Yeah, As it reads, I am rewriting the novel. And before you say anything, DONT try to change my mind, I have pretty good and solid reasons to do this.
Currently, there are 20 chaps set in stone, and rewriting won't cost me much skin.
The reasons are as follows:
- The beginning was jackshit crap. I didn't like it, and I think you guys think the same. There was so much room for better development, and I am sure you guys can agree.
- Getting into the post-apocalypse world 22 years after. Yeah, after some research, 22 years sounds like too long a time. I think 2 years is better.
- Rosa. Fuck that bitch, I'm tired of her. I am sure most of you are too. It is also goddamn convenient to land in a one in a hundred-fucking-million house of someone with a special status. I think a nice girl next door is better, if not none.
- Iver is a pussy with heavy mental scarring. Sure, there can be a lot, and I mean, ALOT of development potential in this one, but damn, it is hard on even MY eyes, let alone yours. I think some average punk fresh out of high school is better, one with some balls on him, might I add. No Cuck here, no sir, just your average 18-year-old fresh out of high school, full of aggressive hormones, and sometimes thinking with his balls and not brains, like the rest of us normal people.
- I wrote the first 17 chaps in the second person, and damn, I want to change them anyways, so that is also added to the list.
- Divination superpower: Fuck that shit. I bet $20 the gov would send the secret service on every Divi-Ass schmuck that pops up and doesn't play ball, either getting silenced or sent to Azkaban (LOL). Yeah, a criminal shouldn't have ANY access to that shit, especially in an authoritarian oligarchy like the US. Even then, the level of divination I showed was too high-level, and would probably fry your brain if you attempt it.
- Everyone having superpowers should have made a major impact on the world(Logically), but they didn't. In a world where everyone has superpowers, you are pretty goddamn fucked. It turns into a dystopian world that creates a hierarchy based on POWERS over human rights. Think about the Superheroes and Sidekicks in Sky High(2005) movie, but put everyone in that school. That is not the picture I want to color.
- Messing with the mafia on day 1. C'mon... I hate myself for forcing the plot like this. It wasted all of our time on the bullcrap subplot that most of us didn't care about.
(I probably missed something else I or you hated. Anyways, you get the goddamn idea, and I think most of you will agree on most of them.)
So, while you all read (Or not, I don't give a crap) the shortcomings I thought about, let's get to the things I think are good.
- Superpowers: I want there to be superpowers in the protagonist's world, but they are more artificial and more controlled. You could say, a finite or hard-to-produce resource. Possibly from alien technology, Lovecraftian artifacts, whatever. Think about the boys. I want there to be a reason that the protagonist has powers, and not suddenly falling into a time paradox or whatever.
- The post-apocalyptic world's disaster: Yeah, that world's disaster was pretty good and well-thought-of, so I think it is worth keeping. That said, the whole hybrid thing gives more talent... I think I'll scrap it. Makes (infected) girls too easy.
- Realistically collapsing on the ground and (almost)dying from disease, like how the native Americans died. Yes, this is how you would end up in a futuristic world, you will die from a disease within days, if not hours.
So, now that you see what I plan to erase and keep, let's go to what I want to add/change:
- Talent: Previously wrote that someone with high talent can evolve by eating same-graded individuals. I take that back. Someone with talent can grow by eating anything, just like how a tiger cub grows into a big tiger, and a kitten grows into a cat. However, you can increase your talent by eating the crystal of someone stronger than you or eating a lot of same-graded crystals. (Has a low probability)
- Superpower convenience: Our protag got a VERY convenient superpower, a potential op one if used by the right hands. I think it is worth rectifying and nerfing. Maybe limit the number of transfers a day through (Insert reason). I think energy(Of multiple kinds) is the right way. Also, his superpower might carry... unwanted risks.
- The power scaling will be a bit different. Outsiders and Ascended should start at around 2 times stronger than normal, while the enhanced should be around 1.5 times stronger than normal. (Naturally, I am talking about grade 0). I am thinking about having a grade 3 around 20 times stronger than the natural power of a human, with End-game grade 5 being around 150-200 times stronger than normal.
- The reason for superpowers: So, I want to make the superpowers artificial, possibly through alien technology or Lovecraftian artifacts... Or both. Either way, there won't be a sudden flash and everyone gets superpowers boom and the world turns upside down. The number of superpowered individuals is rare, and will stay that way, and will also be controlled by the gov or powerful global syndicates... ILLUMINATI!!!!!
Ahem* Anyways, now that I said all that, I will give you a chance now to add/change/remove anything else in the mix. I am all ears.
Cheers!
if you want superpowers to not significantly destabilize your society, there needs to be a way to remove them, or at least keep them disabled.
there needs to be consequences for anti-societal behavior, so people that don't already inherently prioritize the whole have egoistic incentives to do so anyways
It's good to make a change, but keep some traumatic experiences, making a young and unbridled MC might seems fun, but it will fail to connect with your reader. First, realize that more of your reader fall under more than 20 category, especially when yiu want to have a slice of life type of story. Then start to plan more before writing them...
Anyway good luck on the rewriting!
I'm going to assume you still want the superworld to be a dystopia? It seems kind of a shame to make the whole superpowers thing be rare, I mean obviously if you consider realism then the world would be a hellscape, but there could be a way around that problem. You could simply make superpowers be powered through some sort of "belief system" (or whatever), the more people there are that power the system, the more superpowers are powerful, and the fewer there are the less powerful they are. That makes it so there's a compelling reason for superpeople to not be d*ckheads and murder/genocide people willy-nilly while also allowing everyone to be super.
Other than that I basically agree with the other 7 reasons for rewriting (Divination is a bit iffy, you could make it work, but it would be convoluted and dissatisfying). The Rosa and Lola subplot was annoying, the MC getting an advanced AI was pretty cool, but it being Rosa and seeing how she turned out... well I won't miss her. MC finding some vids about Lola and meeting a transformed Ascended version of her would have been a more interesting plot than what we got.
Minor thing about the 3rd shortcoming. I see your point, but how would you write the MC if he did get a disease? Will he go to his homeworld and spread it there? Stay in the future world and die (from his perspective)? The former is a whole arc, the latter doesn't make sense if the MC is a selfish person. And if the latter does happen, well the MC is the most lucky son of a bit*h to get found by a native that tries to cure him as soon as he gets sick. So the way this gets resolved is pretty quick, like a chapter or two with a native fixing the dude (somehow).
Besides that, I would suggest dropping the polls, people drop series when their choices don't get picked.