Help me with my story plot

[Misty Avich]

Okay, I want to write a story about a pregnant woman stranded on a tiny island in the middle of a tropical sea, and she gives birth there and brings her child up, all the while trying to make a boat and figure out a way to get off the island. I've worked that bit out, but what I'm struggling with is how a pregnant woman would end up marooned on an isolated island in the first place. Could we do some brainstorming?

Thanks.

 

[AGXStarseed]

How far into the pregnancy is she?
You can still get on planes up to a certain point if you're pregnant; maybe have her on a plane and it later crash due to engine trouble or some other issue, with her been one of the survivors.
If a plane crash is too dramatic (or due to it been a bit too similar to the film Cast Away), maybe have her on a cruise and the cruise liner sinks for one reason or another?

 

[Forest Cat]

Maybe she was on a cruise ship and fell off it? That happens surprisingly often.

 

[Gerontius]

Skilled scuba diver off the reefs, not such a skilled support team on the boat (leaving her behind.)

A crew of a husband-and-wife live aboard sailboat which went down off the coast in a bad storm, with her husband lost in the wreck. (If the boat itself is in shallow water some supplies may get washed ashore. Even sacks of flour count as supplies, though the outer layer of flour will be sodden in seawater and go hard like a crust it will protect the inner core. My granddad used to pick up flotsam from sinking Liberty ships during WWII off the islands, because he was very poor and needed to survive. Bags of flour were always a well liked commodity.)

A 36' sailboat is going to be stocked with quite a few things of potential value, especially a modern Fiberglas boat with diesel engines. Diesel floats. A spare fuel supply could easily be washed ashore but it wouldn't last for long. Sails however can be used for other things. If an accurate clock could be salvaged (quartz or a high grade waterproof wristwatch) that allows for celestial navigation if she has good charts and whatnot. She could be off that island sooner than it would seem, kid and all.

 

[kriss72]

She was with her husband on their sailing boat, they were on the journey of their life (honeymoon?). One dark night a storm hit, next morning she woke up, alone on the beach... Alternative something with pirates?

Edit: sorry, can see @Gerontius came up with the sailboat idea first. I'll stick with the pirates idea

 

[DrBadStrings]

She could have been some solo navigator trying to set a cross atlantic sailing record and got caught up in a storm that shunted her off to one of the more remote lesser known islands in around the tropics.

 

[Misty Avich]

Pirates sound like a good one. Could pirates kidnap someone then leave them stranded? If so, that could work.

She'd have to be captured while on vacation somewhere near the Mediterranean sea, as she will be originated from the UK, just for simplicity sake lol. All my fictional characters are British.

 

[kriss72]

I'll stick with the pirates idea

Like she is/was a pirate captain and there was a mutiny on her ship, the sailors left her to rot on the deserted island...

 

[kriss72]

Pirates sound like a good one. Could pirates kidnap someone then leave them stranded? If so, that could work.

kidnapping would work too - so she is put there while they try to get money from her family to set her free - so they leave her with some food so she can survive initially

 

[Misty Avich]

kidnapping would work too - so she is put there while they try to get money from her family to set her free - so they leave her with some food so she can survive initially

Yes, although she and the child would survive on fruit and coconuts and other natural tropical food on the island. She obviously breastfeeds her child when she's a baby (the child will be a girl). They'd make fires to cook fish and other creatures that get washed up.

 

[kriss72]

Yes, although she and the child would survive on fruit and coconuts and other natural tropical food on the island. She obviously breastfeeds her child when she's a baby (the child will be a girl). They'd make fires to cook fish and other creatures that get washed up.

Maybe she was traveling as a guest on the pirate ship and did something the pirates didn't like, so they took her stuff and abandoned her without anything on the island.... depending on the humor or seriousness of the story the reason could be more or less absurd

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I am thinking it could start out as a sailing adventure with a husband and wife. She is only a month or so pregnant at the beginning of the trip, and didn't know she was pregnant until they were well on their way (she probably wouldn't have left if she was significantly pregnant). Both with good sailing and survival skills (part of the character development). Let's say they are sailing around the world and will take several months with known stops along the way for supplies (a well-planned trip). Family and friends expecting them to be gone for a long while. A storm kicks up suddenly, the husband is struggling with the sails in the wind, rain, and huge waves, gets knocked overboard. She is left alone on the damaged sailboat, devastated that her husband is gone, and eventually makes it to an island.

