Need Some Help

[Chakra Wizard]

I've got another story I'm trying to develop now, but I'm having a bit of trouble with the "other half" of it. Here's a quick summary:

The world has never been better since the emergence of a man who could control all its elements with his mind, bending them to his will and even realigning their atomic structure to form completely different ones. Using this power, he turns stones into gold, ozone into oxygen, and bombs into thin air, thus almost completely ridding the world of poverty, pollution, and the threat of nuclear war in one fell swoop. Many people in the world came to revere him as a deity, but he has made it consistently clear that he is no such thing (using the notion that he can only control nonliving things as proof), going so far as to personally neutralize any groups who try to spread such beliefs. Living in self-exile, he goes about his "normal" life until the day he comes across a young street magician who revels in making things magically appear, including live animals. It doesn't take long for him to realize that this man can also create things with his mind, and more so, seems to possess powers more Godlike than his own, something he refuses to let the world know.

From there, he essentially kidnaps the man and forces him to live in exile with him (since he refuses to kill unless it becomes absolutely necessary). They form a strong bond through their identities as freaks of nature, even leading into a Brokeback Mountain-esque subplot over time (I'm not proud of it either, but it fits pretty well into the story so far). Eventually, the population does discover the other man's powers (specifically that he can create life), leading more people to begin revering him as a God. Because of this, the man resolves to kill him to show he's no such thing, leading to a near-cataclysmic bout between these two powerful psychics.


Now, here's where the issue comes in. I don't want the entire story to focus on them, but I can't think of any kind of subplot involving other characters that might take up that empty space. Thoughts?

 

[Erebus]

That's a though one, do you have any supporting characters planned out?

 

[ROHAN]

How about their interactions with the normal human population while trying to hide their powers from them. Eventually they become jealous of them because they can't live happily like normal people. You can also put some conflict in the main character as logic states that he should kill the magician, but his humanity does not want him to.

 

[Itachi4days]

If its more action: you can have a main antagonist villain type of guy before the fight between the two main protagonist

Or maybe you could introduce a child with a dramatic past (parents died no one to take care of him) and one of the main characters finds him and treats him like a son

If it has a little romance theme: add a female to make a love triangle.

Sorry not the best storyteller, hope it helps

 

[Chakra Wizard]

That's a though one, do you have any supporting characters planned out?

No, that's the problem. I can't figure out exactly what they would wind up being.

How about their interactions with the normal human population while trying to hide their powers from them. Eventually they become jealous of them because they can't live happily like normal people. You can also put some conflict in the main character as logic states that he should kill the magician, but his humanity does not want him to.

Yeah, but that's still focusing too much on them, which isn't something I want all throughout the story. And I got plenty of that last part already in there, I assure you


@Itachi - 1) The main guy essentially is the antagonist (kind of a Light Yagami-esque character you could say). 2) Ehhh, I'd have to see how I could work that in, but I can see how it turns out. 3) I considered that, too, but remember that they're supposed to be exiles (not much interaction with the public).

 

[Erebus]

I get where you're coming from now, i think before you advance the plot you need to come up with more characters, even if they seem unimportant at first sticking them in places could end up bringing them into the plot, for instance one could have told the in-organic power dude that there was something strange happening in wherever then when they started living together another could have told him that something would eventually happen between the two, things like that and before you know it the characters would be pulled into the plot on their own.

Hope this helps.

 

[Chakra Wizard]

I get where you're coming from now, i think before you advance the plot you need to come up with more characters, even if they seem unimportant at first sticking them in places could end up bringing them into the plot, for instance one could have told the in-organic power dude that there was something strange happening in wherever then when they started living together another could have told him that something would eventually happen between the two, things like that and before you know it the characters would be pulled into the plot on their own.

Hope this helps.

Would that allow some leeway for others to have the spotlight, though? The main issue here is that I'd like instances where neither of the two main characters have to be present. I can just cut to someone completely different, y'know, not just bring someone else in for them to converse with.

 

[Germanicus]

Nothing wrong with a story just about two characters. If anything, if you keep it short, you could optimize your ability to develop each one. As opposed to a large story with loads of characters who risk being relegated to the background, you only have two who really see development, with all other elements of the story existing solely to develop those two characters. That would be the most effective way to write this idea, it seems to me, as there really is no way anybody could possibly relate to either man besides the other one. There's a lot of opportunity for duality, relationship building (whether that be the relationship between friends, between people in similar circumstances, or otherwise. ), and all sorts of other serious themes, depending on how heavy you wanted to make the mood of this story.

I guess creative vision is your prerogative here, and if you absolutely want more characters to play major roles, your best bet would be someone like a paper or tv reporter trying to get the inside scoop on the "God Men", causing him to go to places where they have done major deeds and learning about them from an outside perspective, or a low ranking officer in the military trying to persuade his officers not to try and eliminate them because some zealous general sees them as a threat to society, they try to invent some kind of weapon that the one guy who controls non living objects can't stop, like a bio weapon or something like that. Personally, I see more potential in a shorter story revolving around the two and their interactions with the average world around them, emphasizing their thoughts on human nature and society, as well as the divergence in their opinions, which I imagine will grow wider throughout the story.

Regardless of how you choose to go about it, good luck man.

 

[Chakra Wizard]

Nothing wrong with a story just about two characters. If anything, if you keep it short, you could optimize your ability to develop each one. As opposed to a large story with loads of characters who risk being relegated to the background, you only have two who really see development, with all other elements of the story existing solely to develop those two characters. That would be the most effective way to write this idea, it seems to me, as there really is no way anybody could possibly relate to either man besides the other one. There's a lot of opportunity for duality, relationship building (whether that be the relationship between friends, between people in similar circumstances, or otherwise. ), and all sorts of other serious themes, depending on how heavy you wanted to make the mood of this story.

I guess creative vision is your prerogative here, and if you absolutely want more characters to play major roles, your best bet would be someone like a paper or tv reporter trying to get the inside scoop on the "God Men", causing him to go to places where they have done major deeds and learning about them from an outside perspective, or a low ranking officer in the military trying to persuade his officers not to try and eliminate them because some zealous general sees them as a threat to society, they try to invent some kind of weapon that the one guy who controls non living objects can't stop, like a bio weapon or something like that. Personally, I see more potential in a shorter story revolving around the two and their interactions with the average world around them, emphasizing their thoughts on human nature and society, as well as the divergence in their opinions, which I imagine will grow wider throughout the story.

Regardless of how you choose to go about it, good luck man.

Oh trust me, I have every intention of making most of the story's length focus on them and their development, but making them the sole focus just leaves too much room for some places to fall flat, know what I mean? If only one thing's going on the entire story (in this case, the interaction between these two characters), it's bound to get bland.

Right now, the only thing idea I have is kind of a Jason Bourne-esque group (bunch of agents trying to keep track of his whereabouts, which would provide some conflict since he's trying to separate himself from the population). It just sounds so cliché, though, so I dunno if I wanna go with that.