This site provides writing advice. If you're writing a superhero novel or comic book, please also read our superhero writing articles.

Would you like to subscribe to our RSS feed?

NOTE: At 5:41, March 22 I decided that Rahul was a major barrier to the story.

• The voice was very different than what I was used to.
• Rahul himself is not a particularly good character. I aimed for an authentically Indian version of Spiderman (as written by an American who’s never been to India) and I think, at best, it would have been a knock-off of Spiderman.
• I’ll keep this post up just for reference sake, but any reference to Rahul/Bashal/any of the other Indians being in the story is incorrect.  Not a one will make an appearance in Cowboys and Indians (of course, this means I will have to get a new name).

Rahul’s Traits

• Sweet, good-natured
• clueless, imperceptive
• Easily flustered.
• Clumsy
• Very poor at engineering– not methodical enough.
• Not particularly good at handling stress, particularly in tricky mental problems.
• Compassionate and charitable.
• Not especially good at lying and deception.
• Acutely aware of his own imperfections. For this reason and more (see * below), he’s not eager to become a superhero.
• *Originally, I had imagined that Rahul would be eager to be a superhero, like pretty much every other comic book character yet created. That was a mistake. The eagerness to be, essentially, a vigilante is premised on the notion that power creates an opportunity (and perhaps an obligation) to do good. Additionally, the aspiring superhero must at least flirt with supreme self-confidence (I must apprehend the supervillain, because I am far better-equipped than the police to do so). Especially Spiderman but pretty much every American superhero so far created would agree that “with great power comes great responsibility.” Note that the “responsibility” is to protect the people, NOT to avoid abusing superpowers by repressing them. A stylistic element that reflects this is that pretty much every superhero has a honeymoon period where he figures out what he can do with his newfound abilities. For Peter Parker, this was swinging around and eventually hitting a building with his webs. The implicit understanding is that power = cool. Wouldn’t it be neat if you could do that. I think the rosy American view of power makes sense from an American perspective– it’s not like we’re on the verge of a civil war where some person (or group) gaining power necessarily leads to the weakening of everyone else. At least in India, there is something of a history of religious violence… several million people died in the post-colonial partition of Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. It is QUITE plausible that, with that perspective, that India in this alternate superpowered universe would see superpowered people as a dire threat that must be stopped. The lesson from partition is that, when the state is weak relative to its people, the people’s prejudices and turmoils will lead to disaster. In contrast, the American government was designed to be weak relative to its people (for example, the 2nd amendment was designed to ensure that the people would be able to overthrow a tyrannical regime).
• To condense: Americans generally agree that power can be used well and should be. In fact, many Americans would agree that power bolsters ones principles and morals (when you have absolute power, you don’t need to compromise anything… but when you’re weak, you have to cooperate with scum, a la the USSR in WWII or Pakistan now). Indians are far more likely to believe that power can corrupt those that wield it and oppress those that don’t.
• Language
  • Variation in noun numbers: “He performed many charities. She loves to pull your legs.”
  • Ready, ah? He’s here, ah? (right?)
  • Answers agree with yes/no structure of question. You didn’t come on the bus? Yes, I didn’t.
  • Past perfect where Americans use past simple. “I had gone” instead of “I went.”
  • Hope denotes an expectation, rather than desire. “With those clouds, I hope it will rain.”
  • Wallah– someone who’s involved in something. The grocery-wallah gouged me.
  • Matlab– “what I mean to say is”…
  • Using gift as a verb.
  • Pain in place of hurt. “Does it pain?”
  • “That and all/This and all”– regarding that.
  • Deadly used as adverb to mean intense.
  • Sexy used to mean cool or excellent.
  • “Hello, who are you and what do you want?” Common way to answer the phone. Not considered impolite.
  • “pass out of the university”– to graduate.
  • “He was acting funny with me” — he was strange/impolite/rude.
  • “on the anvil”– about to happen.
  • Cribbing.
  • “high-end”– supposedly of higher quality or stature. Frequently used derisively.
  • godman– someone who claims to have supernatural powers. Somewhat pejorative.

Bashal’s Traits

• Created by the Staff of Nehru. Possibly a spiritual possession, more likely a spiritual awakening.
• Different person from Rahul, his alter-ego. Rahul remembers what he did, but can’t really remember the thought-process. His old mental state is not in control when the robe is on.
• Quite brash, painfully so.
• Powers of wind-control and quite capable with the full-length staff, which extends as far as he needs it to.
  • Possible pole uses: pogo, pole vault, ranged weapon, melee, reaching high up to avoid explosion or get on a building…
• Not aware of US laws and regulations. Doesn’t really care. Far more concerned about helping people… Laws should only exist to help people and they should not constrain people from doing that. (Indian cynicism).
• Cerulean turban/facemask with black eyeslits, white tunic and orange, flowing pants and sandals.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS