Story idea about a clone is... a clone?

Ms.Pencila

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So I started thinking about clones and memory and choices after reading Harlequin's good flash, and got a little plot bunny. But then it occurred to me this idea has probably already been dealt with elsewhere, and probably developed more fully in a novel or five.
So my question for all you more widely-read SFFERS is:

Does this plot sound too much like something else?

Character X has grown up with one fact impressed on him from all sides: he must complete his father's work. Afterall, he's his clone, and gets regular (weekly?) doses of his father's memories to make sure that he will someday be able to complete the all-important project that his father's untimely death in an accident interrupted. He's occasionally resented the fact that his life seems all mapped out for him, but never really wanted to disturb his comfortable life, and never questioned why his mother and teachers and even government officials all remind him of his purpose without revealing anything about "the project".

However, as X begins work on the mysterious experiments that will finally give him a clue as to what exactly this work is, he starts digging into things for himself. He first discovers that his father apparently committed suicide, and then that he was killed for refusing to finish the project he'd begun. X finds himself in a tangled web of intrigue that he knows will only get deeper the further he develops "the project".

In the end (which I haven't really figured out, because that's usually something I save till after I've written out the rest), he escapes and leaves everything behind (probably destroying things like his father's memories and lab), and starts a new life on his own somewhere completely different (another planet, or just somewhere far and different, idky).

So, what do you think? Recognize it from somewhere else? (I know I don't consciously, but that won't stop anyone else from making a connection, I'm sure)
 

Kjbartolotta

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Curious about this flash piece. Also, predictably, thought of Fifth Head of Cerberus from the synopsis. But clones are evergreen, I tend not to mind if the clone-stories find out they are clones themselves all along.

EDIT- I'm assuming the scientist father was also a clone
 
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Enlightened

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Doesn't sound like anything I know, exactly. Roughly, however, this is covered a little in The Others (movie) with Nicole Kidman. It is similar, because she thinks she is one thing, but is really something she fears.

I'm not sure why the son is his father's clone. Wouldn't a clone just be the clone of the man (and not his son)? Aren't sons, in most stories, vastly different from their fathers (e.g. butting heads throughout books, tv, movies, other)?

SPOILER....

At the end of the movie, she realizes there are not ghosts moving into her house. She is the ghost and a new, live family moves in.
 

AW Admin

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It shares some themes with Cherryh's Cyteen books, but they're not so similar to make me think you shouldn't go ahead and write.
 

benbenberi

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Like AW Admin, I was reminded of Cherryh's Cyteen. But the same premise can yield very different stories. No reason to hold back -- go make fiction!
 

Harlequin

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Definitely don't hold back!

I'd actually commented to a friend quite recently that I didn't think clones could be done in SF anymore*** without being a bit silly--wait for it, incoming humble pie--because they're so common... but then I ended up reading Never Let Me Go, albeit somewhat late to the party. And yeah, it's not a book without flaws but it's certainly Serious Clones. So I'll be over here in this corner, duly eating my hat.

'Never Let Me Go' was in the back of my mind for the flash (many thanks btw >.>) But clones probably would go into the same category as robots, aliens, anything really. All these years and we're still rewriting Romeo and Juliet, Catherine and Heathcliff, Frankenstein, etc etc. Execution and fresh perspective. And it's still good. There is always more to explore.


***Fifth Head of Cerberus is one of my favorite books but written quite some time ago. It's a good read, though, and so is Never Let Me Go (I haven't read the others mentioned in thread.)
 
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Brightdreamer

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Huh... my first thought was Anna to the Infinite (the movie, at least - never read the story it was based on), only the very ending isn't quite so optimistic. (Spoiler: You think she's escaping with her adopted family to build her own life, but a cutscene reveals the project heads are just giving them a day or two before they execute them.)

So, clearly, with all of us reminded of different stories, the basic idea can be executed in different ways.

I'm wondering if the father being the clone source might be a little too easy for the reader to guess (assuming you want a Shocking Reveal.)
 

themindstream

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I do have a question: What is it about the father or the project that makes the only/best solution to finishing the project trying to continue it with a clone of his son?

You don't have to tell me the answer as long as you eventually tell the readers. :D
 

Ms.Pencila

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Thank you all for the input!

I guess clones are a staple then, and some overlap is to be expected.

Do you think it matters much if I'm just writing a short or novella? (Not looking to make a condensed version of somebody's novel, and the probability of me developing things so differently in a much smaller space seems significantly lower to my admittedly-bad-at-calculating-self). I'm not exactly looking to start another novel.

So it's typical for the clone nature of the MC to be a big reveal? I was thinking he definitely knows he's a clone from the start, and that factors into his consideration of whether he can actually change anything about the life laid out for him. Or am I missing out on something the reader would enjoy guessing/finding out later rather than sooner/right away?

