Writing Passionates discussion

Im working on a story ,i wont get bogged down with the full plot summary. Basicly a central character has a gift that allows him to take guilt and grief away from people in his small town. The plus side for my character is he enjoys prolonged life (not gandalf long or anything near) the down side is he has to deal with the guilt and grief . my question is how do i make this credible???? P.S. there is alot more to the story

hi alan! i am also a fantasy writer, and i know exactly what you mean. the important thing about a fantasy character is that he/she must still be a believable person--with thoughts, feelings, strengths, and weaknesses--even if she/he has supernatural powers. not all conflicts in the story can be solved w/magic, or the reader learns nothing and feels no connection to the main character. therefore, he/she must experience human conflicts as well as supernatural ones. for example, what are his/her relationships w/other characters like? how does he/she react in certain situation? how do other characters treat this character if they find out that he/she has supernatural powers? also, to a certain extent, the character should have some fear about his/her powers. he/she may wonder, "why am i not like everyone else? how far can i go with these powers? what happens if i use these powers too much? should i use them at all?" what's important is that the reader can somehow relate to the character, and feel for the character, even though the reader does not possess powers such as the ones that the character possesses. I hope that helps. :)

oh yea i know the film, similar and well spotted but the story i have in mind for it is very different.oh im playing around with titles...it will be called "touching butterfly wings" this title works well with the symbolisim of the story and how the human heart and mind can be fragile or at times unbreakable, what do you think of the title, i know its not as important as the content of the story but i do think its important if you want someone to pick up the book in the first place

sounds awesome. :D

That sounds like The Giver to me...it's by Lois Lowry-have you ever read it?

Oh I loved The Giver, and the two books that came after it! Messenger was so sad.

What????? THERE ARE BOOKS AFTER THE GIVER?????? I HAVE TO READ THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes you do!! Lol. The sequel is called Gathering Blue and the triquel is called Messenger. Be warned- when you read Gathering Blue, you'll think that it has nothing to do with the Giver, but once you read Messenger you realize what it has to do with The Giver. You will find out what happened to Jonas and Gabe after...

Gah. I hated The Giver... Of course I had to read it for school so maybe that's why i hated it... :P

Oh no! Any other reason why you hated it? 0.0

idk..... i found the characters annoying. i mean, i know that most of them were supposed to be kinda creepy and unfeeling and everything. GAH! i don't remember; i just thought it was weird and sad and i'm not really into these 'evil futuristic society' kinds of books cuz there are just so many of them...

oh okay. XD

Alan--
I think you've already been given some of the best advice. i would say have the main character have at least one (probably more) quality that makes him extremely human. Maybe some dumb habit like chewing his fingernails, twisting his hair. It's those inconspicuos (I can't spell..) details that make characters human in my opinion. It's like the evocotive (spelling not working this late... sorry!) details taht give a setting romance and reality, only it's taking the theory to characters.

First I'd make a character sheet for your main characters. list everything about them you can think of, even the smallest detail or quirk, like the hero always scratches his head when nervious. Next, make the situations you put him/her in sound realistic. Do everything you can to create suspention of belief, that means to make the reader accept the rules of your story world. IE. Star Trek, Warp drive, transporters, and alien races. he creators of Star Trek do make you believe they're real.
So, simply put, to answer your question. Create your story world in such a way that makes the power seem real and write in a way that makes Aunt Mary, who never reads this genre, believe it can happen. Roddenberry, used this as a test for elements of Star Trek. Say for example a starship.If Aunt Mary thinks it looks like one, smells like one, sounds like one, It probably is one.
I hope this helps.
G W Pickle

So his power is making people happy when they're sad? Okay, first you need to incorporate some science into it. Like, he hypnotizes them or something. And that he got his powers from like, his parents divorcing and he just had so much sorrow, that it all flooded out of his mind. Make it like Spiderman, with him reacting humanly to situations, and putting in consequences. Also, gifted children can recept very easily on peoples' feelings. Maybe, he could enter the person's brain and erase the memory of the event, but he has the memory and has to relive it over and over again.
First exaggerate it a lot, that'll show you the things you have to make incredibly human.
Sounds like a very cool story.

^^ wow this topic is dead

may topics in this group are...

Hmmmmm, I would try asking Stephen King. : )

I'm an aspiring Dark Fantasy Novelist and I know exactly what you mean, you have to make the character seem realistically "surprised" and just make if feel like they know they hold something special within them. Should they hide it for a while? Maybe finally using the power in public to help someone in need, thus revealing their ability? You have to decide!

hmmm.......

Make it realistic, plausible. That's what I would do.