# Two Ideas For a Science Fiction Novel **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [December 3, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-ideas-for-a-science-fiction-novel/927122 "2020-12-03T15:42:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-ideas-for-a-science-fiction-novel/927122/1 "2020-12-03T15:42:00Z")
As I already said on a previous message board, quite some time ago actually, the first idea for a Sci-Fi novel came to me when I saw a Michigan license plate. The letters spelled out _‘Elu’_. What could Elu mean? I came up with the following story. It is the distant dystopian future. And everyone is _obsessed_ (I’m summarizing here 😉 ) with a new simulated sexual partner, Elu. He/she/it can be whatever you want 'em to be. But s/he is TOO perfect. People want him to be real. The first man, obviously insane, goes to the server that created s/him in a futile attempt to find she/him. It ends disastrously with his death. Finally (long-story-short) a man tries to to clone Elu. Is he successful? The novel ends there. I should tell you this story is partly inspired by _Star Trek: the Next Generation_ and the holodeck character Minuet. So I don’t know if that’d be plagiarism. (But most of the story is my idea, you will note.) Second story is based on quantum technology and specifically smartphones with quantum computers in them. What if people started using them, and they were connected to other quantum realities, specifically dead relatives? Yadda yadda yadda. You get the picture. Now I think this last one was all my idea. Comments? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-ideas-for-a-science-fiction-novel/927122/2 "2020-12-03T15:46:30Z")
Moved to the Café from the Marketplace. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-ideas-for-a-science-fiction-novel/927122/3 "2020-12-03T16:56:34Z")
There’s no plagiarism involved in writing a story inspired by a TNG episode (also it sounds more inspired by “The Perfect Mate” than Minuet). The second story reminds me of Ted Chiang’s “Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom” [Hugo Spotlight: Ted Chiang’s “Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom” Transforms the Familiar | Tor.com](https://www.tor.com/2020/07/28/hugo-spotlight-ted-chiangs-anxiety-is-the-dizziness-of-freedom-transforms-the-familiar/) but again, ideas are reused all the time - it’s what you do with them that matters (JW Campbell used to give multiple authors the same idea - each author would create a different story from the idea, and often several of them would be publishable). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2020, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-ideas-for-a-science-fiction-novel/927122/4 "2020-12-03T22:12:11Z")
[https://www.google.com/search?q=Spirit+phone+dead+people](https://www.google.com/search?q=Spirit+phone+dead+people) (Just “spirit phone” got top hits about some band.) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-ideas-for-a-science-fiction-novel/927122/5 "2020-12-04T00:44:13Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > The letters spelled out _‘Elu’_ . What could Elu mean? _Élu_ is “elected” in French. Clearly, you have a local francophone member of council, who makes their availability known to the citizens via their licence plats. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-ideas-for-a-science-fiction-novel/927122/6 "2020-12-04T01:15:10Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > Finally (long-story-short) a man tries to to clone Elu. Is he successful? The novel ends there. You mean, the first season on Netflix ends there… I would watch this. But I’d be _seriously_ addicted to a book/movie/show made from your second idea. One person’s phone connects to a dead relative, another person half a world away gets a call from the future… And the protagonist’s estranged wife has been sexting with him, but not _him_ him. Him from an alternate reality, where it’s eventually revealed that he was able to save their daughter from that fire… And the Steve Jobs-like head of research at the tech company has been watching for situations like this…