Young Writers Society

Being a super villain isn't all that it's cracked up to be. It takes more planning, effort, and time than one would think, in addition to all the people trying to kill you. And the pay isn't even that good.
But college isn't cheap, and available jobs are scarce, so Eli Wagner has been forced to turn to villainy. Being the bad guy can have its advantages, though: the power, witty banter, and a budding relationship with a cute hero. Despite some near-death experiences and minimal scarring, Eli finds the job mostly satisfactory, and manages to keep up with his biology homework in the meantime.
Then his roommate almost dies. When Eli finds Atlas Beckett, a fellow super villain and friend, nearly burnt to a crisp by his own powers, Eli knows that foul play was involved. Someone tried to kill his friend, and he's going to get to the bottom of it.
But unfortunately for him, Atlas was not the only one targeted. After all, who would truly mourn the deaths of a few villains?

Character Profiles

- Eli JuLong Wagner: Male MC, villain
- Atlas Beckett: Eli's injured roommate and friend
- Sebastián Valencia Reyes: Eli's roommate and best friend
- Celeste Turner: Hero, Emma's partner
- Emma Zhang: Hero, Celeste's partner
- Aniyah Sodhi: Vigilante
- West Ivanov: Agent of The Program
- Juno Ivanov: Antagonist
- Mission: Name unknown, captive

ELI: Small, lean, stronger than he looks. Chinese American.
Eyes: Deep brown. Hair: Jet black, short sides and undercut, long & wavy on top
Adopted by white American family when he was 5, post-op cleft lip and palate kid. Self-conscious of his scars and the small speech impediment he still has (though greatly reduced through therapy). Has a bad habit of covering his mouth when he smiles, laughs, or when he’s nervous. Villain persona comes in stark contrast to his average self- with the mask, he’s much more confident, talkative, charming.
Highly intelligent, very ambitious, but A Mess™. Struggles with an unhealthy amount of self-loathing. Fails to take things as seriously as he should until the issue has gotten much worse. Impulsive and reckless, launches into situations without thinking them through fully. Always sleep deprived. Operates from a vague sense of morals but also a healthy dose of self-preservation.
Biology Major.
Villain.

ATLAS: Tall, broad, football player-esque physique. African American.
Eyes: Near black. Hair: Cropped short, black curls
Almost dead. Working on that.
Kind of a jerk, but had a soft core. The kind of guy who would feed and befriend a stray but would slit your throat if you told anyone you saw him do it. Ruthless when wearing a mask, but refuses to kill. In love with anything Shakespeare and poetry. Damsel in distress.
English Major.
Villain.

SEBASTIÁN: Tall, beanpole, all leg and veiny arms. Tans eight shades in a second but doesn't like going outside. Mexican American.
Eyes: Dark brown. Hair: Wavy brown-black, movie star hair, on the longer side.
Total nerd. Obsessed with robotics. Introverted and kind-hearted. Quiet around people he doesn’t know, but will sass you to death if he feels comfortable. Has a permanent case of Shaky Leg. Loyal to the end. Slightly naive, has no idea what he's getting into and regrets his decisions. Stronger than he realizes.
Mechanical Engineer and Computer Science double major.
Civilian.

CELESTE: Taller than average. Athletic build with curves. African American.
Eyes: Hazel. Hair: Black, tight curls. Prefers bantu knots but sometimes switches to dreads or natural.
Wears glasses. Disillusioned with the world. Slow-moving, deep-thinking, filled with simmering discontent. Holds concerning amounts of suppressed rage. True to herself, same in the suit and out. Stubborn and suspicious, but shows unwavering loyalty for those who earn it.
Believes that the world is broken and doesn't feel necessarily motivated to fix it. Could kill you if she wanted, but that would be against the Hero Guidelines. Glass half empty.
Studio Art major.
Hero, shares persona with Emma.

EMMA: Identical body type to Celeste. Chinese American.
Eyes: Dark brown. Hair: Jet black, thin and waist-length. Worn in twin braids under baseball caps. Owns a lot of hats.
Effervescent. Fiercely defensive of those she loves, to the point of manipulation- though she rationalizes that away. Optimist at her core, closing in on idealistic. Avid reader. Enjoys sketching and learning how everything works. Slightly ashamed of her powers. Finds beauty in everything. Glass half full.
Photography major.
Hero, shares persona with Celeste.

ANIYAH: Short and stocky, muscular as hell. Indian American (Asian).
Eyes: Dark brown, with flecks of gold. Hair: Glossy brown-black, shoulder-length
Operates under strict morals, almost too narrow for anyone to pass (leading to ethical issues). God complex, but hides it under the guise of being humble. Takes a lot of things personally, deals out justice based on her own standards. Reacts to pain with anger, and anger, with violence. Causes a big mess for everyone. One to be feared. Has seen a lot, been through a lot, and nurses a lot of old wounds.
Hides a soft center with a lot of bravado.
Graduated.
Vigilante.

