Stories To Be

Jennifer Michelle said:
A few more ideas, thanks to my co-worker Amy (who has voted for this idea as the one I should do).

- If BoD had her powers from birth, perhaps she saved her mother who otherwise would have died in childbirth.
- A family member or friend that BoD is very close to is deathly ill, and wants to die because of the pain. What does BoD do?
- What are the consequences of BoD? If you believe in reincarnation, then BoD is preventing new people from being born by preventing people from dying. If you believe in a person dies when it is their time, or once their purpose has been served, then BoD is upsetting that. What happens to the people BoD "saved"? What do the people who think BoD has done wrong do?
 

Sara said:
I thik I like this one too, though I'd want to see you do them both and you did mention a third one too. I like BBB as well, but this sounds more like the kind of thing I'd write. :)

There's a lot of potential for interesting stories here. The trick is figuring out what they lead up to. BoD's own death? BoD's understanding of Death as a neutral entity rather than something evil that needs to fought? BoD connecting with Death as a personality 9assuming Death has one)? BoD coming to understand Death as it fit into the workings of the universe? BoD coming to understand BoD's own place in the universe? BoD confronting an extremely difficult situation with Death?

I think Death should definitely be a personfication. You don't have to go the scythe-toting skeleton route, but Death and BoD should at least be able to converse, whether it's arguing or just talking. A presence that's been around since the dawn of life probably has some interesting things to say.

This kind of reminds me of a story I once read that was based on an old fairy tale. (I read the fairy tale later, but I liked the reinturpretation better.) A man with a young son is trying to choose a godfather for his baby. He has a dream where he meets the devil at a crossroads. The devil offers to be his child's godfather. The man says no; he knows the devil's a liar and corrupt. The man comes to another crossroads and meets God, who makes the same offer. The man says no, because God gives welath to undeserving jerks and lets poor people suffer. Then he comes to a third crossroads and meets a shadowy figure who makes the same offer. "Who are you?" the mans asks. The figure replies "I am he who makes all men equal." (Guess who?)

So this kid grows up with Death as a godfather. (The modernized adult version is slightly lighthearted, so Death's name is "Morrie") The kid grows up to be a doctor and Morrie gives him a medicine that can cure anything. The one condition is that he can only use it when Morrie signals it's OK. Of course, one day, he gets into a situation where he goes against Morrie's wishes and...well, that would spoil it.

It's not so similar that I think it would be a problem. There's plenty of stories where people talk to Death and I think this has enough originality to make it different.