Collaborative Corner

Sometimes wishes do come true... Sometimes the words that little girls whisper turn into reality. That's what happened with the Paper People. Little paper-dolls, cut out of card and paper, some made by hand, some taken out of kits, come to life.
The idea is to just write about the realities of being made out of paper, from disintegrating in water to being vacuumed up to being left naked at the hand of a playing child, from a variety of viewpoints. Another option would be that the girl instead wishes that she was one of her paper dolls, and becomes one of them, and they have to help her find her way back to human form. The second idea would be more a childish story/fairytale thing, whereas the first idea could have mature themes or anything, seeing as paper-dolls are so often teenage girls in fancy dresses. There could also be friction between the hand made dolls and the bought ones.
This might be a silly and foolish idea though, and if so, please do tell me, because it was just a spur of the moment thing... I like it though :P

That sounds awesome! I really like the second idea. I think it would be run to do a childish fairy tale. I've always wanted to write one, and haven't gotten a chance. That is, if you'll have me. :)

Hehe sure :) I'm open to anything really, so if you have any suggestions or ideas, do share :)
What kind of 'vibe' are you thinking, like fun and silly, or a bit scary, or adventurous, or what? And what age for the girl? Like she could be just a little kid, but she could also be a bit older, like saying goodbye to her dolls before she throws them out because she thinks she's too old for them now or something.

I was thinking fun, silly, and adventuresome. Kind of like a long bedtime story type, if you know what I mean.

And I like the idea of her being older, maybe 14 or 15?, and saying good he to her dolls. Then she gets turned into one, and by the end realizes that your never to old to act like a kid at times.

Maybe we could even have a slight romance in there, just becuase I love romance. But we don't have to if you don't think it will fit.

Sounds good :) What kind of character distribution are you thinking? Or we could try, I guess, to do it from 3rd person, and just take turns writing about what happens?

And yeah I like that idea too :) And I'm always up for romance ;P It would be interesting too because, when she figures out how to turn back into a 3D human, she'll have to decide, like she can hardly have a paper doll boyfriend, so that would be like, big decision time.

Idea!

The first chapter can be like a prologue type thing, written in first person. It can be a grown woman telling her daughter a bedtime story. Then the story can start in third person, and we take turns. And in the end, it turns out that the girl in the story is the mom telling the story, and the dad is the paper guy doll that she fell in love with. Somehow he could be turned into human. Maybe the power of true love or some other classic fairy tale thing...

Anyways, what do you think?

I like it, it's a plan ;)

One thing I'm wondering about is, magic... Obviously that's going to play a part in the story, but to what extent? Like, do the paper people practice any magic? Because that would make it more like a traditional fairy tale but it would change the direction/focus/whatever of the story a lot. Maybe like they have a bit of magic to do things like make themselves new things out of paper, or like all their magic is restricted to paper, or something. Thoughts?

They can turn anything into paper, or make a paper version if anything. Something like that.

Well, they can't turn just anything into paper cause then stuff would be a bit chaotic, and her being made into paper wouldn't be that special.

Oh, and I had a thought... She's going to have to look for someone, like maybe some sort of 'paper witch', made for Halloween or something. So maybe when she eventually finds her, after dealing with many obstacles, she discovers that the 'witch' isn't actually the one who turned her into paper, but rather she did it to herself. Because after all, she's the one who made the paper dolls and played with them and stuff. But I'm not sure, maybe that's too clichéd?

Oh, yeah. That sounds awesome! :)

But how is she going to turn back? Will it be like the Wizard of Oz type thing, where she just has to believe in herself? Or will she have her own special magic? That could easier explain how the guy gets turned into a human, also.

Or maybe this witch can only turn one person into human, and the guy's dream has always been to be human, so the girl asks the witch to turn him into a human. Then she finds her own strength inside her to turn herself back.

Hey... Can I join? I really like all the ideas!

Hey, what if the mom was telling that bedtime story then the girl has an adventure of her own and gets a paper boyfriend and she has to choose whether to leave him and turn back, or stay with him and turn into paper.. She then chooses paper and etc.,

Although that is a great idea, @stories, I think it would make the story to long, complicated, and redundant. But I don't know. Let's see what @Callie thinks.

I was thinking that as we write the story, we could have the daughter asking he mother questions about the story. For example:


Cindy ran down the street, not daring to look behind her. She knew that the creature would...

"Mommy, what creature are you talking about?"


I roll my eyes and smooths her hair. "You'll see soon, darling." I say.

She knew that the creature would not think twice about capturing her.


Or something along this lines...

Hmm, I'm not sure, I was thinking a believe in herself kind of thing because if she had her own magic she'd be able to do other stuff too, right?

Maybe it could be like a bit of wordplay, like she has to wish she was where her heart belongs or something like that, and so she goes back to being human because that's what she is originally, but because her heart now belongs to paperboy, he turns into a human as well. Or... Something? :/

And hey @stories4u2read thanks for the interest but I think it might get a little crowded and awkward if there's another author, but I don't know, @Shally16 what do you think?
And your idea is good but as Shally16 said, it'd be a bit over the top to try fit two stories into one. Also, to be having a bed time story she would have to be quite young. Maybe if this one goes well there could be a sequal with the daughter when she's grown up a bit, and she decides to stay paper, as a kind of twist.

Oh, yeah, I thought about that too. I like it. I was also thinking that maybe we avoided mentioning the mothers name at the start, and so then during the story no one knows it's her, but then at the end, sort of like the prologue, there's a chapter where she finishes up, says the end, kisses her goodnight, and then the mother calls the dad up by his name (the same name as the paper boy in the story) and he says her name, but we don't actually specifically say that they were the people in the story, unless the daughter like asks if it was her.

Yes, I'm sorry and I hate to say no @stories, but I do think at this point that it would be a little much to add anothe person. I'm sorry!

And yeah, I was also thinking along those lines. That the story opens without mentioning any names. Not even the daughter's because I just got an idea. What if the daughter's name is the same as the paperboy's mom/sister/whatever. And then when her name is mentioned in the story, the little girl can get excited about it.

And as a prologue type thing, do as you said. Have her end the story and call her husband by name; and he hers. But don't say anything about how they're connected to the story. Let's leave that up to the reader. :)

Okay that should work out :) Should we still do the prologue thing then? Or just start it off as "Once upon a time... Hush sweetie, settle down if you really want the story, it's bedtime Once upon a time, girl, paper, whoaaa, paper girl, etc" ?

Hm, whichever you would prefer to do. I think it would work either way, so however you decide to write the first chapter.

Hmm, okay, I don't know :/ I guess I'll see :)
Do you have any ideas about the main character? Or shall I just go ahead and write something, and we'll just make up her personality and stuff as we go along?