Interest Check for a possible new Novel by me!

[xlArisenRoselx]

So, I had this idea for a new story. It's kind of a post-apocalyptic story. But, before you ask, no it is not about Zombies. It actually is more of a dystopian type of story.

 

   You see, what happens which ends up hurting the world majorly is that the earth randomly stops orbiting around the sun. Idk why yet, haven't gotten that far. But, things get a lot colder, animals begin to mutate to adapt to the cold, humans have to find a way of warmth, and food becuz it is getting increasingly difficult to grow crops in the cold, and the cold has mutated the animals so far that it has become dangerous to hunt. You see, the only reason why humans could survive as long as they have is becuz Scientists were able to predict this like 3 years before and they began mass producing lights that provide UV rays. But there r two problems with that. 1. They were unable to make enough for everyone in the world, so almost the whole planet died off, and the ones who survived are getting greedy for more of those lights. 2. They need to find a way to power them, becuz eventually they will run out of power. These lights not only provide warmth, but being UV lights, they give plants the rays they need to grow. That's why these lights r so important.

 

   I also have two characters sorted out. Imma need more, but I'm sorta stumped on what to make in the lines of characters. Here's the two I have so far:

 

Name: Cherilyn

Age: 19

Gender: Female

Race: White

Eye Color: Blue

Hair Color: Auburn Red

Height: 5 foot 6 inches

Weight: 138 lbs

Home: Jacksonville, Florida

Role: Female Protagonist

 

 

Name: Gryffin

Age: 21

Gender: Male

Race: White

Eye Color: Hazel

Hair Color: Blonde

Height: 5 foot 11 inches

Weight: 156 lbs

Home: Jacksonville, Florida 

Role: Male Protagonist

 

I purposely made the main characters from Florida, becuz I figured it would be fun to see people who r used to hot weather at all times have to deal with frigid weather from the story. So, what do u guys think? Sound good, or is it a no go? Feedback is MUCH appreciated.

[Snatch Steal]

At first glance, these characters look just like any other characters because I do not know anything interesting about them. Speaking from personal experience, everyone's OCs are very near and dear to our hearts since they are parts of us conveyed as (sometimes) dynamic characters with at least as much value as other people. However, since the OCs are only dynamic in your head, readers only see their surface level and prejudge them harshly.

 

In this case, I would critique your characters for lacking any apparent substance, because apparently their most important features are their physical appearance. While physical appearance has a very significant role in defining a character, it cannot be the be-all and end-all of how readers interpret them. Especially with characters that don't have any unique physical characteristics, readers don't have time to waste on ordinary, mundane people (good readers, that is, who appreciate the difficulty of writing and character design).

 

In order to remedy the lack of appeal these characters have, I would suggest allowing this concept to flesh itself out, as well as simply adding more meat to this precursor. If I see that Cherilyn and Gryffin are going through hell, or have gone through hell, and that they have flaws, then I will sympathize with them and understand the intricacies of their motivations. 

 

To start, follow these steps for each character:

 

1. What does my character want?
2. What is my character afraid of?
3. What has my character been through?
4. What is my character good at?
5. What is my character bad at?
6. What does my character learn as the story goes on?
7. Why does my character matter in this story?

This list allows you to give your characters significance, from which you can develop their personality and give them sensible behaviors.

 

As of right now, this idea is too abstract to seem plausible. You have to figure out how to explain where Earth went when it stopped revolving, or how this is scientifically possible (other than "scientists don't know why/it's magic") in what seems to be a universe that abides by worldly laws of physics. You must challenge yourself to relay how scientists could have developed the capacity to predict this three years prior, how animals mutate in a minuscule (for lack of a better word) amount of time to adapt to the frigid environment, and how anyone can acquire food if crops—the producers of ecosystems—have all died off due to the cold.

 

Long story short, I am interested.

 

PS: If you want to go way overboard with your character, I've compiled a relatively massive design sheet with well over 40 individual short-answer questions for each character: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gHA-NSJeC5-bna9JN8ZFGX7tYIbrZzaKKzd4gEMetRM/edit?usp=sharing

[xlArisenRoselx]

Well, my story is in it's earliest stage, so it's not exactly fleshed out. My characters have nothing unique yet, but only becuz I don't know what to add to them, and also, these r just very basic character sheets. They are and were in no way finished. But, yea, I probs should have specified that. But anywho, I'm glad that u r interested, and I hope more people r also interested. U had good questions, and guidelines, and I will be sure to refer to them when furthering my ideas.

[.Rooster]

Uh, why are you posting the characters if they have no context? Shouldn't you do the finish the worldbuilding and setting first? No point in making characters if they don't have any context at all tbh. Also, you didn't really make the characters - no personality or backstory or anything.

[xlArisenRoselx]

I never said they were finished characters, or that the story was anywhere near complete. This is literally, the beginnings of my ideas, and I wanted to write down what I had before I forgot. No, appearance is not the most important/noteworthy thing about Gryffin or Cherilyn or any of my characters to come. This was just what I had in mind so far.

[Dova]

I never said they were finished characters, or that the story was anywhere near complete. This is literally, the beginnings of my ideas, and I wanted to write down what I had before I forgot. No, appearance is not the most important/noteworthy thing about Gryffin or Cherilyn or any of my characters to come. This was just what I had in mind so far.

I think the thing people are getting at is the fact that you have come up with the appearances of the characters before anything else. This gives the implication that you are building the characters from their appearance, and not the other way around. You should always think of the character's personality and their motives/role in the story before anything else.

 

You can write a good story about an apocalypse without going too in depth of said apocalypse, as long as its for a reason. If we take Day of the Triffids, a science-fiction story by John Wyndham, most of humanity is rendered blind by a mysterious meteorological event. This is never conclusively explained, and, although some characters put forward basic theories, the story continues and we follow the main characters throughout the aftermath of this without knowing why. This is because said story focuses around titular Triffids, and what happens in involving them after the apocalypse. These, on the other hand, are explained very quickly in the first few chapters, and we watch them develop in this new environment as the story progresses.

[xlArisenRoselx]

Oh no, I understand what they mean by the characters, I'm just saying that they r not done, and I wasn't sure what to give them as far as personalities yet, so I went with basic things first.

 

As for your other point, that is sort of how I wanted this to pan out. I was gonna explain how it happened in the first chapters, and then follow thru with their lives.And I kinda like the idea of no one really knowing what is happening, but having their own theories. Gives me more room to work with. Thx for the help!!