 

[Misty Avich]

Maybe she was traveling as a guest on the pirate ship and did something the pirates didn't like, so they took her stuff and abandoned her without anything on the island.... depending on the humor or seriousness of the story the reason could be more or less absurd

The story is supposed to be a psychological thriller, and I was thinking more along the lines of the woman being exploited by the pirates, maybe impregnated, and then left abandoned on an island a few months later.

She tries her hardest to survive for her child, and being born on the island it's all the child ever knows and is happy and has never seen any man-made object before.
As the child is just enjoying her life, the mother is trying to think of a way to construct something to get them off the island, so that they can sail as far out at sea as they could get until they find rescue, such as coming across a cruise ship or something.

They do find rescue, and get taken to a hospital to recover, and while the mother is having help for the PTSD she now suffers, the child (probably around 8 years old) is curiously learning about how the human world works.
That's the fascinating bit.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

The story is supposed to be a psychological thriller, and I was thinking more along the lines of the woman being exploited by the pirates, maybe impregnated, and then left abandoned on an island a few months later.

I am thinking it could start out as a "bucket list" sailing adventure with a husband and wife. Both with good sailing and survival skills (part of the character development). Let's say they are sailing around the world and will take several months with known stops along the way for supplies (a well-planned trip). Family and friends expecting them to be gone for a long while. So, they are off the east African coast, near Madagascar, when attacked by the pirates (a known area for pirate activity today). The husband is killed, she is raped and abused, then later abandoned on an island, left to die. But, due to her survival skills, she doesn't.

You take it from here.

 

[kriss72]

The story is supposed to be a psychological thriller, and I was thinking more along the lines of the woman being exploited by the pirates, maybe impregnated, and then left abandoned on an island a few months later.

She tries her hardest to survive for her child, and being born on the island it's all the child ever knows and is happy and has never seen any man-made object before.
As the child is just enjoying her life, the mother is trying to think of a way to construct something to get them off the island, so that they can sail as far out at sea as they could get until they find rescue, such as coming across a cruise ship or something.

They do find rescue, and get taken to a hospital to recover, and while the mother is having help for the PTSD she now suffers, the child (probably around 8 years old) is curiously learning about how the human world works.
That's the fascinating bit.

Maybe the pirates found out she was pregnant and didn't want to deal with a child so they left her, she might even have had the child on the pirate ship... would rather see her as a strong woman than a victim thou, that might come later in the story, and it is your story, if it has pirates, I like it

 

[Misty Avich]

I am into psychological thrillers, I love them. So it makes me want to write one. Obviously psychological thrillers can involve some sensitive things, but that's all part of it.

 

[DrBadStrings]

Pirates sound like a good one. Could pirates kidnap someone then leave them stranded? If so, that could work.

She'd have to be captured while on vacation somewhere near the Mediterranean sea, as she will be originated from the UK, just for simplicity sake lol. All my fictional characters are British.

Maybe the pirates got annoyed by her and decided it just wasn't worth it.

 

[Wolfiedog]

Her husband and herself far out at sea. She tells him she’s pregnant and he tosses her overboard. It’s dark and he doesn’t know there’s an island nearby that she washes ashore on.
Or
She lives a minimalist life on an island where a bastard keeps her for a sex slave.
He dies between one of his visits by boat. She finds out she’s pregnant.

 

[Rachie]

Good luck with your writing project. I have never been pregnant so I don't have anything to add in that regards and I am not the greatest with fiction so I'm certain others will have better thoughts than myself.

However, I wanted to wish you good luck with it and it may help to do a short course on creative writing to get out the best in you when it comes to writing. City Lit, Writingroom and the Mary Ward centre may be good places to look for a short online short in writing. I have used all of them in the past. I did a online course in video making helping to narrate a story through our work and it was helpful to me in my writing and video making. I have used Mary Ward in the past for a short alternative therapy course, but they do creative writing as well. I also used people from the Writing room to help to proof and edit a project I did for a co condition and it was needed and they got the best out of me.