: How Should I Write my Character Discovering Superpowers? Does anyone have any tips on introducing your m/c's superpowers? My novel is set as a supernatural teen flick playing on the roles of
Does anyone have any tips on introducing your m/c's superpowers? My novel is set as a supernatural teen flick playing on the roles of the cliche. My m/c is told she has powers and as it's written in first person, I really want to establish her reactions/thoughts clearly and in detail.
Thanks in advance!
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For something that's been done so often, it's usually interesting to try to deconstruct it; to look for the aspects that are unrealistic and done to death, and find a more realistic and grounded alternative.
In your case, you can start by referencing real life events that are similar, and reading about how people respond to these, and how it impacts their lives. In this case:
Discovering you have a terrible illness. It's hardly a superpower, but you do discover that there is something powerful and alien inside you. Whatever expectations you had for your life have just been wiped away by random chance.
Discovering you have a world-class talent, for instance, that you're a chess prodigy. Something that everybody finds difficult comes amazingly easy to you. But it also comes with world-fame at a young age, and completely redefines your relationship to your parents.
Discovering that you're gay or transgender. You won't be the first to draw inspiration for a superhero story here, but it has a lot of interesting parallels: discovering something identity-defining about yourself, having to hide it from your parents, discovering a community of peers after a long time of loneliness, etc.
The biggest danger with deconstructing a trope is losing what makes it fun. Discovering that you have superpowers is wish-fulfillment. If you dig too deep into the nasty realism of it, you will lose that powerful momentum in your story, and replace it with nothing but stark reality.
I think for a good example of deconstruction done right, you should look to Batman Begins. It came after a long string of increasingly ridiculous Batman adaptations, and completely deconstructed the whole story, adding much more realism, but without losing the aspects that made the Batman origin story so much fun.
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