Worldbuilding Help for my WIP

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

I've been working on my WIP (in between midterms and projects, that is) and it's like I've hit a wall. From writing fanfic, I've learned that, as a writer, my writing is better and it's easier to figure out where I'm going if I have a fully realized world in front of me. 

 

The problem is, every time I think the world is fully realized, I go to write, and I realize there's something else I hadn't bothered to flesh out that raises a ton of unanswered questions. Usually, that thing is pretty minor, but it keeps me from writing until I figure it out. 

 

Here's what I have so far: 

 

Supers appeared about thirty years ago. Each Super usually has one power, unless a passive secondary is required (for instance, Susan, my protagonist, has only one power, but a flamethrower would need both the ability to conjure and control flame and immunity to heat, so that is what they have). Strength ranges from rather weak to impressively strong (Susan is a powerful precog who can see multiple possible futures and, by writing them down, see up to a month of possibilities; the least powerful precog in this world would have something more akin to Spiderman's spidey-sense). 

 

Massive social upheaval followed their appearance: terrorist groups suddenly had Supers on their side, petty thieves had powers or could team up with those who did, psychopaths restrained by the system decided to see if their superpowers really did let them get away with murder, prisons had massive breakouts, and in the US, the House Majority and House Minority leaders had a debate that turned to a duel to the death on the House floor. 

 

Good and bad people got powers in equal measure. Police officers set up community training programs where new Supers could learn to use their powers in a safe environment. While there were some early vigilantes, many Supers just wanted to live their lives in peace. 

 

The current United States is no longer united. State boundaries are somewhat preserved out of habit; however, the most common form of governance is self-contained towns and city-states. The benevolence of these governments depends on the leaders. 

 

Susan and her husband, Randy, have spent the last few years (haven't determined how many; five or seven?) traveling from town to town. She uses her clairvoyance to help towns set up police forces, and assassinate corrupt leaders if need be. 

 

 

Okay, my question is basically….where do I go from here? I have some vague ideas of Supers using their powers to make up for lost technology (one of telepaths functioning like a news wire service, another of a corner of town where it's always icy for ice skaters) but I can't for the life of me seem to pin any of them down. 

 

Help? 

[A Joe in the Bush]

So are you looking for modern day services that can be run by Super powers? Or something else entirely?

[Kobold King]

First off, let me just say that this looks like a wonderful, richly imaginative setting. The concept of superpowers in a realistic setting isn't explored often enough in fiction, in my opinion.

 

I'd love to help out in any way I can, but unfortunately I'm not at my mental peak right now. :/ With that in mind, here are some random thoughts and questions that spring into my head.

 

Religion and philosophy--are there any religious or philosophical systems that have grown up around Supers? The image of an insane cult worshiping a superpsycho spring to mind immediately, but on a more subtle scale: have existing world religions adapted to rise of Supers easily? Have new ways of viewing the universe arisen in this new age?

• Perhaps a zen, karma-based religion founded by a powerful empath?

What percentage of human beings have gained these powers? Are Supers common enough for most people to be intimately familiar with them, or are Supers surrounded by murky superstitions?

 

Has the world population risen or declined since the appearance of Supers? Was their earliest appearance marred by enough violence to seriously lower the global population, or is overpopulation still an issue? If the population has still been skyrocketing, than perhaps Supers would use their powers to open up new parts of the world for colonization. Hydrokinetics could maintain underwater settlement, or a powerful teleporter could even assist in the colonization of Mars.

 

That's all I can think of for now. I hope I've been somewhat helpful; I'll be trying to think of more questions or suggestions.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Kobold King

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

So are you looking for modern day services that can be run by Super powers? Or something else entirely?

 

Both, I think. For the first one, I'd be looking for things like flamethrowers using their powers to heat buildings, stoves, and grills. For the second, it would be more along the lines of "what can Supers do with their powers that accomplish everyday tasks?" 

 

I'm also trying to puzzle out all of the societal effects of Supers, and I have a few down, but it feels….thin. 

 

First off, let me just say that this looks like a wonderful, richly imaginative setting. The concept of superpowers in a realistic setting isn't explored often enough in fiction, in my opinion.

 

I'd love to help out in any way I can, but unfortunately I'm not at my mental peak right now. :/ With that in mind, here are some random thoughts and questions that spring into my head.

