Overpower Characters
Since my last book review mention that the main character seem somewhat overpowered, I thought I would give my thoughts on overpowered characters. To begin with overpowered characters aren’t necessarily a bad thing. It only becomes a problem when it’s used to avoid story development. This happens when the character has a bunch of powers dumped on them and that is all that the author did to develop their character. It’s more common in movies but it also happens in books.
Overpowered characters can be quite useful to story development. One common way if is to give the character incredible power and then show them learning how use the powers and developing their control. In these stories the real challenge comes from the main characters internal struggle. It is often very hard to find a good story based on this concept. A story based on a character facing their internal demons, particularly when overpowered, can intense. Unfortunately the story can quite often be overwhelmed by external factors, resulting in a loss of story development.
Although I have read a few the did a good job, at the moment I can’t remember any of them. It’s been a long time since I read a really good one. I would consider the story of the origin of Spiderman, to be a relatively average one. Although its conclusion that with great power comes great responsibility is excellent.
Another way that overpowered characters get used in stories, is when the characters power makes very little difference to the story. The main problem of the story is not affected by the character’s power. It might make it easier for the character to deal with side problems, but their powers have no effect on the overall story.
I often write overpowered characters and they tend to fall in this category. Talida is pretty much unstoppable in Trapped in a Curse, but it doesn’t help her at all dealing with the curse. Her fighting prowess is very useful in dealing with side problems and it made it easier to write the story. (Writing a story with an underpowered character was in some ways more challenging since he avoided trouble.)
On my website I have an even more overpowered character, but once again her powers don’t help with the story. In spite of the fact that she is the most overpowered character in the story, she would be incapable of dealing with the challenges in the story if she was alone. There are several places where she would be completely useless. As such she has to work with her twin sister, Meadow. It’s Meadow who gets in trouble and Lark, the most overpowered character in the story, struggles to be able to help her.
Strangely enough in this category underpowered characters can be every bit as interesting as overpowered characters. As long as the power level of the character doesn’t affect the story, you could use any type of character. I have written a book, Good Doctor Poor Mage, where the main character is underpowered. His natural reaction when there’s a fight is to hide. He’s also rather agoraphobic. The result is a character that is underpowered, and although it is interesting in the story, it doesn’t affect the overall story. I haven’t published the book yet, I’m still self editing it. Being dyslexic once I’m satisfied that I’ve edited to the limits of my ability, I will get a professional edit done on it. I think that it will be a better book than Trapped in a Curse, but I would hope that any new book that I would write would be better than my old books.
If you’re interested in my writing I would recommend getting a copy of Trapped in a Curse. Even if you don’t use Amazon to buy books, you can read a sample of the book on their website. You can also visit my website and read some samples of my writing. They haven’t been edited so they’re pretty rough. The page, Meadow and Lark, has the first few chapters of Stretching Their Wings. You can read more of the story in the blog. If you look far enough back in the blog, you can also find a short story. It’s called Oren and the Bandits and if I remember correctly it’s been edited, so it’s not as rough as the rest of writing. I only give my blog entries, including this one, a quick read over before I publish them.
Overpowered characters can be quite useful to story development. One common way if is to give the character incredible power and then show them learning how use the powers and developing their control. In these stories the real challenge comes from the main characters internal struggle. It is often very hard to find a good story based on this concept. A story based on a character facing their internal demons, particularly when overpowered, can intense. Unfortunately the story can quite often be overwhelmed by external factors, resulting in a loss of story development.
Although I have read a few the did a good job, at the moment I can’t remember any of them. It’s been a long time since I read a really good one. I would consider the story of the origin of Spiderman, to be a relatively average one. Although its conclusion that with great power comes great responsibility is excellent.
Another way that overpowered characters get used in stories, is when the characters power makes very little difference to the story. The main problem of the story is not affected by the character’s power. It might make it easier for the character to deal with side problems, but their powers have no effect on the overall story.
I often write overpowered characters and they tend to fall in this category. Talida is pretty much unstoppable in Trapped in a Curse, but it doesn’t help her at all dealing with the curse. Her fighting prowess is very useful in dealing with side problems and it made it easier to write the story. (Writing a story with an underpowered character was in some ways more challenging since he avoided trouble.)
On my website I have an even more overpowered character, but once again her powers don’t help with the story. In spite of the fact that she is the most overpowered character in the story, she would be incapable of dealing with the challenges in the story if she was alone. There are several places where she would be completely useless. As such she has to work with her twin sister, Meadow. It’s Meadow who gets in trouble and Lark, the most overpowered character in the story, struggles to be able to help her.
Strangely enough in this category underpowered characters can be every bit as interesting as overpowered characters. As long as the power level of the character doesn’t affect the story, you could use any type of character. I have written a book, Good Doctor Poor Mage, where the main character is underpowered. His natural reaction when there’s a fight is to hide. He’s also rather agoraphobic. The result is a character that is underpowered, and although it is interesting in the story, it doesn’t affect the overall story. I haven’t published the book yet, I’m still self editing it. Being dyslexic once I’m satisfied that I’ve edited to the limits of my ability, I will get a professional edit done on it. I think that it will be a better book than Trapped in a Curse, but I would hope that any new book that I would write would be better than my old books.
If you’re interested in my writing I would recommend getting a copy of Trapped in a Curse. Even if you don’t use Amazon to buy books, you can read a sample of the book on their website. You can also visit my website and read some samples of my writing. They haven’t been edited so they’re pretty rough. The page, Meadow and Lark, has the first few chapters of Stretching Their Wings. You can read more of the story in the blog. If you look far enough back in the blog, you can also find a short story. It’s called Oren and the Bandits and if I remember correctly it’s been edited, so it’s not as rough as the rest of writing. I only give my blog entries, including this one, a quick read over before I publish them.
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