I just wrote out a scene about a ships stored in space.

I have been writing this in my mind for awhile, so, with some time in the new year, I did write it, and, as always, I feel good.

The vessels floated in deep space, far from any star system. Each was shaped like an elongated bullet, with a sharp point at the end. Their metallic hulls glinted from the dim light of the surrounding stars, each several light years away. These ships were in the hundreds, and they formed a cube, with each one in a matrix point perfectly aligned with its neighbor. At the edges of the cube, a light force field shimmered gently, protecting the interior occupants from cosmic radiation.

Inside each vehicle were consoles, made not by human hands but which could easily be manipulated by thumbs and fingers. The interiors were all cold, same as the temperature of space, and also as dark as space. The engines, deep inside, hummed gently, to ensure the vessel remained in its assigned spot.

I have a different version, about derelict ships that are in an orbital shipyard, and they're corroding because of eons of cosmic radiation. The thing is that, if I was to stick to one universe, I could be restricted, but, since I am just writing out random thoughts, I can go through the permutations and combinations. I have been writing out bits and pieces of several storylines, a few which are mutually exclusive, and, if all goes well, some of them may become good stories.

Thanks for taking the time to read my writings, and you have given me the best holiday present possible.
 
The essence of writing is re-writing.

The vessels floated in deep space, far from any star system. Each was shaped like an elongated bullet, with a sharp point at the end. Their metallic hulls glinted from the dim light of the surrounding stars, each several light years away. These ships were in the hundreds, and they formed a cube, with each one at in a matrix point perfectly aligned with its neighbor. At the edges of the cube, a light force field shimmered gently, protecting the interior occupants from cosmic radiation.

Inside each vehicle were consoles, made not by human hands but which could easily be operated manipulated by thumbs and fingers. The interiors were all cold and dark, like space. same as the temperature of space, and also as dark as space. The engines, deep inside, hummed gently, to ensure the vessel remained in its assigned spot.
 
I have a different version, about derelict ships that are in an orbital shipyard, and they're corroding because of eons of cosmic radiation. The thing is that, if I was to stick to one universe, I could be restricted, but, since I am just writing out random thoughts, I can go through the permutations and combinations. I have been writing out bits and pieces of several storylines, a few which are mutually exclusive, and, if all goes well, some of them may become good stories.

Why not use both? A "piece of the puzzle" for your story could be moving ships from orbital storage sites to deep space storage sites to prevent deterioration. Then your characters could talk about the ships, what happens to them, why they are doing what they are doing, etc.

My current WIP, "Outpost 217," is also set when humanity has gone interstellar (settling the Perseus arm and the Orion Spur, but no living aliens in my story). Even with Faster-Than-Light/Warp drives it can still take days or weeks to go from one system to another, so there is A LOT of "dead time" for those in transit or awaiting transportation. Here's where my characters have quite a few discussions. I'm currently outlining one section where everything goes to blazes, and the tension caused by the long transit times and worry of the unknown come to the fore.
 
They were all part of a potential web series, which I was going to produce, as a precursor to being a mogul. The problem, however, is that, as the bits and pieces grow, they begin to contradict each other. My web series dealt with humans being the first in the universe to rise to intelligence. But, if so, then they would not come across either derelict ship yards or ships placed in perfect formations, because the web series takes place in the 22nd Century, right after FTL was discovered.

So I'm going to tear the concepts apart and write them as separate stories, which would allow me to go through the permutations and combinations without fear of contradicting canon.

BTW, my mentor saw some of my writing and suggested I skip doing short films and web series, and just go with a story that can be made into a film. This was several years ago, and, as I said, I will be talking to him soon about a business plan.
 
They were all part of a potential web series, which I was going to produce, as a precursor to being a mogul. The problem, however, is that, as the bits and pieces grow, they begin to contradict each other. My web series dealt with humans being the first in the universe to rise to intelligence. But, if so, then they would not come across either derelict ship yards or ships placed in perfect formations, because the web series takes place in the 22nd Century, right after FTL was discovered.

Contradictions like this make the story interesting. It creates a form of suspense that keeps the audience watching.
The audience is confused too by this puzzle and they want to see how it fits together.

The show LOST used this a ton, to the point where they couldnt even solve their own puzzles lol they just wanted to keep people watching.
Perhaps.. humans are the first to rise to intelligence but there was an earth 2 that discovered FTL first.
Now we're hooked again.. why is there an earth 2? What did it come from and what does that mean?

Or maybe they got stuck in a time warp.. they did FTL near a blackhole and barely escaped but now they're in the 24th century and theres a bunch of derelict ships. What happened?

IDK just riffing but my point is that contradictions can add intrigue and complexity to a story.
 
@sfoster, thanks.

My story had a meeting with the species that created humans. In one scene, which I have been wanting to film, the representative of the alien told the ship's captain that they created humanity to raise intelligence in the universe. So, were they "God"? The alien would reply that it would depend on the definition of God.
 
My web series dealt with humans being the first in the universe to rise to intelligence. But, if so, then they would not come across either derelict ship yards or ships placed in perfect formations, because the web series takes place in the 22nd Century, right after FTL was discovered.

There are a fair few storylines around that include that paradox, quickly explained by a timewarp of some kind. Sphere is the first one that comes to mind.
 
