Opening a shop in ancient times

Zenomew

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I actually got an interesting writing prompt a female MC from Modern-Day opening a Supermarket in Medieval/ancient Times

Basically a modern woman is mysteriously transported to a medieval town or city with the supermarket having electricity, running water, and a stockpile of everyday products that occasionally restocks itself.(Plot) she decides to open a “general store” using these modern items, introducing townspeople to goods like packaged food, toiletries, and stuff.
Oh yeah she also struggles with medieval business practices, religious extremism about her “strange” products, and the uncertainty of her supply replenishing...on their own , homesickness and boredom of being deprived of reels,Web series and video games

In case of Ancient China there will be jerks who are like " girls should not run buisness they should marry and be obedient (servant) wives "

In case of medivieal Europe "She's a witch burn her to death" the local mad priest

please try to write like the first week or so in 10k words
 
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RepresentingWrath

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Post a writing prompt and get other authors to write stories based on them and readers to comment on them! Hopefully as authors, you can get inspirations from this.

Please try to summarize your writing prompt in the thread title.

Example (Thanks @Ai-chan):


Premise:
Your protagonist got hit by a goat on his way home, causing him to be kicked into another world. All he has on hand are the things he carried and the ability to summon a goat mount.

Task:
Write a story about his first day in another world in 1000 words or less.
 

Leti

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But I don't want to open a general store. I want to open a store that sold people's organs.
 

LoneQuack

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Yeah, it'd be a miracle if she survived for more than 3 days and I am stretching it. People often forget just how brutal we humans once were...
 

Zenomew

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Yeah, it'd be a miracle if she survived for more than 3 days and I am stretching it. People often forget just how brutal we humans once were...
If the MC does not understand have a system
 

CharlesEBrown

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My wife found a Japanese serial drama kind of along these lines. Actually, wish I had thought of it...
A guy has a food truck that somehow can travel through time - not sure if it was explained and she just didn't get it, or they never did give a reason why - but he uses it to travel to times when they used precious metals for payment and starvation was common, exchanges food for ancient metal coins, returns to the present, sells the coins for a huge profit, buys more food, and travels somewhere else.
Was getting quite rich until a street gang figured out that he had a lot of money and started robbing him, so he started trading food for martial arts training instead, so he could fight back against them.
 

Anonjohn20

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A supermarket would be difficult because peasants could barely afford food from vendors; they had to hunt, forage, fish, raise livestock, make their own gardens (if they weren't in an urban area like a city), and if they participated in farming, they got a small share of the crop. The further advanced society got, the more they had to depend on working for their lord to get that share of the crop, as laws would eventually get passed to prevent hunting and fishing in certain areas. If a noble caught you poaching, you'd be executed. You couldn't even cut a tree without their permission.

If I had the power to take modern products back to previous time periods, I'd make a liquor store. The fancy alcohol would get me many connections with nobles and merchants.
 

Zenomew

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My wife found a Japanese serial drama kind of along these lines. Actually, wish I had thought of it...
A guy has a food truck that somehow can travel through time - not sure if it was explained and she just didn't get it, or they never did give a reason why - but he uses it to travel to times when they used precious metals for payment and starvation was common, exchanges food for ancient metal coins, returns to the present, sells the coins for a huge profit, buys more food, and travels somewhere else.
Was getting quite rich until a street gang figured out that he had a lot of money and started robbing him, so he started trading food for martial arts training instead, so he could fight back against them.
The name of the drama pls
 

CharlesEBrown

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The name of the drama pls
She either didn't know or forgot it by the time she told me about the show. It's on a streaming service that gouges the heck out of anyone ($2 per 3-5 minute episode, or $20 per week or $50 per month - but if you try to cancel they drop it 50% for an unspecified time).
 

Zenomew

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Umm..so is anyone interested in writing a story based on this?... please?
 

Anonjohn20

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There are so many isekai manga with a character opening a shop. I think you're just in the wrong art medium if you need it to be a novel
 

3guanoff

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swear I saw a Chinese novel with a supermarket in ancient times...

