General Writer's Block thread

Apologies for double posting.

Is the above question too specific/unclear/missing something? Or should it be on a different thread?

I have a few thoughts:

• The heroes are intent on stopping something that, if not stopped, would threaten his peace and quiet.
• The heroes could provide aid against his attackers.
• Indeed, the heroes might be in a position—perhaps related to the object of their quest—to offer the hope of greater peace and quiet, perhaps by stopping his attackers entirely, or removing his superpower.
• The heroes might win him over to their cause, changing (or adding to) his goals.

Not sure where to start my third chapter.

There are two POV characters, Alice and Bob - Chapter 1 focused on Alice sacrificing her family to Cthulu in order to get cultist powers, and Chapter 2 focused on Bob. Chapter 3 has Alice infiltrating Bob's city to carry out the next stage of the plan, but I don't know whether to start the chapter with her outside the city infiltrating in, or already inside the city trying to meet up with cultist contacts (and either glossing over or ignoring how she got into the city).

Start with what's more interesting to you. Could the infiltration process show us some of Alice's characterization now that she's sacrificed her family (e.g. how she gets past or treats people who might not want her coming in), or show a taste of her abilities? On the other hand, if you've already shown her characterization in that manner or depicted her testing out her abilities in Chapter 1 or don't plan on showing her powers until later, and the infiltration process isn't really all that interesting or exciting, then skip it.

Thanks for the suggestions! I think I've got a clearer idea of what I'm doing with this character.

• The end of the world would definitely threaten his peace and quiet. He doesn't really know/believe the local legends, though, so he'll need convincing that there actually is a threat.
• The reason he came to the area in the first place is because there are people there who deal with weird crap all the time. The heroes happen to be those kind of people. That might work if I can avoid throwing him the Distress Ball.
• The heroes can't cure him or eliminate the attackers, but they can nudge him in the direction of coming to terms with his condition/abilities. Which is a major part of his arc.
• I don't see them actively seeking him out either, but their interactions over the course of the story might eventually lead to him wanting to help them out, probably after the convincing mentioned in Point #1.

I think I've settled on having her come in having hitched a ride on some wagon or other - this will have her interact with/react to normal people as well as an opportunity to do some world building as well.

I'm thinking up a sci-fi premise and setting that may or maybe not realized in the meantime. I want an originality check to ensure I did not plagiarize concepts or ideas from other science fiction stories.

The premise/setting is this:
In the far future, humankind managed to achieve fast space travel that allowed them to theoretically traverse interstellar space and shorten travel times between planets in the Solar System. Adding onto their achievements is a method of harnessing unlimited clean energy and the Shaper, a terraforming device capable of terraformation. However, Earth is terribly overpopulated, heavily polluted and undergoing irreversible resource exhaustion.

Humankind attempts to terraform and colonize Mars when a hostile alien civilization named the Ascomid attacks Earth with the intention of claiming the Shaper and the clean energy source. The attacks by the Ascomid causes humankind to construct a massive interstellar ark called Vanguard capable of sustaining a self-sufficient environment and holding the entire population of humankind.

Drifting through the universe in a mission to find a habitable planet and pursued by the Ascomid, the Vanguard forms an elite squadron of space warfare pilots to fight the Ascomid vessels.

Edited by AdeptGaderius on Feb 22nd 2019 at 8:53:23 AM

Well, that's basically the plot to Battlestar Galactica, but that alone shouldnt stop you from writing it. Its all in the execution.

I plan on making a comic where the protagonist can manipulate shadows. But now I’m not sure of a fitting job for him. Originally I was thinking paramedic, because welp there are comic hero’s who are nurses, officers , etc. but thought that might be too hard. Then I thought possibly an artist, software programmer, or just helping out in his grandpas shop.

Any ideas as to what a good job would be if the ones I listed aren’t any good?

Why would paramedic be too hard?

What, exactly, are your criteria for the job? Paramedic, programmer and whatever he'll be doing in his grandpa's shop don't seem to have a lot in common.

Golden Kaos, because if the protagonist is a paramedic, wouldn't it be hard for him to have time to fight crime? And if he likes to save people wouldn't paramedic be the opposite if he is injuring baddies?

@Millership, What do you mean by criteria? My thing is how will the protagonist be able to make money without some kind of job?

Edited by sirchris93 on Feb 24th 2019 at 8:12:05 AM

What's your protagonist like? What do you plan to have happen in your story, and what sort of person does your protagonist need to be in order to make your story happen? Because your character's career can have a profound effect on the story as a whole.

Paramedics and registered nursing are high-stress careers with long, inconsistent hours, and most of what real-life police officers do (no exaggeration; my dad was a highway patrol officer for 37 years) is fill out paperwork and deal with bureaucracy. (There's also a lot of different careers that fall under the umbrella of nursing; they range from licensed practical nurses and orderlies who make barely above minimum wage and might only be allowed to clean bedpans or take temperatures, all the way up to the aforementioned registered nurses who can work their way up into being able to do almost everything a full doctor can do except give diagnoses and prescribe medication.) Such careers would not leave a lot of time or mental energy for superheroics. You could certainly make a nonstandard superhero story out of a disillusioned paramedic, cop, 911 operator, social worker (or really anyone who works with disadvantaged children; even a teacher in a bad area would work), or nurse trying to divide their time between superheroics and keeping the lights on and the stress of the things they see in the course of their work, and that could be a very good story, but is that the kind of story you want to write?

