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7/19/2010 6:27:46 AM
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Tog
Posts 146
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I've got a group of characters in mind and they are coming together very well. This is the best feeling I've ever had about where something could go, though it's not strictly a mystery genre.
We talked a few months ago about supernatural elements in the magazines, and as I recall, most of us were against them unless used subtly and sparingly. This is at least subtle.
My main character and his assistant each have a strong supernatural element to them. One can use magic, the other is a supernatural creature, but neither is extremely powerful. To tie this in to the focus here a little bit, imagine a form of Sherlock Holmes, where Holmes learned the facts not through deduction, but by magic ritual. Rather than examining the mud and plant debris on a person's shoes to discover where that person had been, he performs a short ceremony and has a vision of it. It would be just as accurate, but would be totally inadmissible in court.
The assistant is more like the radio version of Sam Spade. No matter how many blows on the head they take, none will do any permanent damage. The assistant is tougher than a normal person, but could still be killed in hand to hand combat. They also have the ability to project bolts of force that hit with the same effects as a medium caliber pistol.
So, neither one is really the superhuman type, though they are supernatural. And that's brings me to the question. Do they require a supernatural foe in every case? Could a mere human create enough tension for a story? What about for the debut of a series?
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7/21/2010 12:59:10 PM
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aw!tte
Posts 10
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What is the setting for the story? The mention of Sherlock Holmes makes me think Victorian era, but that might not be right. Depending on the when, it might solve the issue of the who...
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7/21/2010 1:17:35 PM
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Tog
Posts 146
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The setting in this instance is the contemporary US, but it shouldn't matter. Even if it were cavemen or set 20,000 years in the future, the question would be equally valid. It's more a general question about building tension.
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7/21/2010 2:31:39 PM
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aw!tte
Posts 10
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It might be interesting to set the forces of the supernatural (embodied by your protagonists) up against the forces of logic and science. In contemporary United States, we have embraced technology (computers in particular) as the most powerful cultural force. If your protagonist is a sorcerer of sorts, it might be very interesting to see that more ancient "science" of spell-casting go up against a technological villain. Perhaps someone in the pharmaceutical world is creating drugs that act as spells on the people who take them, and the older alchemy of your detective is the only hope in undoing the damage.
I just like the idea of the "old world" science of spells going up against the "modern world" science of technology and pharmaceuticals. Just a thought.
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7/21/2010 8:30:09 PM
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Jeff Baker
Posts 132
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There are plenty of markets for such a story (The Magazine Of Fantasy And Science Fiction is the first that springs to mind!) Keep at it! I want to read the story!
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7/22/2010 3:29:46 AM
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Tog
Posts 146
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Oh, I've got a market in mind for it. They have a sections specifically for "supernatural beings that help the police". That was what started me down this road. I did a short novella based on a superhero that found herself in a cozy one time, and the two people to actually give me feedback both said that while are not generally mystery fans, the story hooked them. The superpowers came into play twice. Once to hover over the ground to look at footprints without leaving any, and once to put out a fire on the other side of the room with a blast of ice, then to relight the fire after removing the papers that were being destroyed.
For this one, I've got a few ideas kicking around, but I'm not sure how long they will all be. The comment about the contrast between science and magic is funny in a way (in the context of the character). I'm actually creating a very precise set of rules as to how his magic works, and I'm trying to come up with a semi-scientific explanation of it all. Particularly, how auras work and why different cultures use different symbols and the like. It's almost science-magic.
I mentioned Holmes as example of the main character's capabilities. Like Nero Wolfe, he has an assistant for the dirty work, but like Holmes, he's not afraid to get into the thick of things, and he's a competent fighter should the need arise. I'm just concerned that if his only magic power was to change the color of ink in a disposable pen from blue to a slightly darker shade of blue, the fact that he's "magic" would require a "magic" antagonist.
I ran this by a co-worker who said that yes, a magic hero needs a magic threat. I ran it by a critique group, and four of four said that a sufficiently dangerous human would still be a threat, especially if the magic character was not that powerful.
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7/22/2010 4:40:36 PM
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Allan Kalupar
Posts 27
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Many comic book heroes go up against regular criminals with their own ideas of world domination etc and tend to do quite well. I don't think that whether or not both sides have equal supernatural powers will matter as much as how the story is told. The comic superheroes centre a large part of their character development on how they became super (such as bitten by a spider). If your characters are well developed and the powers suit them you could have a winner!
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7/23/2010 4:16:13 PM
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aw!tte
Posts 10
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Now I'm totally intrigued: what is the market that you are looking at that asks specifically for beings with supernatural powers to help the police? Such an interesting perspective-- I'd love to take a look!
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7/23/2010 6:40:26 PM
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Tog
Posts 146
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It's from new e-publishing company out of Canada called MuseIt up. One of the first books they plan to release was written by a person on the critique site I use, so I checked it out. They take most genres and have one called "Dark Sleuth" with is specifically for "vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and other supernatural entities that help the police in solving cases." They also take works from 3000 words and up. Most of what I write tends to come out novella length, which doesn't leave me a lot of markets.
The only vampire story I will ever write won't be appreciated by 99.9% of the fans of vampire stories, so I wanted to come up with something more original and see how far I could take it. I had a huge breakthrough in the overall story last night, so I think I might finally have a direction to go with it now.
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