Who's doing superheroes?

[Fishbowl Helmet]

I noticed a poster here mention they were working on a superheroes piece and wanted to get some discussion going on the peculiarities of supers prose.

So, easiest questions first: who's working on supers stuff and what are you finding particularly easy and particularly hard about doing superheroes in prose?

 

[Culhwch]

I have a YA-ish superhero-ish thing bubbling in my mind at the moment, actually. Right now the big question is, how'd they all get them powers?

Second concern is not being an obvious rip-off of the thousands of really, really, really well-known superheroes.

 

[LittleStar]

I have a super hero story knocking around in the back on my brain. It's been there for a hole now, but isn't at the top FO the pile still.
As culhwch says, the problem is finding superpowers that no one has done before... And even then you can be fairly sure that Marvel has done it I thought of a great super a few months ago when stumbling across reading on the biblical (?) character of Legion. The name fits perfectly for a hero/villain, just gotta give him multiple personality disorder and you're set for a brilliant superhero story... Luckily (irratatingly) I googled this and found that word for word it had already been done before by Marvel, and it's not like he was a small character, I think it was Professor X's son.

I do have one or two powers still lying around (I'm yet to google them though). I think the key will have to be taking powers and using them or showing them in a way that is different from what's been done, rather than finding new powers altogether.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I guess I sort of have "super heroes" in a tech culture 5000 years since their "age of steam". To Earth people it looks and sounds suspiciously like Magic. I made a set of rules before I started, made one change during 1st draft. So though if you look at it carefully it makes no scientific sense from outside, it's at least internally consistent and logical inside the "world". The Aliens semi-arbitrary picked English names based on Fantasy Magic for their seven areas of Talent. Which of course doesn't much help Earth people to accept it. Also of course the Aliens have ten thousand years of codifying the "rules" and training etc and what the Talents do, but actually don't know WHY some people get them (very few, and no genetic basis).

I'm sorry, but though I enjoy the odd Super Hero Movie and and enjoyed DC & Marvel when a kid, I think they are a bit too formulaic and silly for me to copy. I enjoy "world building" and seriously have to discipline myself to write the stories rather than documenting the languages, cultures, biology, orthography etc of 2,500+ Homeworlds. The Talent is more often than 1 in Million on one Homeworld and as few as 1 in Billion births on others. Earth has only one, many worlds have none. One particular area of Galaxy has much higher density of Homeworlds with Talent.

The Homeworld with largest density of Talent is the dominant culture. It's also verging on a "Super Earth" in Characteristics. So smaller Species and more gravity and UV than Earth people would be used to.
It's 80,000 light years approximately from us.

Instant Interstellar communication up to a certain distance using Telepathy existed before they had Starships with Jump Drive. They also have compact Fusion sources using hydrogen at "Star" densities (if I knew how that worked I'd be rich). So technical advances were spread by Telepathy, which is why like Internet, one Homeworld is culturally dominant and maybe over 1500 are at near identical Technology / Social level.

Is it caused by some cosmic particle? Or interference from a hidden powerful Mentalist Species?
There are seven flavours of Talent. Some have a secondary Talent. No-one so far has had more.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I read the thread title all the wrong way...

I did a SS on one last year and it was good fun.

 

[Juliana]

Springs!

You need @David Evil Overlord for superheroes... Those are waters I dare not dip my toes in.

 

[Wo7f]

Hmmm... super heroes. My child characters are going to be superhero-ish. All born from ancient origins, err mythical origins I should say.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Yes, I'm doing super heroes. The hardest part? Thinking of names that haven't been used before. Easier part? Finding ways to complicate characters' lives.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Actually, I think maybe the hardest part is that I have to think up a whole bunch of super powers. For plot reasons, the story takes place in a city with an unusually high number of supers.

And that means I have to beware of the dreaded plot hole "Hey, you created character X, who has super power Y, and that power would have defeated super villain Z in three seconds, so why did character X not appear in this issue?"

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Hey, you created character X, who has super power Y, and that power would have defeated super villain Z in three seconds, so why did character X not appear in this issue?

Because he/she was sulking.

 

[chopper]

i created a superhero for a short story (which will come out next year in Fox Spirit Books's Evil Genius Guide, fact fans!) and ended up wondering what happened to him after that. the thing with superheroes is that they all seem to live in london, new york, or LA, or analogues thereof; i wanted a northern, very ordinary superhero, who has to come to terms with losing everything and starting again.

i've ended up with three long short stories (or short novellas) telling the chap's story. prose-wise, it's a little tongue in cheek, sarcastic and knowing, and also a bit angry when it needs to be. it also deals with situations like flat tyres and the bedroom tax. not sure what to do with them yet, as they're not quite long enough to bundle together. thinking up super-powers is quite hard as they need to fit in with the city (a lightly-disguised Sheffield) or be open to comedic use through twisting mundanity.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Because he/she was sulking.

But a lot of the characters are teenagers, and teenagers never sulk...oh, wait...

 

[MemoryTale]

I've been working on a story kind of about supers, although I thought I'd be a bit different and write it from the viewpoint of an Inspector Gordon/Captain Stacey equivalent. With that said, I found the hardest part to be introducing the characters as normal and super separately, and later on revealing who is which super without it seeming like I pulled it from my nether regions or making it obvious ten chapters in advance.

...I'm not entirely sure I've managed.

 

[ratsy]

I started a superhero short story for an anthology call. It's sitting on the back burner right now but I loved the idea so I really need to finish it. I have it mainly planned out but superhero is not something I ever thought I would write.

 

[Eric Zeigler]

I started a series of superhero books called Chronicles of Hazard City. I love creating superheroes that aren't exactly heroes, and villains that just take their actions to far. I'm still researching how the people with powers were created. Luckily I think I wont have to fully explain it for a while.

 

[StilLearning]

My wife is writing a series of flash fictions about a man determined to live a normal life, in a city with a lot of super heros/villains. One of the underlying themes is that it's the day to day efforts of normal people that keep the city running - even in the face of the immense destruction the super's battling causes - but they get little respect or accolade for it.

 

[Eric Zeigler]

My wife is writing a series of flash fictions about a man determined to live a normal life, in a city with a lot of super heros/villains. One of the underlying themes is that it's the day to day efforts of normal people that keep the city running - even in the face of the immense destruction the super's battling causes - but they get little respect or accolade for it.

That could be really interesting. I would like to see that when it's done.

 

[Pentagon]

Hi There,

I've done a good start on a SH piece.

For me, I tried to not even bother having an original superhero, in fact I made my SH as mundane, Super Strong, Super Tough, Flight and called it a day.

The pieces USP's so to speak, were the protagonist was the heroes significant other, and so it was told from their perspective. The story starts, as they're woken up at 3am to the sound of their partner climbing through the window and spitting broken teeth into the bathroom sink.

Secondly, I wanted a setting that was as super relatable as possible, so all scenes were real places, mostly London- but including Canary Wharf, Parliament Square, various research labs etc.

So as long as there's a USP, I don't think it has to be the superhero themselves.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

The students at my superhero school are finding out who gets to play in a team sport, and whose powers are unsuitable.

 

[Brian W. Foster]

I just finished writing a superhero book that I'll be releasing in October. It was supposed to just be a break before writing the sequel to my epic fantasy, but I really ended up loving the book. Loads of fun, especially being allowed to use modern slang (which I found out fantasy readers loathe!). I'm hoping for good things.