It is getting a bit annoying, since I am making threads about the same thing over and over again. But here is the thing. Let's say you have a character who is a part of a modern ninja organization. Because it is an origin story, that character should go through some change. For example make him rank up - become a more elite ninja. How would you do it in a cinematic and compelling way? Feel free to answer or share your thoughts about origin stories in general.
When it comes to origin stories you really need to think about how you want this clan to come about how you want this character or clan to develop or group of characters to develop and what's the reason for it because everything has a reason or cause. Because if you look at comic books every superheroes origin story or beginning maybe relatively similar but it's also different and it's on light. Now what does it matter ninja clan why is there a motor ninja clan why does there have to be a modern ninja clan? You need to ask yourself : How did this clan start? Why is this clan still going after all this time? What is their purpose? And how do they fit into the world that I am writing? I don't see anything wrong with origin stories at all. I mean they can reveal things about the character or group that wasn't previously known by the audience and they can also help round things out or answer questions that weren't previously answered. However, if you're trying to use this origin story as an info dump on your audience then I would highly suggest not doing that because it's going to take away a lot of the mystery or a lot of "the what happens next" or "why did this happen" or "how did this happen" which are a lot of the questions that readers asked them selves as they read. One of the things that I like to do when I'm having trouble with something is I just like to word vomit into a document and read through it and see what can be saved and highlight that and then start typing from that under it in a different color and then whatever I decide as a needed I will delete or if I think you can be put in a different place I'll highlight it in a different color as well. Sometimes just writing we help you understand where you want to go. But if you're one of those people that needs to hear what they're trying to say because sometimes while writing you ramble Open the recording app on your phone or computer and just start talking your friends and family may think you sound like a crazy person but if you explain to them that this is for a book or whatever media you may be writing I'm sure they'll just leave you alone. In origin story is a tricky thing to do especially if you've already established and universe and you're going back to see how you can explain some of the things that you never explain before or if you simply trying to get your origin story out of the way so that way you can move forward so you know how your ninja plan started and why it started and how it's still going. Hope this was helpful to you and if you have anymore questions please feel free to ask. Even though I'm new to the site I hope I can help you in someway shape or form.
My first question is why anyone would bother to have a modern ninja organization when both assassinations and terror strikes are carried out by uneducated, largely untrained subjects for centuries.
Origin stories can be fun. Look at the divergent series where they sort of play this into book 1 and 2. But it really depends on is it like fantasy novel, or action, or the type of origin story and world you are trying to write about.