Brainstorming, Plot Ideas, and Story Help
Julius Prince (Vegas)
Generated by AI, courtesy of @bolstark
Julius is the brother of Severus's grandfather, Aurelius. He was once very close to Eileen, his niece and goddaughter, until he moved to the United States with his family. Eventually, after working from the bottom to the top, he found interest in investing in Las Vegas due to the casino scene and the fact he could make more money from Muggles. He eventually became an investor and part-owner of Caesars Palace. He believes that the Princes belong at the top, but that each Prince needs to pull their weight. He sees Severus as an ideal Prince and successor, and he respects that the latter prefers to work his way from the bottom to the top instead of being handed a position.
Gaius Prince (Vegas)
Generated by AI, courtesy of @bolstark
Gaius is Julius's eldest grandson and grew up within the American branch of the Prince family. His parents raised him to be an entitled brat who thought himself above everyone else, something that went against the Prince family's values. He currently works as a manager at Caesars Palace, specifically involving gambling tables and slot machines. He has an eye for numbers and finances but thinks himself too far above everyone to take his job seriously. He resents that his grandfather invited Severus and seems to prefer him to his own grandchildren; he also looks down on Severus's former poverty.
Claudius Prince (Vegas)
Generated by AI, courtesy of @bolstark
Claudius is Julius's youngest grandson and brother of Gaius. He shares many personality traits with his older brother, and he currently works as an entertainment manager at Caesars Palace, which has allowed him to construct a social web involving several celebrities who've appeared to perform. He shares his brother's resentment and looks down on Severus for being a lone wolf or black sheep.
Marcus Prince (Vegas)
Marcus doesn't get a portrait, because fuck Marcus.
Marcus is Julius's son and former heir. Although raised with the values of a Prince, Marcus's thirst to prove himself stemmed from his innate narcissism, and his drive to be at the very top was uninhibited by morals or human decency; he believed power and wealth were his God-given rights, and he would, on countless occasions, demonstrate a complete lack of empathy for anyone, including his own wife and children. After a substantial number of instances where Marcus publicly and privately bullied his employees and family members, Julius finally fired and disowned him, and Gaius and Claudius eventually came into their grandfather's care having been negatively molded by their father.
Here's a totally random concept: Snape as a private detective, set in the Wizarding World. People come to him for help with problems that the Ministry for Magic can't solve. But what kind of crimes could he solve?
He might just be a Sherlock Holmes type, who solves whatever type of crime as long as it's a challenge
Hello friends! I'm unsure if this is a foolish question but, I wanted to ask how some of you do your research for developing the setting within your works. I'm gathering some courage to write something of my own, and I've always been impressed how some authors put little tid-bits of British culture/history within the world. It makes it feel more grounded and real. I would like to try my hand in that. Any tips or suggestions?
Usually, I find the time and location on Wikipedia to get an overview of what might happen in that area, and then I Google the specifics. For example, when I was developing Cokeworth in "Gestaltation", I looked up different areas in the Midlands that would have fit the aesthetic, and I decided on the Black Country, West Midlands, which borders Birmingham. After that, I looked up some history on the Black Country and the towns/cities present and what they were like, and I ended up putting Cokeworth near the middle of it.
I also looked up the Hard Rock Cafe (I forget the context) to get an image of the first menu they had back when it opened in the early 70s in London.
Another part I did was looking up British TV shows that would've played during the time period that "Gestaltation" takes place in and found episodes of certain TV shows on YouTube to get a better understanding of what characters then would've watched and how they might have reacted.
Good rule of thumb is to look up a list of major events within the timeframe.
There are really useful wiki pages called "[Year] in the United Kingdom" where different events are listed. Here's one such page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_in_the_United_Kingdom
The events are listed with a date and a short description, so you can decide if they'd affect your story and if they're worth digging more into.
And to add to @thegestaltprince's suggestions of looking up TV shows, you can also look up popular books, radio series etc. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, for example, was really popular in the late 70s/early 80s and considering how you can still hear it quoted sometimes, I imagine you could find even more quotes in casual conversation at the time.
And if you're fortunate enough, you can find good quality UK newspaper clippings to get a better feeling of what life was like (could also be used to see how certain events were presented to the public).
Thanks for the tips! Now I have to figure out an outline of what I want to do.
You've got some great tips from other users @Bingus Bongus, and I really appreciate you wanting to take the time to add more depth to your fanfiction. I made the decision a year or two ago to start adding in better setting and historical/cultural tidbits. Just becasue fanfiction is riffing off established characters doesn't mean that it can't be as alive as an original novel.
Here's some advice I would like to add:
- I'm currently just fast drafting, and then making a note in the draft of things I need to research later using brackets, for example: [find out about medieval tools]. This has personally helped me avoid waiting until I know "everything" before writing. In 2022, I took tons of notes on a particular era, then forgot all of it later. Meanwhile, there were several key problems with the story that I hadn't fixed.
- The deeper I've gotten, the more I prefer using books. By all means, use the websites that have been recommended, as the links other users have given you are an excellent start. Since you seem to be focusing on the contemporary era (or recent history), articles and videos are a great idea. But if there's something key you need and/or if you're not quite sure about something, I strongly recommend that you check that information in a book. With Wikipedia, I always love following up their citations by hovering over those little numbers.
(Slightly related side note: I finished an excellent biography of the British author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the difference between the book and articles written about him online was stunning, to say the least. The book provided more details; articles often simplified and condensed.)
Needless to say, I am slightly obsessed. I have a draft story for another fandom, where I am constantly jotting down phone makes, stationery, film releases and so on to add to the draft when needed.
Oh yeah-- for the outline, you can also add information in brackets:
Snape wants to travel back in time to 1909 [find out what Scotland looked like in this era] in order to blah, blah, blah [find out how people travelled in this era]
If that makes sense. Just to keep the writing juices going, so that you don't go off on a tangent with research and forget about the STORY!
I'd love to hear more on the kind of outline you're building!
Hope this helps!
