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Heroic sacrifice and more fanfiction questions



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Sat Nov 26, 2016 7:39 pm
BeTheChange says...



I'm writing a fanfiction, too. Near the middle of the book, the three main characters find that there's a monster made of lava living in a nearby cave.
1. What should the monster be called? Beast/any variant of that word is out. It's hard to explain why, but I can't use that title in this specific story.

They learn that many townspeople have tried to kill it, but it either kills or curses anyone who tries, and that's why the town is so pathetic and dingy--half the people are dead, and the other half are extremely unlucky.
2. What should it curse random people (NOT the main characters) with? Besides plain old bad luck, that is. I'm thinking drug addiction, but is that a little too dark?
Finally, the three go into the cave to fight it, since they have powers to their advantage, and not much to lose. All seems lost until Finn, the one with ice powers, ends up in a terrible final battle one on one with the monster. He kills it, but his injuries and the exertion of using his powers for so long overwhelm him. He ends up in a coma and his survival is in doubt.
3. Should he die? If so, the book would end bittersweetly a few chapters later. Or should there be a sequel where he lives and something else happens to the group?
  





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Sat Nov 26, 2016 8:23 pm
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Megrim says...



Well, I'll jump in on this one too! For the most part, the answer to these is whatever YOU want it to be. Since it's your story there's no real right or wrong answer.

1. What to call the monster?
Lava fiend? Lava spirit? Fire demon? I really like fiend, personally. Why is the monster there? That might help you. Did someone summon it or create it? Or is it just... there? Immortal or no?

2. What should the curse do?
It sounds like this is going to direct the conflict of your story. Like you say, if it curses people with drug addiction, that makes things "darker"--you'll be dealing with drug addicted characters, drug-related violence and illness, etc. If it curses people with bad luck, that can make the story more lighthearted and humorous (there's a really funny Supernatural episode about that). If it curses people with fire/lava-related things, that might make the book more atmospheric, eg they see smoke everywhere that isn't there, their skin feels like it's burning all the time, their lungs get charred and wither until the person dies a few days later, they're extremely sensitive to light, their skin turns to hardened lava (hard but brittle and inflexible), they melt over the course of a few days, I bet there's all sorts of stuff you could think of. The more world-specific you can get, the more memorable it will be.

3. Should he die?
Well now that's totally up to you. Do you want to write a sequel? Would it be unexpected if he died? Some advice I've heard for endings is to throw out the first three things you think of, because those are also the first three things the readers will think of. In the words of Wash, good endings are "surprising yet inevitable!" Look at what you've foreshadowed, what promises the first and second act make, and try to fulfill those promises but do it in a surprising-ish way? Surprising in a fulfilling way. Resolve the important things, but leave some threads open for the future?
  








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