Need a suggestion for my plot

Fear that his own strength could harm the people he loves.

tricon7 said:

I'm writing a novel on an aspect of this person with super-strength (an age-old plot, I know), and although I'm come up with some ideas for an antagonist, I don't particularly like them. If anyone would like to suggest some ideas, I'd be appreciative.

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Depends on your hero's characteristics and abilities. Could be someone very fast (Flash, etc.) - could even be a normal human with a gun. Very strong and invulnerable are different.

Osulagh said:

Fear that his own strength could harm the people he loves.

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Or having this actually happen. I once saw an essay speculating (amongst other things) that Superman's super-sperm might actually be lethal to normal women.

So put it all together and: make the antagonist someone he loves, whom he must stop but will really, really hurt in the process.

It's pretty tough to give you ideas for an antagonist without knowing more about your MC. You can have a super-strong MC who is a political idealist and wants to use his superpowers to bring about freedom from tyranny; in that case a great antagonist might be the captain of the SS-equivalent in his country, tasked with hunting down the supers and upholding the rule of the tyrant. Alternatively the super-strong MC might be just a regular high school kid, and the antagonist would be the queen bee of the clique of popular girls that keeps undermining his attempts to connect with the girl of his dreams.

Remember SFF stories are about people first and foremost. The vast majority of readers in these genres are going to have an easier time connecting to an interesting character than they are to a specific set of super-magical-science-powers. Strength vs Smarts is a fine dynamic of course, but I'm personally much more interested in the motives behind Superman and Lex Luthor than in the specific abilities they bring to the table.

Stories don't have to have a big baddy antagonist. "Man against self," "Man against society," or "Man against nature" are all time-honored story arcs.

A story where a person struggles with society's fears, or his own fears, of his powers certainly seems plausible.

If you're set on having a character as an antagonist, though, consider that good ones are often twisted mirrors, or Jungian shadows, of the protagonist in some way.

tricon7 said:

Interesting ideas which I'll certainly consider.

I recently saw the movie "Memoirs Of An Invisible Man" starring Chevy Chase (a drama - very good in case you haven't seen it). It has a plot-line that I like. He obtains this incredible gift (invisibility), and a corrupt government agency (of course) tries to recruit him. He sees through them , and the bulk of the movie entails him trying to frantically elude them as they come after him in ingenious ways. Finally, he turns the tables and decides to go after *them* in order to eliminate the threat. I like that plot, and I'm thinking about how I can work that into my own novel. I could even throw a curve into the story by having the agency kidnap his girlfriend to use as a bargaining chip, hoping to make him work for them.

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Made me smile

The 'kidnapped girlfriend' and 'evil government agency' are well-used tropes. I would suggest trying to find at least one significant new twist or angle to bring to it. Like maybe the government agency turns out to be right all along and without their help he ends up destroying the whole town.

Roxxsmom said:

Stories don't have to have a big baddy antagonist. "Man against self," "Man against society," or "Man against nature" are all time-honored story arcs.

A story where a person struggles with society's fears, or his own fears, of his powers certainly seems plausible.

If you're set on having a character as an antagonist, though, consider that good ones are often twisted mirrors, or Jungian shadows, of the protagonist in some way.

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THIS!

I'm a big guy. Been called "Olaf The Office Viking." I'm generally pretty gregarious, life's just so much easier when everyone tries to get along, and that works pretty well until you run into one of those obnoxious little hate monsters who's sole function seems to be to poison oxygen.

Example: a several years ago, I was being harangued by an Angry Little Wife Beating Racist. I kept thinking "That noisy part at the top probably just screws right off..."

Point being, it's frustrating as hell to be physically capable of wringing some evil little monster's neck, but for whatever reason being unable to get your hands on them. Not knowing who the antagonist is, not being able to get to them, or simply having too much in the way of negative consequences.

It's like having a big truck capable of hauling all the stuff you need to haul, and not being able to fit it in the driveway.

Your hero's strengths can be useful... but putting the hero in a dilemma that doesn't play to their strengths is a tried and true tool of character development and method of keeping the plot interesting. Think Superman having to beat Lex Luther in small claims court, rather than just getting to go tear up LutherCorp Armageddon Doom Bots.

The girlfriend isn't kidnapped after all. Superhero is first a supervillain. You remember the Will Smith movie Hancock?

He saves a lady from a speeding train by stepping between them... thereby causing a huge train derailment.

