I'm stuck on the plot....?

Question

Anyways, this will be a fantasy story. I have the character down squat, and have a backround story (for the parents) ready. I always seem to have trouble when it gets to the plot, however. I don't want you too give me a whole plot layed out, (but if ya do, well... inspiration?) but I'm really trapped as to what I should do. The basic outline is : Olivia Quille's father, Simon Quille, runs and owns his own antique book shop. When he is sold a strange, dusty book, he somehow enters another parallel universe to earth, where the Harpies and other greek mythological creatures live... NOT vampires or other crap like that. ( no offense meant) and anyways, ( I don't want to give too much away) He ends up escaping back into Earth with Mhyan, who he fell in love with (and she with him) during his stay.... she had helped him escape. Anyway, they burn the book and she is now called "Marianne". I haven't figured out why she seems human. Help on this too?

Back to plot: Like, I thought of kidnapping, her finding a new portal and other plot begining ideas, but they all seemed so... unoriginal and over-used. Help? Any tips as onto how to conjure up an idea?

Answer 1

Where is Olivia in all of this? Is "Marianne" her mother? Maybe the book was more than just a portal. Maybe it was a link between the magic of that world and the creatures that were living in this one (like maybe more than Marianne had escaped).



Or if Olivia went into that world with her father, maybe she was trapped and he didn't realize it until it was too late. So now he and Marianne have to find a way to bring her back.



You haven't really said what type of creature Mhyan is, so it is difficult to suggest a reason why she suddenly seems human on the Earth side of the portal. Maybe the portal makes you appear to be different things when you cross it? Like a glamour of sorts?



And, perhaps most importantly, what danger was in that other land that required escape in the first place?



This is what I do when I am having plot problems. I ask myself a bunch of questions and see where they lead me.



Good luck!



Edit: Maybe while Olivia was growing up her human half had dominance, but now that she's older (you could apply this to virtually any age or to any nymph or harpy characteristic) the non-human half is manifesting - through illness or non-human traits. Maybe Olivia needs to go back to the other world to find something to help her (in healing or controlling or understanding new traits/powers).



And as a subplot, maybe Olivia had trouble relating to her mother because she was so cold.

Answer 2

Maybe as a part of the other world, she can always reach it?



Or, you know, there are often more than just one copy of a book. Back when books were written out by hand, the scribe doing the work still had to have something to go off of. So maybe the original survived somehow, and what Simon had was essentially a reprint--or if it was done by hand, a copy. That'd be important to consider. Anything printed on a press would have considerably more copies than anything written by hand.



I agree that giving her human emotions will make her seem more human. If this is written in third person, you could make her a viewpoint character at some point, so the reader can understand her better--and empathize more easily with her.



Maybe it's impossible to seem anything but human while in this world, so harpies and such only appear in their true forms in the parallel world? It would also explain why no one can get good, hard proof of the existence of anything like that.



Hope something in there helps. Good luck!

Answer 3

You could have Mhyan be some kind of nymph, so she would seem human. If this doesn't work you could research some greek mythology.



I don't know how to help you with the plot, but your story sounds like something I'd love to read.

Here's a random suggestion.



-Some creepy old lady buys the book and uses it to kidnap Olivia.

-Simon follows them into the book, but once inside he can't find them.

-Simon searches for his daughter and encounters different creatures(including Mhyan) on the way

-Simon eventually finds his daughter, Mhyan leads them to a portal, but they must battle the sphinx(who is actually the old woman, or in league with her) to get through the portal



Good luck and good call with no vampires

P.S. great choice with the name "Quille"

Answer 4

Well, you can give her human-like emotions, which will make her seem more human like. You can make her say intelligent things that would be human-like.



About the plot: I think the kidnapping idea would be fine, as long as you wrote it in a different style.



Or, how about she has a dream/nightmare and when she wakes up she's somewhere else.



Another idea would be that she has a boyfriend that she thinks she is in love with; and he takes her somewhere (the portal like thing) and then he leaves her there, proving that she doesn't love him after all, so she can fall in love with that other boy.



Or she could be looking for an adventure, and she comes across this and she decides to go into it.



I hope this helps-good luck with your story!!!