Welcome to Writing Tips, where I place my subjective opinion with sometimes objective facts. Whether you're writing a fan fiction with ocs or your story with copyrighted characters, tips and tricks are always helpful.
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Power is like everything else, it needs rules and regulations, needs someone to wield it, and has its limitations. I've seen too many stories where the characters can just a use power with no cost. Now, limitations are different. Limitations are a during use while cost is an after use.
Let's look at Madoka Magica, the series that burned up the magical girl genre and made everyone realize how dark such a cute genre can be. Instead of being Sailor Moon, where the power just comes and can be used freely, Madoka Magica shows the cost of being a magical girl. What's the price to power they now have and what's the consequences? Here, when a girl uses too much magic, their soul gem becomes tainted, it gets too far and they turn into a witch. Stranger Things, the cost of using the power is mentally weakens the user.
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(Kingdom Hearts, where I learned most of the morals I use in my series.)
Cost can also be lowered. What do I mean? The more you use something the more used to it your body gets. Do weight lifting more and more and soon you'll be able to lift more. Run for longer distances, with little increases, and you'll find that you can run for longer than when you started. Now, this is for the ones starting out, what about the child prodigies or the characters who automatically are good at everything, because we don't have enough terrible writing ideas already.
Well, I've got an answer. I have a character who's basically that, because I'm going through a period of taking terrible writing ideas and making them good. He's good at everything, but his body can't handle it. The energy he uses is more than he regains. In my series, mana is the life force and Artes need mana. If he uses an Arte, he'll use up more mana than usual and has to rest for longer. The power inside him is too much for his body, which leads straight to self destruction. He's dead.
This is cost, what is the repercussion of using the power? Does the mind become corrupted? Does the body become corrupted? Can it take control? Does it lead to self destruction? Will it go out of control if used to much? Can the character control it? Where did the character get it? Were they born with it? Did they inherit it? Did they just end up in the wrong place at the wrong time? Was it luck? Was it a prophecy? Are they the reincarnation of the original user? Are they possessed by the original user? All questions that should be thought of. Or you could play out your power fantasy and not think about it at all and just be overpowered because "I can".
Limitations or cost or both, just roll with it. And if they don't have that, then their personality limitations? I don't care, if the character is interesting and is powerful but not obnoxious about it, I'm fine.
