fhplotterywheel | All we wanna do is storm your brains

I completely dig that idea. And since we've established as a game that the island is semi-sentient and reacts in odd ways to external stimuli (wasn't there the whole pining for the Isle of Ikea thing?), maybe the semi-sentient island itself decides its crazy/gets semi-sentient island therapy?

I might need sleep.

I really like that! The island decides "... okay, enough weird, I am FED UP." And the characters need to do something to make it happy again.

"It's okay, Fandom Island! We like you just the way you are! We like you, uh, because you make us act crazy and do embarrassing things and -- okay, someone who's better at lying needs to try doing this."

Now I'm picturing all the unaffected folks having to convince everyone who thinks they're crazy to give the island a giant group hug.

"No. Seriously. HUG THE DAMNED TREE!"

Now I'm picturing Priestly trying to convince Worf to hug a tree.

Worf: No.
Priestly: You have no joy. You know that?

Priestly: You can't at least pretend to have joy? Just this once?

Worf: *grunts* Can I punch you afterward?

Priestly: . . . Okay, fine, but only if the hug works and the island feels better.

I was thinking something along the lines of Nemesis Island making another bid to take over Fandom.

But that doesn't get fixed by hugging trees.

I definitely need to sleep.

But but but. You're awesome when you're sleep-deprived.

My boss might disagree. Since I'm doing this instead of, say, work.

But just think of it! Our characters spend so much time cursing the island and believing it's being deliberately cruel and I kind of completely love the idea that something has to get fixed by loving the island just the way it is.

And tree hugging.

. . . I miss Blair Sandburg.

Seriously, I love that idea; it's brilliantly cracky and it makes so much sense, especially given how often the weird stuff happens and people keep going "STUPID ISLAND."

Like maybe we all gave it a complex.

I do like that idea but not really in conjunction with something making the people of Fandom think they are crazy.

Exactly! Fandom Island doesn't want your judgement, it only wants your love!

The island must be saved by lovers, not fighters!

. . . There's no reason why Nemesis Island couldn't be involved in getting the island to the final breaking point, though.

Yes, yes, this so much.

THE ISLAND JUST WANTS TO BE LOVED, PEOPLE.

It does!

And no, I'd say leave Nemesis Island out. It's been done, and that's too complicated. But having the Island causing the NON-CRAZY is kinda perfect.

The problem I have with that is that the island deciding it wants to be loved is pretty much crack whereas the plot I was proposing would *not* be crack. I like both ideas, but I don't like them being smushed together.

I'm not sure why a crack problem can't have non-crack consequences. Absurdity doesn't have to mean silliness. It's all in how you write it/how your characters react.

I agree with this, for what it's worth. It would all be in the execution. (A love spell can be crack, but some of the fallout from the one we had last week has not been.)

I also like the crack solution because I've seen BDE ideas founder because, frankly, finding a suitable villain can be a big pain in the ass. Making the 'villain' the island lets us focus on how our characters react, and not on finding the right Big Bad.

Just a matter of seeing which one works better for a full plot, I'd think.

I like the idea as angst/emo/darkness, although we just did that with the Vampverse plot.

I also like the idea as Hug the Island Crack. Having 'villains' to fight in the plot wouldn't prevent the plot from having angst elements, after all.

*Smushes* *unsmushes * ... *makes peanut butter*

ETA: Having *no* villains... I need caffiene. And I like what Erin's saying just below. Like that, yes.

Edited 2009-12-16 19:57 (UTC)

I don't necessarily think dark plots -- like what you're proposing -- can't be influenced or catalyzed by cracky events. In my mind, it's actually carrying out a sort of 'man vs. nature' theme, inasmuch as the island deserves respect/love and without it, it'll turn on our kids. It doesn't have to be crazy crack, but I do think there's room to blend the ideas without losing the tone you're going for. 'Cause yeah, I loves the dramaz, but throwing in a little island love doesn't have to be cracky so much as sort of obvious and sweet in a "WHY DIDN'T WE THINK OF THIS? OMG, I ACCEPT YOU, ISLAND!" kind of way.

Just my two cents.

True, they could be blended together. It's just that the idea of people thinking they are insane for the way they have lived their entire lives being fixed by hugging a tree is a little too ridiculous for my taste.

The other problem I see is that the people who are effected and think they are insane aren't gonna be all that loving towards the island once it wears off which sort of negates the whole premise in my mind.

Doesn't have to be them -- it could be the unaffected ones. And having THOSE guys be the mundane ones kind of makes it work for me. ie, Robin is usually one to bitch about the island -- having her be one of the unaffected ones who has to go "...seriously? The island just needs us to stop bitching about the crazy for once? FINE." actually makes me go 'eee, that works character-developmentally!'

And FWIW I think the tree-hugging was hyperbole.

Re: Specific Ideas

lovemykilt - 2009-12-16 20:06 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Specific Ideas

justwantsquiet.livejournal.com - 2009-12-16 20:14 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Specific Ideas

weetuskenraider - 2009-12-16 20:29 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Specific Ideas

living_endless - 2009-12-16 20:01 (UTC) - Expand

I'm actually kind of in agreement with this, because if the idea were to go as serious as Buffy's Normal Again, we're talking about a lot of characters actually believing that they're mentally ill. Not gremlin-bite level crazy, but 'no, I've really been in an institution all this time' and that's a little too real world and heavy to me, to be solved with anything cracky, no matter who does the solving. It would feel like the crack was trivializing true fears of mental illness, and for a character like, say, Kate, who really does have that fear, or players who've had to deal with it IRL, it's... yeah.

Mind you I'm not saying the idea itself is too dark. Just that I'm really leery of a crack solution making the plot moral come off as essentially "Mental illness can be solved with hugs" because... not so much, no.

No, I can totes follow the train of thought there, because when dealing with these triggery plots, it's important to make sure the outcome is fitting with the depth of the plot. But I'm not sure the hug-the-trees thing is really the serious plot conclusion, in this case.

What do you think about the idea of the unaffected kids having to kind of accept the island for what it is, though? I kind of like that a lot, and I think it affords the level of seriousness needed (though admittedly it's a little afterschool-specialy), and I don't think it trivializes the plot/mental illness aspect by literally hugging trees or whatever.