Post by Miles on Jun 13, 2014 5:32:29 GMT -5
I have seen many novels fall into what I call the 'game experience'. The protagonists face battles that gradually become harder. While it is true that with time you get involved into more things and possibly have a bigger source of problems, say, enemies or companies that you try to stop, life is generally hard from the very beginning.
Let's look into a game to illustrate this better. If any of you have played any Role Playing game (With the exception of Dark Souls for this matter), enemies begin with the same level or even lower than you, and only bosses are a tad harder. Never mind, you got experience and plenty of items for when the time comes. You have been prepared over time to face the boss. Now, while I understand this is needed in turn-based games and some that aren't turn-based,I don't see the point in literature. I can understand the obvious choice of not putting the main antagonist right from the beginning (although I've seen plenty of authors that HAVE presented that character early on), that doesn't mean powerful characters should come out with time, or develop alongside the protagonist. If they had the same tools to practice, there is no excuse for them to become stronger in two years than fifteen in military practice.
My point is, try keeping the difficulty of the travel independent from the protagonists. They may find an easy task in one of the last novels, and a hard one in the very first.
But then again, I don't mean for them to win. Facing these obstacles, most likely they'll need to run or lose many times. If the main antagonist appears in the first chapter or so, don't have the protagonist ready to face him or her. The protagonist will need to escape, or to be protected as the difference is most of the times, abysmal. If the protagonists can defeat the antagonist from the very beginning, why don't they do it? It'd save many people from any kind of pain. Maybe they can't do it yet for some reason along the lines of honour or ideology.
Summing it all up: have big AND little threats from the start. You may put harder situations after, but consider this: if you were a villain and knew about a child who is the chosen one that has defeated your worst soldiers, you wouldn't send the next tier. You'd have the chosen one fight your best troops now that he has begun his quest. If the troops don't kill the child, at least you have done something that makes sense. You would continue making these troops go for the main threat, so the chosen child had the lowest chance to survive. If someone protects him or her, or escapes, that is another issue.
I just made this article thinking it was just too... illogical to use the progressively harder quest system. Usually it helps to have 'tiers' of power to face this problem. Who is stronger, faster, smarter? Can you advance? If you can, PLEASE, don't allow the protagonist to learn, say, a martial art in a month or instantly. Skills are learnt over time. They may practice the skill after being taught and become better at it, but not at an instant. That's why the antagonist is so hard to defeat in the first place: the antagonist also trains fairly often the skills to face anyone. They become stronger at each moment, just like the protagonists.
So if you want your characters, have them work. Work hard. Because as in life, you won't succeed without trying hard. You won't be #1 in a day in any skill. You need to be constant and pursue your goal, and even then you might lose.
Let's look into a game to illustrate this better. If any of you have played any Role Playing game (With the exception of Dark Souls for this matter), enemies begin with the same level or even lower than you, and only bosses are a tad harder. Never mind, you got experience and plenty of items for when the time comes. You have been prepared over time to face the boss. Now, while I understand this is needed in turn-based games and some that aren't turn-based,I don't see the point in literature. I can understand the obvious choice of not putting the main antagonist right from the beginning (although I've seen plenty of authors that HAVE presented that character early on), that doesn't mean powerful characters should come out with time, or develop alongside the protagonist. If they had the same tools to practice, there is no excuse for them to become stronger in two years than fifteen in military practice.
My point is, try keeping the difficulty of the travel independent from the protagonists. They may find an easy task in one of the last novels, and a hard one in the very first.
But then again, I don't mean for them to win. Facing these obstacles, most likely they'll need to run or lose many times. If the main antagonist appears in the first chapter or so, don't have the protagonist ready to face him or her. The protagonist will need to escape, or to be protected as the difference is most of the times, abysmal. If the protagonists can defeat the antagonist from the very beginning, why don't they do it? It'd save many people from any kind of pain. Maybe they can't do it yet for some reason along the lines of honour or ideology.
Summing it all up: have big AND little threats from the start. You may put harder situations after, but consider this: if you were a villain and knew about a child who is the chosen one that has defeated your worst soldiers, you wouldn't send the next tier. You'd have the chosen one fight your best troops now that he has begun his quest. If the troops don't kill the child, at least you have done something that makes sense. You would continue making these troops go for the main threat, so the chosen child had the lowest chance to survive. If someone protects him or her, or escapes, that is another issue.
I just made this article thinking it was just too... illogical to use the progressively harder quest system. Usually it helps to have 'tiers' of power to face this problem. Who is stronger, faster, smarter? Can you advance? If you can, PLEASE, don't allow the protagonist to learn, say, a martial art in a month or instantly. Skills are learnt over time. They may practice the skill after being taught and become better at it, but not at an instant. That's why the antagonist is so hard to defeat in the first place: the antagonist also trains fairly often the skills to face anyone. They become stronger at each moment, just like the protagonists.
So if you want your characters, have them work. Work hard. Because as in life, you won't succeed without trying hard. You won't be #1 in a day in any skill. You need to be constant and pursue your goal, and even then you might lose.
