Living the Write Life

Inspiration #3

JoeRover Living the Write Life, Prompts , , , , , , , , , , ,

The following is a collection of story ideas I either don’t have time for or have lost interest in. Feel free to use them for your own stories, but please mention something akin to “based on an idea by Joe Rover, joerover.com.” Feel free to mix and modify the ideas.

More and more police officers are being ambushed during what should be standard investigations. Traffic stops, domestic disturbances, noise complaints are no longer relatively safe. Detective Peters wants to know why. Is it just bad luck or is someone trying to remove the police before something much bigger happens?

A reporter covering a story about the decline in bee numbers finds themselves abducted. But he/she is not abducted by people but by bees. For some reason bees are abducting people and forcing them to gather honey. Why would the bees need help collecting honey? Rival insects? Disease? Mankind tampering with nature?

A popular eSports player wins the title of National Champ but is soon accused of cheating. He/she must prove their innocence in Video Game Court. His/her lawyer must gather evidence by solving real-life puzzle games, complete interviews by choosing the right questions from a list of available options, and chase down informants through platforming obstacle courses. Can the lawyer reach the goal or is it game over?

It’s summer vacation and Terry (or Terri) is out cliff diving with friends. It’s his/her turn. They dive perfectly but upon hitting the water, they come across a strange world where whatever they dream/imagine comes true. What does Terry/Terri create? Do they leave or stay? What is this world they’ve found? Is it real or are they actually in a coma or dream?

Until the next wormhole…thanks for reading.

The Beast of Camp TimberWolf is now available for preorder. It releases Oct. 22, 2019. If you’re a fan of action, adventure, an science fiction-fantasy, buy the latest Dogboy Chronicles story now.

Inspiration #2

JoeRover Living the Write Life, Prompts, Tips and Tricks , , , , , , , , ,

The following is a collection of story ideas that I don’t have time to do or have lost interest in. Feel free to use them for your stories, but please mention something akin to “based on an idea by Joe Rover, joerover.com.” Feel free to mix and modify the ideas.

After a strong storm overturned her vehicle, Samantha Prowler wakes to a world in the mist of massive climate change. Storms and heatwaves rack the planet. Now, she must battle the elements and a frightened nation as she tries to find shelter.

The animals of a nearby town have had it with the animal abuse, dog fights, and more. They begin to stage a war against mankind, but first they’ll have to learn how to open doors. Will they succeed? And what happens to a young child who stumbles upon a resistance meeting? Will they open doors for the animals or will they help the animals to realize there is a reason for being called “man’s best friend?”

Blog prompt: Trolls/negative comments. How do you deal with negative comments? What advice would you give someone who’s being bullied? Have you gotten any negative comments? How do you feel when you get one? What do you think makes someone be a cyberbully or an Internet troll?

A carnival fortuneteller tells a young teen that they’ll die from being hit by lightning while on a camping trip. The teen thinks, “Pfft, yeah right,” until the day of the school camping trip. Other strange things the fortuneteller said start coming true and a storm is brewing. How do they avoid their fate? Do they?

A famous singer (or actor) starts receiving death threats. What do they do when it turns out the threats are coming from their bodyguard?

Until the next wormhole…thanks for reading.

Inspiration #1

JoeRover Living the Write Life, Prompts, Tips and Tricks , , , , , , , ,

The following is a collection of story ideas that I don’t have time to do or have lost interest in. Feel free to use them for your stories, but please mention something akin to “based on an idea by Joe Rover, joerover.com.” Feel free to mix and modify the ideas.

A pair of teenage sleuths get in over their heads as they discover members of their local police force are corrupt. The rouge officers have their hands in many illegal activities within the town–everything from drugs to rape to murder.

An animal activist and an intelligent talking animal must team up to save a community of intelligent animals from poachers. The activist at first things being around talking, thinking animals is great but the idea of being around animals that never stop talking wears thin over time. Also, the animals appear to have lost their innocence and are acting more like humans. Will the activist still support the animals or will they start to see the animals as having the same flaws as mankind?

