Writing Tips and Reviews

Making the Main Character A God

Whether born a god or becoming one over time. There's a few laws to lay down before you even get started.

Born a god:

Raised by humans or other gods? Morals they were taught? The life they live now? This an easy way for little kids to live out their power fantasy of "destroy everything with no effort" and "no can hurt my OC because they're an all powerful immortal god". Oh boy. Starting off with that mind set is a great way to just make the character a boring deus ex Machina Mary Sue. Main characters are the focus of the story, so it stands that they are well developed and have reasons for what they do. If they're born a god, then what type of god are they? I don't believe in pure evil or pure good so let's go with things like wisdom, vitality, and Greek gods typing.

It also stands that there are other gods, whether the character is the reincarnation, descendant, or inherited the power. The power itself should always be regulated, or it turns into Mary Sue. No matter what you do, if the character isn't interesting and is only a power fantasy, they won't get the same attention as one who showed their struggles and flaws in life.

Becoming a god:

This is a better version. While I still don't like the idea of the main character being a god in the first place, it's a much better way of going about this trope. Here, the path to becoming a god is shown, and what it means to be human. I like this, the other side can easily do a "what does it mean to be human" as well. It just has to show an internal conflict or a comparison of the two lives.

Characters becoming gods is the next step to their life. They are shown to deserve the power through their many battles and trials and may need it to defeat the enemy. Sometimes they become a guide to others, like X in Mega Man Zero. X becomes what is essentially a god to help Zero. He wasn't born for this destiny, he didn't even have it in mind, it wasn't a goal, it just happened. In this case, accidentally becoming a god or forced to, the character needs to learn faster. They need to learn how to use their power and don't get the instructions guide as they did if they were on a mission to become a god. They face the same "born as a god" problem of figuring it out themselves.

Conclusion:

At the very least, the readers should understand why the character became a god. What it means to be a god and why it's important to the story. Just making them a god for power fantasy reasons is only good for the writer, not the reader. People can only read about an all powerful being who annihilates everything in sight with no effort for so long before they question who the character is and what their purpose is. Well developed characters matter more than an OP one. This is just fact guys.

This is why god characters have to be both well developed and powerful if the story calls for it. In my series, gods are ranked way below the rulers of the universe, they don't have that much power compared to others. A god can easily be defeated by a human if that human has the right powers and abilities.

Define what a god is and why the character is born one, or wants to become one.