On the other hand, if you went with a more classic white-collar desk job in the vein of Superman's journalism job, maybe adjunct teaching faculty at a community college, sales, a low-level programmer, toll collector, retail (in a low cost-of-living area where that would pay a living wage) or just some kind of generic office drone, the job could easily be rendered unremarkable enough to let you get away with deemphasizing the job in favor of showing more superheroics. It would fit with making a more classic superhero fable.

You could also do a kind of globe-trotting or just travel-centered superhero story with a career as a freelance photographer or videographer (who makes money off of ad revenue from a wildly popular blog or videos), or make them a long-haul owner-operator trucker (owns their own truck and can pick and choose freight jobs at the cost of stability), train driver, or airplane staff with plenty of Artistic License for how little free time these jobs actually give you.

Blue-collar careers such as construction, auto mechanics, mining, certain kinds of factory work, farming, machining, and the like have more intrinsic flavor nowadays and will give your protagonist a more down-to-Earth, homegrown feel.

Really low-skill, low-paid jobs like food service, retail (if emphasized), unskilled laboring (like in a warehouse), or call centers will give a downtrodden feel, and can also come with the expectation of touching on contemporary social issues if the character also has a college degree and student loan debt. Depending on the timespan of the story, you could even have your protagonist start out as homeless or unemployed, and living off of savings or pilfered resources for a similar effect.

Relatively visible jobs that center around cleaning or sanitation (housekeeper, janitor, garbage collector, building maintenance, etc.) will come with the expectation that you invoke the Almighty Janitor trope somehow.

Highly skilled jobs in science, engineering, tech, and the like will give a more cerebral Tony Stark kind of feel, and the more you emphasize the coolness of the job, the more readers will expect the character to make use of their background in their superheroics.

Extremely isolated jobs such as working on a fishing or crabbing boat, submarine, ship, or being an Antarctic researcher, and the like would lend themselves to some nontraditional Bottle Episode-esque superhero stories.

Even illegal means of money-making (but not exceptionally abhorrent ones) such as smuggling, drug trafficking, petty thievery, or organized crime could be worked with for an exceptionally dark, duality-centered superhero story, as our poor hero struggles to change their city from the inside and/or battles between using their powers for good or evil.

More distinct jobs such as animal husbandry, cosmetology, archiving (library staff, historical researcher, museum collections manager, etc.), research work (depends on what they're researching!), anything that has ever been featured on Dirty Jobs, nearly anything creative, or most anything with a particular skillset that isn't distinctly blue-collar is going to come with the expectation that you make that career have an effect on the plot, whether the character works their career skills into their schtick (or actively defies it) or strategies, or it gets them into adventures.

And bear in mind that none of these have to be your character's lifelong career or their true passion in life, or even their only job, nor do they have to stick with any job for the full duration of the story. They could get into superheroics at a transitionary period in their life where they just moved out of their parents' house, or left an industry, or finished school, or just got a major insurance or inheritance payout and are taking some time in a less-prestigious part-time job with the intention of moving onto something more permanent... until their powers happened. Hobbies can have all these effects, too, if you'd like!

Edited by CrystalGlacia on Feb 25th 2019 at 11:15:11 AM

Wow, Chrystal, that was amazingly in depth.

Edited by DeMarquis on Feb 25th 2019 at 2:07:18 PM

The circumstances seemed to call for it.

When the protagonist is himself not doing heroic acts I picture him as someone of a geek and laid back person who likes to help others. I was thinking something like a programmer. Where the protagonist works with a professor of his as an intern to help make programs that help others or companies. Or how about a volunteer firefighter?

Edited by sirchris93 on Feb 25th 2019 at 8:48:37 AM

The thing with volunteer firefighters is that they're volunteers- meaning they don't get paid.

Also... is this character a college student for part of the story? Because if he is, that's going to really limit the kinds of jobs he can take, and the amount of time, money, and energy he'll have available for superheroics. First, doing that kind of work with this professor through a university is very likely to be subject to ethical regulations with the school that don't allow him to accept payment, to prevent predatory situations where companies attempt to "buy" students. On the other hand, working and going to college sucks. At least it did for me, because my brain was constantly switching gears, and thus I had very little energy to spare for anything else. As an electrical engineering and computer science graduate, any computer science/engineering program worth its salt is going to be difficult and likely time-consuming if he's not a complete slacker. Something like being a TA for this professor or a tutor could lend more emphasis to the "helping people" angle, but these are also usually not compensated, and if they are, it's often in the form of a tuition discount.