  1. Searched for it, 1st result: “我在古代开超市“ "I opened a supermarket in ancient times"
    Nope, not the right one. This is a generic romance.
    One teeny tiny supermarket; it sells daily necessities like fuel, rice, oil, salt, soy, vinegar, and tea; its products all the flavors of life: sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty.
    A talented modern woman; she dies in an accident and is reborn in ancient times as a peasant; she brings wealth to her family opening a supermarket; she has a happy life raising kiddos; her life is flat, but her partner makes waves.
    The story told is of the daily life in the fields, and of the neighbors' big messes: Which widow slept with whose brother-in-law? Whose daughter eloped? Who stole from whom? Who snatched two heads of garlic from someone else's fields? And so on; the most trifling of daily trivialities, but that's life."
    Tagged: ancient times, farming, system, transmigration, space, modern to ancient, poor to rich
  2. And what do you know, there's another one with the exact same title. But why is it another trashy romance?
  3. But finally, I found the one I remembered!
    Title is exactly the same as the other two, but it is on faloo! And our MC is male.
    After transmigrating to a different world, Xu Feng starts a business. Instant noodles, cigarettes, beer, liquor, matches - those all sell like hotcake. Opening a supermarket in ancient times, becoming the richest family is just a matter of time.
    "Woah, boss, you are so rich!"

So if you start a novel like that, pick a title that's a little more distinctive...

You can also try:
  • Is it hard to get rich? My supermarket connects to antiquity 暴富很难?我的超市通古今!
  • I opened a supermarket in Tang Dynasty 我在大唐开超市
  • I opened a supermarket during the War of Resistance against Japan 我在抗日路上开超市
  • I opened a supermarket during primordial times 我在洪荒开超市
 
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BLIGHT_ZERO

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I actually got an interesting writing prompt a female MC from Modern-Day opening a Supermarket in Medieval/ancient Times

Basically a modern woman is mysteriously transported to a medieval town or city with the supermarket having electricity, running water, and a stockpile of everyday products that occasionally restocks itself.(Plot) she decides to open a “general store” using these modern items, introducing townspeople to goods like packaged food, toiletries, and stuff.
Oh yeah she also struggles with medieval business practices, religious extremism about her “strange” products, and the uncertainty of her supply replenishing...on their own , homesickness and boredom of being deprived of reels,Web series and video games

In case of Ancient China there will be jerks who are like " girls should not run buisness they should marry and be obedient (servant) wives "

In case of medivieal Europe "She's a witch burn her to death" the local mad priest

please try to write like the first week or so in 10k words
are we getting paid...?
 

Cortavar

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I actually got an interesting writing prompt a female MC from Modern-Day opening a Supermarket in Medieval/ancient Times

Basically a modern woman is mysteriously transported to a medieval town or city with the supermarket having electricity, running water, and a stockpile of everyday products that occasionally restocks itself.(Plot) she decides to open a “general store” using these modern items, introducing townspeople to goods like packaged food, toiletries, and stuff.
Oh yeah she also struggles with medieval business practices, religious extremism about her “strange” products, and the uncertainty of her supply replenishing...on their own , homesickness and boredom of being deprived of reels,Web series and video games

In case of Ancient China there will be jerks who are like " girls should not run buisness they should marry and be obedient (servant) wives "

In case of medivieal Europe "She's a witch burn her to death" the local mad priest

please try to write like the first week or so in 10k words
10K words is a bit much for me...

The whole supermarket is interesting, but if you want to keep it on the down low, and be rich: just raid the spice rack!

In medieval Europe, spices reached stupid prices, even things we take for granted like pepper were a luxury and a delicacy.

"Time accident transports hapless shopper from the spice section of a supermarket along with the racks" sounds easier than the whole supermarket thing.

And then the timey-wimey stuff keeps happening and the breach widens, and the established spice merchant has a whole supermarket to deal with, and some other hapless folks from the future who get thrown into time.

And then there's a zombie apocalypse in the future, and the successful merchant leads a group of men-at-arms through the breach to bash some skulls!
 
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