Hello Everyone!
I have been having trouble writing SoulDive. With all the IRL nonsense going on around LLM-based slopAI it doesn't want to get written. Now, I am not dropping the story. SoulDive will be finished as over half of it is done and I do love the story and characters. However, I'm hoping more that I get a chapter or two of it done in a month instead of weekly. Blarg, stupid reality screwing with fantasy.
Now, I do plan to start another story that I can make more progress on. Specifically, I have about 5 prompts that I've had for a while and put some thought into. The poll below is not for which story I will start right now, but rather a general gauge of interest before I [decide/run another poll]. Also, this won't be where I write the entire story tip to tail. Instead, I'll write about a novella's worth for that story and then deciding on what to write as my "third" story for another novella. Anyway, below are the outlines for the various prompts with some details on what I'd be writing for them. Feel free to comment on them if you spot something you think needs mentioned.
NOTE: Once again, this poll is not for which story I will write, but just judging interest. If you find all five of them interesting I WANT YOU TO VOTE FOR ALL FIVE OF THEM! Basically, read the stuff below and then vote for every single option that you would like to read. I have set this post to only show the preview in the email. That way to read the actual prompts, you need to actually visit the Patreon which is required to vote on the poll.
So if you're reading this, you are here on the Patreon itself. That is more effort than normally needed, so I hope you put in a little bit more to actually read each of the five prompts and then vote!
Isekai as a World in a XianXia Cultivation Multiverse
The MC is the "Heavens". They wake up in an ancient style building, last memories being of an old lady taking back an empty soup cup. In front of them is a guy running this section of the afterlife and they tell the MC they somehow ended up in the wrong place. Because MC doesn't have any Karma with the local area of the omniverse, he is in a unique position and is given a few options. Of which, he chooses to be reborn as a new Mortal world. His goal? To guide his worlds population and grow his world into an immortal paradise.
You've probably read at least one world creation story. In this case, the MC will literally be the world and seen as being "the heavens" as depicted in most cultivation stories. Throwing down tribulations and what not at the various cultivators trying to go against them. Also, there will not be a system or LitRPG elements in general. The MC advances not by watching an exp bar, but based on how far the native cultivators manage to go.
For the first novella I want to focus on the MC bringing their world from a barren rock, up to being a world with people who have truly stepped into proper cultivation instead of just being stronger mortals. In particular, the first bit will mostly have beasts that naturally form until refugees begin to show up from other "small" worlds. If you aren't familiar with the classic set up of a cultivation multiverse, there tends to be a large number of small worlds that form and die all the time. The refugees will be coming from worlds similar to the MC's own that are dying, though not from outside interference. Above that are the "9000 worlds". The actual number may or may not be literally 9k, but there is generally a limited number of them and they represent the main worlds of the setting. Generally this is where you get your first beings whose cultivation allows them to have an unlimited lifespan. Also, as tends to be the case with cultivation settings, this is where the story goes into visiting other planets within the same universe. A general increase in scale that is magnitudes more. Finally, there is the "Heavenly Realm"/"Immortal World". In a lot of stories, there is only a single such dimension. Everyone there tends to be immortal of some sort and so very stagnant.
A Hero in three parts
This one is planned to be a trilogy time loop story. Basically, 3 novellas with each story being a complete loop. The first novella will have the classic Hero story (and also what I'd be writing this time). A small group of saviors with THE HERO, setting out to kill GOD because the world has been cursed by them with dungeons, monsters, and a Demon King (well, in the story the first goal is killing the Demon King, but they soon find out the true culprit is god). While there will be some flashbacks, the start of each novel and the time loop as a whole is when the hero's party has successfully formed. Mostly because I don't want to deal with the Hero remembering what has happened and how they mess up getting the gang back together when the gang doesn't even know they were together in the first place.
Now, the following is a bit of a spoiler for how the first book ends. Giving you a chance to not read this, just skill to the next bit. Anyway, the reason for the time loop will be that the God is an eldritch being beyond space and time. When the Hero "kills" them, it actually just shatters the god and the Hero is sent back to the pivotal moment, when the party that set out to kill said god.
Of note, the themes for the story will be heroic and power fantasy. While there will be some introspective stuff, it isn't going to go into the realm of horror. Also, the first novella in the trilogy will have a System, but that will change in the second and third novellas.
Archery and Alchemy in a Fantasy FIVR Game
The main character is an older lady who decides to join the game which has been out for three or so years after something causes her to be unable to practice her hobby irl. Her "hobby" is a crazy routine of exercises and hiking with their bow. You've probably read a story like this before, I really like the genre. If you haven't, the basic idea is that most players in the game think archery sucks and is under-powered because even with system assistance, it takes a lot of actual skill to use a bow. For this story in particular, most of the player base that uses a bow have gone with a spray and pray tactic based around the fact that you get a lot more system correction when using skills that split or create extra arrows. Also, it is hard to miss when you make it rain arrows. The MC will instead focus on single powerful hits with a longbow instead of a short bow or crossbow.
