Comments on: Which Origin Stories are Plausible?

By: B. McKenzie

B. McKenzie — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:34:47 +0000

Ah, okay. I hope it’s fun then!

By: Hobbes

Hobbes — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:02:30 +0000

I can see problems with it such as the one that just happened. But up until now we’ve simply worked together for entertainment purposes .

By: B. McKenzie

B. McKenzie — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:58:31 +0000

Personally, I would recommend against collaborating with an unpublished author (especially a friend) unless you have a really good reason to*. Mixing business, art and friendships can lead to bad feelings and strained relationships.

*For example, if you’ve written a nonfiction book but don’t have the proper credentials to attract a publisher, you might bring on an unpublished author with those credentials, because credentials are really important in nonfiction. However, in fiction, I’m having trouble coming up with a scenario where an unpublished co-author would actually be an asset. More often than not, I think one or both authors ends up feeling like they’re doing an unfair amount of work, getting upset over creative disagreements, etc. Later on, if the two authors split, it can create significant legal problems about who actually owns the rights to the resulting story/stories and those legal problems may scare away prospective publishers.

By: Hobbes

Hobbes — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:51:36 +0000

The only time we ever finished a story was in fifth grade we made a story about our own sonic characters its funny thinking about now. It was from my characters point of view then his. My character was the son of shadow his was the son of silvers hahaha! Child hood memory’s are the best

By: Hobbes

Hobbes — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:41:37 +0000

We’ve been writing since 4th grade and he always stops in the middle or the begining it really pisses me off

By: B. McKenzie

B. McKenzie — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:30:10 +0000

“Ok so Neal says he’s too busy to start a story,which is really irritating because he didn’t say that a couple of days ago.” Well, at least he let you know sooner rather than later. Some people drag their feet for months before deciding that they aren’t all that interested and/or don’t have the time to make a commitment.

By: Hobbes

Hobbes — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:02:43 +0000

I want to title this story Misfit Exorcists or maybe Unholy Exorcists Matthew is the son of a Adam Hallmen a famous Exorcist ( One who destroys demons and evil spirits) Matthews dream is to become an exorcist that is as great as his father.He enrolls into The School Of Exorcism. On his first assignment he recklessly try’s to confront a werewolf. This results in him contracting the lycanthropy disease. With the help of his brother Alexander, he is able to attend class with a group of kids that are also considered demonic and unholy. They realize they are simply a bunch of Misfit Exorcist.

By: Hobbes

Hobbes — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:04:50 +0000

Ok so Neal says he’s too busy to start a story,which is really irritating because he didn’t say that a couple of days ago.Anyways I’m just Hobbes now.I have a new origin. Story so I’ll post it when I write the first chapter or so

By: Mistlan

Mistlan — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:34:04 +0000

I find that every landscape of fiction can have some grain of truth for an origin story. Thor was a marvel hero based on Norse Mythology. Same as some of the Manga characters are often based on concepts of Eastern Mythology. It depends on you can tie in an origin story to make it sell or make it flop. Though everyone is entitled to their own thoughts and opinions.

By: Wolfdude131

Wolfdude131 — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:00:26 +0000

Well, the superhero organization would be set up further down the line, after he already has publicity as a bank robber, but i like that “volunteer/not-for-profit” take on it too.

He calls himself Knumbskull as a lil joke, a contrast of him being near the genious side of the spectrum, as well as him wanting to be a hero, but doing things that are the opposite of what hero’s are supposed to do.

The lackeys are if he were to go more towards villiany if that is where the plot heads.

And the best friend, i have thoughts that maybe he is trying to protect KS, throughing the other heros off his trail and whatnot… which is something that would offend KS if he found out.

there is so much i could do with this, i guess i just have to pick a solid direction.

By: B. McKenzie

B. McKenzie — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:31:53 +0000

“There will probably be an organization of superheros setup at some point… and they won’t allow Knumbskull to join, giving him another reason to be discontent.” Ah, okay, but if there’s this organization of superheroes, it sort of raises questions about why he chose to rob banks for money rather than just apply to them in the first place. (Superhero organizations are typically portrayed as having substantial budgets and I have to imagine that they’d have a few thousand dollars lying around for one of their members if he was on the verge of getting evicted or thrown out of school–that said, maybe one distinguishing thing about this organization is that it’s a COMPLETELY volunteer organization and does not pay its members at all. That’d give them another reason not to like him).