 

Religion and philosophy--are there any religious or philosophical systems that have grown up around Supers? The image of an insane cult worshiping a superpsycho spring to mind immediately, but on a more subtle scale: have existing world religions adapted to rise of Supers easily? Have new ways of viewing the universe arisen in this new age?

• Perhaps a zen, karma-based religion founded by a powerful empath?

What percentage of human beings have gained these powers? Are Supers common enough for most people to be intimately familiar with them, or are Supers surrounded by murky superstitions?

 

Has the world population risen or declined since the appearance of Supers? Was their earliest appearance marred by enough violence to seriously lower the global population, or is overpopulation still an issue? If the population has still been skyrocketing, than perhaps Supers would use their powers to open up new parts of the world for colonization. Hydrokinetics could maintain underwater settlement, or a powerful teleporter could even assist in the colonization of Mars.

 

That's all I can think of for now. I hope I've been somewhat helpful; I'll be trying to think of more questions or suggestions.

 

Religion was one area that I should've paid more attention to. :/ See, I'd figured that many of the world's religions, upon seeing that some Supers were good and others bad, would accept it—though what they accepted it as varied wildly. Some Christians and Muslims, for instance, believed the Supers fulfilled various end-times and messianic prophecies, while others believed their powers a gift from God or Allah. Some, seeing the destruction caused by people who hadn't yet mastered their powers, saw them as a curse and shunned them accordingly. I know there would be a few splinter groups that worshipped especially charismatic Supers, but I'm not sure whether I should bring one of them in as an antagonist. The old evil-cult-out-to-destroy-the-world-with-its-evil-evil-religion thing just feels so tired to me. Maybe I could do something cool with it, but I'd be nervous about making it too cliched. 

 

Overall, though, Supers are just another part of the population. Super-centered cults are viewed by most as harmless loons (in the case of the more peaceful Supers) or dangerous nuts (in the case of less-than-peaceful Supers). Given that, I don't think they'd be terribly common, but those that do exist would be fairly well-known for sheer novelty. 

 

New ways of viewing the universe, though—that is one question I need to answer. Thanks for asking it! 

 

About thirty percent of people gained powers. They're common enough that Supers are neither an oppressed minority or a wild majority. 

 

I haven't figured out how much the world population declined. I know there were some early deaths from power-related accidents, skirmishes that ended badly, crimes, and things like that, but that as people got used to powers, a more even good-guy-bad-guy ratio came into being. I don't think the population was significantly lowered the way it would be after, say, nuclear war, but the world's population did decrease noticeably. 

[Edgedancer]

Let´s see what I can come up with.

-Teleporters and levitation supers in transportation both personal and goods. With teleporters being faster but also more expensive and/or not capable of transporting large deliveries, because of a margin of error that might make them appear in the nearby facilities.

-Supers that can control elements to prevent/counteract natural disasters or Hydromancers as life guards and earthbenders helping with avalanches

-Healers as Doctors

-Someone similar to Chimera leading a honest zoo

-Lasers and the like could be used for great special effects in live events.

-Puppeteers replacing cheap labor that only needs muscles

You might want to consider, if there is some kind of law (where it still exsists) requiring Supers to identify as such and the means allowed to normal people in case they have to defend themself.

The chance of creating or transforming material changing economics. Talking about economics were there any lashouts at big companies with dubious reputation. (both in regards to human right but also manipulation of information and surveillance)

 

I might come up with more after giving it a bit more thought.

[Quiver]

I'm gonna go back and read the world building and get back to you... but about this:

 

The old evil-cult-out-to-destroy-the-world-with-its-evil-evil-religion thing just feels so tired to me. Maybe I could do something cool with it, but I'd be nervous about making it too cliched.

Who say's the cult has to be evil?

 

Yeah, it's kind of a given as short-hand in popular culture, and only reinforced by the numerous real-world examples... but that could be a reason to try and do something different with it. After all, the idea of religion is kind of important in the Mistborn books, which detail the way a cult turns into an offical religion... and I'm fairly certain that there are points in history when the major religions of modern times (Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Shintoism, Hinduism and so forth) would be labelled as cults by the people around them... so... why not try something using that?