WEST: Shorter than average, lean, built for speed and agility. White American, Russian heritage.
Eyes: Blue. Hair: wavy soft ginger, shaved sides
Wolf in a sheep's skin. Self-conscious of his stutter, talks very little. Has a vicious streak going all the way back into childhood, and a concerning affinity for knives. Good at his job, but that’s never enough. Motivated by an awful, insatiable need for validation and vengeance.
Despises his sister, fears her.
Graduated.
Agent for The Program.

JUNO: Tall, thin. Completely different from her brother. White American, Russian heritage.
Eyes: Water blue, almost clear. Hair: Natural white-blonde. Skin-pale eyelashes and eyebrows.
Somewhat ethereal appearance. Wears perfect circle glasses. Radiates an aura that sets you on edge, even if you don’t know why. Hardened by her past and vicious for it. Determined to achieve her goals and will stop at nothing. Cold, calculating, a monster in an angel’s skin.
Loves her brother, doesn’t trust him more than she could throw him.
Graduated.
Antagonist.

MISSION: Small, frail, lacking body strength from years of solitude and little movement.
Eyes: Alternate from gray to black. Hair: Shaved brunette
Sunken eyes, purple bags from insomnia, nose piercing. Dresses for comfort, wears only black. Medical scars along arms, especially wrists and elbows from constant blood draws.
Personality: Unknown.
Captive.

Bonus: Pinterest Aesthetic Boards: VISUALS

Power Notes:

ELI: Intangibility and Invisibility
Alter-ego: Rift
Advantages: defensive, great for avoiding injury, disarming foes, and escaping unharmed. Can make objects touching him also turn intangible, so walking through walls is made possible.
Weaknesses: not great for offensive fighting, limited control- takes a LOT of energy and concentration to keep up.

ATLAS: Pyrokinesis
Alter-ego: Pyro; when he returns, he calls himself Revenant
Advantages: it's fire. He can ignite his whole body at will and launch flame balls to a certain extent.
Weaknesses: when he is targeted, his invulnerability to burns is compromised and his own power injures him significantly. After that, it is only used when ABSOLUTELY necessary.

SEBASTIÁN: Technopath and slight electrokinesis; unaware of powers until after kidnapping/ torture
Alter-ego: none at first, but comes to be known as Glitch
Advantages: Can cause tech to glitch with a touch, can manipulate some electrical currents for offensive/ defensive purposes. Can't create with his power- that comes solely from his own knowledge, but he's handy enough with tech that that is considered part of his advantage.
Weaknesses: Unaware of it until very recently, doesn’t know how to control it, can get overwhelmed/ burnt out quickly. Has to have physical contact with the technology to be able to manipulate it.

CELESTE: Plasma Manipulation.
Alter-ego: Zenith
Advantages: plasma radiates off the hands in a glowing, smoking appearance and causes burns on contact (ionikinetic combat). Can also be shot in blasts and used for brief shields.
Weaknesses: Lack of control, since still new to the hero business. Takes a lot of energy. Strictly hand-based- if the hands are injured or restrained in a way that prevents plasma from being emitted, their powers could be limited. Also allows enemies to attack from behind and avoid attacks.

EMMA: Plasma Manipulation
Alter-ego: same as Celeste
Advantages: same as Celeste
Weaknesses: same as Celeste

ANIYAH: Electrokinesis
Alter-ego: Voltage
(Public name/ News name: Battery. BECAUSE PUNS)
Advantages: Can shock people if she has contact with them, from minor shocks to near electrocution (but limitations apply). Experienced, knows her own limitations. Has small amount of control over electrical things, so can short out lights and blow fuses with focus (or emotional outbursts).
Weaknesses: can't generate her own energy, she has to store up the energy from outside sources to be able to use it. She is never without her backpack for her Tesla car battery module, portable chargers, batteries, etc. to be able to sustain her. If she's really desperate, she'll drain entire neighborhoods to get the energy she needs. If she uses up the power, it's gone. Takes a lot of her physical and mental energy. She can also be seriously injured by water if her powers are active or if her backpack gets wet- essentially could be electrocuted if she's caught off guard.

WEST: No powers. No name. Alter-ego names are for supers, and he hates supers.

