On picking the best ideas

[Kessie]

Bethany: Well hey, write some summaries and slap them up here! You could also join the Sandbox critique group to get some feedback on your work. groups.yahoo.com/group/AnomSandbox/

I'm the same way about bounty hunters and assassins both. But both these characters are so much more than just their jobs. Especially since the bounty hunter (retrieval agent!) is new to the job and the assassin's never actually killed anybody. Also the assassin is a catgirl. Catgirls are a theme throughout the series. :-p

[Bethany J.]

I hadn't joined the Sandbox yet, but I'm planning to soon! Apparently we have a pre-existing Yahoo account but I don't know the password for it; I'll have to ask my husband what it is, or create my own account.

Catgirl, as in, a girl that is part cat? I am even more interested. (My sister-in-law has a WIP about people that are part cats, and the world she created for it is one my favorite invented universes!)

[earthtrekker]

The best ideas. How to find them. My perspective might not be worth much and yet, here it is. I always look for the missing or overlooked idea. What no-one else is talking, thinking, or writing about. I don’t ask, “Will others like it?”(not at first) but, “Is there a need for this story?” Need being spiritual, aesthetic, or both, and I define them broadly. For example, my speculative novella-in-progress, Clouds Fall to Earth addresses a need people have for experiencing wilderness. And then sometimes people just need to laugh or feel awe.

[Kessie]

Naw, just catgirls as in a human girl with cat ears and a tail. They're in a lot of anime. I made them into a whole race where the women look like human women with ears and tails, but the men are more feline and fierce-looking. Naturally she's the hero's crush.

I look forward to seeing you around the Sandbox! When I get done with this round of edits, I'll be dumping Spacetime in there for crits, so you could rip it apart then.

Earth: The missing idea, huh? That's a good way to look at it. Or just a new way of looking at an old idea. That's one reason I adore Diana Wynne Jones, because she excelled at taking an old idea and doing it a new way.