I have a daughter asking for a story about superheroes and the muse isn’t really feeling it. Are there any lists of superhero gists if I sign up for Jims newsletter (which I should already be doing anyway)? Or would anyone care to share any ideas for some? I don’t have a storyform for this one yet but would be happy to go ahead and come up with one to narrow down the areas I’d need them for.
There aren’t any superhero gists yet, but he has thriller ones that could make a great starting point. (I was able to really enjoy the show 24 because I just told myself Jack Bauer was a superhero.) It has cool stuff like “Being the Lone Wolf” and “Being an Assassin” (Situation); “Uncovering MI-6’s Past” (The Past), and about 150,000 more (not exaggerating!).
In one of Jim’s more recent articles, he talked about how the genre-specific gists work best at the Domain & Concern level only. If you go further than that, it sort of robs the author of too much freedom.
That said, once you have a generic (non-genre) gist assigned to something, you are supposed to customize it to make it work for your story, adding superhero-y stuff yourself at that point. I just spun the model randomly and got an MC Problem of Ability, how perfect is that? So instead of just “Being Able to Do Something” you could make it “Being Able to Do Whatever a Spider Can” (Spiderman) or “Being Able to Absorb Others’ Powers” (Rogue). Of course you’d have to make it a problem for them, the example of Rogue powers being a curse because of how she absorbs part of people’s psyches is pretty good for that (although in her case in might be better as Symptom).
I’m not sure if that helps because you were looking for gists to give you inspiration, rather than have to come up with stuff on your own. If you copy a storyform into this thread I bet we can work together to come up with some cool gists for it…
I was thinking about your user created gist thread when I started this one. Never saw another thread for it, so figured this might be a trial.
I’d be looking for something appropriate for 8 or 9 year olds for this specific story. I’m still working on a story for myself so I havent been able to come up with much for hers. I’ll try to ask my daughter some questions tonight to find out what kind of storyform I need.
I know she’s thinking more along the lines of a marvel-type super hero child. But I’ve been mulling over this idea of a time orphan. there are so many stories about children who’ve lost their parents. I thought maybe a child who had lost their time…or something. Not much there, and I’m not sure there ever will be. heck, if I were to look around, there’s probably quite a few stories out there about that idea, too. But I figure if anything can turn that into a full fledged story, it would be Dramatica, and it would be a good story to practice some Dramatca concepts with.
The other option was to have my daughter walk through Storyweaver with me to figure out a story, but. I’m not sure she’d sit there for 200+ questions.
“A child who had lost their time…” Sounds interesting so far. What would “losing your time” entail? Are you suggesting that would give the child superpowers, or would they be transported to a world of superpowers? Is it something they can get back? Do they want to? (Sorry, this is how I tend to come up with my story ideas. Don’t know if this will help any better than using Gists, but… figured I’d try and help.)
As to whether the idea’s been done, I actually just read a great story that did something to that effect: A Tale of Time City, by Dianna Wynne Jones. She’s the same person who wrote Howl’s Moving Castle and Castle in the Sky, both excellent movies and even more incredible books. (I think they’d be perfect for your daughter, incidentally eventually!) In A Tale of Time City, a young girl named Vivian Smith is whisked away by two kids who think she is the long-missing creator of Time City, who has the same name. They get wrapped up in a massive conspiracy, threatening to shake loose the very foundations of time and space! …To be honest, it’s not Jones’ best work, but I still enjoyed it, so… you might like to check it out. 
(EDIT: Actually, it looks like the reading level’s around fifth-grade, so… depends on how precocious your child is.)
thanks for the suggestions. I love those movies but honestly didn’t even realize they were books. I’ll definitely look into A Tale of Time City.
I didn’t have time to work with my daughter to get a good storyform tonight, but she did say she wanted it to be about a girl who discovered her superpowers when she fell down the basement stairs (or something to this effect, i was getting a bit lost in her telling of it) and stuck her arm out to catch herself. That’s when her powers from her arm would activate. I’m not sure how it’d fit with what I was wanting to go with, but I’m sure it could. When I thought Time Orphan, I was thinking of a Harry Potter-like character that had magical powers, but didn’t realize it or know how to control it. So, as a child, she would have activated these powers and jumped to a completely different time, thus being lost in time with no idea what her “real” time was. And as I typed that out, i started to see maybe even a short series of stories about how this child has always been an orphan accidentally skipping her way through time and trying to deal with whatever life she lands in as she tries to figure out where she’s from. And maybe her parents and some sort of antagonist are racing to catch her first. Some of that is starting to sound a bit like that old show Sliders although I don’t see it having the same feel at all.
