Three siblings are trying to solve the mystery behind their parents’ murder while dealing with the secrecy and scandals that are commonplace in the imperial court along with trying to deal with their own personal demons.
Two people leave the Shadowland that once called home after a devastating attack, makes their way to the surface world where they both come into contact with different characters, travel to foreign lands, and encounter random mysteries and dangers which test both their friendship and their sanity while they strive to uncover the real truth about the murder of their father figure…and themselves.
So, tell me, how can I possibly take these two ideas to form them into a single one?
I need to plan more. But I shall hold on for some assistance.
Is there a reason you want to combine the two? I feel like if you combined them the biggest parts of the ideas would either be dulled down or one wouldn’t happen.
Most direct, one would have to cause the other, or one would have to be in opposition to the other.
Like leaving Shadowland for the attack that kills the parents: not immediately, as they stick around to try to solve it, but eventually are forced to flee right as the pieces come together.
Or those who flee their homeland from attack are the accused of the parent’s murder and they are at cross purposes.
A lot of people do sequels in the same world with different people so maybe you can just save the other idea for later.
Whatever one you can write the most about (like you did above) is most likely the one you have the most inspiration for so I would go with that one. So, maybe for five minutes write something like you did above for each one.
I will also say if you are having writers block switching between the two is great. I did it in the past and it’s so nice to be able to write something in the same world where you already know a lot of the details and don’t have to make up everything again.
If by above one, you are referring to the one with the three siblings, then I am stumped on whether or not I truly want to continue that.
I am finding myself wanting to do more with a story. I really want to write a story with action, adventure, drama, magic, technology, and immersive worldbuilding and crazy plot and character development.
Can I write a story with those things? No, I cannot.
Can I try to write a story with those things? Maybe I can.
I meant writing down the idea you have for them like you did above. Basically, taking five minutes to expand them.
I totally get that especially the action part.
The first one definitely gives off murder mystery with a subgenre of fantasy where as the second one gives off fantasy with a murder mystery subgenre. And it seems you would rather dive into fantasy at the moment and I feel like you could try to accomplish everything you want to do with the second one.
Before I get to the plots, I wanted to answer the main topic question.
It can be complicated… if both story ideas come from very different genres or are just too different from each other. However, complicated doesn’t mean impossible. As a writer, you’d have to be creative with it and try to entwine them as best as possible… and this can be through a series of changes that can help form the ideas together or you sacrifice some of the smaller ideas and mostly mesh the main ideas together. Or… they become two various stories set in the same universe, whether one is a sequel or prequel. Like between Legend of Korra and Avatar: the Last Airbender, both are different storylines but are connected (with LOK being the sequel… the continuation of Avatar).
If you wish to keep the story as one and not two, you may have to sacrifice or change the ideas around a little to fit better. Sometimes, this can be through a series of twists you can do to help keep readers on their toes but also to add more to the story and actually connect the storylines together.
SO… if I were to write such a story with these two plots, this is how I’d do it:
I’ll first say that the story would be in multi-POV, and I’d personally just do two—one person from the three siblings that the story focuses on the most, and one person from the two people that, again, the story focuses on the most. Secondly, I’ll also say that the Imperial Court is within the Shadowland, which can also be a reason why the two left home because of the secrecy and scandals. The three siblings live in the Shadowland, solving the murder and dealing with their own stuff. The two people come into play, however, when they become the only ones who can help the siblings solve the case. So the three siblings leave the Shadowland to find these two people as they travel and when they finally find them (while also encountering one of those random mysteries), their paths entwine, and making them realize why they’re connected. The father figure (from plot two) was actually their mentor who helped them while in some school or whatnot. That same person was the three siblings’ father. And the truth to his death, along with the other parent, was from the Imperial Court for which their father worked at. Something happened that caused the Imperial Court to kill and cover up the murder, and it may have also had to deal with the two kids… who may also be connected to the Imperial Court. Perhaps… they were being experimented on? Or something of that sort?