Some of this I've had for a few weeks, I just don't think it's been on my blog? I have a google doc.
Portal fantasy - real world > fantasy world > home again
Feminist / Girls / lgbtq+ / as protag of typical fairytale/fantasy/hero’s journey narrative
Main character is queer, metaphorically it’s a kind of escapism, a world where queer is normal OR it’s not and it’s self aware “seriously, this, still?”
Don’t necessarily want it to have a romantic subplot though, I’d rather it just be.. A thing about the individual’s identity
Forests / a bit creepy / possibly usage of flower/plant symbolism
Sarcastic and talks to self, reluctant hero I guess?, or does, it, but is grumpy about it
Also like… very current young person language, very “nope” “haha what” “mood”
Wakes up at the end and thinks it must’ve been a dream..but wait….
Dream/reality comparison, ambiguity
Familiar/unfamiliar / Control/chaos / Perception/things not as they seem
The setting/tone/aesthetic is something I’ve had in my head for a while I’ve just never had a story for it
It’s kinda based on a place across from where I grew up….it used to be fields of cows (which lead up to the grampians/the hills) but is now developed with houses.
But there’s this one row of old oak trees, the last one being super weird with dark bark and weird branches that you can climb up, and then after that, through a kind
of weird dip/tunnel made of brances there’s a weird grove with old pig pens? Made of concrete, very run down, and little paths through a bit of forest that’s very creepy
and has a different tone to the rest of the place. Me and my neighbours my age used to spend hours up there, drawing maps and making it into almost like a fantasy setting..
BUT I’m definitely not going to try keep it all tied to this, since it’s very specific to me/my memories and that might not make a good story
Plot - Hero’s journey (kinda)
Normal world
MC doing something normal, then possibly on the phone having argument with parent/someone offscreen, possibly a “no, I’m not getting a boyfriend, no I’m not interested” (one way to establish That at the very beginning). Is annoyed, storms off /goes and sulks/calms down in the fields/forest, mocking conversation under breath or something... “oh man I remember exploring here as a kid..”
“I wonder if those weird ruins are still here…..” goes through/trips falls down hole/lays down and passes out or something .
Call to adventure
Wakes up. It’s like, twilight, takes a second, but then realises “oh shit gotta get back”
Walks a bit “wait a sec….”
(or something)
The ruins aren’t ruins any more “what,….?” “nope”
No way, gotta get home, realises it’s all quite not familiar
>checks phone, no signal, then it glitches possibly? Gif? Drops it, sees the circle of fey
“oh shit”
Then they turn and see her
>Have you brought a gift?
>No????
>Awesome! You live here now
>Hold up one second
[something along those lines]
> they basically say that she has to stay there, unless she completes the three tasks
[if you come back to the faery world as an adult you have to stay there forever]
I want them to be like…. very nonhuman fae, based on flowers/plants/insects/mushrooms or something
Mentor – object, advice, strength
Another girl, who’s also trapped there, but has been for a while? Possibly slightly ghostly/creepy, “this is what you end up like when you stay here ” - who more or less explains the Situation
Crossing threshold - (commit to change)
>Okay, guess i have to do these things to get outta here.
Challenges – into doing stuff
Three quests to win your freedom – you can choose which one to do first? Nonlinear, interactivity potentially. It might build narrative better if I do it in a specific order though. (also I might need to do something in that it only unlocks the next section once they’ve all been viewed?)
Could possibly use a map, as something you click on? A childhood map? (like the one I drew of the place…)
Maybe body/mind/spirit? But not explicitly?
Also should be things that seem completely random and strange, but come together with a specific meaning for the fae….like, ingredients for a spell? (maybe they are losing power/magic/their existence because of the development, and they make the ‘quests’ to get back strength/shielding/transporting somewhere else, there could be a slight environmental theme to this?) (but why would they trap the MC (and supposedly others) if that’s what they want?) (maybe they feed off the creativity/life force of people..)
Innermost cave – danger or conflict its’ led up to
After doing the three things/collecting whatever it was, she takes it back to the
Childhood flashbacks – maybe talking to faery, saying “don’t you remember…? (with possibly short, nonlinear parts, playing the memories?
Why could I be here as a kid but not now??
Fae: children are good. They give us their creativity freely.
“That’s creepy”
Ordeal / sacrifice – everything on the line
Sacrifice – forgetting it all – the memories of actually having been there as a child
“wait, I was here? Why don’t I remember?”
Reward – transformed, secret/knowledge/facilitates return
--
She gets to go home, yay
Also possibly saves the friend (mentor figure) too?
Return/reward/ressurection
There’s a path and she goes out into the light/ or maybe just a magic boop and she’s asleep
Wakes up, back in the normal forest?
Possibly just ending there? Something like “I had the weirdest dream….’ but there’s something that signifies it was real...
Some Sentences I found in my notebook when i was trying to write this ages ago (as a very short comic)
In an old field on the edge of the suburbs live the fair folk
They’re like weeds – coming up through the cracks, enduring no matter how much you try to kill them
The hillside used to be wild, undeveloped, but slowly ‘progress’ took over, (cows, houses)
Everywhere except the line of oak trees, the hints of old structures, and magical forest that seems deep and dark from the inside, but like nothing from the outside
To enter their realm: follow the line of oak trees, at the final old one there’s a dip and a tunnel of weeds. If you climb the tree you can watch them unseen, but if you go through into their realm you may never come back
If you feel suffocated too, they may just let you join them
Growing up, watching them at different ages
At the end of my road there’s a faery mound. It’s not there anymore. I think.
They’ll let you leave if you bring them a gift
Ooohhhh I could utilise the thing with javascipt things not going back when you scroll to show like. Fae watching but then u scroll back and they’re gone
Parts that play and you can’t control – memories, etc
Maybe it is a dream/dreamworld – considering it is al revolving around the MC
/////
How do I make it short, but still have impact? I don’t really want it to be something that’s like...narrated, like a fairy tale? I feel like that kinda distances it.
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