Wow, it’s starting to feel like some inspiration might be flowing. Thanks @actingpower.
PS - I’d still like to post a storyform on this thread when I get a chance to see what kind of gists you all can help me come up with. For the telling of this story, but also for the practice of creating useful gists outside of my normal genre.
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Happy to help! I’m loving the idea you’ve got so far. Sounds like you’ve got a good premise; now you just need the heart at the core of it. Hmm… when you’ve got someone who’s constantly jumping through time and space, who makes a good Impact Character? 
Good question. My first thought was that someone moving around in time and space would be challenged by someone who is timeless and spaceless. But I’m not sure I want this character running up against God just yet! Lol. I’ll have to give this one some thought and come back.
But that’s exactly what Dramatica will help you with! The tricky part will be to see if the time-jumping has caused a bad situation that is the focus of the Overall Story, like all the characters get stuck in the Past, or they’re all stuck in a bad alternate Future … or if the situational aspects of time-jumping are part of the main character’s personal issues.
Ah, I agree that knowing the Impact Character will help. (That’s why I brought it up. ) What I meant was more, if a character is jumping around through time and space, it will be kind of tricky to pick an Impact Character who doesn’t also jump. You could pick one character and have the time traveler visit them in various stages of their life.* You could also have the traveler return to the period with the Impact Character every so often to improve their relationship. You could have a position, like the President, and the traveler interacts with different people occupying that position. You could do handoffs, of course, and have a bunch of disparate characters who all represent the Impact Perspective in different ways. Lastly, you could dodge the question and make the Impact Character another time traveler: perhaps a magic talking hairpin** that guides and teaches the traveler, or a rival time traveler with none of the respect and awe of the worlds they pass through.
Or, I suppose, you could have an Impact Character whom the traveler doesn’t interact with beyond their primary meeting, but who is still felt in spirit, both their Impact and the bonds of their Relationship.
*I’ve had this idea lying dormant in my mind of a story that’s essentially the reverse of this: an expecting couple are visited by the future versions of their child, who visits every so often to protect them and help through the rough times. Also related, my idea where a man goes back in time to adopt himself as a teenager after his parents died unexpectedly.
**Weird idea, I know, but it’s partially based off of a video game where the player character’s mentor is a talking hat. 
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Some different thoughts I’ve had about an IC for a time traveler are:
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What I’m thinking of as the Dark or Mysterious Agent. This would be like the guy in the dark suit that always shows up in the background like that character in whatever Half-Life game I played through several years ago. Some character that seems to mysteriously be following her around through time and would probably come across as some sort of government agent. Maybe not quite right for what I’m going for.
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The Disney Sidekick. This would be some small animal or plant or item–maybe like a journal, or a hairpin–that travels through time with the MC.
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The Timeless, Spaceless Companion. This character would somehow be tied to all space and time. If you’ve ever seen Quantum Leap I forget the characters name, but he’s the one that follows Sam Beckett through time as he hops through bodies and only Sam can see him.
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The Lost Connection. This would be the family or loved one left behind in time. Like @actingpower mentioned, they wouldn’t be present in every time. Only in the MCs mind. But that would be enough to cause an influence. Maybe the parent that’s looking for the time traveling child. Or in Outlander it might have been the husband left back in the 1940’s or whatever (i’m only vaguely familiar with this book/show and I’m pretty sure that character is not an IC at all).
As soon as I get a moment to sit down with my daughter, I’ll figure out a bit more of this and come back to you guys with it. I’m getting more excited about moving on with this one than the project i’ve been working on for myself.
This one sounds like The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. My wife loved it and I thought it was pretty decent even though it’s not the kind of thing I’d normally be into. Neither of us cared for the movie.
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It’s a popular idea. See also: River Song from Doctor Who and, to a lesser extent, Interstellar.