(and yes, I did ask Jay before posting. ;D)

Okay, I've had a 'pet' story that I have been working on for, oh, three years now. (maybe more...I didn't date things as well back then!)

I had a couple basic premises that I combined into the world of Chasms.

(1)
What if the MCs lived in a warehouse where they built rooms and cool stuff out of crates? What if the Pony Express had been in a futuristic world, and my MCs ran it? (a errand & package service)

(2)
What would happen to my beloved MCs if their older (adopted) brother was killed tragically before act 2?

(3) What if robots attacked and people defended themselves with swords as well as blasters/guns? What if those people dressed in tunics instead of tshirts & jeans?

(4)
What if there was a race or type of people who were social outcasts? (later this developed into a large group of people - the racially different [unknown how far I'll take this], the socially different [i.e. street kids & homeless], and the mentally/physically different [i.e. disabled]

So you can see how these are all starting to tie together. I made the warehouse be for the social outcasts, I had my character who died get run through with a sword (after smashing robots with his own sword...), and wove my MC's through it.

This is a character-driven story- much like Star Wars (I hadn't seen SW until AFTER the last time I worked on this project about eight months ago...) in the style of character arcs being more important than the sci-fi-ness.

However, I need epic. I need external struggle. I need something other than drama! So far the worst that's happened is some little fights between one of the MC's and his cousin! It's all internal struggle - very little externals. I'm missing some motivations for the villains. (i.e. why did they want to kill Lukas anyway...?) Therefore, I need some epicness.

I can add in more details. (this is one book/film out of a set of three or four--this is the first one, meant to be standalone)

So I need some evil bad guy help here...

Thanks!

(PS - my story. Nice story! don't borrow elements from my story, please. my precioussssss! )

Ideas I've already tried for my villain:

(1) personal problem with the MC's brother Jathan/Lukas - i.e. longstanding rivalry ending in the villain (Darwon) blaming Lukas for something bad that happened

(2) believing in a class system that included Untouchable-like people who ought to be eliminated (those people being the street kids, the orphans, the mentally or physically disabled, and those of mixed or minority race, depending where I want to take racial aspects...)

(2.1) stemming from a personal problem in which someone had gotten killed because of a mistake one of those social outcasts made which ended in an accident killing my other villains' parents (other villains are Darwon's other niece and nephew Karenza and Enrico).

(3) Karenza and Enrico just plain don't like the MCs because the MCs are much nicer and have life better, etc, etc...jealousy.

Out of everything, I like #2 best (not 2.1) but that doesn't extend to the personal problem.

I've noted that in epic stories, there needs to be personal conflict as well as epic conflict. In Star Wars, there is the personal conflict between Luke and his father. In Lord of the Rings, there is personal conflict between various good characters, and the personal conflict between Frodo the Ringbearer and Gollum the former Ringbearer. (in a way, Gollum is the antagonist because he is present - but Sauron is the true antagonist because he's controlling all the orcs, and even Gollum to a degree) And I can't think of any other epic stories off the top of my head, but you see what I mean?

I'd love it if someone could help me brainstorm non-cheesy, original ways to have personal conflict and epic conflict. Things like 'why does Darwon kill Lukas' (killing Lukas is something that has to happen ::sniff::), 'why are the three villains involved in this', 'what gain is there for getting rid of these social outcasts', etc...I can't even think of all the aspects to deal with right now!

The name of the first book is Chasms, which is the summing up of the themes of said book.

Thanks!

Just a thought... as far as "What gain is there in killing the social outcasts," there doesn't really have to be any real gain as long as there is some imagined gain. I mean, Hitler would have truly gained very little from killing all the Jews, but he thought it to be a worthwhile effort because he was an evil man who believed in a "superior race". As long as your villains [u]think[u] that destroying the outcasts is a good thing, then they'll do it, even if it's really a bad idea. Then you can add a personal level by making some of the outcasts (MCs?) connected to the villains in a more personal way (past encounters, relationships, etc.), which would give the villains a motive to target them specifically.

Well, yes and no. Hitler also was into the whole take-over-the-world thing. So he had an external desire (take over the world) and an internal desire (destroy the races he considered less than superior - and he too killed the disabled).

I need both as well.

I have been in development in what little writing time I've had this weekend, and this is what I've established:

My villains want this technology which some time before the story starts, scientists & technicians (some of which are related to my characters) developed to help the disabled. The villains have something (UNKNOWN) to gain from this technology. They do not think it's worth wasting on the disabled. Initially they just want the technology - eventually they will want those who developed it in order to continue the development.

Unfortunately, I don't have enough of a world developed to be able to figure out what they'd need to do in order to take over the world. Or if there's anything else they can do with the tech. other than to take over the world.

So I am trying to come up with options for my bad guys. So far I have information smugglers and rival/rebel scientists...

I do have reasons why the villains are targeting the MC's personally - it's quite interesting, the relationships i have going. Two of the villains are actually cousins of the MCs and therefore have personal problems...

Pardon the sawdust, this is a rapidly developing work in progress with chunks of story laying all over the place that I'm trying to fit into place.

One other random thing that I'd like to use this thread for...I would like to hear what other people think of when they think of the title "Chasms".

What do ya'll think that this book/film could be about? What kind of Chasms might we be talking about in this book? (sci-fi fantasy action-adventure is the genre)

I have one type of chasm written down: I would love everyone else's input as I'm developing the themes and motifs of the book.