Can this concept work?

Do you believe in second chances?

While I take a short break in working on Reconnected, I would like to have your opinions on a concept I've been thinking about:

A angel-in-training, or more precisely an Ascended Demon is taking his second-final test in order to become a full-fledged angel and earn his wings as a mark of an angel. Ordered by the higher-ups to help 8 people in need; four in a list given by the higher-ups, the other four people at his disposal, but also giving them a mission for the 8 people to find out the mystery of the sudden appearance of Killers (some sort of demonic creature; note that they are not demons, as the demons in the story aren't all evil.

So this angel-in-training, posing as a human (but still retains some of his powers) goes down to Earth and have to convince the chosen 8 to make a deal with him, and in some way or another, Hilarity Ensues. Especially when he, along with one of the chosen human (who was previously an ex-convict) found a teenage girl in a briefcase.

I have yet to complete the complete character list, but the chosen 8 are all people with problems but with their characters portrayed sympathetically (one's a rape victim, another's an almost hopeless gangster studying in high school) except for the teenage girl in the briefcase.

So, opinions?

edited 10th Jun '11 7:58:12 AM by MrHollowRabbit

What sort of format do you plan for this?

Webnovel? I can't draw well, sorry. Inspired by some games lately...

And how long do you plan to spend on each "case"?

The cases are solved simultaneously; as in the 8 people will eventually meet each other at a certain point of the story. The resolution to their problems doesn't stop them from continuing their fight against the Killers (and I seriously need a good name for that. Can't think of any good names lately.)

Are you really dedicated to the number 8?

Just so you know, we do have a topic for this exact question.

Really, where?

Yes, I do. So, why the short questions? Anymore questions?

I'm just trying to fit this together in my head. If you're writing a web novel you don't have to worry about word counts, which if you were trying to fit in 8 different stories into one traditional novel, it might be difficult with a word limit and there's no intuitive way to divide it up. Also, at first I thought you would be writing a serial, in which 8 is a strange number. However if you want to have all 8 characters' issues happening at once, I think a bigger problem would be character overload and confusion between the stories. There's nothing inherently wrong with the idea, but I do think the number 8 will make things difficult no matter what you do.

edited 10th Jun '11 10:03:07 AM by OhSoIntoCats

I'm not planning to make this story into traditional novel format. No plans, for now. But I guess it's good to be experimental while you're writing in a different format, right?

What I mean is following eight different sob stories at the same time would be difficult for anyone to follow unless you double up a few times. I'd probably say maximum, if they're all simultaneous, would be about five, and even that might be pushing it if they all have a similar structure (as in, their situation sucks and they meet the angel person).

I was intending that two (or probably three) people aren't having huge personal problems like the rest and their reasons why they're chosen are unknown to the reader. Five sounds too little, and I'm still keeping at 8 despite your objections.

edited 10th Jun '11 9:10:30 PM by MrHollowRabbit