Young Writers Society

In most stories that are urban fantasy, the character is introduced to a hidden world coexisting within their own, as well as discover that they have some sort of power that can greatly influence said world. Books like the "Harry Potter" and "Mortal Instruments" series are the best examples I can think of off the top of my head right now.
Now, the novel that I am currently working on is meant to be a twist on this type of stroy-telling. However, the main character needs to be taught how his "powers" can be used. In Harry Potter it's when Harry goes to Hogwarts, or in Mortal Instruments it's when Clary goes to live at the Institute.
Are there any original ways that this could take place without the main character having to go live at some sort of "magic school"? Thanks!

I've read books with this type of premise in which the MC has some sort of mentor that privately trains him/her. It's been a long time since I've read it, but I believe The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima does something like this. The boy finds out he has magical powers and he still leads his normal teenage life but trains with this guy on the side.

The character could also be self-taught. I hate using Twilight as an example, but in that series the vampires that have extra abilities (mind reading, controlling emotions, whatever), they discover them on their own and figure out how to use them on their own. They test and train themselves to see what they're capable of and what their powers can be used for. (This is one of the many focal points of the final book in the saga, Breaking Dawn).

You can also do some general research on how people learn things. There are different types of learning and multiple ways people can learn. Perhaps that would spark some ideas as well beyond the standard "school" teaching.

Best of luck!

Why does he need to discover it, what if he knows already and trains himself. And trains anywhere. If you want a place, to make your world special. Why not just make one, it can be anywhere in the world

I agree with the above. Your character can teach himself how to use his powers slowly. For instance, in Harry Potter, Harry accidentally sets a python on his cousin Dudley. Starting from a surprise like this, you can move your character to understand why the things happen and find out how to use that to his advantage.

-Grace

Thanks, the self-discovery thing should work quite well. My only problem, however, is that I need the MC to find others that are like him, but I can't come up with a way for this to happen that's original enough. I'm 1/4 through developing the story already. Any thoughts?

Make him learn from a mentor. In The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance, Brandon Sanderson pairs Shallan with her mentor. This way, there's no restrictions as to where Shallan should practice her skills and learn stuffs as well as getting firsthand experience of the subject given. Self learning is okay too but if there's someone out there who knows the stuffs you're learning more than you, you should learn from him.

Agreed with some of the others: self-training would be more original, and would allow for moments of comic relief as he makes mistakes in training (if that's what you're going for).

gpayton1014 wrote:Thanks, the self-discovery thing should work quite well. My only problem, however, is that I need the MC to find others that are like him, but I can't come up with a way for this to happen that's original enough. I'm 1/4 through developing the story already. Any thoughts?

This depends greatly on your setting and the rest of the story and characterisation, IMO. If you're writing an urban fantasy story set in our world and current time, there's nothing stopping your MC from finding someone on the internet who wrote about having similar experiences, or seeing a YouTube video that proves it. If your setting is somewhere in the far(ish) past, however, that obviously can't work.
What's the setting like, and what's your MC like?

Hey!

You could have the others find him.

For instance, there's a TV show called Tomorrow People. They're a group of advanced humans that can teleport and have telekinesis. One of the main Tomorrow People can sense when someone is Breaking Out (Starting to get their powers) and they find them and bring them in.

So, he could be teaching himself, then find out their are others like him by them finding him.

You could also have it be a chance encounter. Like, his car dies on a road in the woods and he sees a camp fire and he goes up to it to find a group of people messing around with their powers or something of the sort.

In my story, one of my characters found out he was a sorcerer at fifteen and has had a mentor working with him.

Hope this helped. Best of luck!

-Lefty

I was just skimming through the comments to make sure I didn't restate anything that's already been said, and now I'm kind of freaking out. @Carlito you read the Heir Chronicles? I am sooo obsessing over them right now! Eep!

Okay, back to the point of this topic. Another possibility is if s/he has guide book. In the Warrior Heir all of the characters have what they call a weir book, which is basically a book with their genealogy and some information about their magic (sorcerers have info on potions, wizards on charms, things like that). You could potentially have something like that (if you could figure out a good way for the character to get the guide book)
That way s/he still has some guidance but you don't have to worry about a school or tutor.
That also opens the door for the guide book to have some information about others with similar gifts. There could possibly be some sort of annual meeting referred to in the book (which would create an interest chapter of traveling to the meeting, I always like chapters like that lol). Or it could have something on identifying the other gifted (like they all have blue eyes, they have unusually good hearing, they give off an electrical spark when they touch another gifted without anticipating it, or something like that), that way your MC can just start paying attention to the people around him/her and identify a few (this would be cool because it opens the possibility of old friends being gifted too).

On the topic of finding other people like your MC you should also consider how common they are. If there are a lot of gifted then chance encounters would be pretty likely and a reasonable way. If they are rare then chance encounters just aren't as realistic. So something intentional would be better if they're more rare.