I like that some characters are speculating he only goes after Godzilla-types and supervillains to eliminate the competition.

“Style: he has boatloads of it…” But he names himself Knumbskull?

“Knumbskull would publically denounce and demoralize them, and explain that he has proper recruiting methods set up and they did not go through them, and as such are not his people (he would probably have lackeys at that point, every villain needs lackeys)…” At what point does he start thinking of himself as a villain rather than a hero?

By: Wolfdude131

Wolfdude131 — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:00:56 +0000

47 seconds is plenty of time, fight scenes shouldnt really last that much longer than that in reality, plus everytime he looks, his course of action will change so the future will also change, and he is watching the 47 seconds pass before being sent back to the point he decided to “look”. I was thinking of making this character the best friend in the other premise, but changing up his personality some more so he is less of an awkward, friendless nerd.

Im thinking that if I go with the second premise, id have NumbSkull straddle the line between hero and villain, yes, he is robbing banks every once in a while, but he also tries to save the day whenever he can (AKA giant superpowered monster ravaging the city), although other heros would probably say he is just trying to eliminate competition or something like that.

there will probably be an organization of superheros setup at somepoint (im thinking of calling it the Guild of Superheros just because it sounds cheesy), and they wont allow Knumbskull (idk why, but i always want to put a K in front of the name) to join, giving him another reason to be discontent.

I love your ideas for him going to all ends to try to get powers himself, but i dont think he should succeed at that endeavor (it might be like gilligan getting off the island) I’m aiming for him to be a bit more hardcore Batman-esque, but without all the stupid things DC has done with him, the parent death and millionaireness.

Im debating whether to have the best friend realize that it is Knumbskull right away and try to talk him out of the crime part (in an interview or some such thing KS is asked why he dresses up in a costume, he answers “Costume? I dress like this everyday”) or have him stupidly not make the connection (very Goth bestfriend and very goth superhero/villain) and find out later and make an offer of “forget the crime, you know you can always be my sidekick”

Villainwise (pulls up Three qualities of interesting villains)
Comptetence: More or less so, he has an odd method of thinking and will take out of the ordinary courses of action (he is majoring in Engineering afterall, ie problem solving) say if he was on a life raft that had one too many people on board and was threatening to sink into the freezing cold sea unless the weight was lessened, and there was a sick elderly man on board, Knumbskull would probably collect the life vests of the passengers and attach them to the raft to make it more boyant.
Style: his has boatloads of it, from the steel skutt of his mask/helmet to the long black leather coat he wears… or not costumewise he talks in an odd, elaborate manner when in costume (helps to hide identity) and can easily command a scene (like a bank he is robbing). I’ll probably give fangirls/boys later on who would try to mimic his actions and rob a bank, only to hurt someone in the prosess, at which point knumbskull would publically denounce and demoralize them, and explain that he has proper recruiting methods set up and they did not go through them, and as such are not his people (he would probably have lackeys at that point, every villian needs lackeys)
Ambition: he wants to get superpowers, thats prettyambitious in a world where the only current powers comes from a specific event. sure it’s not endangering the world or the city, infact he wants to save those things as a superhero…

By: B. McKenzie

B. McKenzie — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:51:57 +0000

I like the setup that the heroes are vastly underpowered compared to the supervillains. However, I think it might be hard to create an adequate role for the guy that can see 47* seconds into the future. If you write scenes and find that 47 seconds isn’t enough to give him creative things to do, it might help to extend it to, say, something around 3 or 5 minutes.

*I love the random number here.

“he’s running out of money, he has just enough to pay his next tuition bill…” Rent might be more believable here. I have heard of some landlords asked to be paid in cash and I think the stakes are higher with rent. (A landlord might kick you out if you miss a rent payment, but it’s extremely unlikely that they’d kick you out of college for missing a tuition payment).

“robbing a bank is very easy and he justifies it as a victimless crime…” Yeah, the bank guards are mainly there for deterrence. Almost every bank instructs its employees to give up the money without resisting–it’s far safer and cleaner to go after the criminal(s) later, when there aren’t civilians and employees trapped inside with the robber(s). If the character is somewhat more cerebral, he might reason (erroneously) that he’s actually stealing from the insurance company that insures the bank against theft, although the insurance company will charge the bank a higher premium and the bank will eventually pass those costs along to customers.