What started as a friendly hot air balloon race turns nasty as the prize money and fame increase. Friends turn on friends and rivals get rougher as storms, malfunctions, and other contestants try to put a stop to the race. The teams will stop at nothing to win, even creating the weirdest and silliest offense and defense gadgets/weapons ever thought of for hot air balloons. Everything from giant needles to catapults that launch cats–nothing is left unused, even the kitchen sink.

Bobby, a young intern for the big city newspaper, is hungry for the story that’ll finally show everyone his worth. Instead he is trapped covering the obituaries. It’s a thankless job filled with upset (and sometimes outright furious) family members and a tedious, repetitive form he must follow. But while on the surface they seem unrelated, Bobby soon sees something amiss. As he begins to investigate, he uncovers a conspiracy that could get him the recognition he wants–if he lives. Is it a government experiment? Ancient plots? Mad scientists? Maybe all of the above.

After the death of a loved one in a car crash, a physicist creates a time machine. They succeed in stopping the crash only to have their loved one killed in a case of road rage. Another attempt stops the road rage, but their loved one dies in a hit and run. However, this time the physicist recognizes the driver–it is the same from the crash and the road rage. Slowly, the physicist discovers the accident was no accident but murder. Why is someone after their loved one?

Aliens have had it with human hate crimes. They’ve chosen four people (you select the combination of race, gender, disability, etc) to prove humanity can change by having them work together to stop a series of hate crimes. If the four are unable to stop the crimes, the aliens will “eliminate the problem” themselves. Can the four work together or is the human race doomed?

Until the next wormhole…thanks for reading!

Alone (eBook only) is on sale for $0.99 until Sept. 3, 2019. Buy now and join in the urban fantasy adventure.

Searching for Ideas | Living the Write Life

JoeRover Living the Write Life , , , ,

After seeing the 2018 Robin Hood movie, I thought it’d been fun for you to get a peek at what happens when coming up with story ideas. Disclaimer: This is my own method and not to be taken as something other writers/artists do.

Me: Hey guys, I just came up with an idea. Why not do a Robin Hood story? We could call it Robin Hound.

Danny: That joke’s been done.

Brain: To death.

Me: Then maybe we call him Robbie Hound.

Sally: Not your best work.

Me: *sigh*

Brain: What has you on this path anyway?

Me: I just saw the 2018 Robin Hood.

Brain: Little late there. We have already seen it.

Me: There were some problems getting it.

Danny: I liked that part at the beginning where one of the soldiers was hanging upside down. It made me think of…OH! If we are doing this, we should have a scene like that. The Crusaders are approaching the man. Suddenly, Admiral Fishbar says…

Danny and Me: It’s a ruse! Ah-hahahaha!!

Sally and Brain: *sigh*

Brain: Just one problem. “Admiral” is a navy term.

Me: Speaking of fish, we could have Robin be a fish-person instead of a dog-person. We’d then call him Robin of Lox.

Brain: *rubbing the bridge of his nose* It is just getting worse.

Sally: Or he could be a casino owner. That way he’d be called Robin of Lucks-Lee Casino.

Brain: Et tu, Sally? Let us move on, shall we?

Me: OK, Grumpy Pants, what part did you like?

Brain: I enjoyed the choreography during the treasury raid.

Me: Oh yeah, that was awesome. During it, I thought, “That’s a lot of guards. He really needs to recruit his Merry Men.”

Danny: Ooh! Like other folk legends…like Aladdin.

Me: And have a Folk Legend Cinematic Universe?! Yes, please. They could have Paul Bunyan, John Henry, and…uh…*snaps fingers*

Danny: King Arthur.

Me: Yeah! He could be the one recruiting them all like Nick Fury.

Brain: Those legendary characters come from different time periods.

Danny: Pfft, Arthur could just have Merlin pull the people through time.

Me: The threat could be some immortal being who keeps showing up through the ages so they all have to team up in order to stop the villain.

Sally: Who’d be the villain?

Danny: Morgana?

Me: Been done. She’s always the villain.

Danny: Maybe a viking foe. Do you think they could recruit Hiccup and Toothless? Dragons are legendary.