The MC also ends up practicing alchemy because she finds a lot of strange herbs while out in the woods. In the game alchemy can be hand brewed or automated, and obviously as the trope goes, the MC will focus on hand brewing because she doesn't grind out a million hp pots, but rather just uses what ingredients she finds. The underlying system for alchemy is quite open and free form. Basically, every herb has a list of buffs and debuffs that can boost or cancel each other out. So say herb A has the effects of minor Mana recovery and minor paralysis while herb B has the effects of being a stabilizer and minor agility boost. When brewed together the paralysis and agility boost effects cancel each other out, the stabilizing effect makes the potion effect last longer, and the recovery effect recovers Mana over time. Also, the way ingredients are prepared can change their effects. If someone figured out a way to prepare herb A perfectly, it could result in the paralysis effect being removed and the resulting potion not only recovering Mana, but boosting agility.
My plan for this story is that the FIVR game isn't one continuous world/server. Rather, while there is a "main" world (server), most players are focused on temporary servers. If you've ever read "The King's Avatar" I'm going for something similar, but each new server is a new world and the original is less of an actual place you can play, but rather a place where you can show off your accomplishments in the temporary servers. Anyway, the first novella is going to be at the start of a new season, with the MC joining not quite on the first day, but shortly after so that she is behind, but not by much. She will develop into a dark horse over the first novella, but not topping any charts besides when it comes to archery. Oh, and each new season/server will scramble the herbs somewhat so alchemists can't just start crafting top tier potions without some work.
Isekai Reincarnation till I have the Best Spirit Root
The MC traded everything for the best spirit root. Literally everything including who they are except for some reason this isn't possible in one go. The story starts with a mortal in a mortal cultivation world who lives a full life, just a normal farmer with a normal family. No disasters or last minute regrets. Then they find themselves in a modern office where a being explains this and that to gain the best Spirit Root the MC needs to progress through reincarnation one life at a time, each time getting the next up root and having to fully excavate the potential of that root to take the next step. This isn't the first time he was here and might not be the last. If he fails enough the root degrades and if it hits the state of worst root his memories are wiped, though he can ask for that voluntarily. Elements of stacking basic bonuses learned over multiple lives to have an outsized effect. Spirit roots exist between the physical and the spiritual. Roots aren't attuned to a specific element, but simply start at that element and cycle through. Also, the general setting is a classic 3-tier cultivation multiverse, so while the MC may end up back in a world he once lived, he will also go through a bunch of worlds he may never see again and even get to a point where he might be able to go and find the worlds he previously lived in and actually traveling there.
The first novella will involve the MC living through a few lives in short order, struggling because cultivation sects aren't exactly famous for allowing in people with trash roots and ends with a life where he finally struggles into a position to finally get past having mortal(trash) spirit roots.
Isekai'd with a Money Laundering System!
MC worked as a clerk at the main office of a Laundromat chain which unbeknownst to him, the region he handles paperwork for actually launders money as well and he's killed as the last loose end since he was the one filing all the paperwork that his boss just "lost". Boss comes to him with his hands folded behind his back, "I know you've been complaining about the work load. Well good news! We plan to hire new clerk!" MC is sagging with relief, "Thank goodness, I'll make sure to have them up to speed right away!" Manager shakes his head as he pulls a pistol out from behind his back and aims it at the MC, "Yeah, that would be a problem. The system you're familiar with was a bit dirty. See, we were laundering more than clothes and after I spent so much time scrubbing those books? Well, you're the only loose thread left!" MC panics, "Wait, boss! I won't te—" Bang and then the MC wakes up in a new world with the Money Laundering System. He has a status and everything, with the gimmick being that he can put stuff into the system and either get pennies in the dollar or receives it back, except scrubbed of identifying marks. Irl example of how this would work with money is the numbers would be replaced with the numbers from a bill of the same year that burned in a house fire without anyone having taken note of the serial number. More important for the MC it removes magical tracking, cuts karma, and will alter techniques so they don't match the secret order of assassin's super stealth skill's energy signature anymore.
The first story will see the MC land on their feet, decide what path to power they want to use, and join a place to develop their power. This is the most recent prompt and so I don't have quite as much built up background for the story, but it has legs in my opinion. The setting itself will be cultivation-ish. Basically, you can grow your power until your lifespan is unlimited. Though there won't be multiple dimensions stacked on top of each other. So everything will happen within the same world. However, that world will be quite big as is tradition for cultivation style stories. Power has multiple paths. Fighters, Mages, Clerical, Mental, and so on. Basically, what you're training. Focus on improving your bodies physical condition with your power and you're a fighter. Focus on being able to throw your power around outside of your body? A mage. Maybe you want to use your power to instead channel the power of higher beings? A cleric. And of course, if you focus on your mind, that is the mental path. Note, mental does not mean telekinesis, that would be an external use of the power. Rather, mental "cultivation" represents improving your ability to remember and process information.