So I'm working out my storyline for a comic, and having severe issues trying to tie things together properly and not seem too contrived. So far in the first chapter: - The MC is a bounty hunter. He wears a gem as a necklace, which belonged to his parents (killed when he was a child), as a memento. - He's hired to pursue a particular target. He underestimates the abilities of his target, and gets his rear end handed to him. The target, showing mercy, decides not to finish him off but does take the gem. - In attempting to get it back, MC learns that the gem was in fact a Soul Shard as it has now bonded with said target's soul (Soul Shards are the main plot device of this comic). Fight ends with MC gaining the power of the Soul Shard for himself. Problems I have with this: #2 I'm just not keen on at all. I don't really know why MC's opponent doesn't kill him, or even why he takes the gem aside from it looking somewhat valuable. #3 Also a bit odd to me. How do I get from MC getting his rear end kicked to defeating the guy who took his gem? Especially since the whole plot device here is that once one has bonded with a person's soul, that person becomes overall more powerful. I'm about ready to just toss all of this out and start over, but I wanted to get someone else's opinion on it first. EDIT: Hm, maybe I could scrap the whole gem point. Instead, the target had the power of the soul shard all along. Could then have something to do with why someone wants that target dead, which could tie into a secretive organization I wanted to introduce later on. If I reduced it down to a single fight as well, which MC wins, then MC finding out what a Soul Shard happens pretty quickly which makes me feel like I'd be moving things too quickly.... GAH why does this have to be so hard >.<
Easy... the MC starts getting ass kicked and runs away because he knows that he cannot win. In the process he drops the item or it is lost during the fight, the valuable item would be picked up because it is valuable. Anything valuable might be worth selling, keeping or whatever... even just as a memento or curio.
Well, first of all, is your target a super baddie? Ordinary people don't relish the thought of killing someone else. If he isn't psychotic or sociopathic, he might not want to kill the MC at the end of an epic fight. He'd probably think the whooping was enough to scare the MC off his trail. If he doesn't have qualms about killing...well, I dunno what to tell you. That's tricky. It's a fairly common theme to have the hero get defeated the first time he comes up against the villain, but then train hard and find something deep within himself that allows him to, against all odds, defeat the villain the next time they clash. So what you've proposed definitely sounds believable, as long as whatever training/preparing/soul-searching your MC does in the interim makes up for whatever strengthening powers the Soul Shard has on your target. Is there something in your universe that could negate the power of a soul shard? Or rival it? Could he find one of his own?
Some interesting food for thought here... I suppose I could give the opponent a specific fighting style, which some time after the first fight the MC realizes he's seen before...? So that way I could have him go into the second fight with both renewed determination as well as more knowledge of his opponent.
Hm, I've also been giving other narrative structures some thought as well. Even if I don't follow them it's still a fun exercise and it makes me think So for example, I've recently discovered kishoutenketsu for plot structure. I suppose if I wanted to make it follow that, it could be something like (just a real quick spitball): ki - Introduces the setting and the MC to the reader. shou - Directly follows from the introduction. It could be that the MC, being a bounty hunter, is going after some target. Whatever happens here, most likely isn't directly related to the plot. ten - Surprise element. Maybe I could switch up some of my ideas here, so that rather than the MC having the gem which turns out to be a Soul Shard, another character (the villain in this sub-plot) has already had one bound to their soul. That character might be introduced here, unrelated to whatever was happening in the first two acts, so it's a bit of a surprise to readers and raises some questions. ketsu - Resolves the surprise element with the first two acts. MC has a chance encounter with the villain introduced in the previous act, has a fight, and gains the power of the Soul Shard.
