fhplotterywheel | All we wanna do is storm your brains

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.

It was, yes. I tend towards those.

I like the idea of those from the mundane fandoms having to accept the island as it is to help the ones who are from more sci-fi or fantasy fandoms. There's a certain . . . poetry to that idea.

Right! Like, (a) the non-powered kids get delegated to research duty, etc. during plots often enough -- let's make them the heroes. BUT. (b) they have to admit they don't hate the island, even though they're the ones with the strongest propensity to go "DAMMIT ISLAND I HATE YOU WHY AM I A CHIPMUNK THIS IS NOT NORMAL," etc.

I think it's sort of poetic, especially since the answer isn't HARD or hidden in a book somewhere, so there's a certain level of frustration there, too.

Okay, yeah, wow. The more that gets elaborated upon, the more I like it. I'm a sucker for symmetry and poetry admittedly but the best plots and moments I can think of in this game are the ones where someone finds some amazing moment of humor in a dark plot, or gets unexpected awesome character drama out of a lighthearted plot. This seems like it would be perfect for that.

I think it depends on the character? Some would be pissed off at the island, but some would take the long view and see it as the island showing them to be grateful for what they have, or simply write it off as 'at least I didn't turn into an animal this time.' I don't think a crack solution negates dramatic elements.

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.

I didn't think the tree-hugging was literal either, heh. But there's still kind of a disconnect between "The island wants love and respect, so it withdraws magic and makes people think they're crazy" with a followup of "the island straightens things out when the unaffected people give it that love and respect" because that pretty much leaves us with "The island is a passive-aggressive jerkface who's willing to cause serious emotional wounds to its residents in order to make a point."

I could see it being an accidental effect of the island somehow, and that could support both the drama and the crack/warm fuzzies of fixing it by giving the island love and acceptance. AKA the island gets convinced it's crazy somehow and stops believing in its own magic, and that spreads to the characters, who then have to help it and in turn help their friends. That feels like it could be really workable from both ends of the serious/funny spectrum.

Okay, THAT I kind of love -- it's sort of reminiscent of the island feeling dejected/amorous and spreading it to the characters as well. Because the other way, yes, the island totes look P-A. Or at best like a pouty teenager.

Which admittedly is funny when it's just "if I can't get any, then neither can you, nyaaaaaaah!" (I think No Sex Week was totally intentional on Fandom's part. *shakes fist*) But yeah, like the sex pollen played as much more "I'm so haaaaaaaappy!" and that spreading everywhere as a by-product, and I think that could work here too, just on a much grander scale.

AKA the island gets convinced it's crazy somehow and stops believing in its own magic, and that spreads to the characters, who then have to help it and in turn help their friends.

This is actually what I meant when I first brought the idea up. Not that the island was deliberately acting out against the powered/non-mundane characters, and more that the island is reacting in a certain way, and it causes an unintentional ripple effect upon its residents.

I do like that!

An external influence on the island that doesn't have to be a tangible enemy causing its condition could be ... sort of the Tinkerbell Effect? Some large group of people somewhere actively doesn't believe in the stuff that supposedly happens on Fandom Island - or a more general Neverending Story setup of 'the whole world is getting too serious and non-believing...'

Either one of those could work, though perhaps a slew of worlds getting too serious, since the island is a nexus between worlds. . . .

It also would bring the idea of the island as a sentient being into the general awareness of the residents of the island, which I think could open up a lot of potential. (I've been watching Farscape, so I keep going "On a ship -- a living ship!" as I read over the ideas getting bounced around. . . .)

Ooooh, I love *points up at last few comments* all of this.

Not to mention, if you go off the "nexus of worlds" idea, that opens up the potential for alumni involvement since we've got a lot of people who've gone off to worlds whose acceptance/denial of magical wacky is all over the spectrum.

Not sure exactly how to tie that into it, but it's a thought?

And I've always loved the concept of the island as an entity of its own, with some degree of sentience, and would love to see that factor into things more often.

All we wanna do is storm your brains

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