What would you like to read, but haven't found a story about?

The stories I'm writing.

Generally I like to read about how non-human characters would fit into the human world. Plenty of those to go around, though, so I have plenty in the bookstores to choose from.

Funnily enough, I look for stories about air accident investigation, and never find them. There's Millennium, which is okay, and Airframe, which I thought was pretty damn bad, and then there's a Stephen King thing I saw as a movie and didn't like, and....

Eh.

e.l said:

The stories I'm writing.

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This.

Also, stories with elves (Tolkien-style) in them. There isn't enough, IMO.

This is one of those idea-stealing threads, isn't it?

I'm kidding, of course. Ideas are a dime a dozen, but I'd really like for someone who isn't me to write a novel that would actually, literally drive a large majority of its readers actually, literally insane.

Like, that's how important and moving and brilliant it is. Like, a real Necronomicon.

And it would sell like crazy as most people are stupid and would totally read something that made actual people they know go insane, like, off the wall, cannot function, mind-blown gone, because everyone thinks they're too smart/tough/strong/sane for it to happen. I mean, I know I'd read it.

I don't care what it's about, I just want to read that book.

I regularly look in vain at the book store for fantasy romance novels which do not have modern settings and are not about vampires or werewolves or anything paranormal/dark or bsdm-ish, but instead are a non-earth version of regency or medieval fantasy with mages, humanoid/shapeshifting dragons, possibly some noblemen and mercenaries, a halfbreed in there somewhere, and some themes about inheriting and estate or founding a clan.

Not actually novels, but I'd definitely like to read more nonfiction books about advanced theory of plot structure in novels.

Mermaids who do lap dances...

I would like a biographical series on Alexander the Great that isn't an overview battle and isn't dripping with melodramatic nonsense or just plain junk. I just want a down to earth story about an unbelievable time.

I also want to read the sequel to book where guy does crazy stuff to get girl; deals with all kinds of nonsense. In the sequel guy meets new, far less high maintenance girl and realizes book one was really a crappy time in his life.

HoneyBadger said:

I'd really like for someone who isn't me to write a novel that would actually, literally drive a large majority of its readers actually, literally insane.

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L. Ron Hubbard's novels and books?
Ayn Rand?
The 'Left Behind' series.
For that matter, the Bible and the Koran.

Thing is, when enough people are driven insane, it's no longer considered insanity. It's a 'religion' or a 'political movement'.

Buffysquirrel, you might enjoy NO HIGHWAY by Nevil Shute. It's quite old (mid-century) but it is an excellent story. Amazon and Barnes and Noble usually have decent reading copies available and it's also available now in eBook.

You might also look for books by Ernest Gann. THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY was one of his. He was a pilot himself and wrote quite a few books about the airline industry.

EngineerTiger said:

Buffysquirrel, you might enjoy NO HIGHWAY by Nevil Shute. It's quite old (mid-century) but it is an excellent story. Amazon and Barnes and Noble usually have decent reading copies available and it's also available now in eBook.

You might also look for books by Ernest Gann. THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY was one of his. He was a pilot himself and wrote quite a few books about the airline industry.

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Thanks! I have read No Highway, in fact, I forgot all about it in my mini-rant up there . Big Shute fan. I'll look out for a Gann book.

You're very welcome. I'm on a Shute kick at the moment myself. Just found a bunch of his that I haven't read that are now available on the Nook.

If you have something you'd really like to read, but can't find anything like that on the shelves, you've struck gold as a writer.

That's the story you should be writing.

Then again, there's always the possibility it's not on the shelf because nobody (else) wants to read it.

dangerousbill said:

L. Ron Hubbard's novels and books?
Ayn Rand?
The 'Left Behind' series.
For that matter, the Bible and the Koran.

Thing is, when enough people are driven insane, it's no longer considered insanity. It's a 'religion' or a 'political movement'.

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Heh, I considered putting 'not including religious texts' in the post, but didn't.

(I've actually been fiddling with an idea for an insanity book for a while, but I need to get agented and published first, because how do you query a book where the book itself is the antagonist?)

yes, like the second reply, if you want to read something but can't find it, just write it down.

rugcat said:

If you have something you'd really like to read, but can't find anything like that on the shelves, you've struck gold as a writer.

That's the story you should be writing.

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Problem is, if you write it you can never really experience it in the way a reader would.

that's true, but by writing, you can share it with other people, and chances are, someone out there may look for the same thing

I can't really answer because that is usually what I write I'd just be listing my current and future projects.

I would like to read more work like Turn of the Screw (with modern use of punctuation and sentence structure ). The spooky story with an unreliable narrator idea is way cool. I've tried it and liked the outcome, but I'd like to read other folks' versions!

A corn-detasseling thriller.

caw

sunandshadow said:

I regularly look in vain at the book store for fantasy romance novels which do not have modern settings and are not about vampires or werewolves or anything paranormal/dark or bsdm-ish, but instead are a non-earth version of regency or medieval fantasy with mages, humanoid/shapeshifting dragons, possibly some noblemen and mercenaries, a halfbreed in there somewhere, and some themes about inheriting and estate or founding a clan.

