To Make my Hero Supernatural or Not? O.o

[RodimusGT]

Okay so last night I was brainstorming an idea, and I came up with something that excites me! Without giving too much away or putting any ideas on the board I thought up a tale of three people who all had different abilities, and I even came up with abilities that weren't the common type (wizard, vampire, werewolf, etc.)

It would be a first person view through my main character, who I wanted to be a sort of young, geeky guy who turned out to be somewhat like an unorthodox sherlock holmes.

But now I'm questioning myself as to whether I should give him powers at all? Here's my arguement:

Giving him an ability: I love reading novels where the hero has powers of some sort. If Harry Dresden were a regular man I would still enjoy the series but the fact that he's a wizard just makes the story a hell of a lot more fun. With my hero using abilties it leaves him able to battle with other supernatural forces and not be completely outmatch and outgunned all the time. I did plan on this book being a supernatural world of sorts. I also feel like giving him an ability would allow him to grow over the course of the series(assuming it was succesful)

Not giving him an ability: Even though I love reading about heroes with powers, one of the reasons I love heroes like Batman and detectives like Sherlock is because they have the ability to thwart the bad guy without any abilities. I think it can make the story richer if you have a supernatural force going head to head with your hero and he has to defeat him with wits and skill.

So, any opinions are appreciated. I was going to start a rough draft of the first chapter to see where it takes me but I'm stuck on what to do about my hero. I planned on him having a power of his own but I feel maybe the story would be more suspenseful without one? Thanks guys!

[LizW65]

Personally, I think the "without" option sounds more interesting, but maybe you can have it both ways:  have a latent or dormant ability show up halfway or two-thirds of the way through the story, triggered by something that your character does.  That way, he can learn to control/refine the ability while struggling with that fact that nothing like this has ever happened to him before.  Just a thought.

[Lanodantheon]

Cautionary: If you are going to go with the "geeky" main character, watch out for the Self-insertion Mary Sue. Deadly....

Going off the premise alone, both options can work, just keep 2 things in mind:

With a Power Detectives can make the character more distinctive, especially if it's a power or a set of powers is uncommon or gives the character unique problems to overcome. It depends on how interesting the "Power" is.


Without a Power Detectives are as old as hills, but they become interesting in fantasy because of a fundamental principle of conflict/tension: The greater the opposition the hero has to overcome, the greater the hero. When Harry goes toe-to-toe with a monster with magic, that's one thing. When Karrin Murphy, who's just a normal with a gun goes against the same monster that's another. The more exciting and tension filled story is one where the character is least likely to succeed/overcome the opposition. A Wizard can just blast a monster. A normal has only what the rest of us have available.

[RodimusGT]

Awesome points guys thanks a lot for the help.

I think I might try to take it to a middle ground. Make the character have an ability, but make it limited or one that really doesn't have an offensive side to it, at least not in the beginning.

[Quantus]

Question:   What is the scale of the supernatural in your story? Or asked another way, how prevalent is it within the world, and what is the scale of the story in that world?   A power will set the MC apart, so you need to ask yourself how do you want that to go?  Harry is special because of his power:  He was a wizard detective working for Murphy and the other non-wizard detectives.  As things developed and the story moved more into the larger Magical community, where everyone was supernaturally special, it became Murphy who was unusual for being in that world and <i>not</I> having any supernatural power.  It's all relative.  And the larger the gap between his power level and the rest of the world story, the more burden will fall on you as the author to keep him central to the course of events. 

Giving him no power in a band of one trick wonders in a scooby-doo haunted mansion story is easy.  Giving him no power in a band of Wizards battling ancient gods is harder, and requires more internal story logic to explain.  By contrast giving him the phenomenal cosmic power in a local scale story makes things so easy you have to limit those powers somehow to avoid a Deux ex Machina situation.  Along the same vein, if the MC's power level is drastically different from the other two, it will take more work to explain why they are together and what roles/use each one has. 

You can make the difference itself become the connecting factor, but you must keep it central to the story.  If its something that is only addressed in passing or off-page, it ends up feeling like a bad fit, or worse becomes a central character trait in the readers eyes, and skews everything.  If by contrast it's kept central to the story, it transforms from discontinuity to thematic element. 



I could ramble on about this for a long time, but thats the basic frame of my thought, without getting into any story specifics 

[arcanist]

I personally prefer to read about mcs with powers. But it doesnt have to be one or the other. Take the df. Harry is one of the most powerful wizards in the world. But he is still compleetly outclassed by most of the things he goes up against due to them being a lot more experienced in the case of orther wizards or much stronger in the case of non-humans.

You could have your mc have powers but in comparison to the antagonists it would be a dart in comparison to a nuke.

[Snowleopard]

There were a series of short storys about a guy who dealt with the paranormal.
Danged if I can remember the title or the author.  Sorry.
I don't remember that he had powers but he'd learned how to deal with others who did.
All the stories had a good deal of humor.  In one of them a normal guy contacted him because
his problem was, "I become a medium sized grey elephant on all national holidays"
So your protagonist having a power that's limited by something - be it place or time or some other factor
would be interesting.

[The Corvidian]

Take the talent route, and before you say Charmed, look to The Tales of Alvin Maker.

[Bottom The Weaver]

How about not giving him a power, but rather a slight resistance to other powers? He's not invulnerable, but he can take more of a beating than normal. If it's from a supernatural force, anyway. Someone can still just punch him in the face and drop him without abnormal strength.

That would explain why he's a normal but still involved with the powerful set, but make him 'weak' enough to still be in danger and interesting.

[Darkshore]

I'm liking the "Normal" route that I'm taking with my current protagonist. Completely regular guy that manages to get the wool lifted from his eyes and is awakened to seeing what other everyday people just don't. (It's a bit more complex than that but I'd rather not bore you with the details.) Makes for some very interesting situations.

[Quantus]

I'm liking the "Normal" route that I'm taking with my current protagonist. Completely regular guy that manages to get the wool lifted from his eyes and is awakened to seeing what other everyday people just don't. (It's a bit more complex than that but I'd rather not bore you with the details.) Makes for some very interesting situations.

Neil Gaiman books (ie Neverwhere, American Gods) tend toward that direction, one of the big reasons I like em. 

[comprex]

One of the things I dislike most is mystic "powers" that are given way, way, way deep buried in the work.   

Present the possibility up front or don't do it at all. 

[Darkshore]

One of the things I dislike most is mystic "powers" that are given way, way, way deep buried in the work.   

Present the possibility up front or don't do it at all. 

I agree 100% it just seems to well cliche...to a point anyways. I feel like I've found a good way to incorporate it into my work though.

[The Corvidian]

Make your character a "weirdness magnet", he always seems to get into trouble, and when things are darkest help shows up. Give him a friend who has been watching over him since he was a kid, and this friend is a powerful supernatural entity.

[Snowleopard]

I have a friend who feels she is an actual "weirdo magnet" as far as she is concerned.
The topper was the woman, and friends, who sat down at her table in a restaurant at a  convention and after just a bit
started going on about her husband the nudist and the various decorative p*nis covers she made for him.

Oh, found out who the author was of the series of short stories.
It was Ron Goulart and the book was called - Ghostbreakers.