X thinks of his original (?) as his father because that's how everyone else refers to him, and there would've been an age/generational gap should his father have lived long enough to raise him as his son. The idea of there being dozens (or hundresd or what have you--worry about scope later) or whether his father was a clone or not I'm not sure yet, but I guess I can go ahead and start figuring that out.

Would it feel like a complete cheat for "the project" to be something simple but impossible, like stopping death or time, or is that breaking some sort of expectation in a clone story?
 

Kjbartolotta

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Would it feel like a complete cheat for "the project" to be something simple but impossible, like stopping death or time, or is that breaking some sort of expectation in a clone story?

I had an idea for a short story once where a person is trying to clone his ancestors (for reasons too ridiculous to get into) until he eventually get back to Adam, who can speak in the Primordial Language and accidentally destroys reality. It was silly. But unless it's an idea you can make seem plausible and logical, a big impossible power runs the risk of sounding silly too. Just depends, and it really doesn't have anything to do with clone stories.

I'd like it better if a clone realizes their a clone, again, depends, but the big freakout when they realize they're someone else is cliche. It could be fun to guess, but not necessary.

I think you should really read Fifth Head of Cerberus, actually. There are a lot of elements that sound similar here. It's...not easy. But I see you have a Chesterton quote in your sigs (one of my favorites), you might enjoy an author that was massively influenced by him.
 

Brightdreamer

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Thank you all for the input!

I guess clones are a staple then, and some overlap is to be expected.

Do you think it matters much if I'm just writing a short or novella? (Not looking to make a condensed version of somebody's novel, and the probability of me developing things so differently in a much smaller space seems significantly lower to my admittedly-bad-at-calculating-self). I'm not exactly looking to start another novel.

You're probably pretty early in the idea planning stage, then... which means a lot can (and probably will change) between now and the first workable draft. Don't overpressure yourself to stretch or squish the story, especially not yet.

So it's typical for the clone nature of the MC to be a big reveal? I was thinking he definitely knows he's a clone from the start, and that factors into his consideration of whether he can actually change anything about the life laid out for him. Or am I missing out on something the reader would enjoy guessing/finding out later rather than sooner/right away?

Whether or not the clone identity is a big reveal depends on the story you're trying to tell. The ones I've read often play on the paranoia idea of a Conspiracy and a double (or triple) and secrets the MC uncovers, leading to the revelation. (In Anna to the Infinite, she kept having flashbacks to the disaster that killed her template - and later found herself at a facility full of other Annas, part of a project to try to finish her template's research; the notes were destroyed in the disaster that killed her.)

If your MC knows from the start he's a clone, the story's going to be a different beast - maybe more about him either trying to be exactly like his template or trying to rebel against it to prove he's an individual, or maybe learning something about the project that makes him wonder if his template wanted it completed/killed themselves trying to sabotage it. That doesn't mean the reader won't or can't enjoy it if everyone knows he's a clone from the start, any more than readers can't enjoy a regular novel that doesn't question the MC's origins or ancestry. It's not a necessary question in every story.

X thinks of his original (?) as his father because that's how everyone else refers to him, and there would've been an age/generational gap should his father have lived long enough to raise him as his son. The idea of there being dozens (or hundresd or what have you--worry about scope later) or whether his father was a clone or not I'm not sure yet, but I guess I can go ahead and start figuring that out.

Yes, this is the kind of thing you should be hammering out now, though things sometimes change as the story hits the page. It's logical he'd think of his template as a Father.

Would it feel like a complete cheat for "the project" to be something simple but impossible, like stopping death or time, or is that breaking some sort of expectation in a clone story?

There is no real expectation of a "clone story" save that there be clones. That could cover anything from a gritty, paranoia-soaked thriller to a slapstick clone-buddy comedy. What project works best to create tension and conflict in your setting/characters? (If you're still deciding, consider coming up with a project that the MC and/or his template turns out to have troubles with - or maybe have it be used in a way that wasn't intended. A cure for cancer that he finds out is going to be twisted into a bioweapon, for instance. Perhaps question whether the clone's reaction to this might vary from the template's. Raise the personal stakes.)

Good luck!
 

Azdaphel

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While reading this, an idea popped up in my head:

He is not working on a project. He is the project, or rather an experiment. The point would be attaining some kind of immortality through cloning. You say he is given regular doses of his father memories. What if those memories aren't from one person but a long line of clones?
The point is: If you transfer your memories into a clone, is the clone you or a totally different person? Is he his "father" because of the memories, or someone different?
 

Frostrunes

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Really what this boils down to is the "I am not like my father" storyline. Clone or not, this theme appears in lots of other works. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader come to mind. There was an episode of the Brak show where clones of some assassin kept showing up to be killed by Brak's neighbor. I can think of a few animated films involving children that did not want to grow up to be their father. I don't think this is a problem for you, so long as you have your own thematic take on the idea.