Superheroes and the NaNo

[Mouse]

My edits are done and returned to publisher. I've got the proof to come but that should be easy so... I can concentrate on the NaNo. I have no plot, no characters, nothing (that's how I roll for the NaNo!) but I do have a vague sense of wanting to do superheroes. Asked my fellow NaNo'ers and they've said go for it (despite me hearing that superhero stories don't sell) so...

Should I go for your basic 'elemental' type power (earth, wind, water, fire... possibly 'void') or should I go for random ones? I feel the random ones will take more concentration, which might not be suited for NaNo-ing (particularly not the way I do it!) but will it be more interesting? I'm probably gonna go humourous either way.

If you had to read a superhero superpower story, what would you rather? Elements? X-Men type powers? Believable powers (a la Alphas)?

Discuss.

 

[ratsy]

I always like the idea of a dark world with an unassuming hero with a vague but effective power no one would see coming or value...until it's too late.

Or go the full opposite and have guys shooting lasers from their butts!

I'm not sure I'm ready for this NaNo!

 

[Mouse]

Yeah... I think a vague superpower would take too much brain power for a NaNo attempt!

 

[goldhawk]

Superheroes stories are best when they deal with the emotional changes to the superhero. When they discover the have a superpower but also discover that it does not solve all their problems instantly. Superheroes become the good guys because they realize that using their power has consequences and they are not always comfortable with those consequences. I feel that the power they have is secondary to how they deal with their power.

 

[Mouse]

Cool, ya. Yeah, very much want it to be character first, power second.

 

[HareBrain]

A void-elemental superhero called Brian Nowt. His day-job is as a stage magician, but he's on the run from the police because he makes women disappear but can't bring them back. His hobby is trying to replicate everything he sees on Great British Bake Off, in a fruitless effort to fill the void in his life.

 

[Mouse]

I feel some people aren't taking this seriously.

Saying that, I did briefly contemplate having the villain control gluten and the hero's super power is coeliac disease. Or the other way around. Heh.

 

[ratsy]

I feel some people aren't taking this seriously.

Hey, a superhero who can shoot lasers from his butt would be taken very seriously! ...you can name him ... Moonbeam

 

[Mouse]

Hey, a superhero who can shoot lasers from his butt would be taken very seriously! ...you can name him ... Moonbeam

It makes me me think of the butt canons in TMNT!

 

[Cathbad]

Hey, a superhero who can shoot lasers from his butt would be taken very seriously! ...you can name him ... Moonbeam

~smdh~

 

[Juliana]

I'm thinking this...

Believable powers (a la Alphas)?

Might work well with this...

Cool, ya. Yeah, very much want it to be character first, power second.

(Or, you know, the butt thing.)

 

[goldhawk]

I'm thinking this...

Might work well with this...


(Or, you know, the butt thing.)

 

[Amelia Faulkner]

Is Moonbeam's primary enemy the supervillain Rusty Sheriffsbadge?

 

[Ihe]

Should I go for your basic 'elemental' type power (earth, wind, water, fire... possibly 'void') or should I go for random ones?

Elementals are too easy and overdone. I rather see quirky, possibly useless superpowers, specially if you're doing humour.

I always like the idea of a dark world with an unassuming hero with a vague but effective power no one would see coming or value...until it's too late.

I haven't read it, but it sounds like "Worm" might be a good fit for you.

 

[Mouse]

You're all a bunch of jokers.

I was leaning towards quirky powers but I've just had an emailed convo with my publisher and what they're saying they'd like to see next from me kinda doesn't fit quirky. Not daft quirky anyway. So I think I'm stuck on ideas again!

 

[Harpo]

You're all a bunch of jokers.

I was leaning towards quirky powers but I've just had an emailed convo with my publisher and what they're saying they'd like to see next from me kinda doesn't fit quirky. Not daft quirky anyway. So I think I'm stuck on ideas again!

Try to shoehorn Moonbeam into whatever it is they'd like to see.

 

[Old_Man_Steve2016]

You could make your story focus not be on powers, but how the people around the hero view the powered person.
Think of it as X-men meets This is Us.

Idea #2: Superhero comedy; a new/rookie hero gets teamed up with a curmudgeon old hero on a road trip to save the world. Kicker; the old hero is mad because the situation is HIS/HER/ITs fault due to a brain fart decades ago.

Idea #3: One of my favorite superhero stories was Darker Than Black, in which the powered people can use their powers, but every time they do, they have to appease their 'sponsor', some extradimensional source, with a bizarre action. You can do something similar; a Batman type who must eat 1 baby for every 20 lives he saves (I have that scenario in one of my books, but it's a noodle incident and played for laughs by that character's friends)

Idea #4: Story starts off with a superhero fighting through a difficult villain's lair. Confrontation. Then the hero joins the villain's side and they conquer NYC. Why? It wasn't brainwashing. The villain had a good reason, and the hero learned it as well.

Idea #5: A supervillain is about to be captured when he/she/it/they is rescued by one (or more) of the following: A) Evil heroes, B) Crime syndicate, C) Aliens, D) Demons, E) Demons working for The Donald, F) Watch Dog Hackers, G) The KGB/FSB/Chinese Intelligence, H) The CIA working for Aliens/Crime Syndicates/Demons/Indian Gods, I) His heroic children. I had a similar situation in my book, though the heroes didn't wind up rescuing the villain. The villain bragged about his powers and the heroes executed him to steal his weapons research.

Idea #6: Told from the position of a supervillain being hunted by a combo Predator/Punisher villain. Survival horror style.

Idea #7: A superhero gets reassigned to a better team and his/her/it/they partner and romantic interest have to save the day without him and learn they relied too much on their partner. Working title: The girl who can gun.

 

[Harpo]

Or maybe just leave Moonbeam for a bunch of Star Wars fanfic?

Moonbeam - Revenge Of The Sith
Moonbeam - Rogue One

 

[Dan Jones]

Always go with random. Everything else has been done.

When I wrote Elephant Man and The Last Crusade (unavailable from all good bookshops) I gave the titular hero, Joseph Merrick, the special abilities of singing like Jon Bon Jovi, excellent chat-up lines, and impersonating Harold Bishop* to help him get past the Nazis and find the cup that caught the blood of Christ. All while struggling with his own, terrible, debilitating condition.

*A character From Aussie bilge soap Neighbours, American friends.

 

[Juliana]

Always go with random. Everything else has been done.

Oh, you could go with completely random! My son loved Ben 10 (the original show) when he was little, so I used to watch it with him all the time. Ben had the omnitrix, which gave him alien powers, but it didn't always work properly, and often he got an alien which wasn't the one he wanted, but ended up being the one he needed (or he had to be extra clever to get around it). So, what if your character had a set of powers, but never knew which one was going to manifest at a given time?