So your hero does something meant to be good which causes damage. Or, worse, kills someone. BIG argument with girlfriend. Maybe he does more damage in anger. Girlfriend runs away.

Now that girlfriend has disappeared, Hero goes on rampage to find her and free. Gets girl. Girl runs to her "captors" who are, in fact, her protectors. She wasn't kidnapped. She was afraid.

Honestly, you have an idea (person with a superpower). That's not a story just yet. I'd put the idea of super abilities aside first. Focus on the story you want to tell, if you haven't done so already. What obstacles is your MC going to face in order to achieve their goals? And how will they respond to those obstacles? From there, you can find super abilities that are relevant and work well with the core of your story.

Example:

Shy guy Darryl is bullied on a regular basis. He can't go back to work to face his rivals, but with the help of her grandmother he finds the strength to fight back.

Now you have the premise of your story, you can begin to think about what makes sense

When it comes writing superpowers, I typically think about themes and elements of the story that I want to explore. In a current book, I wanted to explore super abilities that were not obviously. That led to mind control and hypnosis. I researched meditation and trance to the MK Ultra experiments to court cases where people have wrongly confessed to atrocious acts because of the type of questions they were asked and how these questions were asked. From doing this research, I began to paint a picture of the power to control one's mind, and how those with the natural ability are often the victim to those who have learned to special effects to hypnotize them. Now, I've always been interested in these subjects so over time that knowledge has accumulated. But if you haven't thought of it already, then look to your own interests about philosophy, science, history, etc and see if therein lies stories exceptional humans. Then starting asking the what-ifs.

But don't do that yet until you have the story solidified.

tricon7 said:

the agency kidnap his girlfriend to use as a bargaining chip,

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This is exceptionally over used, so please don't

YOu know what would be cool/different (ish?)


A situation where his strength or whatever power will not make the slightest difference -- he's relied on being super strong all this time and now he actually has to think about it. He HAS to develop as a person rather than just being Strong Guy. That would be mega intersting to me -- because it;s not the powers that are awesome. It's how they affect the person's lives, and how they develop because of them. Being Super affects Clark in multiple ways, not all of them good. Being Spiderman cocks up Peter Parker's life good and proper. And so on and so forth

Hmm. Super strength, eh? Okay, let's play with that.

Maybe your hero doesn't need an antagonist. He first needs a flaw. If it were me, I would want something to make his super strength feel a little edgy, a little uncomfortable.

The Hulk has super strength, but he has to cope with his rage.

The Thing has super strength ... although maybe not quite up to Hulk standards ... but he has to cope with his appearance and society rejecting him.

Thor has super strength, but he is a God from Asgard and doesn't know how to fit in to human society.

Bane has super strength, but how does he eat? Does he suck soup through a straw?

Mr Incredible has super strength, but he needs to tone down his "I work alone" arrogance.

And on it goes. Every good superhero has inner demons, a flaw, something to stop them from having it so easy. Without kryptonite the story is boring.

Similarly, the best antagonists have a spark of goodness in them - a reason why they do the bad things they do, an explanation for their powers. Think of it as anti-kryptonite. A little something to make us love them, even if only for a teensy weensy moment.

The characters I love to write about most are heroes with a tragic flaw and noble villains.

What if your main character wants to be the good guy, but has anger issues, or just cannot handle people insulting him. A heckler or group of protesters really go after him, either for something he did or because they are against superhumans on principle. People in that situation naturally assume they can say ANYTHING without repercussion. They pick and pick and pick until he momentarily snaps and the result is tragic.

If the character starts as the villain he could be acting under the mantra of the ends justify the means. Have his goal be truly heroic, helping the homeless, fighting a major corporation that is laying off thousands, trying to bring down a vicious gang. For whatever reason the problem can't be dealt with through legitimate means. The character decides he is justified is stepping outside the law to handle it. Think Magneto or Punisher from the Marvel Universe.

Here's a twist, your main character knows he has super strength. He goes through a lot of trouble trying to hide this fact. Gets contacted by government agencies anyway. Thinks they want him for his strength. Spends more time running away. Finds out much later they wanted him for some expertise that has nothing to do with strength; or learns he's not the only one with a crazy ability and they've all been hiding from each other.

For me, most superpower stories have been overdone so a unique twist would be more interesting than what's already out there.

One of my favorite Superhero movies is Unbreakable.

So you have your main character be super strong, but at the cost of those around her/him. So, the closer she/he gets to people emotionally, larger the amount of life energy they drain from that person. The more they love someone, the stronger they are but also the faster they kill that person.