Alpha Readers Forum Brainstorming?

My wife and I have been talking about collaborating on a story for quite some time, but we seem kind'a stuck. I'll tell you a little about what we've got in mind... perhaps some of you could suggest more ideas? I've been waiting for something to take root, and it just hasn't happened yet.

I want my next book to be set in a Medieval fantasy setting that's rife with magic and monsters. The story concept would be about the interactions of a ghost and a werewolf. My thinking here is that a werewolf is a man without a soul (he murders without remorse), and a ghost is a soul without a man. In this world, werewolves would not typically turn back into men. They would just remain murderous creatures until they were destroyed.

I've been playing with the following ideas:

* A ghost that uses his presence to return a werewolf back to his original human state to help infiltrate a castle and get the ghost vengeance on those who killed him.

* A kingdom that regularly sacrifices children to keep the werewolves in the forest placated.

* Witches that have a strange bond with werewolves.

* Character transformations between likable and detestable as the werewolf becomes more human and the ghost becomes more monstrous.

* Romance between a werewolf that has been transformed back to human and someone the ghost wants to kill off.

All of which are neat ideas, but none of them are really a complete plot. Any ideas?

Based on what you have, I'd say you're looking at:

Setting - A kingdom that regularly sacrifices children to keep the werewolves in the forest placated.

Mainplot - A ghost that uses his presence to return a werewolf back to his original human state to help infiltrate a castle and get the ghost vengeance on those who killed him. Character transformations between likable and detestable as the werewolf becomes more human and the ghost becomes more monstrous.

Sideplot - Romance between a werewolf that has been transformed back to human and someone the ghost wants to kill off.

Cast - 2 or 3 werewolves, 1 or 2 ghosts, A witch villain?

Are you thinking a stand alone story with this? how long are you thinking? Novella? Novel length?

But none of it has gelled into a plot just yet.

I'd like to do a stand-alone novel. What's the cutoff for calling something a novel? 100k words?

Gre7g

I really like this. Perhaps the foe is using the witch to try to stop them? After all, stopping a ghost would be hard.

wolves tend to work in packs. are these werewolves loners?

Either can make for an interesting story. If you have packs, then you can make part of the story about a werewolf looking to find his place in this new "society"

If they're loners then there can be werewolves he encounters than can either aid or hinder what he does.

If you can, make a post about any copy editing lessons you've learned. Id love to get better at it.