Help on a story?

The "it was really just a dream!" plots tend to be rejected by readers, unless they're a skillful and concerted effort to not be The Wizard of Oz -- and that story only seems to be acceptable because it was grandfathered in as a classic. Similar stories seem to do things to make the "dream"-ness more than just a frame to make a fantastic story plausible. Total Recall does this by leaving the question of if the events are real ambiguous, The Matrix does it by making the delusions a character in their own right, etc. This comic pulled it off in part 1 by making the act of waking up a tragedy - and that requires a lot of content to produce. Even then, I wouldn't be surprised if a healthy number of readers stormed off in a huff after that.

Given that you have a quest for self-improvement and about a short story's length of text, I'd avoid that story structure. It takes a lot of space to set things up so that when the dream ends people don't think "Ugh! Another one!" or, if they're feeling comical, "No. But it wasn't a dream -- it was a place. And you -- and you -- and you -- and you were there!"

That said, I'd think there would be some interest in writing ordinary characters in an extraordinary setting. If nothing else, you've a contrast from expectations that requires no obscene explanation. You have a story that takes place in a land o' Fairy Tales and your main characters aren't even a little bit magical. The explanation? Well, they're normal people. (duh!) It's that sort of thing that keeps people interested in work, especially when it avoids the cliche ways to set it up (magic portals, dreams, etc.)


... mostly a postscript here. The serious, serious issues in fanfics are also cliche. Horridly so. Those issues are how people who don't like fanfics make fun of them, and why such writings are almost never accepted by a general audience. I don't mean to scold the genre; I more mean to point at why the things don't get published, except by scammers, and to nudge toward the idea that the original plan was to present this to what sounded like a relatively large audience.

Zelknolf wrote:... mostly a postscript here. The serious, serious issues in fanfics are also cliche. Horridly so. Those issues are how people who don't like fanfics make fun of them, and why such writings are almost never accepted by a general audience.

By "serious, serious issues", I did not mean "oh no! I'm unpopular, and I have to get an abortion, and I was sexually assaulted, and I think I'm in love with my best friend and now I have to come out of the closet."* I keep forgetting that people cannot hear my intended tone of voice over the internet. What I meant to say was, well... I like reading about unstable people, and I'm a sucker for messed up, destructive relationships. In fiction, of course. And meanwhile, over here, my characters are dealing with life, and having not too bad of a time with it, just they can't admit they're attracted to each other. And I'm a little bored of writing generally happy people.

Do you think I should just keep with the previous idea, but make them less happy?

* I am not dismissing that most of these things are serious. I just don't like to read about them in fic because they're always really badly handled and usually a means to an end, namely the end of getting so and so to hook up with whatsisname.

And they're also tactless efforts to muster reader sympathy! Can't forget that part.


Less happy could work, depending on what you're trying to accomplish. I had the impression that there was an implied subtext of grappling with loneliness in that story, and adding that (if there wasn't on there) or making a subtext into a theme is an easy way to add some emotional strife to the characters.

But, thankfully, you seem to be able to identify the bad fics, so I'd say it's all good as long as the characters don't become flat or implausible under the weight of their issues. Which I'm sure you've seen happen, so you'd know what it looks like.

What if your character goes to a special private school that the royal kids also happen to go too. Maybe even in the the same class or club so they would know each other. Then it wouldn't be such a stretch for her to hope he likes her back. Rather than just waiting for a prince to show up out of the blue.

Or maybe she has a job at a palace or something. And she finds it dull and boring and spends half her time day dreaming.

I don't think it's the fact that she's a daydreamer that I'd have trouble relating too. It's what she day dreams about. I'm not the type of person who day dreams about princes falling in love with me. I day dream about going to space and seeing other worlds. *Total Sci-fi geek* But that's just me, I couldn't tell you what other people relate too.