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I want to read this or something like it, but with one of the romantic leads starting as good but driven to evil over time, either as part of the main plot as an ends-justifies-the-means evil and/or in direct consequence of the romance, like due to divergent goals or to save the other or something (the main plot and the romance should be intertwined ideally, so "and" is preferable here). Where you're sitting there going "Nooo! I still wuv you! Don't be evil!" but where the evilness is an obvious consequence of the plot and the character's position within it. And in consequence the romance naturally turns to rivalry (or a rivalmance) and ends in some heartbreaking fashion. It can even be a bromance or sormance, but I'd prefer a romance, het or not doesn't matter. (And this probably doesn't have anything to do with what you're talking about because it could fit easily in any fantasy or sci-fi world, I think. Oh well. The Regency bit is appealing!) In sum, I want a romance with a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, where you get to watch the process of the character becoming a world-destroyer, while simultaneously a lover. *nods*

Has anyone read a book like this? I WANT! I'm tempted to try to write it, but I'm not much of a genre loyalist - more of a general fiction and non-fiction kind of girl - so getting involved in fantasy is rather intimidating. That sounds pretty lame, no? Off I go to try to read more fantasy...

blacbird said:

A corn-detasseling thriller.

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This is my nightmare. Corn-detasseling is horrific enough on it's own, thank you very much.

Yorkist said:

I want to read this or something like it, but with one of the romantic leads starting as good but driven to evil over time, either as part of the main plot as an ends-justifies-the-means evil and/or in direct consequence of the romance, like due to divergent goals or to save the other or something (the main plot and the romance should be intertwined ideally, so "and" is preferable here). Where you're sitting there going "Nooo! I still wuv you! Don't be evil!" but where the evilness is an obvious consequence of the plot and the character's position within it. And in consequence the romance naturally turns to rivalry (or a rivalmance) and ends in some heartbreaking fashion. It can even be a bromance or sormance, but I'd prefer a romance, het or not doesn't matter. (And this probably doesn't have anything to do with what you're talking about because it could fit easily in any fantasy or sci-fi world, I think. Oh well. The Regency bit is appealing!) In sum, I want a romance with a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, where you get to watch the process of the character becoming a world-destroyer, while simultaneously a lover. *nods*

Has anyone read a book like this? I WANT! I'm tempted to try to write it, but I'm not much of a genre loyalist - more of a general fiction and non-fiction kind of girl - so getting involved in fantasy is rather intimidating. That sounds pretty lame, no? Off I go to try to read more fantasy...

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Hmm. I'd kind of do it the other way around - where the male love interest is thought by everyone to be a big bad guy at the beginning, and he does have some sort of ethically questionable plan going on. But the 'good guys' who are labeling him the villain turn out to be not such good guys, and the male love interest turns out to have good motives. So once the mc straightens out his ethics and widens his options by providing additional skills and connections, the 'villain' turns out to be able to accomplish something awesome.

But as far as books with villain romances go, I've seen a couple that explicitly have a supervillain or supervillainess as a main character involved in a romance. And I think there is a short story collection with a theme of villain love.

sunandshadow said:

Hmm. I'd kind of do it the other way around - where the male love interest is thought by everyone to be a big bad guy at the beginning, and he does have some sort of ethically questionable plan going on. But the 'good guys' who are labeling him the villain turn out to be not such good guys, and the male love interest turns out to have good motives. So once the mc straightens out his ethics and widens his options by providing additional skills and connections, the 'villain' turns out to be able to accomplish something awesome.

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While I'd definitely like to read that, too (though it doesn't have to be the male love interest, just saying), I guess what I'm looking for is more romantic tragedy between a hero and an anti-villain that's all wrapped up in (and preferably inseparable from) a fantasy or sci-fi plot. And I'm not necessarily talking about someone who swings from the "good" side to the "bad" side, but maybe a more ethically nuanced tale than that (where neither side is really good or bad, but the characters have good reasons to be on one side or the other) where the good/evil pendulum is the means, or the motive, or how far you're willing to go to "win." Maybe. Something like that.

Or, hey, maybe something more like you're talking about but the anti-villain, while honorable in his means (the reader discovers) if not his ends (while still probably believing that his side is the best one for completely justifiable reasons, at least in his/her eyes), never changes sides, and the hero's A team is getting progressively worse regarding their means even if their goals are admirable; essentially a good guy on the wrong side and a good guy on the right side, where the other guys on the right side are bad guys... I dunno. I think I'd like one of each! All I know for sure is that I want an anti-villain, who is involved in a tragic (or bittersweet at most) romance, and fantasy/sci-fi all wrapped up in one delicious package, like a peanut M&M. And like with peanut M&M's, I'd really like a whole bag please, not just one.

And, yanno, the tragedy could end in multiple ways. Anti-villain dies (because hero/lover ends up having to kill him or her, or dies by choice to save hero/romantic partner, or something). Hero dies (by the accidental hand of our anti-villain protagonist, perhaps). They break up. They stay together, the hero somehow being compromised. Any way it ends is a tragedy, though I find "hero dies," "anti-villain dies," and "they stay together" the more interesting variants. This would probably work best if it were clear from the get-go that the romance was a tragic one and not a HEA, a la Wuthering Heights. If it would work at all, I dunno if this makes any sense but I have been looking for something like it for years.

But as far as books with villain romances go, I've seen a couple that explicitly have a supervillain or supervillainess as a main character involved in a romance. And I think there is a short story collection with a theme of villain love.

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While that is also cool (and do share), I love anti-villains, especially woobie anti-villains, even more than villains. Sigh.