Me: I thought this was live-action.

Danny: It could be.

Me: Live-action Toothless?

Danny: Can’t be any worse than live-action Genie and Sonic.

Me: You have a point.

Ding!

Me: What was that?

Brain: I have just finish preparing a meal of pizza and doughnuts.

Danny and Me: *rushing off* Alright!!

Sally: Was that some trick to get us to stop talking?

Brain: Absolutely. Would you like a doughnut?

Sally: Eh, why not…

Joe Rover eBooks are available at many online retailers, such as Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Walmart eBooks, and more.

The first interactive story game based on my book series can be found here.

YouTube CliffsNotes | Living the Write Life

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After seeing the latest “couch-side chat” by MatPat (host/owner of The Game Theorists channel–among others) where he discusses how the good that YouTubers do is largely overlooked by the news media, my first reaction was “duh.” (Click here for the video.)

He mentions how a public relations person told him that no one is interested in good news about YouTubers. As a once-upon-a-time reporter (and for a short period a PR person), I was not surprised by this statement. The first thing they tell you when you walk through the Journalism 101 door is “if it bleeds it leads.”

It’s not just YouTubers that are targeted by this “no one interested in the good news they do” belief, it’s everyone. I can’t tell you how many times I pitched a “good” news story only to have it rejected or published on page 25.

The reason for the “no good news” is partly because “bad news” is what sells. News media operates by lowest common dominator, which sadly is drugs, sex, and violence. People are more interested in reading about a scandal or accident or disaster–probably because these things end up affecting people. The story about the 100-year-old woman is cute but how does it affect the average person. The story about the tornado ripping through a town impacts more, especially if you have friends or family there.

The “bad news” is also easier to write from a reporting perspective. It’s a lot easier to find an angle for a story where YouTuber X is found to be a child predator versus YouTuber X donated $2,000 to charity. In the later, pretty much all your questions are answered within a few words; the former creates questions and creates more stories (i.e. coverage of a trial, controversy over if YouTube should run background checks, etc). In the charity example, you get one, maybe two, stories. In the child predator story, you get hundreds.

But, I’m not here to talk about business theory or sociology or psychology. I’m here to talk about the second thing I thought of after watching the video. How do people find out about all these news/debate topics and still spend hours upon hours on their videos? Is there a YouTube CliffsNotes I don’t know about?

So, naturally I began thinking about how funny that would be if there were CliffsNotes on YouTube Creators/Channels (there might be; I just said I’m not “in the loop”). Wouldn’t that be weird/cool to walk into a bookstore and there is CliffsNotes: MatPat? It’d be full of all the stuff about his channels you’d need to know, like “clap and a half,” and “#BlameJason,” and “Pro Tips.” It would also have brief summaries of the more popular videos.

Or how about a “For Dummies” spin-off/series. Grian for Dummies or Domics for Dummies.

I’m sorry, these are the weird rabbit holes that writers/artists find themselves in sometimes. But, you can’t tell me that you would rather have a post discussing news media theory or dissecting an Internet video than hearing about Let Me Explain Studios for Dummies.

Two hours later…

Two hundred dislikes?!

OK, so maybe you would rather have a post dissecting a video…

Joe Rover eBooks are available at many online retailers, such as Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Walmart eBooks, and more.

The latest Side Quest short story Carl Rogers Is Missing is out now for FREE.

Food Scanner | Living the Write Life

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One day I was at an all-you-can-eat buffet. While there I came up with the idea of a futuristic world where buffets had body scanners much like the x-ray body scanners airports have but these would scan for food. So if you tried to sneak something out, the scanner would catch you. I went further with this idea; I decided that theaters would also have these to catch people bringing in “outside food.” It was a real bleak and dystopian society.

I came up with another idea from this buffet visit that I’m planning to turn into a comic. Hopefully, someday I’ll post it on my YouTube channel–once I get through the 400 other ideas running through my mind.

Joe Rover eBooks are available at many online retailers, such as Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Walmart eBooks, and more.

The latest Side Quest short story Carl Rogers Is Missing is out now for FREE.