4 replies to this topic

[God of LoL]

Hello, ladies and gentlemen.

My name is God of LoL and I am a writ-o-holic.

...Oh right, this is not that kind of forum, sorry.

 

Anyway, I have a question regarding writing badasses and to be more specific of my brand of the problem, writing badasses that are more or less Reality Warpers.

The problem does not lie in how their powers are portrayed or even which; My problem is how to write a badass character... without portraying him as such.

Allow me to elaborate further;

 

In story telling, there are several things, varying from "less is more" to "show don't tell". Which devices am I supposed to use in order to make my badass a relatable and three-dimensional character without his more than average power taking up most of the narrative. During a fight, how do I make him seem human while at the same time he is so superhuman?

 

Take note that, due to the nature of the show I'm writing a fanfic about, reducing his power is unfortunately not an option. The guy above him is more or less a God and the guy two places below him can, amongst all of the ridiculous things he is capable of, travel at the speed of light.

[A.B.]

Hi ...

my name is A.B .....

and I'm a wise-a$$ ...

as in NOT a BADASS ...

anyone !!!

okay that was lame ...

 

anyway .....

UNIVERSALLY SPEAKING :

I think the emotional investment of the readers in a story similar to this would heavily depend on the moralities of the characters they're reading about and how their motives come up as earth-bound considering how everything else_ as I concluded from what you've mentioned_ would be way off the charts ..

 1) apply a pretty coating of gray upon your characters and everything would feel more believable and compelling ...

for example : the MC being mislead into a fight for the wrong reasons_ or not being mislead in the first place_, acting with disregard to lesser lives even if he still takes a favor to some ....

you know the drill ...

those are just examples of what you could do, and not what you SHOULD do, as obviously you're the one envisioning this story and only you know the paths it will take and the destination it must reach ....

  2) there's ALWAYS a weakness, either physical or emotional, every character needs something that abases him/her someway or the other ...

and that weakness should have a story, and that story should be complex yet understandable, and not something you contrive for the benefit of the storyline but more or less something that is part of the storyline itself

  3) DO NOT DEVISE EVENTS, and let the story stream fluidly. if a character has no other way but to die or fail than DO IT ...

don't leave him lingering up our nostrils just because you felt too affectionate with him/her ...

it doesn't mean that you have to kill everyone, it only means that you have to plan for his rescue 100 thousands words ( that may be an exaggeration ) before doing so and throughout the course of events in a way that you make sure won't betray what's to come ...

 YES every story needs a certain amount of ambiguity to hide its conclusion ....

but the right amount of so is something you YOURSELF know and not something people can tell you or teach you about ...

( also the amount of detail you conveyed doesn't help a lot in that regard ... )

( usually that's the job of an editor to tell so if you can ask someone to help you with the story do it , it helps because it gives you an outsiders opinion_ as everything sounds better in your head than it does on paper, ask me about it .... _

and it aids you to determine those factors you and I subsequently  mentioned )

 

NOW, AS FOR MY PERSONAL OPINION :

It's a personal preference, so some might agree or disagree with me, but I like ambiguous stories which leads you through blinding fog ...

I HATE guessing where the story will go and how it will end ...

so I usually like stories that describe the environment rather than what the characters are thinking  

and I like it a whole bunch when I stop guessing what's happening in the story and begin contemplating the hidden meaning behind the events rather than the events themselves ....

as I said, a personal preference ....

 

I hope that helped you in any way ...

and I hope I didn't sound like the pretentious douche that I think I sounded like ...

Edited by A.B., 26 May 2014 - 06:01 PM.

[watsu]

I wasn't exactly sure what you were thinking of when you say "badass," so I've provided two lines of thought here. The first is for a more traditional definition of badass, the second is for an OP character. I don't approach this from trying to humanize an OP character, because that's not possible, nor is it interesting, no matter what others may say. If you have an OP character, you keep that character OP because that's what people want if they're even bothering to care about an OP character. You just have to frame it in the right way.

