Character Development

One of the more difficult tasks of writing a story is developing the characters that reside in that story.  How would they feel in a given situation?  What would they want to do?  What would they actually be capable of doing?  How much of the difference between the two is their mental state, and how much of it is physical?  How would a different character react in the same situation?  How would the story move if the roles were changed or reversed?  All of these decisions have an effect on how a story grows and develops.  None of the decisions have to be made right away.  Some of the answers may even puzzle or surprise the characters themselves.

It all started a few weeks ago. I can't say exactly what day the change came over me, it was such a gradual thing. I began feeling stronger. My muscles weren't any bigger, I couldn't lift any more weight, my daily runs weren't getting any longer or less exhausting, but I could feel something more coursing through my body. It was nearly impossible to describe more what, it was just more.

How much I was changing really hit me one day. The last few days of work had been difficult and more stressful than normal. My daily run was just as much a chance to vent my frustrations as it was a way to keep in shape. The heavens unleashed a downpour as my run brought me by a stretch of abandoned warehouses. I figured the storm would blow itself out quickly, so I ducked between two slightly opened giant doors to take some shelter. My footsteps echoed in the vastness that surrounded me. Dust motes glided on the slivers of dirty light struggling to get through dirty glass windows.

The size and industrial beauty completely missed me. I was too frustrated by the way things had been going combined with the sudden need to hide from the weather. Out of anger and a lack of anything else to do, I picked up a piece of scrap metal from the floor and threw it as hard as I could. The feat of strength this required escaped me until I heard the scrap metal hit a support pillar over half way down the warehouse's length. I looked up and a chill ran through me as I spotted an I-beam sticking through the large support pillar like a pencil stuck through a piece of paper. The air was filled with a slight hum as the two pieces of metal vibrated sympathetically from the impact.

That first day had me shocked. I didn't know what was happening to me. I was in that warehouse trying to pick up other pieces of steel and other metals for almost an hour before I figured out it was my emotions that triggered the increase in strength. My initial frustration at the weather forcing me into the place had allowed me to hurl the steel I-beam before I even knew how heavy the thing was.

Since then, I have cut my runs short and spend more time inside the abandoned warehouse experimenting and testing to see what else I can do. New powers and abilities seem to be growing in me gradually. I am not invincible, but injuries heal faster than before. When I am wounded, I don't feel normal pain, more of a sense of something is out of balance in a certain area. I'm almost afraid to test how far this particular pair of abilities can stretch.

I am able to run faster than I ever could before, but my endurance hasn't increased much. What's strange, is I can run for the same amount of time regardless of how fast I go. Running faster doesn't lower my endurance any more than running slow does.

On an impulse, I decided to try flying one day. I can levitate myself a little above the ground, but nothing I would consider really flying. At least not yet. Once I get a little more altitude, maybe I will try moving around some.

I have found that these new abilities are connected to my feelings.  The angrier I get, the stronger I am.  A powerful sense of fear lets me run faster.  Being happy and laughing allow me to levitate.  Calming myself and relaxing seem to accelerate my healing.  Who knew actually having emotions could one day prove useful?

One thing I keep wondering, more than where these abilities and powers come from, is what shall I do with them? I'm comfortable financially and don't really feel the need to start robbing banks. Taking over the world might be easy, but I'm not so sure I would want the job of running it all once I did. I have no inclination to become a superhero, tights never really looked good on me anyway. Professional athletics are out, my performance would lead to too many questions and “random” tests for performance enhancing drugs. I had considered doing something about the wars that keep popping up in different parts of the world, but then some government may want more answers than I would want to provide. Besides, I've never been a fan of needles and I'm sure someone would love to set up a lab just to stick me full of them. Maybe some day I will figure out what to do with myself.

How should this person continue?  How soon must he make a decision on the use of his powers?  Should he experiment more and try to find more abilities?  Leave a comment and let me know what you think or how you would react to suddenly becoming more powerful.

Notes on Demons

I've never been one to use outlines for my books or stories.  Instead, I have a file of notes about the characters, story, plot details, and world where the story takes place.  Some of these notes are broad generalizations that frame the environment.  Some are simple comments about the direction the story is going or what kind of turn I want it to take.  Others still may be preferences or feelings the characters have that aren't obviously stated but come out through their actions and interactions with others.

Sometimes a story doesn't develop past the notes stage.  This may be due to an excess of clutter in my headspace, a lack of time to develop it properly, or just not enough story there to expand on.  One such story is one that I've had notes on for decades.  While there is a major plot conflict to base the story on, I just don't seem to be able to come up with enough to fill out the world it takes place in.  Maybe some day the rest of the tale will come to me in a dream.  In the meantime, here are the notes as I have them so far.  Derf is just a placeholder name I use until the character is fleshed out more and a proper name comes to light.

• Long life span of hunters, but not immortal. Just don't age normally.
• Communicate with "Hunter Council" via meditation and a special crystal
• Council catalogs Demons based on activity. Ranks them based on strength and shares information with Hunters.
• Smaller, weaker Demons not named, simple to catch.  Stronger Demons are given names and require more elaborate rituals to satisfy and catch.
• Each hunter chosen by "Hunter's Spirit." When one Hunter dies, the spirit moves on never know who will be next.
• Spirits don't clearly speak to Hunter, but can enhance vision to detect Demonic energies and give a Spidey-sense to hidden Deomnic presence.
• Number of Spirits is fixed, Number of Demons is variable, has gotten down to zero in past but increasing recently.
• Father/son team of Demon Hunters considered best in the realm, very rare for family members to be selected as hunters.
• Main plot point! Main character (Derf) must hunt demon that has taken his father
• Papa Derf disappeared while transporting crystal to "jail."
• Evidence of demons that had been caught by father-son team reappears.
• Demons are caught in and transported via crystals to one-way portal to "Dungeon Dimension"
• Demon possessing Derf's father is known as "The Corrupter" spoke to Papa Derf via the crystal
• Derf lives life alone except when hunting with Papa, chosen before starting a family.
• Papa Derf father of 3-5 kids, chosen after family started and years before Derf.

Leave a comment if you think the story should be developed further or left at this stage.  Suggestions for filling in any of the blanks would be welcome.