1. Simon Price

    Simon Price Active Member

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    Debating the power to give my main character

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Simon Price, Mar 11, 2021.

    I've recently decided to return to a story I talked a lot about on this forum previously, after having heavily modified and simplified it while keeping most of the main characters. And I'm kinda torn because in my original story idea my main character had a pretty cool power, and I find myself rather frequently tempted to give it to him again, but for various hard-to-explain reasons I feel obligated not to.

    The basic premise is that in a world where a mysterious event gave everyone superhuman abilities and also made the world into a chaotic grid of 2x2 mile sectors that each follow their own bizarre magical gimmicks like sideways gravity, pitch black night and mutating anyone who enters them, a group of young men and women are traveling across America to get to California, because the leader's unique power is to innately know where... "something" is, and they all want to know what.

    Essentially, for the purposes of the story, the leader has no power other than, I guess, being a human compass.

    But in the original version of the story, the hero had the power to tap into, and spy on, the senses of the last five people he's touched. Seeing everything they see, hearing everything they hear, feeling everything they feel, etc, as well as the ability to broadcast his own senses through this connection as well if he chooses. I really like this power, and part of me feels like it's a waste to just throw it away when it has so much potential for a POV character. However, that "knowing where the thing is" power he currently has is crucial for getting the story moving.

    One solution I can think of is to have this be his friend's power, and they're going off to find this thing because shortly after triangulating its location as a hobby, the friend wound up dying in a raid and they're all honoring their friend's dying wish to know what exactly was the point of the power he was given. However... this feels off to me for some reason. I can't put my finger on it, but something tells me I'm losing something important by making this power no longer the power of the protagonist.

    So I thought I'd ask the forum. Anyone have any idea what my gut might be trying to tell me? Or more to the point, do you have any opinions of your own on which power I should give the hero?
     
  2. Kalisto

    Kalisto Senior Member

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    It feels like it's loss to the protagonist because it was interagal to the development and personality of your main character. You probably based a lot of his thoughts, actions and dialogue on that power, and to lose it would literally require changing the character. It's like if Clark Kent was no longer Superman or Bruce Wayne was no longer Batman. What would they be without those identities. That's very normal for the superhero archetype.

    Have you considered making the friend the compass, but for some reason, he can't be the leader. Perhaps he's deaf and dumb and that also means that your MC is the only one who could communicate with him because of his special gifts. And when he dies, plot twist: he transfers his power to the MC, which no one knew that could be done. (What implications would that have in that world if anyone found out that powers could be transferred? Humm...)
     
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  3. Cogito ergo sum scribere

    Cogito ergo sum scribere New Member

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    If the ability doesn't serve a purpose beyond having potential then it might be something that is okay to let go of.

    Instead of thinking, "This is cool, how can I show this amazing idea," consider, "Wow, how do they survive when all they have is a vague sense of direction and no way to see?"
    Both answers give you options, but maybe the potential of one power can be a complete second story you tell in the same universe at a later date.
    If you're attached to the idea of both, then you may like making them work as one. What if the power wasn't just a compass drawn to one point, but a compass drawn to the next person they needed to sense borrow? Each new sensory journey gives one more piece of the puzzle towards CA. That might let you keep your overarching goal while tailoring the character to a single hybridized ability.

    Simplicity is amazing. If you feel like you need to create characters to put in something cool, you may be doing so at the expense of clarity and purpose.

    Hope this helps!
     
  4. Idiosyncratic

    Idiosyncratic Active Member

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    To me, leaving the protagonist's only power being the compass ability adds a lot of oomph to the story. Crossing across a deadly magical wasteland to search for something, when the characters don't have any idea what that something is, seems to lend itself to some really character-driven elements. After all, they've got to have some compelling internal reasons for going on this dangerous journey without knowing what's at the end. From what you've written here, it sounds like the journey is the point. Having your main character be the compass gives them more to gain by going on the journey, puts them at the very heart of it, and could be used to emphasize your character and thematic elements. The senses-based power is really, really cool, but it doesn't have any inherent connection to the story. You can always save it and use it for another story, if you decide not to use it, though.
     
  5. mrieder79

    mrieder79 Probably not a ground squirrel Contributor

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    You wrote:

    "One solution I can think of is to have this be his friend's power, and they're going off to find this thing because shortly after triangulating its location as a hobby, the friend wound up dying in a raid and they're all honoring their friend's dying wish to know what exactly was the point of the power he was given. However... this feels off to me for some reason. I can't put my finger on it, but something tells me I'm losing something important by making this power no longer the power of the protagonist."

    This feels off because there is insufficient justification here for a reasonable person to leave their current life and begin a cross-country trip across a deadly landscape. A proper initiating event will go a long way to making your story believable.
     
  6. Metta

    Metta New Member

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    Ok I got it: the leader of the group's power isn't to use all five senses of somebody else- it's to use only one of those 5 senses. The last sense the person targeted used the most is the sense chosen. If the target just heard a loud noise, it's hearing. If they burned their finger, it's touch. This way his power A) probably still works with your story and B) it's not overpowered. Don't give your MC a broken power and have them tear through enemies like a shounen anime. Give them a decent power and then give them trials to get through where that power is really hard to use (like what you're doing rn with the grid thing. Maybe he needs to use his sense-path power to see a thing but he's in a pitch black square. Now he has to be clever to get out of this one. Your readers will love this.)
     

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