JUNO: Precognition, can see the immediate futures of those around her.
Alter-ego: None.
How it works (because the most confusing one of them all): she can see hazy versions of multiple futures- the more likely, the clearer it is before her. If it's less likely, it's blurry. She tries to judge based off of how clear one of the futures is. As she's gotten older, she has learned to cope with this extremely stressful, confusing power, and can turn it off and on at will to avoid being completely overwhelmed, but it requires a lot of mental strength and focus.
Advantages: Difficult to attack because she knows what will happen, while she can deliver most effective attacks possible.
Weaknesses: Only works on futures directly connected to her, and nearby. Sight-based (she has to actually "see" the possibilities before her), so doesn't work if sleeping, blinded, looking the other way. Also useless if the future she sees is solidified, can't be changed by her actions. Additionally, she can get very overwhelmed if she is surrounded by lots of people and all their potential futures (because more people = more variables = more futures).

MISSION: Power Absorption
Alter-ego: Known as the Leech by others.
Advantages: Whatever advantages that are given from the power she stole, though it lessens as time passes. Able to take on any power. Deals a bad blow on the victim, exhausts them, renders them completely powerless for the duration of her attack, and takes a long time to recover.
Weaknesses: Essentially a regular person when she doesn't have a power. She needs physical contact with the target. Only lasts for a limited amount of time (from 10 minutes to a half hour, depending on the case) before it fades and returns to original super. She is also being held captive and kept physically exhausted so she has no access to powered people and no way to fight back. Exhausting process to her and can't be repeated more than a few times in a row before burnout.

Plot- Summary Thing and Bullet List (to be expanded later)

And then this is a step-by-step informal plan of events to happen, thus, spoilers. I may expand later, may also just punt as I go.

This looks like a great, entertaining story! I do have a few questions about your premise that I think would be important to clarify, though. The first question that comes to mind is who your MC works for. Is there a higher organization, or is he sort of a mercenary who hires himself out to whoever needs his services?

Second question: Why is Quinn a villain and not a hero? Why does he choose to be a villain rather than a hero, and what is the essential difference? The line between villain and hero can be very indistinct sometimes, so I think that would also be an important clarifying point.

And finally, an important question to ask is always the question "Why should I read this?" Since you're in the beginning stages of your plotting, it can be good to think about what makes your book unique and come up with some sort of interesting twist(s) that set your book apart from all the other fantasy books revolving around superheroes and supervillains.

Hey @MJTucker!
I posted this thread last night as a bit of a placeholder. The synopsis that is up is the equivalent to what would be on the back of the novel (assuming it will be completed), so it's mostly meant to hook the reader and give a vague intro to the plot without spoiling too much. It reads as pretty bare bones, which I understand, but I intentionally didn't go into the major details because I wanted to try my hand at the quick, snappy back-of-the-cover deal.
But I will get to those! I have answers to all your questions... in the physical written journal in my room. XD I work better when I plan things out physically (writing them down, pinning things to a cork-board) and then organizing it all digitally. It gives me a chance to comb through my ideas better.
So right now I'm in the process of organizing that information and posting it here so that it can be all in one place. My goal for tonight will be to post the extensive character profiles I've been working on (as opposed to the very basic name/ role list that is up) and maybe tomorrow get in the skeleton of the plot (which should answer your questions about how the villain/hero system works, what prompts them, etc.). We'll see how well I stick to plans, though.
I feel bad to kind of brush off your questions because I swear, they'll be answered here eventually! I just haven't gotten the time yet. I'm glad that the little nugget I gave you prompted such questions; that's exactly what I want someone to ask when reading the blurb!

So essentially: please hold. All will be provided in due time. And thank you for reading what I have! <3

You're welcome! Don't worry if it takes you some time; I completely understand. You might want to consider including these details in your synopsis/blurb, because I think your book loses some intrigue if your reader is confused about these details.

Maybe so. I also think that it's always good to leave questions to be answered so that the reader is interested enough to open the book and find out. But I will be laying everything out here soon, so I'm not going to keep YWS in the dark, at least.

SO HMMM WHERE ARE THOSE CHANGED HMMMMMMM looks like you're stuck with the same names after all, your thread has spoken.

NOPE I'M JUST IRRESPONSIBLE AND HAVEN'T UPDATED
I'm going to try to get everything here soon, I swear... *shifty eyes*

YOU BETTER bc your story is the other one I'm super crazy excited for!!!

Ahhhh <333 Okay you've convinced me I'll get right on it

I want to read this so much!!! I love everything about the plot and I'm a huge sucker for cool superhero powers. I'm just waiting on that more detailed plot summary though.

I think I want to know a bit more about the relationships between the characters you have listed, since I don't know who knows who and who's friends and who doesn't like each other and any history they have.

But tag me for this when you start posting it during LMS! I really want to read it.

YES @Mea AND THEN WE CAN FANGIRL ABOUT THIS TOGETHER TOO