 

***

 

First, looking into what a badass character is. "Badass" is a buzzword now, like the word "epic" and the word "buzzword." You will see it flung around at any character that's remotely interesting. One common usage for badass used to be someone who didn't play by the rules, kind of like a delinquent or a "bad boy." Those kind of characters have become more popular lately (anti-heroes, morally ambiguous heroes, hell, even straight-up villains). The trending usage now for badass is basically an "awesome" protagonist. A protagonist with scale and power that's of such sheer proportions that it causes awe. This definition lines up more with "epic," but can also be applied to smaller scales, just as long as the relative context is proportionally awe-inspiring (like a guy breaking out of prison isn't what you'd traditionally call "epic," but many people may call it that because of how they felt about the prisonbreaker's struggles and efforts).

 

If you want a badass as a rebellious type or someone who's not a straight arrow hero, then twisting his moral compass is the easiest way to do things. Or just making him unlikeable as a person, but with feats that need to be acknowledged (like Light from Death Note).

 

***

 

If you just want to depict an immensely powerful character without having him/her bulldoze everything easily, then there are few approaches fiction has used. Superman is the traditional quandary to the OP character that's boring. The attempts they used were giving him heavy moral decisions or conflicts, as A.B. suggested, or a weakness like Kryptonite that would magically make the struggle all the more difficult.

 

But you don't seem to want to give this guy an obvious weakness. So another approach taken by manga/anime/light novel characters frequently is scaling. If you've read Noblesse, that's an excellent example of scaling. The main protagonist is OP as fuck, but you don't get bored because 75% of the time, the focus is on much weaker people. And when he does actually get into a struggle, the vast contrast between the weak who have been getting the spotlight and this immensely OP guy just blows minds. The thought is "If these weak guys were struggling so much before, then just how amazingly strong is this enemy the OP guy is struggling with?" That imagination is sparked unconsciously, but it inspires awe in readers.

 

A somewhat similar approach is just hiding the full extent of the character's powers. Mondaijitachi has a clearly OP protagonist, but by skipping over the content of actual battles where he really gets serious and only showing the most basic extent of his powers, it keeps interest in the character's potential.

 

But again, this series had weaker characters to provide scale and contrast. So the most important feature you need to keep interest in an overpowered character is contrast or a way for the audience to relatively compare him/her. You have to decide what you want the focus to be on, because that's where your work will largely have the most difficulties. If all of the characters are OP, then you have to scale the OP. Miniscule differences in power are not enough, because then you might as well just be copy and pasting all of the characters. Having variety in your power levels is important, hence why even shows like Dragon Ball Z, where it was obvious that Super Saiyans were the strongest, other weaker characters still got focus. It's all just to hype up the OP characters and it works.

Edited by watsu, 25 May 2014 - 03:12 AM.

[Ravenous Raven]

No matter how much super human powers he may have, he's still - after all's said and done - human, right?

 

As long as he still has crippling weakness and fears like a normal person, he should be relatable.

[God of LoL]

Alright, thanks for the advice.

Since the chapter is already out, I'd like to say that the guy I had trouble with was Enryu.

Creator of the Thorn, killer of Guardians, Mr. "Over 9000 rooms of Shinsoo", the guy with the one-too-many spears.

When I said "badass" (on which, admittedly, I should be more clear on), I didn't mean the "Devil may care" attitude, but more the unstoppable force of nature part. OP, as you call it.

I wish to show the struggles of a person who can "bulldoze through anything" that is in his path outside from combat.

For example, the effects of killing the Guardian that has on the people of the 43rd Floor. The general chaos that commences simply because he is Enryu or his disdain of his "condition". (I doubt that waking up one morning with red eyes and hair is something would like to happen to them, to look in the mirror and no longer see themselves.)

Or, for somebody with so much power and accomplishments, he has to struggle in order to get the attention of the girl he likes, who, like him, is thousands of years old and thus desensitized to the things that would normally woo a person.

 

So, focus on him as the person, not as the Physical God, seldomly use him during times of struggle, use him if you wish to create a contrasting effect with the weaker characters, avoid making him a Deus Ex Machina.

Got it. Thanks again.

 

Snippity snip, mofo!

Nah, you are not a douche. Just unfunny. *evil smirk*

I'm just messing with ya.

Thanks for the advice on plotting and character placement into it. It was insightful. Common sense (in a way), but insightful nonetheless.

Edited by God of LoL, 05 June 2014 - 07:02 PM.