Scrapped ideas

[dummycake]

What are some scrapped ideas that you didn't find a way or it just didn't fit in your novel?
I'll start.

When I was coming up with powers, I thought about using the seven capital sins as seven types of powers. It doesn't fit with the other powers I thought after, but one of them I'm really sad that I will not use it anymore.
The Lust sin, for example, comes from one of the user's fetish.

One of the main characters was a Lust and he had four tentacles on his back :)

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

What are some scrapped ideas that you didn't find a way or it just didn't fit in your novel?
I'll start.

When I was coming up with powers, I thought about using the seven capital sins as seven types of powers. It doesn't fit with the other powers I thought after, but one of them I'm really sad that I will not use it anymore.
The Lust sin, for example, comes from one of the user's fetish.

One of the main characters was a Lust and he had four tentacles on his back :)

Some scrapped ideas huh?

Well buckle up. I've got some good ones.

Idea número uno that got scrapped was the absolute breakdown of my main character.
Had an entire scene's worth of utter madness where arms are sprouting and shredding into the rafters like an urchin that decided 'you know what? Let's become a bone-white fungal forest hybridized with a zombie-infested graveyard.'
MC was giggling off their goofy ass like they were high, hugging themselves in a strait jacket of hands as they plucked any human they could assault freakishly clean of flesh. Mmhmm. Much like rotisserie chicken, you know?
Imagine that to the accompaniment of angelic bells and booyah. You had the beginning of the end for my story. Would have ended in an absolutely BEAUTIFUL death, baby!


Idea número dos that got scrapped was The King and Betsie dying by the MC's own hands.
As a bit of context, The King was the main antagonist of the first arc. Originally, he was originally going to be assassinated through the convincing wiles of the main character.
But alas! That was when the peak power levels was far lower. The King was just too powerful for that to be possible in the finished version, which has led to a lack of catharsis for the readers. Kind of unfortunate, but hopefully I'll be able to deliver that catharsis elsewhere.
And Betsie, sweet summer child that she is, had a frankly cruel fate planned for her in the second iteration of the basic story idea forming in my head.
She was going to get crippled by The King and given to the MC alive as a favor from him, whereby Betsie would be eaten alive by the main character.
"Trauma, trauma, it's no fun. Unless it's shared with everyone!"

 

[Rhaps]

My MC's primary weapon used to be some sort of sword and shield. But I decided those wouldn't fit my MC's aggressive approach to combat.

So now she duel-wields a sniper rifle and a lance.

Another thing was her directly killing people. She is a hypocrite, she kill people indirectly, so having her pointed her gun at another person and pull the trigger would ruin that part of her character.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

She is a hypocrite, she kill people indirectly, so having her pointed her gun at another person and pull the trigger would ruin that part of her character.

Huh? I don't understand this sentence!

 

[Rhaps]

Huh? I don't understand this sentence!

Killing people directly ❌️
Other borrowing her power to kill ✅️

 

[tyler89558]

I was playing around with a story that starts off from two POVs where both characters are candidates to be the hero (of what, for what, I wasn’t ever too clear on that).

POV 1 was someone who suffered from a pretty bad case of imposter syndrome. He was plenty competent and hardworking, but his background and general treatment made him doubt his abilities every step of the way.

POV 2 was pretty much the perfect candidate. Had no major faults (beyond possibly overconfidence/airheadedness). Status, personality, ability. Everything was top of the line.

the “plan” was that at some point POV 2 would be killed off and the torch would be passed into POV 1. Probably some sort of self sacrifice. (Closest I can think of would probably be something like Gurren Lagann)

I then wanted to play around with POV 1’s mental state, with the possibility that most people would turn against him for “murdering” POV 2 to take his role (an accusation he wouldn’t fight out of survivor’s guilt).

unfortunately I’m not good enough to write it as adequately as I’d like to, considering the entire first arc leading up to the point POV 2 dies would have been an academy arc (and I’ve realized I’m terrible with that). And I never really did think about the end condition for everything with a really generic setting. I also couldn’t figure out if I wanted to start at the point POV 2 died for a prologue or just start at the beginning of arc 1.

I also realized that I’m god awful at writing dialogue… and planning anything out… nor did I really have an idea about the central theme or how to make the characters not completely one-dimensional.

 

[Benson]

My original idea for my story was that there were a bunch of isekai guys and girls who would be summoned into a white space, each of them would be given a color and then they would reincarnate in another world. They would need to fight each other and spread their colors in the white canvas thingy where they first met. Every color had like different abilities and the stronger you got, the more your color spread over the canvas. The one who managed to fully dye the canvas would then ascend to godhood, and I can't remember more of it. Been some time. Not my best idea, which is why it was turned into scrap and trashed.

 

[groudonvert]

Funnily enough, all of the worst ideas I got that I thought I would never add in my story... were added lol

 

[dummycake]

Some scrapped ideas huh?

Well buckle up. I've got some good ones.

Idea número uno that got scrapped was the absolute breakdown of my main character.
Had an entire scene's worth of utter madness where arms are sprouting and shredding into the rafters like an urchin that decided 'you know what? Let's become a bone-white fungal forest hybridized with a zombie-infested graveyard.'
MC was giggling off their goofy ass like they were high, hugging themselves in a strait jacket of hands as they plucked any human they could assault freakishly clean of flesh. Mmhmm. Much like rotisserie chicken, you know?
Imagine that to the accompaniment of angelic bells and booyah. You had the beginning of the end for my story. Would have ended in an absolutely BEAUTIFUL death, baby!


