I have an idea about what the first few chapters of a novel I want to write would be about, but I'm not sure if it would be repetitive. In the novel, there are only so many people left who have special powers, and some people (I haven't really developed these yet) are searching for them as the people with powers so they can be taught how to use the powers and stop an evil force. When they're found, they have to leave their family and friends behind. I know it probably sounds lame and really unoriginal, but yeah. :/ There will be four characters who will be found to have powers and I was thinking of doing a chapter for each of them which will be to introduce the character and show how they were found to have powers. The problem is, would that be boring and repetitive to read the same or a similar kind of chapter for four different characters? Or maybe I could just do that for the first character and introduce the others when they all meet at the place they have been brought to...
Well yeah, when you put it that way. Why not develop at least something unique about the different characters? Otherwise I'd dump that opening all together and go with some kind of reveal as the four discussed their feelings finding they had loss in common.
Agree with Ginger. If you write it boring, it will be boring. If you think it's boring, it probably is. If you write it well, make it yours, and don't fall asleep writing it (that's a really bad sign, lol), you'll probably be okay.
The thing is, very few things are original anymore. Nearly everything has been done, it's doing it differently, and doing it well, that is the goal I'm sure you'll be fine. ETA: And you're welcome, lol. Forgot to add that.
This sounds a little like the Tamora Pierce's novel 'The Magic in the Weaving, Circle of Magic 1'. Of course, the storyline is different but she introduces her four main characters in a similar way.
If it bores you as the writer, that doesn't bode well. I think it can work fine, though. Gives us something interesting and distinctive about each character. It doesn't have to read like four versions of the same chapter.
Hmm, maybe it could work if I tried to make each character different and interesting. I think I'll try it then I can just change it if it's uninteresting.
It shouldn't be boring because each of your characters should be unique. Otherwise, why have 4 different characters?
In addition to making the characters different, you could try to make the plotline of the recruitment/kidnapping/whatever-it-is different for each one, and make it part of the overall story arc rather than just setup for that arc. For example: 1) Joe is recruited. 2) Joe goes out and recruits Karen. So we see the recruitment process first with Joe as the recruitee and then as the recruiter. 3) Mary is shown living her life, and at some point she opens a door and there are Joe and Karen. The reader already knows how the recruitment process is, so you just skip a few months and resume the story where Mary is already in the organization, with some experience. 4) Webster is shown living his life and he runs into Joe and Karen and Mary _during_ the first big event that the four need to deal with. I realize that this may not work, but hopefully it demonstrates the idea of the four characters' introductions building on each other and building the story, rather than happening one by one like a string of near-identical beads.