Of the two premises, I like the concept of the jealous friend being the protagonist a bit better because it sounds like an interesting twist on the main character being in exactly the right place at the right time. That said, if the jealous friend starts robbing banks, I’m not sure how his role in the plot could evolve. It’d probably help to get him superpowers or at least something approaching superpowers at some point. Some thoughts: he’s at a university, so he might volunteer for EVERY scientific study in the hopes that he has an adverse reaction to one; he might hunt down the villain that did the original bombing in the hopes of conducting the same experiment on himself; he might be a self-trained superhero that relies more on skills and/or physical conditioning than actual superpowers.

Another possible angle is that the main character’s friend might grow distant from him now that he’s a superhero and has his own superpowered friends/colleagues. Depending on how interesting their relationship was before, that could be interesting.

Another possibility is that it sounds like your main character in the second premise is a budding villain (ahem, he robs banks and he really wants to be superpowered, both of which are more stereotypically villainous than heroic). It sounds like a really interesting approach to villain-as-main character. I think his frustration with not getting lucky enough to be the hero is something that a lot of people could sympathize with.

By: Wolfdude131

Wolfdude131 — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:36:50 +0000

I’m thinking about taking a try at a super hero story (Among other stories) and I have an origin im thinking about using.

A bomb is set off in the NYC subway during rush hour (or not, i have to do some math). it was thought at first to be a terrorist attack, but as it turns out it was actually a large scale(ish) experiment by some company/evil scientist. the gas released by the bomb, if inhaled, grants superpowers, the more gas inhaled (ie closer to epicenter of explosion) the greater the degree of powers. but there is a cost, the gas also leads to mental instability (bigger powers = more insane).

Im debating whether to have a small group of characters (college students) get low-degree powers and do superhero stuff that way (their roster currently includes a high-strung supernerd who can “look” 47 seconds into the future, A Hipster chick in it for the shits and giggles who can control soundwaves and recieve/broadcast radiowaves, a go with the flo, unaffected by drama guy who has perfect equilibrium and enhanced reflexes). the story would probably revovle around them developing their powers, reacting to eachother, and the other superheros being more powerful then them, meaning they have to think smart. one scene would have them trying to come up with a plan to end a mugging and arguing because Checkmate(prophetic nerd) has an elaborate plan. and then he gets cut off in the middle of it by Broadband(hipster sound chick) who just makes it sound like there is a police cruiser with a siren go off at the end of the alley, which causes Checkmate to through a fit because they didnt listen to his whole plan.

My other course of action is more into my personal opinions (ie, main character is Goth) where a college student, decides to skip class that day instead of hopping on the subway with his bestfriend/roomate like he normally does, and wakes up to alarm syrins because the bomb was set off in the subway. his bestfriend gets powers and he feels some regret/jealousy because he wishes he had them.
And he’s running out of money, he has just enough to pay his next tuition bill… so he stupidly withdraws it all in cash 9he has something against checks or credit cards idk) when he gets mugged ten feet from the ATM by a metahuman who seems to be shut off technology in a certain radius (electromagnetic pulse maybe?).
So… pressed for cash, he puts on the rather basic superhero costume he made, and robs a bank. successfully, no one stops him and he walks away with enough money for the payment on his tuition and get some more gear for his costume (he still plans on being a hero). then greed takes a hold of him and he does it a second time (robbing a bank is very easy and he justifies it as a victimless crime) and fails cuz some butthead in tights showed up and solved the problem with said butthead’s fists.

what are your thoughts on this? what possibilities would I have if I went either way? and how would i start it?

By: Monty

Monty — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:25:28 +0000

I need help creating an origin for a character that has developed the ability to absorb cosmic energy (sunlight, starlight, etc.) and use it to enhance his strength, speed, and durability. He can also channel the energy as blasts of light. I considered giving him the ability of flight, but I don’t know how to work that in just yet. I may just have him be able to generate light.

He’s a college student that lives in a world where superheroes with varying origins exists. He was never interested in being a hero. I don’t know to explain how he develops these abilities in a way that doesn’t seem too farfetched. I was thinking about having his powers be a mutation that he was born with, or having him be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m trying to avoid him being a science experiment, because I don’t like those kinds of origins very much. I would greatly appreciate the help of anyone who can help me!