Idea número dos that got scrapped was The King and Betsie dying by the MC's own hands.
As a bit of context, The King was the main antagonist of the first arc. Originally, he was originally going to be assassinated through the convincing wiles of the main character.
But alas! That was when the peak power levels was far lower. The King was just too powerful for that to be possible in the finished version, which has led to a lack of catharsis for the readers. Kind of unfortunate, but hopefully I'll be able to deliver that catharsis elsewhere.
And Betsie, sweet summer child that she is, had a frankly cruel fate planned for her in the second iteration of the basic story idea forming in my head.
She was going to get crippled by The King and given to the MC alive as a favor from him, whereby Betsie would be eaten alive by the main character.
"Trauma, trauma, it's no fun. Unless it's shared with everyone!"

It's cool to see this alternate timeline-dimension in the head of the author. Also, you're fucked up.

I was playing around with a story that starts off from two POVs where both characters are candidates to be the hero (of what, for what, I wasn’t ever too clear on that).

POV 1 was someone who suffered from a pretty bad case of imposter syndrome. He was plenty competent and hardworking, but his background and general treatment made him doubt his abilities every step of the way.

POV 2 was pretty much the perfect candidate. Had no major faults (beyond possibly overconfidence/airheadedness). Status, personality, ability. Everything was top of the line.

the “plan” was that at some point POV 2 would be killed off and the torch would be passed into POV 1. Probably some sort of self sacrifice. (Closest I can think of would probably be something like Gurren Lagann)

I then wanted to play around with POV 1’s mental state, with the possibility that most people would turn against him for “murdering” POV 2 to take his role (an accusation he wouldn’t fight out of survivor’s guilt).

unfortunately I’m not good enough to write it as adequately as I’d like to, considering the entire first arc leading up to the point POV 2 dies would have been an academy arc (and I’ve realized I’m terrible with that). And I never really did think about the end condition for everything with a really generic setting. I also couldn’t figure out if I wanted to start at the point POV 2 died for a prologue or just start at the beginning of arc 1.

I also realized that I’m god awful at writing dialogue… and planning anything out… nor did I really have an idea about the central theme or how to make the characters not completely one-dimensional.

Just sounds like you need more experience. I'm sure you can come back to this idea someday.

My original idea for my story was that there were a bunch of isekai guys and girls who would be summoned into a white space, each of them would be given a color and then they would reincarnate in another world. They would need to fight each other and spread their colors in the white canvas thingy where they first met. Every color had like different abilities and the stronger you got, the more your color spread over the canvas. The one who managed to fully dye the canvas would then ascend to godhood, and I can't remember more of it. Been some time. Not my best idea, which is why it was turned into scrap and trashed.

That's just Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

 

[MintiLime]

Fantasy races. Specifically, Elves that turn dark once they kill, but can also transfer their sins to others. This allows them to continue living on in pride. I might write a different story with them though

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

It's cool to see this alternate timeline-dimension in the head of the author. Also, you're fucked up.

Thank you, dearie!

 

[Benson]

That's just Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

Does it? Never played that. But aren't the Tony Hawk games popular?

 

[dummycake]

Does it? Never played that. But aren't the Tony Hawk games popular?

There's a versus mode where you and your buddies compete to paint the map. If you do a successful trick, that area is yours. If someone else does a better trick, that area is theirs.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I scrapped an idea to make a character's backstory darker than it was. Her parents died in a car accident (it is a slice-of-life novel), but it was going to go further. Originally she was going to be at the scene as a witness, and I was going to delve further into the trauma. I scrapped that and had a police officer deliver her the news. That decision really changed how she was as a character after the accident. It made it easier for her to push forward through the trauma.

 

[MintiLime]

I scrapped an idea to make a character's backstory darker than it was. Her parents died in a car accident (it is a slice-of-life novel), but it was going to go further. Originally she was going to be at the scene as a witness, and I was going to delve further into the trauma. I scrapped that and had a police officer deliver her the news. That decision really changed how she was as a character after the accident. It made it easier for her to push forward through the trauma.

Rare occurrence of an author being (somewhat) kind to a character

 

[dummycake]

I scrapped an idea to make a character's backstory darker than it was. Her parents died in a car accident (it is a slice-of-life novel), but it was going to go further. Originally she was going to be at the scene as a witness, and I was going to delve further into the trauma. I scrapped that and had a police officer deliver her the news. That decision really changed how she was as a character after the accident. It made it easier for her to push forward through the trauma.

I have the same backstory for a character but she was in the car :>
and now she's deeply afraid of cars :}

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I have the same backstory for a character but she was in the car :>
and now she's deeply afraid of cars :}

In the actual story it was a drunk driver that killed them. The MC does blame herself because she gave them the money for a night out.

 

[dummycake]

In the actual story it was a drunk driver that killed them. The MC does blame herself because she gave them the money for a night out.

My character blames themselves as well because she thought she distracted her father, but actually, it was just an accident and she was just a kid. She just wanted a reason for it to happen, and her vague memories helped her find one.

 

[owotrucked]

Harambe getting isekaied to become the demon lord

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Harambe getting isekaied to become the demon lord

Dew it.