(I actually wasn’t planning on opening this thread for a while, but I need to post something else and apparently we can’t have more than one topic draft in our queue 
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My sleep anxiety sends me visions of stories I would publish if I wasn’t funneling all my attention into rewrites so here’s a thread filled with images from my 2AM brain. If you use these stories or parts of them, please tag me! I’d love to read what you create :3
"Void” (These are all working titles...)
Backstory–>
Sci-fi. The human race has achieved the next stage of the evolutionary cycle. They’ve transcended physical forms and transferred their consciousnesses into a digital cloud called the “VOID.” No pain, no death: just idle, fun-filled days until you decide you’re sick of existing and choose to peacefully delete your code. This technology was not adopted by everyone though. Of the once nearly 8 billion people on the planet, a small group of 10,000 chose to roam the earth. They wished to bleed and breathe and die an organic death. After the Grand Migration (the event wherein the vast majority of people uploaded themselves to the Void and discarded their physical bodies), people left behind robots able to transfer the consciousness of those 10,000 should they ever rethink their decision. But once people were secure in the Void, the robots gained sentience and turned malevolent, purging the earth for materials to progress their society. If any of the 10,000 were discovered, the robots wiped their memory and either made them upload themselves to the Void or terminated them. Fast forward 100 years, there are now only 75 people left on the planet; most of the original 10,000 have died off either naturally or forcefully. Robots rule, and those in the Void live in ignorance. The story is sparked when a young, organic revolutionary finds a Void consciousness-syncing prototype that allows them to tap into the Void without 1) having their memory wiped or 2) sacrificing their physical form.
Characters–>
There are three main characters, each in a different branch of life. An organic renegade human trying to protect themselves and their aging grandparent from the Robot’s dictatorship, a “person” in the Void who feels as if their life is now complete and debates whether or not they should delete their code while wondering what lies beyond, and a robot who has fallen in love with a stowaway organic human and doubts their purpose in the world. I don’t know whether these stories would intersect or be contained narratives.
Some interesting themes you could explore with this story–>
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Designated purpose vs. chosen path
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Does life have value if you can live forever
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What makes someone human (wouldn’t be sci-fi if we didn’t ask this :3)
Who is “alive”? What’s worse: killing a robot on earth or someone’s code in the Void? If there were an organic human-robot hybrid (Cyborg?), how would each branch of society treat them? Is someone in the Void still a human? If two people who previously lived on earth and entered the Void had a child, would their baby be person, part person, or simply code? Is forcing someone to upload humane? Moral conundrums galore, love!
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"Savoury Sins"
Backstory–>
“Romance,” Thriller. A browbeaten child in 19th-century (1850-90s) Italy grows up to take over her grandfather’s bakery. She is plain, poor, and frail which leads her to become of victim of habitual discrimination. Fast-forward to the present: years of bullying have turned her vindictive and resentful, but she continues to find empowerment and foster love through food (think if Ego Ratatouille grew up to be a chef and not a critic). All of this is thrown away when one night, after closing shop, one of her most persistent childhood bullies finds her, declares that he had always loved her, and asks her on a date. Enraged at the proposition, years of torment bubble to the surface. She snaps and kills him. Delirious, she tries to discard the evidence by chopping up the body and baking it into a pie. This inspires a revenge streak of baking her past tormenters into meat pies and feeding them to the hungry children in her neighborhood. This goes on for a while until our protagonist is confronted by her old crush, now a lead detective in the murder investigations. Yes, I am combining my love of Sweeney Todd and Killing Eve into one; yes, I do think murder is a love language for the socially outcast and abused. Hop off 
Characters–>
Two primary characters. First, main girl Benedette; her parents were drunks, and she was basically adopted by her paternal grandfather. Her grandfather owns and operates a legacy bakery, but Bene’s father refused to learn the trade. Benedette promises that she will look after the bakery when her grandfather passes and has been effectively managing it since she was 14. Growing up destitute, there is little Bene appreciates more than a warm, hearty meal; she has a soft spot for neglected children and gives away food whenever she can. Second, Ines, a pragmatic girl Benedetta was infatuated with in grade school. Being distant, awkward, and two years her senior, Ines hardly spoke to Benedette in the past though she did take note of her calloused hands. After graduation, Ines left for the city to pursue her legal career (it’s my daydream so yes village women in 1800s Italy became prominent law workers). They meet again over a decade later when Ines returns to investigate the recent murders. To her surprise and elation, Benedette finds herself an object of the woman’s idle interest, but for exactly what reasons? As the two grow closer, so does Bene’s unease with the detective’s proximity to the truth.
Some interesting themes you could explore with this story–>
- Revenge (getting even) vs. Justice (righting wrongs)
- Which will prevail: the pursuit of closure or happiness?
- Healing trauma through love and communal bonds
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…to be updated…
