Premise: What if there was an actual 'Money Tree'?
This is quite wordy however I just thought I would post what I have been thinking about. After going through each 'What if' - the Money Tree idea seemed to spark a chain of ideas.
At the moment I'm keeping my options open when it comes to deciding on a genre. Is this wise?
At the moment I'm keeping my options open when it comes to deciding on a genre. Is this wise?
I was thinking about this scenario and it certainly seemed to spring more ideas into my head than others. It also gives me a chance to think of a world that could be totally unique. Yes, it is a tree, but maybe this tree is different in many other ways. I thought about two ways this could effect society.
1) It could be the wealth and heart of society, and therefore criminals, bandits and so on would always try to steal or destroy it. So the ''caretaker'' would be its protector.
2) Society is selfish and only using the tree's wealth/power to benefit 'some' inhabitants. So poverty, ruin and famine could be result everywhere else. So this ''caretaker'' would be the ultimate 'bad guy'.
I like both ideas. In some way, they both have potential for a story to emerge. However, they both could holds and make a 'larger picture'. So - this ''caretaker'' would be important to the wealthier side of society; keeping it secure from (in their eyes) any 'criminals'. Where really, these 'criminals' are the poorer people.
I am still unsure if the combination works, however it definitely leads me on to further questions.
- Is this planet earth or another earth like world?
- Who owns the 'tree'?
- Does it only just give money?
- Could this 'tree' be a humanoid?
- Who are the rich/ who are the poor?
- Who would try to steal/destroy it?
- Who is the 'caretaker'?
I was also thinking that this idea could incorporate other premises, but as additional features. For example:- Tree's produce oxygen, so maybe this tree is the last of its kind, and everywhere else the air has turned poisonous. The world doesn't necessarily mean earth in my story - so maybe these characters who would fill this 'world' could have insect sized dogs? Or have insect features, etc.
Just seen this; maybe the tree doesn't grow 'money' - but rather something that is worth a huge amount, and is therefore traded as 'money' - so if the world is a famine-ridden world, then a tree that grows fruit would, indeed, be the source of great wealth. It might be that the tree's blossom is worth £££££, because it's a powerful spice, and can be traded for other things? It could be an extinction narrative - i.e. that this tree is the last of its kind, after all the rest were thoroughly exploited until they died? The idea of a tree having a guardian, or caretaker is an interesting one. I'm thinking too about 'Seed Banks' - great repositories of seeds which are preserved incase of disaster... the idea of the tree having the power to re-grow the world, but someone is keeping the tree under guard (a bad caretaker?) - so, the idea of the tree 'growing money' could be taken less literally in this way...
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