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❝ You are stronger than you believe. ❞
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You might be wondering by this point, what is there to writing a superhero novel? Here are a series of question that if you don't yet have an answer to, by the end of this book you will at the very least be prepared to tackle them.
1. How common are superpowers in your world?
2. When did superpowers appear?
3. Is this an alternate history, or is there an event?
4. Do all people with superpowers take up a life of crime or justice? Why? What do those without the heroic inclination do?
5. Are there gifted mind superheroes? How advanced is their technology? Why haven't they accelerated the world's technological progress tenfold?
6. How realistic is your world? Do injuries heal normally? Is there an explanation for your flying capes? Should you even care about that?
7. Magic?
8. Are superheroes celebrities? Civil servants? Law enforcement? Vigilantes? Some combination of the four?
Not only will we discuss the advantages and drawbacks to all of the possible answers to these questions, but we will also learn many valuable lessons on how to write characters in a super-powered universe, such as:
Why powerful superheroes aren't allowed to be humble.
The problems with the mutation triggering event. Destiny, and why to avoid it.Why you need to keep some inner working of your heroes powers behind a curtain. Throughout this guide, there will no doubt be a point where you explain "Why CAN'T I do that!".
The short answer is, you can. Subversions are the epitome of what makes a superhero novel great. Too many, though, and you border on either clutter or parody. These "cliches" exist for a reason, find a twist but don't feel the need to break every single one you encounter.
In this book, we will be using a variety of examples of different superhero works, such as the MCU or novels on Wattpad, to show you what to do and what not to do when it comes to writing a superhero book. But more on that later.
