Author Topic: Writing Idea of the day  (Read 3468 times)

42

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Writing Idea of the day
« on: June 12, 2007, 05:56:58 PM »
So I came up with an idea for a sci-fi story that I will probably never write, but I figure some of you might be interested.

Starting fact: a fraternal twin who marries another fraternal twin has a greater chance of concieving multiple birth pregnancies than single-birth pregnancies.

Story concept: what would a family be like that only permitted their children to marry people who were fraternal twins, thus having a family where nearly everyone has a twin?
The Folly of youth is to think that intelligence is a subsitute for experience. The folly of age is to think that experience is a subsitute for intelligence.

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Re: Writing Idea of the day
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2007, 07:39:58 PM »
So,

#1 - Curious where the fact came from

#2 - Curious if rate of twin births increase for a twin and a single.  Or is it just for twin + twin?

Might fast-forward this idea so that not just one family, but entire society is like this.  Single birthed babies are outcasts.  Twins are praised as more intelligent, better looking, upstanding citizens, etc.  Sibling rivalries just took on a new meaning.  :)
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42

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Re: Writing Idea of the day
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2007, 03:28:48 AM »
There is some myth to the idea that twins who marry twins will only have twins. However, there is some factual basis in that twins only appear in families that have a history of twins. Since one twin already has a chance of conieving twins (particularly women), two twins increases the odds dramatically. If you come from a family where there isn't a history of twins, if you marry a twin, it isn't very likely you will concieve twins. If two people marry that neither have a family history of twins, they are not likely to produce twins without some intervention. Essentially, being prone to concieve multiple births is a recessive genetic trait with some people being carriers, some people being the manifestation, and others having nothing to do with it. Course, many twins who marry twins do concieve twins, but only give birth to one child since, as in the case with most multiple zygote conceptions, both zygotes rarely develop fully. I would like to give you more concrete source, but this comes from a statistics project I did a year ago. I could have misinterpretted the information, but that is how I see it. Plus, I'm a twin, so I have some bias.

There have been some small societies where twins have been extremely prominent (the Yoruba and Hausa tribes in Africa). These tribes actually had "twin cults" which have appeared in many other cultures that have viewed the birth of twins as a miraculous event (which it is).

So I think it would be interesting to see how some societies where most births were multiple births, would they see concieving a single birth as a miracle or a disease?

My original thought was of a royal family that encouraged the marrying and concieving of twins for political reasons, such a being in a culture that has a twin cult.
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Re: Writing Idea of the day
« Reply #3 on: June 24, 2007, 05:27:31 PM »
This is a very interesting idea.  I like the "twins are special, everyone else are outcasts" idea.  Adding to that.  What if, even thought twins are superior, only one is allowed to survive.  Until a certain time in theri life both twins, maneuver and plaot and train for a predetermined date when the will face off and only one will survive.  Sibling rivalry would be encouraged.  Maybe a coming of age ritual is besting your twin.  I could go a number of ways, very interesting indeed.

I also have an Idea of the Day I'd like to share, and I thought it would be appropriate to post it here.

Magic System-  Magic users can travel to another world/ dimension where however much time they spend there only takes up one second in the real world.   If a warrior was about to be defeated, he could travel to the other world, train for days, weeks, months, years even, and then return and better his opponent.  Maybe this world is empty space, and whoever is there can shape waht they want it to be.  That same warrior could make copies of his opponent ot train against.  This warrior scenario is only one possibility, ther are many others, post your thoughts.  A possible  cost for this system could be that the more time you spend in the other world, the less connection you have to the real one.  Extended periods in the other world could result in slight or complete loss of smell, touch, sight, or taste in the real world.  Post what you think about htis idea or possiblities for it, or alternative costs for using this sort of magic.

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Re: Writing Idea of the day
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2007, 09:50:29 PM »
There was a science show on recently (forget the name, sorry) talking about multiple births, and they posited the idea that the vast majority of conceptions are actually multiples, and the "extras" just never develop.

The most intriguing aspect of this, which I think has some story potential, is this: there is a type of twin conception, well documented, in which one twin is a literal reflection of the other--physical traits are all reversed, so one will be right-handed and the other will be left-handed. The theory on the show was that all left-handed people are actually just reflections of a twin conception that never developed. I don't know what you could do with that idea, but it strikes me as very cool.
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Re: Writing Idea of the day
« Reply #5 on: June 26, 2007, 03:57:11 AM »
Me and Lost One are both left-handed. So that theory says we were really suppose to be quadruplets?
The Folly of youth is to think that intelligence is a subsitute for experience. The folly of age is to think that experience is a subsitute for intelligence.

The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers

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Re: Writing Idea of the day
« Reply #6 on: June 26, 2007, 03:40:10 PM »
well, assumedly, yes. I tried to think of a work around. DIdn't happen. So uh... do you miss your two brothers now?

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Re: Writing Idea of the day
« Reply #7 on: June 27, 2007, 08:34:28 PM »
As long as we're conjecturing...does that theory only apply to identical twins?  Don't really see how the connection could be made with fraternal twins though seeing as how they're separate from the beginning. If that's so, then 42 and Lost One could both feasibly be "reflections" of the same twin -- the one right-hander that never made it.  Poor sap(s).
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twisted

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Re: Writing Idea of the day
« Reply #8 on: July 05, 2007, 04:18:05 AM »
I have an idea for a book that has been bugging me for a while....I keep tossing the idea around in my head to come up with how to start it.  Generally it's about the Roswell crash.  What if it was true, not a new idea you are asking, but what if now that we have DNA testing available, a test was done on the alien found near the crash site. What if that DNA test showed that it was of human origin. What if this "alien" is actually us in a couple of thousand years after a little more evolving and for some strange reason this "alien" had discovered a porthole that landed him into 1957.


I don't know. It probably can't go anywhere but it's just something I've just had to get of my chest.  If you have an opinion please feel free.  For all I know someone has already thought of this and already written a book.

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Re: Writing Idea of the day
« Reply #9 on: July 05, 2007, 02:02:05 PM »
Isn't that the plot behind Sphere?

WriterDan

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Re: Writing Idea of the day
« Reply #10 on: July 05, 2007, 07:25:34 PM »
Yeah, pretty close.  Only without the sphere.  :)
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twisted

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Re: Writing Idea of the day
« Reply #11 on: July 06, 2007, 10:56:55 AM »
sorry haven't seen the sphere. interesting perhaps i'll have to pop out and hire it just to watch. 

but just to expand the idea a little what if the incas, egyptians and the mayan were visited by aliens and given the required knowledge but the aliens were us just distantly in the future.  what if all alien encounters were just humans popping back in time to have a sticky beak.......

probably not an original idea......

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Re: Writing Idea of the day
« Reply #12 on: July 06, 2007, 01:24:02 PM »
to be fair, the actual PLOT/conflict of Sphere is about dealing with the sphere, not how it got there.