So, in short, being a student and also needing to support himself might not be very conducive to superheroics, unless you plan on having him suffer burnout further down the line, or get in trouble with his boss, or deal with his grades slipping, or feel guilt about not being able to help enough people as plot points. What he does to support himself doesn't necessarily need to line up perfectly with his values at all times, and you could probably more effectively show his desire to help people in his day-to-day personality. He helps someone build their first gaming PC, he helps teach his lab partner how to work with a microcontroller, he reads stuff about how technology benefits people, he stops and helps when he hears a classmate struggling with their work, he critiques a friend's programming project, and so on. Hell, you could give him one of those super-low-skill jobs I mentioned earlier and get away with not focusing on the job at all, because those make sense for a student, or have him be one of those students who got a scholarship or took out a loan, lessening the need for an income stream.

Edited by CrystalGlacia on Feb 25th 2019 at 11:09:51 AM

I know of at least one superheroine who is a college student during the day, and helps set up non-profit organizations. Not typical, certainly, but doable if a person had a lot of energy and were really well organized. Being a superhero, however, is definitely the lowest priority for her.

@crystalglacia I was thinking of making him done with college. Would something like a free lance programmer, web designer, or hacker be fine? For the hacker part I mean someone who finds exploits in sites.

But if I change my mind and go to the in college route can I make him work in his grandpas shop? Because I already have it that the grandpa knows the protagonists secret. And like you said if I go this route since he likes to help others I can have him help his classmates and stuff.

Edited by sirchris93 on Feb 28th 2019 at 9:14:45 AM

Any of those routes sound fine and perfectly workable, but I'm still sensing indecision about what kind of story you intend for this to be.

Being a freelance developer as opposed to a normally-employed developer sounds like an unnecessary complicating detail assuming you're going to be handwaving all of the disadvantages, but that's just me. Note that ethical hacking is still a fairly new and low-demand profession outside of large urban centers. That might not be too big of an issue if that's where your story takes place, but keep that in mind, and also note that it's distinct enough from simple programming that the audience is going to expect his hacking skills to play into the plot somehow.

As for being a student working for family, it depends on how much his grandfather pays him and why he works for his grandfather in the first place (needs to cover his own room and board? Just wants some pocket money? Likes hanging with him? Two or all of these?), but in general, that would be an acceptable during-school job for a student looking to get some pocket money. And as you mention, his grandfather could act as his confidant and a kind of mentor. However, unless you, the writer, mention his parents' or his personal financial situation or means of paying for college in-story, the audience generally isn't going to question, in the What, Exactly, Is His Job? sense, what a college student's means of financial support are.

That being said, it's your story. If you have a bit more direction with what you want to do with this story, we can help you get going within that framework, but as things stand right now, your requirements are still fairly broad and the character and general feel of the story are still a blank slate for us.

Character info: He is in his early 20s. He is a nerd at heart who loves comics and video games. Physics is his best subject. He received his Associates for Physics, and plans on going back to school to get his Masters. When he is in costume, he is able to control and manipulate shadows. No matter what time of day it is he will fight crime if he is around for it.

I also thought of some more job ideas:

Comic book store worker; since he enjoys comics maybe this would be a nice fit, the role this could play in the story is maybe him getting ideas for moves he can use against others

Part-time mechanic; I figured, for this he can have a boss who is a dick, but somewhat lenient. So when he is running late, he would profusely apologize to the boss about it. This could add some conflict

Physics intern; Since he can control shadows and physics indirectly involves shadows through light and stuff, this would be good as it would match his powers.

An at home job where he takes calls to help clients or customers; While fighting crime I can have him talk to the customers and help them with the issues they are having.

Freelance (web-developer, programmer, artist); These I am not sure if they would be any good, but I thought of them in case they are.

What do you think?

If I should still do the currently in school part

Anyway, that's how the grandpa knows the protags secret because of the protags father. The reason I mentioned helping out his grandpa was because he has done so much for the protag, that the protag wants to show how much he appreciates it.

So maybe for a couple issues I can have him help his grandpa while the protag is also in school. Then maybe, during that time I'll have a much more clear idea as to what his day job will be.

Edited by sirchris93 on Mar 4th 2019 at 8:02:34 AM

Why only when he's in costume? Does this have to do with his physics degree? If not... why does the physics degree matter?

His job should reflect or inform his abilities. If he's a part time mechanic, maybe he uses that knowledge to make his suit or something. Being a physics intern doesn't really add much that a physics student wouldn't already bring to the table. The comic angle is fun and meta, but that seems like something a friend or sidekick would do, if you still want to use it. I think his job should definitely have him interacting with people and not alone at his house. That doesn't make for great storytelling.

I think mechanic or comic store clerk have the most potential to supplement his physics schooling.

I mean his costume is his "true" form since he is a creature from another dimension. He is more or less trying to live a normal life. So waht kind of job would be good in that situation?

To me it feels like it'll be hard to make him a student. But I guess I might have to just make that work until I can think of something.

Edited by sirchris93 on Mar 10th 2019 at 6:53:36 AM

Maybe he can be a volunteer therapy hotline worker (that a real thing). That way, he can answer the phone in the middle of fighting a mini-boss and help someone deal with depression while he's dealing out a whoopin'.

I'm gonna be writing a script eventually and the first draft I'm doing I can't seem to write a single thing without not making sense. Is it okay if I just write a description then for the next draft, I write in the details?