Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A How to identify a (personal) Canon Sue?

I agree with Klara. The strategy I often use is to devise a character that has both a superpower AND a significant weakness, and devise a plot in which her superpower is of very limited help, and t...

posted 4y ago by Amadeus‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-19T22:13:58Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48854
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T13:13:02Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48854
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T13:13:02Z (over 4 years ago)
I agree with [Klara](https://writing.stackexchange.com/a/48853/34330). The strategy I often use is to devise a character that has both a superpower AND a significant weakness, and devise a plot in which her superpower is of very limited help, and the only way she can truly prevail is to overcome her weakness.

She may be able to fly, but she is not a detective. Superman can keep law and order among normal humans, but his arch villains tend to be aliens even stronger than him, or like Brainiac, way smarter than him. Spiderman (in the comics) _loses_ half his battles, the designers of Spiderman did that intentionally so the outcome of any given arc would have suspense.

In order for your superhero to not be boring, she needs setbacks to overcome, she has to fail. Fulfill your wish of making her the best in the world at something, or having a unique power. Do not fulfill your wish of making that solve everything. In the story, it shouldn't solve **most** of the challenges she faces. It's fine if it plays a role in the finale, if flying is, at last, critical to her victory, but it should be impossible for her to achieve victory without overcoming some deficit or weakness she has that truly seems to the reader to give the villain the upper hand.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-11-06T12:50:06Z (over 4 years ago)
Original score: 6