theme is a modern day guy cast back and forced to cope with the idea that, if he wanted to stay with the woman and lifestyle he grew to love, he would have to adapt to all the primitive elements of a world where killing to survive was the norm rather than the stuff of imagination. That, and the knowlege that if he did stay he may never be able to reurn.

Maybe I was just lucky; I started with a sentence and no plot in mind and managed to write a trilogy off that sentence.

[Worthy4England]

I'd encourage anyone to write a story of their choosing, as there really isn't any feeling like writing the final sentence to a novel.

The end. ?

Does nowt for me.

Good luck with the books.

[enfieldwhite]

I'm currently writing two - a fantasy novel called 'Shadow Board' and my autobiography (trust me, me life has been far from boring!)

The Mist of Clarity (the sequel the 'The Wanderer') is currently in mid publication and should be out in three months.

I'd encourage anyone to write a story of their choosing, as there really isn't any feeling like writing the final sentence to a novel.

He's the prologue to 'Shadow Board' just for interests sake (please forgive any spelling or grammar mistakes as it's still in the rough):


Shadow board
The game of the gods



Mark cox




Prologue

It would be with a degree of ignorance to think that our universe is both the beginning and end of all things. The truth of the matter is that there is only one universe. Though the endless span of planets, solar systems and galaxies is thought to be all and everything, it is in fact one of four.
Not four universes, but one universe, broken into four dimensions. Same planets yet containing very different atmospheres and natural compositions, and are home to endless hordes of life forms.
These dimensions, though it may seam the case, are not entirely left to their own devices. That is the job for ‘The Attentive’.
The Attentive are the caretakers of the universe; ever watchful, and always present. They are supreme beings, immortal and omnipotent. They see all; every action, decision, birth and death of every life form in existstance. Above all, they stop any chance of the dimensions ever merging. They are the balance of all things.
Yet there have been a few occasions since time began, when creatures break through their dimensional plane onto ours.
When a person reads about mythical creatures, such as the infamous ‘Bigfoot’, ‘the Loch Ness Monster’, and even the most mythical creature of all, ‘The Dragon’, they aren’t necessarily always a depiction of someone’s imagination.
Our planets four dimensions are each ruled by four of the Attentive:
Sera – who watches over planet Earth’s second dimension, a dimension dominated by creatures of the sea, due to what we may refer to as ‘evolution in reverse’
It has always been believed that we evolved from the sea into land animals, yet, millions of years ago in the second dimension, the land creatures, slowly took to the water.
While there were creatures that still remained as land dwellers, it was the seas that were dominant with life. From the ‘pitters’ tidy squid like fish, as small as plankton, to the kings of the oceans, the mighty ‘Mallorious’, huge whale like creatures, twice the size of our Blue whale. Though unlike the whale, the Mallorious is carnivorous; a near perfect ambush hunter that attacks from beneath, much like our Great White shark.
Demator – who watches over Earth’s third dimension, a dimension were the dinosaurs still rule the earth. Housing creatures from the ‘Dodo’ to the grand Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Vanery – the watcher of Earth fourth dimension, the dimension of the mythical; the creatures of legend. The likes of The Minotaur, Titan and the Dragon roam this world.
Korious watches our dimension, and thanks to mans insistence on self destruction of their planet, he had be judged and found guilty. One representative from human kind would now have to fight for mans right to exist against chosen creatures from the other dimentions.
The Shadow board was about to be played.

Great premise!

You may want to check the timelines for dinosaurs and Dodos, though.

The dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, whereas Dodos wer around up until a century ago and therefore not dinosaurs.

I suppose you could say that, as it's an alternate world, the Dodo could have slipped through to ours and got trapped, though. Except it isn't a reptile.

I'm already confused

[TANGODANCER]

According to Bolton Wanderer's Football club, Troglodytes are still around and, according to them, Dodos are actually playing football these days.