Of death

I had a dream a couple nights ago that really inspired me - as happens from time to time - that I've been thinking about a lot. I really want to make it into a full on story, but I'm gonna have to give it some time for me to figure out how exactly I want to go about doing that. Yesterday's blog post was actually my first attempt at doing that, and while I don't think it worked very well, it is helping me figure out how exactly I want to go about it. I'm debating about whether or not I want to use this idea for my Nano story this year, so if you see a lot of posts in the coming few days that seem to follow a singular story idea, that would be why.

Unlike Wings, which I used for last year's Nano and also came from a dream, this dream actually had a lot of substance to it. To put it shortly, the concept is that when you die, you enter a nightmare-esque game that only a select few amount of people are actually able to escape from, and in escaping enable the ability to really play and win the game. While the rest of the world forgets that they have died when they escape the game, they have not, and are intensely aware of the fact that they do not belong in the world. Every night when they go back to sleep, they return to the game, and the only way to escape the nightmare and actually be able to have a second chance at life is to win the game, rather than escape it. However, in order to win, they have to find a partner who is also one of these select few and, using the masks that they obtain by entering the game for the first time, enter each other's games and beat them for the other person simultaneously. Each person's game is based on their deepest fears, their personal histories, and their weakest moments.

If it sounds like there's no clear explanation of why the game exists, what its punishments are, and what exactly makes people want to escape or win... Well yeah, that's a good question. I'm not entirely sure. That's something that I need to play around with and figure out. In fact, the real goal may not be to be given a second chance at life, but to actually be allowed to continue on into the afterlife. The game may make their continued "life" a living hell. I'm not entirely sure.

But I love the idea. I love the concept of being trapped in a game after death, and needing to work together with a partner, putting your entire existence in their hands, even if they are originally a complete stranger. And when I put it like that, it sounds incredibly like one of my favorite games, The World Ends With You. Which, in a way, I suppose it is kind of inspired by, though how that got into my dreams I have no idea. Though I have a feeling the plot and the pushing forces will be massively different. I don't intend for their to be monsters for them to fight, or actual figures that are in control of the games. I intend the games to be the "villain" so to speak.

I'm excited to have a real story I want to be working on again, though. And what good timing for it.