This category is mostly designed for other writers. I look at different theories and structures of writing and consider how I used them (or am contemplating using them) in Superhero Nation.
That probably sounds very abstract and nonsensical. So I’ll try to explain with examples.
One choice I had to make was how to narrate the story. Would it be a third-person omniscient narration? Would it be first-person? If I used first-person, would it narrate between characters? Which characters? If it rotated, when would it rotate?
Of these options, I liked the third-person omniscient narrator (3ON) best.
- 3ON is a pretty clean way to move around a story without getting caught too much on what a character sees (or doesn’t see). It also handles changes of perspective more easily. If I wanted to rotate between several points of view, making three or four first-person narrators would give me nightmares. In a third-person narration, I have a lot more authorial flexibility outside of dialogue. In first-person, even making sure that characters don’t share unusual phrases would be hard. One review for Soon I Will Be Invincible mentioned that the two narrators sometimes used the same quirky expressions, though I didn’t notice that when I was reading.
- This allows me to step outside the bounds of what the characters see. I don’t heavily rely on this dramatic irony, but it can be useful. I’ve slapped together this example to show how much easier it would be to show a scene that’s simultaneously unfolding in several different places. It’s very unsmooth, but bear with me.
(The setup: Dr. Berkeley is trying to figure out who’s using his shower when his co-tenant isn’t home).
[start]
The dragon and the bounty-hunter traded blows in the master bathroom, talon to wrist to tail to elbow. It was too close for heavy weaponry and the shower muffled most of the sound of fists pounding against scales or claws sliding against polyurathane armor.
Downstairs, Dr. Berkeley heard the water running again. The mystery showerer was back. He crept towards the bathroom.
The dragon sniffed. His head snapped toward the door. He caught a fist, deflected another and edged away. “You had to bring help, didn’t you, human.”
“Bitch, please! You wish you were worth enough to pay for backup.”
“Someone is coincidentally stalking towards me? Wildly improbable.” He glanced at the bathroom window, a hopelessly flawed escape-route.
“You’re bluffing. I’m not going anywhere,” said the bounty hunter.
The dragon’s eyes narrowed. The hunter reeked of sour indignation and genuine distrust. Perhaps he wasn’t associated with the third party.
The bounty hunter glanced uneasily toward the door. “Fine. Sixty seconds. Then it’s suitcase time,” he said.
Dr. Berkeley opened the bathroom door. The shower was running but the phantom showerer had escaped again. He made a note to call a plumber as he cut the water. He definitely did not find the dragon latched across the ceiling or the bounty hunter in the linen closet.
[end]
Some other thoughts:
- First-person narration (FPN) would probably be too melodramatic, particularly when characters are repeatedly faced with absurd situations.
- I am very sarcastic and lack self-restraint. Whenever I think of something funny, I add it. In a FPN, that would make all of my characters sound especially quippy. That could could easily annoy an audience.
- FPN usually leads to weak writing. It’s too easy to rely on the narrator saying what he is feeling. And FPN easily falls into melodrama.
- Having characters like Mallow explain why they want to destroy humanity in FPN would be way too campy.
