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Newton Webb's avatar

"Great! I could write about an oil rig. As it drills it awakens a terror that should have been left undisturbed."

It might sound overly similar to The Rig, but I'm sure a human author could put a new spin on it. Especially if they avoid watching The Rig first :D.

Although saying that, I immediately thought, (assuming it was American,) 'that would be good set in Scotland.'

A swift Google has now informed me that it IS set in Scotland, which disavoys my previous point.

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Mata Haggis-Burridge's avatar

Absolutely!

The funny thing about that was I'd been toying with a North Sea oil rig horror idea for a few years, then The Rig was announced and soon after Still Wakes The Deep too. I think it's still a great location, but it's time had definitely come for this basic plot pitch.

You're right though - any two people would transform the same pitch into an entirely different story. I tell students to worry less about 'has anything like this ever been done?' and spend more time on 'what version of this can I tell?'

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Ika Wright's avatar

Great way to infuse the idea of AI into a story, especially the interesting twist at the end.

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Mata Haggis-Burridge's avatar

Thanks Ika :)

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Honeygloom's avatar

Ha! Very clever concept, well done 🖤

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Mata Haggis-Burridge's avatar

Thank you 💜

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Vince Roman's avatar

Saving nickels saving dimes

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K.M. Bennett's avatar

I like this format! The mechanism of the "error" interruption is very effective.

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Mata Haggis-Burridge's avatar

Thank you!

I was trying to do something with the UK government online website this week, so I had recent inspiration 😅

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