Hey, I was wondering if I could get some advice as to the timeframe I should be aiming to set my story in to make the story as interesting as possible without sacrificing the crucial way in which the second act takes the world off guard. I apologize for the wall of text below. The issue I'm dealing with is a little complicated and I could probably do with a bit of work on my ability to summarize complicated things. Here's the deal: On Sunday, December 4th, 2016, 12:00 PM EST, every human over the age of 13 on planet earth suddenly experiences a searing pain in their right arm, after which they discover that they have a sort of rune branded onto it made of empty circles, and that on their palm, one of the circles is filled by a strange silver plus sign. Within hours the news spreads that, whatever had happened, it gave everyone a regenerative healing factor. People are not just healing injuries quickly, but regrowing old limbs, recovering from incurable diseases, regaining long-lost senses, and even reversing the effects of aging. Next week. Same time. Another one of the circles on their brands lights up with another symbol. Now everyone has enhanced strength, speed, durability, etc. The next week. Same time. People can turn invisible by holding their breath. The next week. Same time. People can send telepathic messages to each other. Eventually all of the circles on the rune are filled out, but the powers keep coming, and people figure out they can choose which power the new ones will replace. And the powers show no signs of stopping. This is our reality now. That's the central premise. Before long, everyone over the age of 13 will be a superhuman with their own individualized set of powers they've cultivated and selected over time. The first half of the story involves how the world changes and the daily adventures of the main characters. The second half of the story is when a sudden and unexpected set of powers (limited randomized teleportation, a barrier that doesn't let in small objects like bullets, what are essentially wolverine claws and the ability to shut down nearly all forms of advanced technology with a glance) arrives all in one week that seems to have been tailor-made to completely upset the modern world's balance of power and throw the world into utter chaos, with the main characters having to work together to survive. Now, originally, the first book wasn't going to even touch on power discarding. The powers that cause "Anarchy Day" were going to be the last powers needed to fill up the rune. But after watching some other shows that involved teamwork and superheroes, I suddenly realized that that would be BORING. Even if everyone had different skill sets, why the hell would I want to stick everyone with the same set of superpowers? I was so focused on keeping it realistic that "Anarchy day" would hit as hard as it would that I hadn't stopped to consider how much more fun of a story it would be if I extended the timescale long enough to make all of the characters' powersets feel unique. Now, it goes without saying that the more time I give the heroes to adjust to their powers, the more time I give to the villains to do the same. But there comes a point where if I let society get TOO comfortable with their powers before throwing them that curveball called Anarchy Day, it might become ridiculous to think they couldn't easily rally together and counter it. So I'm trying to work out what the ideal balance is, and how many weeks I can afford to put between the day of the first power and Anarchy Day. I'm also trying to consider, since this is my first book, what sorts of timeframes are easiest to write for and if I might want to avoid having it take place over a period of time that is prone to being written badly. Does anyone have any advice for me in this regard? If you need more information (I'm concerned I may have left out something crucial) please don't hesitate to ask.
Villains? There are villains? Heroes AND villains? But all I'm seeing here is a bunch of powers that spontaneously appear and affect all humans more or less equally? What am I missing?
I’m talking about this as in the good guys and the bad guys. This isn’t a costumed superhero universe. Basically, to clarify what concerns me about timescale: the last set of powers very nearly destroys the concept of nation states by letting every criminal on the planet break out of jail, making guns useless, making technology only work when there’s nobody around who doesn’t want it to, and giving everybody a built-in weapon. Infrastructure is left in shambles within hours and nearly every edge the government has over its enemies has been removed from the equation. I’m concerned that if I let too much time pass before causing this event, then the government might suspect a power could shake things up like this and be more prepared.
So you're saying I can have it wait as long as I like and mostly just rely on the actual event being unprecedented and unpredictable?
