Alright lit/tards, I need your help with critiquing an idea of mine. Everyone I've asked tells me this idea is fine, but I need an outside opinion to help me flesh it out. And I know all too well that 4chan is the best place for honest opinions.
Okay, so I've been working on a horror novel for the past two years that is somewhat of a retelling of Frankenstein. I am just now getting to the second draft of the novel, and I want to work out a few details with the story.
In essence, the story follows a woman who was brutally raped by her older brother, causing her to be given an incestuous rape pregnancy. She obviously terminates it because no one wants a rape baby. Guilted by this decision, she shuts herself away from the world for many years, which drastically affects her sanity. She begins having strange dreams of horrible creatures. Years later, her mental wounds have healed, and she decides to have a child, only to find out that the abortion tore her insides up. Unable to have a child, her sanity once more takes a beating. At that moment, in her dreams, she is told by the horrible creatures of one singular way to conceive a child. She must follow in the footsteps of Frankenstein, and make new life. Guided by the dream monsters, she begins to kill her friends and family in an attempt to create a Frankenstein monster-esque creature. The only issue is that when she makes her "child" she rejects it because she realizes it to be a monstrosity that is possessed by the aborted baby, which turns out to be the dream creatures. The second half of the novel then focuses on her attempts to try and rid herself of the monster child.
My question is if it's okay to have a protagonist (the girl) be a killer when the monster (the baby thing she made out of human parts) is also a killer. I'm afraid that having a protagonist with such an extreme case of antiheroism will make readers not terrified of the baby monster. I am also afraid that I won't have a clear antagonist for the first half of the story because the monster obviously hasn't even been made yet.
I am just really afraid this idea will fall flat on its face, and I want some honest opinions on how to make it more terrifying and readable.
>>7570614
don't do the dream creature thing. Things in dreams have been done with Lovecraft countless times. it's an old idea that's pretty boring.
>>7570614
Wow. No. You've never experienced any one of the real world things, and I doubt you have the creativity to convey them. I can't believe you actually told people about that in real life, you autistic Dick
>>7570753
Well, I was hoping for constructive criticism, but deconstructive works, too. Please elaborate on your words so that I may tweak the design a bit.
>>7570753
>has never read a story where the protagonist is in a situation that literally cannot be equated to real life
Oh, yeah, because every fucking story has a writer that is 100% exactly like the protagonist. Tell me more about the writer of American Psycho or Dexter, because they TOTALLY have to be murderers to write a good story about killers!
Kill yourself, faggot.
I would say she would need more motivation to become a killer, other than just to use them to create life. Or if you could dehumanizes those that she is going to kill, by making them do something to the main character in the past that is really shitty. Maybe if the people she is going to kill we're close to her brother and watched, or at least knew, or perhaps took part in the rapes.
As far as the antagonist situation is concerned, you could introduce the dreams earlier, like maybe after the rape, and make them have a sense of foreboding evil, like they are up to something, they could be like a villain in a sense, but you may be able to come up with something better. You don't have to introduce an antagonist early if you don't want to.
>>7570812
That is really sound advice. Thank you so much. Perhaps she is being held as somewhat of a mental hostage, and is forced to commit the murders by the dream creatures. Would that maybe be enough of a hook to make her want to kill?
Too pro-life to be published.
>>7570614
Sounds interesting and I think you should pursue it to the extent that it satisfies you.
>>7570906
Are you implying that most publishing groups prefer pro choice/liberal material?
>>7570930
wake up and smell the coffee m8. it's responsibly sourced. sipping it is a black female college student in thick-rimmed glasses, from a mug that says "WHITE MALE TEARS" in big letters on the side. that black female has had at least 8 abortions, and she hopes to have many more in the future.
>>7570981
So... "no" to non-liberal writing material. Got it.
>>7570850
I'd say so, but of course it all depends on how it comes of when it's read in the context if the story.
1. You lost me when in her dream she was told to follow in Dr. Frankenstein's footsteps. That just seems cheap and there was no effort into that
>look at my rip off
Figure out a new way to describe her motivation for creating a creature. Right now everyone is sick of the reboots and revamps. Borrow from it but make it unique enough where it isn't that obvious to the reader.
2. I think the reader will be perfectly fine with having the mother be a killer as well as the monster child. How important is it to you that the child be the main focus of all of the fear? I could see the mother being a much better medium for conducting your ideas of fucked up situations to the audience. I think it will be much more relatable to readers to see the story through the mothers eyes. Than to follow the daughter. Just have her be there and maybe connect the mothers derailed thoughts to common mental health issues our population deals with but in an extreme way. Try and make. Connections with people in order to scare them. Horror has gone to shit. Don't add to it. (Not to say you can't still contribute with quality work with this story).
>>7570994
If it's good writing, you can likely get it published somewhere, unless you are a Hitler-tier inflammatory idiot (and even then your novel stands a chance, as long as it's smart and pleasing to read). However, you seem pretty naive, and your posts aren't even well-written for being posts on 4chan, so you probably won't see success with a novel like this until the cultural pendulum swings the other way and we are allowed to hate baby killers again.
>>7570753
>Dear Stephen King, please stop writing about things you don't know about - you autistic dick. if you've never ran away from a murdering clown you have no right to write about one
>Dear Homer, If you've never been to Olympus or met Poseidon, please stop writing about gods and their interest in the affairs of men, you autistic Dick
>Dear George R.R. Martin , I don't give a shit how successful your book series is or how much money you are making over there at HBO, please stop writing about things you haven't experienced you autistic Dick
>Dear Cormac McCarthy, if you've never scalped anyone, you shouldn't have written Blood Meridian, autistic Dick faggot
>Dear Fyodor Dostoevsky, if you've never been a young female whore with a heart of gold who found God, what the hell are you doing trying to write from the perspective of one? Autistic Dick.
Why did you capitalize Dick? autistic faggot. kill yourself philistine scum. I bet you never came up with a book idea half as good as OP's. Butthurt faggot piece of shit. if people took advice from people like you, no literature would exist. fuck you.
>>7571045
Well, it wasn't supposed to literally be her following in his footsteps. That was meant to give you fellows an idea as to what I'm trying to do: Person makes a thing and realizes it to be an abomination. But I understand your point, and I totally agree. No need for rehashes, so I'll definitely work on that. Thank you, kind sir/madam.
>>7570614
needs more build up to her killing her friends. maybe have her start off by taking DNA samples from them like hair or piss or skin. or she starts off by trying to take their body parts like she finds a way to rig the garage door that makes it tear off her husband's arm and then she takes it when no one is looking.
but better than that.
>>7571075
I see. Just avoid being blunt. Don't show, tell, as they say.
>inb4 who they
>>7571093
God I fucked that up. I'm done for the night.
