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Post by permutojoe on May 21, 2021 22:27:34 GMT
So I have this idea for a story that goes something like this. I don't have most of the sci-fi details worked out but that's not too important.
A guy starts hearing an odd low volume voice in his head, not sounding exactly like a person but with some manner of audio filter disguising it. It doesn't take him long to realize he's not crazy and the voice is not his. The voice changes over time, gradually becoming more hostile (the specifics of what the voice wants in any given stage is not too important here), and there might be multiple different sounding voices but only one speaks at a time.
The voice knows everything about him, and at the later stages can even appear to read his mind in ways that do not allow for any other explanation. The voice starts off just gaslighting him and sometimes even acting friendly, telling jokes, but it always switches to some sort of hostility. This is either keeping him up for a day or two at a time with no sleep or using sensors/devices that have been implanted throughout his body, up to and including his most sensitive body parts to "ping" or even hurt him. The hostile party has tiny cameras in his body such that they can see everything he does. They are also able to fabricate sights and sounds into his vision and hearing.
Ultimately it's a hi-tech thing, with a tiny audio device having been implanted in each ear, or maybe even a tiny drone flown in. How the sensors got there is not revealed until the end, or maybe not at all. And of course the purpose of the hostile party remains unknown. Long story short the reader will wish this type of tech never gets developed in his world.
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Post by Nora on May 22, 2021 9:02:15 GMT
So I have this idea for a story that goes something like this. I don't have most of the sci-fi details worked out but that's not too important. A guy starts hearing an odd low volume voice in his head, not sounding exactly like a person but with some manner of audio filter disguising it. It doesn't take him long to realize he's not crazy and the voice is not his. The voice changes over time, gradually becoming more hostile (the specifics of what the voice wants in any given stage is not too important here), and there might be multiple different sounding voices but only one speaks at a time. The voice knows everything about him, and at the later stages can even appear to read his mind in ways that do not allow for any other explanation. The voice starts off just gaslighting him and sometimes even acting friendly, telling jokes, but it always switches to some sort of hostility. This is either keeping him up for a day or two at a time with no sleep or using sensors/devices that have been implanted throughout his body, up to and including his most sensitive body parts to "ping" or even hurt him. The hostile party has tiny cameras in his body such that they can see everything he does. They are also able to fabricate sights and sounds into his vision and hearing. Ultimately it's a hi-tech thing, with a tiny audio device having been implanted in each ear, or maybe even a tiny drone flown in. How the sensors got there is not revealed until the end, or maybe not at all. And of course the purpose of the hostile party remains unknown. Long story short the reader will wish this type of tech never gets developed in his world. sounds interesting. work with it. how does he know/ find out he is not crazy though? |
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Post by permutojoe on May 22, 2021 12:02:43 GMT
sounds interesting. work with it. how does he know/ find out he is not crazy though? Good question. The accompanying physical manipulation/pain throughout his body would be the first clue. And even without that let's say he's a pretty balanced/sane person and trusts in that enough that he knows.
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Post by Nora on May 22, 2021 12:32:02 GMT
sounds interesting. work with it. how does he know/ find out he is not crazy though? Good question. The accompanying physical manipulation/pain throughout his body would be the first clue. And even without that let's say he's a pretty balanced/sane person and trusts in that enough that he knows. all that (the pain and the physical movements etc) can happen just because of mental ilness. and people can otherwise be/appear Completelly normal. (I have a friend who is a schizophreniac, I wouldnt have known had he not told me 3 years into our friendship). So I think the hard part will be figuring out how he knows/the audiance knows (if you want them to know) that it is Not a mental illness. |
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Post by permutojoe on May 22, 2021 13:01:13 GMT
Good question. The accompanying physical manipulation/pain throughout his body would be the first clue. And even without that let's say he's a pretty balanced/sane person and trusts in that enough that he knows. all that (the pain and the physical movements etc) can happen just because of mental ilness. and people can otherwise be/appear Completelly normal. (I have a friend who is a schizophreniac, I wouldnt have known had he not told me 3 years into our friendship). So I think the hard part will be figuring out how he knows/the audiance knows (if you want them to know) that it is Not a mental illness. I didn't know mental illnesses could cause pain like that. Maybe there could be an incident where one of the devices inside of him is grown in size by the hostile party. It moves up his body which he can feel and possibly even see a little bit, and then driven into the side of his rib cage to terrorize him, causing him some amount of pain/discomfort. Even still the point of view will be strictly from the protagonist, and there would probably be some question as to whether any of it was real or possibly just mental illness.
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Post by Nora on May 22, 2021 13:53:10 GMT
all that (the pain and the physical movements etc) can happen just because of mental ilness. and people can otherwise be/appear Completelly normal. (I have a friend who is a schizophreniac, I wouldnt have known had he not told me 3 years into our friendship). So I think the hard part will be figuring out how he knows/the audiance knows (if you want them to know) that it is Not a mental illness. I didn't know mental illnesses could cause pain like that. Maybe there could be an incident where one of the devices inside of him is grown in size by the hostile party. It moves up his body which he can feel and possibly even see a little bit, and then driven into the side of his rib cage to terrorize him, causing him some amount of pain/discomfort. Even still the point of view will be strictly from the protagonist, and there would probably be some question as to whether any of it was real or possibly just mental illness. Yes exactly. And the ilness can make you feel and see and even feel like you can actually touch it and interact with something thats not there... so it would be very hard to Prove that its not just his hallucinations, unless we see it like on an xray at the doctors or from another persons pov... |
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Post by JHA Durant on May 23, 2021 5:27:28 GMT
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Post by gameboy on May 23, 2021 7:44:30 GMT
Why classify this as sci-fi and not horror or some sort of psycho-drama?
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Post by permutojoe on May 23, 2021 12:19:41 GMT
My idea could be written to keep possible an alien presence or maybe even some type of being or communication from the future (in addition to the obvious "he's just crazy"), but that's probably not how it will pan out.
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Post by permutojoe on May 23, 2021 12:30:09 GMT
Why classify this as sci-fi and not horror or some sort of psycho-drama? The idea occurred to me after reading "The Machine Stops". Even though the story is not similar the sci-fi vibe felt right.
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