 

You mention the idea that super-cults are viewed as harmless loons, or dangerous nuts. Either way, it's not exactly a flattering image... so what if there was a character was sincere about it, has genuine faith in a particular super as a divine being/prophet/champion/etc; not faith in the extreme, zealot trying to convert everyone to the truth, but in the way of a modern religion; they have something they believe in that gives them comfort, and they want it to be recognized and given the legitimacy that other churches do.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

I'm gonna go back and read the world building and get back to you... but about this:

 

The old evil-cult-out-to-destroy-the-world-with-its-evil-evil-religion thing just feels so tired to me. Maybe I could do something cool with it, but I'd be nervous about making it too cliched.

Who say's the cult has to be evil?

 

Yeah, it's kind of a given as short-hand in popular culture, and only reinforced by the numerous real-world examples... but that could be a reason to try and do something different with it. After all, the idea of religion is kind of important in the Mistborn books, which detail the way a cult turns into an offical religion... and I'm fairly certain that there are points in history when the major religions of modern times (Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Shintoism, Hinduism and so forth) would be labelled as cults by the people around them... so... why not try something using that?

 

You mention the idea that super-cults are viewed as harmless loons, or dangerous nuts. Either way, it's not exactly a flattering image... so what if there was a character was sincere about it, has genuine faith in a particular super as a divine being/prophet/champion/etc; not faith in the extreme, zealot trying to convert everyone to the truth, but in the way of a modern religion; they have something they believe in that gives them comfort, and they want it to be recognized and given the legitimacy that other churches do.

 

I could go in that direction, but…it's different when working with a world set in (literally) an alternate universe. Brandon was able to trace the rise of a new religion without making it seem didactic or as if he were trying to say something about religion and cults in general, because he was able to create a mythology and cosmic background where the development of a new religion could be shown without implying anything about Earth religions. To do that on Earth….perhaps it could be done successfully, but I don't think I have the skill for it. I would feel more comfortable doing something like that if this story were set in a high or low fantasy world, rather than on our own planet. 

 

I didn't mean to imply anything about splinter groups in general. What I meant to do was reflect the common perception of a group that congregates around and deifies a powerful Super. In this story world, Supers make up about one third of the population, and powerful Supers are well-known, if not terribly common—somewhat analogous to genius-level intelligence. I do believe that some people would find meaning by following a powerful Super like a prophet or even a god, but in a world where power like that isn't commonly viewed as a sign of godhood, I don't think such people would be seen as normal. It would be comparable to a very intelligent person deified for their intelligence—it's happened, true, and it may have even had positive effects in the past. But the most recent examples of people becoming the centers of cults, the ones that are foremost in the public's mind, are negative (Jim Jones), and it is those examples that would be more likely to stick. Is that fair? No, probably not. Could a Super-centered cult have positive effects on the world? I'm sure they could. But by and large, I think the public would not see them in a very flattering light. 

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is: something awesome could be done taking that route, but I don't think I have the skill to pull it off. 

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

After thinking about it a little more, I guess what I really need help with is the Davenport. 

 

So I have it conceived as the center of Whitelaw's government—not just as the Capitol Hill of Spokane, but as where most of his government officials live and conduct their business. (It's currently a hotel, so moving there would just be a matter of them claiming a room or a series of rooms as their own, with Whitelaw's permission. Doors could be built into walls as needed.) I'm thinking there are probably thirty or so officials important enough to live there, along with aides and paralegals. Some of these officials would work for Whitelaw directly in more traditional capacities, such as his press secretary and the police chief, but others would simply be factory owners or other industrialists whose businesses were vital to Spokane's survival. So far I have the owner of the textile factory, the owner of a power plant, chief of recycling, the sewage plant exec, and a few others. Their number (30) is flexible. 

 

I have it in my head that Whitelaw is the sort of guy who wants his city to run well, and does run it well, but doesn't care about the people at the bottom. In the Davenport, this would be the staff. He wouldn't outright mistreat them, but neither would he care if someone else did. 

 

How would this manifest? I don't want to go too over-the-top into "If we don't protect our hospitality workers with better laws, they'll be BEATEN AND KILLED FOR FAILING TO SLICE A LEMON PROPERLY!!!!1!!!!!111!!!!!!" but I also plan to bring in a staff employee as a viewpoint character. What sorts of everyday trials would she face in that sort of environment—powerful people who have carte blanche permission to do what they need to keep the city running, plus a boss who doesn't care so long as their demands aren't extravagant?