There are a fair few storylines around that include that paradox, quickly explained by a timewarp of some kind. Sphere is the first one that comes to mind.
@CelticRambler, that is an excellent suggestion, which I will keep in mind. So I can do several storylines,or merge them into one. Let's see what happens.

Getting onto my writing, I just wrote a couple of scenes for my Superman origin story. My hope, one day, is to do a three-movie deal with Warner Brothers - the first has Lex Luthor as the villain, the second has General Zod, and the third has Brainiac. It's a long shot, but, what the hell, filmmaking is a long shot anyway. But I'm having fun while I'm at it.
 
A timewarp could work, but, in my universe, time travel forward is possible but not backward, and there are also no parallel universes, because changing the past, like multiple universes, are not sustainable. This leads to the question of whether there truly is free will, and whether we are all fated to travel a certain path.

That is the thought experiment worthy of the best Star Trek, which has, of course, inspired me in my goal.
 
After enthusiastically watching a number of multiverse/parallel universe movies and episodes, I think it's difficult to tell an convincing story based on them. Marvel can drop a half billion dollars and make a 3 hour movie, and at the end of it, the multiverse just comes down to a guy saying, "no, I'm from the other universe" a few times during the show. It's an idea that sounds big, but kind of goes nowhere because you can't fit the scale of it in a film. A few notable success stories include Steven Kings "The Talisman" and the Star Trek TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror" written by the great Jerome Bixby.

I think avoiding multiverse narratives is a good call, unless you can keep it tightly focused. Marvel has been using it as a Deus ex Machina solution here and there, and it's not super impressive from a writing standpoint..
 
Have you ever read anything else by Jerome Bixby? I'm a big fan of his. Nobody ever mentions him for some reason, but this guy made some major contributions to classic sci fi. I first encountered his work via the Twilight Zone Episode "it's a good life" which was one of the best episodes of that series as well. He came up with the original idea for "Fantastic Voyage" and co wrote that script. He also wrote "Day of the Dove" another memorable TOS episode.
 
Wow.

After I finish my current WIP my next story was specifically about a multiverse.
Obviously I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I think it's possible to do a good one, The Talisman was all anyone talked for about 6 months when I was in high school. Mirror Mirror is a top 10 TOS episode for almost every fan.. I just mean that if you go the multiverse route, it can't be shallow. Both of the examples I mentioned really went all in on the concept, and benefited accordingly.

I think the most fun to be had in these stories requires the writer to really set up expectations and persona for a main character or several in universe no 1, and then subvert those expectations to deliver a lot of surprises in universe 2, or when worlds collide.

I got soured on the concept by Marvel, because they basically went to an extreme where there are infinite parallels and it basically ends up diluting the mechanics of the the trope until it's non functional.

The right way -

"I've known Spock for 30 episodes, now there's an evil Spock? Even the regular version was interesting, what is this guy going to do next? What will these two think of each other. So many questions, and I can't wait to see the answers"

The Marvel Way -

"We face impossible odds, and defeat is certain, with Superman dead and no longer able to save us..... (another superman descends from the sky) I am superman from earth no 500, and I also save people from dire circumstances on a regular basis. There, your enemies are defeated, I must now return to earth 500, to take care of problems there. (a third superman flies in) hello everyone, I'm not dead after all, I'm the original Superman and the Superman you saw die was actually yet another Superman from earth 274"

Obviously Superman is DC and not Marvel, but you get the idea.

I think the core function of a successful multiverse plotline was illustrated in...... Zombieland 2: Double tap. It's not a great movie by any means, but it at least got the fun mechanics of multiverse storytelling right. A group of wasteland survivors is traveling across the US, and encounters another group with a very similar dynamic.

There definitely can be something fun about watching characters interact with parallels of themselves. I just hate seeing it used in cheap, confusing, or pointless ways. I thought that the recent Miniseries "Loki" was one of the better takes on it, not perfect, but it did at least try to explore the concept of many parallels of the main character in more depth than what I've seen in some of the movies.
 
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The 1970's DC comics had great storytelling with the multiverses, and I've kept the original copies. This culminated in Crisis on Infinite Earths, which has become a classic in the industry. Now, however, after a multiverse crisis every year, well, who cares any more.
 
There definitely can be something fun about watching characters interact with parallels of themselves.

One of my "rules" is people who have doppelgangers cannot travel to other universes in which they have a doppelganger, so they cannot meet themselves. It's similar to my "no physical presence in the past, observation only" rule; it's a way the multiverse protects itself.
 
One of my "rules" is people who have doppelgangers cannot travel to other universes in which they have a doppelganger, so they cannot meet themselves. It's similar to my "no physical presence in the past, observation only" rule; it's a way the multiverse protects itself.
The 1970's DC comics had several rules - one was that people in the same universe cannot see each other from different timelines, so Superman could not meet Superboy at the same moment, or one will fade back to his time frame. It was a law of physics in that multiverse. That law, however, did not exist for dopplegangers.

Another law, by the way, was that, for every force of good, there had to be an equivalent force for evil, so, when Superman appeared, Lex Luthor had to do so, and, when Batman appeared, the Joker had to do so. It was a very interesting concept, which a writer should explore further.
 
That's interesting. I've always thought that DC handled complex writing a bit better than Marvel. That's really cool that you still have all those old comic books. I also try to keep at least a copy of anything that once inspired me.
 
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