Power Girl in Peril

[Powergirl]

Yep, I am going to do it. I am working on a story for here that will have Power Girl in a bad situation. Expect her to use her full array of powers, but still be beaten somewhat. I have been so nervous to show what I can do in front of others, and after talking to a few of you here, I think I am ready to throw my hat into the fire... volcano... gauntlet... er, whatever it is. I am tossing it.

Wish me luck, and I hope it doesn't suck too much. Oh, and I will probably add some of my own art to it too, cause I love doing art.

My question is though, how long should a story be? I mean for a first chapter? I have seen so many different formats here and I am afraid mine will either be too long or too short. How do you know what is right? Do you also always set up the scene with the villains first, or can I have Kara start it off? Yes, her name is Kara too, sorry Supergirl

[Void]

Awesome! I'll look forward to both the story and the potential artwork that goes with it - I'm sure they'll both be great.

As you've seen, there's a big variety here for stories in just about every term you care to measure them by - so whatever you end up doing won't be out of place or wrong in any way. So I would just recommend - and I know this is boring advice, but bear with me - that you just write something that you imagine you would enjoy reading yourself. By the sounds of things you already have a decent idea of the kind of story you'd like to pick up, and I would try and match that vision with your own effort. If you are just trying to stretch your writing muscles and want to get your eye in, I would maybe recommend diving into a simpleish scene without worrying too much about building into it - but if you feel up to it then by all means go nuts with a proper story with build up and resolution. I guess it is a matter of how ambitious you want to be and roughly what kind of story you'd like to end up with.

I personally like some sort of foreshadowing of the villain that either demonstrates their winding machinations or just builds tension for the coming encounter with them - but I'm just as on board with opening with Kara on patrol, or taking out the trash, or whatever. So long as the writing itself is good and the ideas are compelling, whatever pacing or length you end up with will be fine.

Good luck with it!

[DrDominator9]

As far as length goes, I've found that a fairly short story works best so I try to make all of my work pretty compact, a quick read if you will.





Okay, now that that's done. My real advice is this: Keep the chapters short and with good spacing between paragraphs to make it more readable. Lately, I've been posting stories of about 4 regular pages worth. It can go longer if you like. As long as the writing is engaging with interesting characters you'd want to spend time with and care about, the readers here are very forgiving.

Do be sure to proofread carefully before posting. Pesky typos and inconsistently spelled character names are hurdles you don't want your readers to have to jump over.

Good luck! I look forward to what you come up with in terms of story and art.

[tallyho]

Great news and good on you for biting the bullet. Brace yourself for silence though your first effort will probably draw a few comments but then things will peeter out.

Regarding length, I would say think of the story you are trying to tell and each chapter should be progressing that story. And therefore if you want to keep people interested when you are finishing a chapter it helps to end on a high - exactly like episode installments on tv. You build and then end with a 'reveal' if you like to part of the story in each chapter. Like SG in the series finding a Kryptonian pod and opening it - and we dont see what she sees. It makes you want to follow the story to find out. So I would say build each chapter towards a goal - like the Saturday morning matinees of old - it can be a physical type of element to the story

eg 'Kara looked skyward at the glowing ball in the sky and to her horror realised it wasnt an asteroid. It was a missile.'

Or more of an emotional/angst type of reveal

'As she tracked the path of the comet towards the city she realised two things. It was going too fast for her to stop it. And for the first time in her young life she was truly afraid'

(I know you shouldn't start a sentence with 'And' but I like using it in that way for dramatic effect)

So I would say decide what you are going to say in the chapter and write it as long or as short as it needs to be to convey that information in a dramatic way.
I would maybe suggest trying to write a short story as a first step, or write out a sizeable chunk of whatever story you have in your head or even write it out completely and then read it back to see where there is a logical or exciting point to end it as a chapter break.

But hey ho thats just my opinion.

[Powergirl]

Thank you all for the advice. I was wondering something else though. I see lots of people write about the mainstream heroines, like Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Batgirl. So, everyone basically knows the backstory and knows their powers and such. But with the more "C" list heroes, like Power Girl, people don't seem to know her background, or it is too confusing to keep track of.

My question is... Should I spend time building up her backstory, or do I assume the reader knows the basics?

[DrDominator9]

Since there have been several versions of Power Girl I would suggest you give at least a few paragraphs of background to be clear about the backstory of the heroine you are using.

[Void]

I would introduce her as you would any central character when you first see them in a story, but I wouldn't worry too much about giving an info-dump about precisely who our hero is. A throw away line that covers that she's a kryptonian and how old she is covers about as much ground you need to introduce that this is Kara but a slightly different Kara than the one in blue and red. Beyond that I think your readers will roll with you and take your Kara as you present her - they'll be more interested in what you *do* with her than who she is anyways.

I say all of this assuming you're aiming at something between 4000-10 000 words. If you were looking at a bigger, more in-depth story, then I probably would recommend a longer look at who Kara is in this story - but even then you could skip over that in one or two paragraphs. Even if people don't know Power Girl quite as well, I think they'll still understand the basics pretty much as soon as they encounter her.

Random rant: I wish she was called Power Woman. Girl is such a disempowering word compared to woman, and this Kara is sort of defined as being older and more experienced than Super Girl but still she's a girl. DC things.

[Powergirl]

In truth, Power Girl is not older than Supergirl. Remember, Supergirl was locked up in suspended animation, and her ship was off course? She landed and Superman was already an adult. But he was a baby, when Supergirl was a teenager. Power Girl was the same as Superman, in that she left Krypton as a baby. Also, Power Girl was cosmically altered when she came to Earth 1 from Earth 2 universe. She was kind of "De-aged" even. But I am digressing. Yeah, I could talk about Kara for days, if I was allowed. Love the character. Both Supergirl and Power Girl, actually.

But yeah, I understand and will make some things known, but not go too far into details.

I think for my first story here (hopefully first of many) I will do a simple peril story. I will work on a bigger one later, that will go into more in-depth of who she is. I think that would be my best way to get my feet wet here.

[SGWriter]

Wishing you luck with your story. Power Girl is a real fun character, while similar powers, she's got a distinct personality and isn't just a carbon copy of Supergirl. Not to chime in with more advice but don't overthink things, it's the biggest thing that stops me from writing. Tell the story you want to see, write what you want, not what you think people want.

Look forward to seeing what you come up with

[Powergirl]

Thank you all. I had a setback with my life and it sapped my time from writing. I am sorry I just disappeared. Things are getting back on track though, and I hope to have something written soon. Again, I am sorry I just vanished.

[DrDominator9]

Thank you all. I had a setback with my life and it sapped my time from writing. I am sorry I just disappeared. Things are getting back on track though, and I hope to have something written soon. Again, I am sorry I just vanished.

Hey, Powergirl, it happens to all of us. No problem. Just glad you're back with us. Get to your story when you can and concentrate on making it good. No rush, okay?

[Abductorenmadrid]

Thank you all. I had a setback with my life and it sapped my time from writing. I am sorry I just disappeared. Things are getting back on track though, and I hope to have something written soon. Again, I am sorry I just vanished.

I know that feeling! Anyway - welcome back and good luck with the writing, and perhaps some reading again.

AEM