7 Tips to Writing Invulnerable Characters

Posted on November 9, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

Luke Cage

Now that we have an idea of what we mean by invulnerability, how do we use it?  The power can pose a problem for clear reasons.  Mostly, it can be abused and erase all sense of stakes in the story.  We’ll get into the backlash on Friday, but here are some ways to make this power work in a story.

  1. Invulnerability doesn’t always mean 100% resistant to injury.  It sounds like an umbrella term, but it can be used to say the character is hard to hurt.  There can be things that get through this power.  Kryptonite is the best and most famous example here.  The weaknesses do have to be rare or there’s no point in being invulnerable to begin with.  This also adds tension because people won’t know when this weakness will pop up.
  2. Invulnerability doesn’t always mean super strong and fast too.  In fact, you can have a person with normal physical abilities and only this power.  Now, you have someone who cannot be hurt and that’s really it.  If they’re still punching with regular human power, they’re not going to be able to win easily.  Yes, they can outlast their opponent, but how much damage will be caused while they’re struggling to lay out someone?
  3. Keep in mind that invulnerability can be a danger to those around the hero.  This is mostly for deflecting projectiles with their body.  Whether it be having skin of steel or rubber, bullets will bounce off the hero.  Where do they go?  A hero won’t always be able to figure that out, so there’s a possibility of innocent bystanders getting hit.  So, a character in this situation will have to think about acting as a human shield, especially since they’d only be able to block a few people standing behind them.  Anyone off to the sides will be in danger.
  4. Invulnerability can make a hero arrogant to the point of taking risks.  The longer a person goes without getting hurt, the higher the chance that they forget what it’s like feel pain.  Not only that, but they will forget the basic skills needed to avoid getting injured.  So, they’ll be more susceptible to walking into traps where their weaknesses are being used.  They may start to lose their sense of empathy too because they won’t understand what it’s like to be hurt any more.
  5. Invulnerability is usually about the body and not the mind.  This means anything that affects the mind and soul are dangers.  You can write that this is a mental and emotional invulnerability too, but that’s just making it impossible to do anything to the character.  Leaving them open to psychic attacks, emotion- altering spells, and illusions helps them maintain a level of vulnerability.  It will also help in preventing #4 from occurring.
  6. Clothes can still be damaged, but nobody really pays attention to this.
  7. Invulnerability could be something that’s conditional or limited.  Maybe the character only has this power during the daylight hours or loses it on the weekends.  The object of this is to create periods of vulnerability, which the hero or villain will actively try to hide from enemies.  Once the secret is out, they will have to fight for their lives during their weak moments.
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Cover Reveal and Volunteer Request – The Last Drive – a Sequel to Eternal Road – #newbook

Posted on November 9, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

The Last Drive, a sequel to Eternal Road, is finally done and ready to go to print. Here is the blurb. In the sequel to Eternal Road, Sam and James …

Cover Reveal and Volunteer Request – The Last Drive – a Sequel to Eternal Road – #newbook
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Signs You Might Need a Writing Break

Posted on November 9, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

Hey, SE Readers. Joan here today. Many of us face times when we need a break from writing. Whether you balance a full-time job with writing or write …

Signs You Might Need a Writing Break
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Author Month: The White Whale Project

Posted on November 8, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

Google Image Search

So, what is a ‘White Whale Project’?  Named after Moby Dick, this is the story idea that you can’t get to work, but refuse to send into the abyss.  You have spent countless hours trying to figure it out.  Maybe you have notes and test scenes in a folder.  They work, but don’t work.  There’s just something that you can’t get right.  Yet, it the idea refuses to leave you alone and die.  One could also call this your albatross.

My ‘White Whale Project’ . . . It has to be the Super Earth/Mylrixians ideas.  This is actually multiple stories and series, but they’re under a single umbrella.  Originally, they took place on Earth where superheroes are common or at least exist.  I had trouble juggling that world and Windemere because both needed systems in place.  My attention was mostly on Windemere because of ‘Legends of Windemere‘, which added to the overall problem.  Then, I started bringing things over to Windemere like the Dawn Fangs and a few other heroes.  This led to me changing Super Earth into the Mylrixians, who are superheroes in a fantasy world.

And that’s where I kind of got stuck.  I didn’t like them in Earth any more because I had cannibalized so much for other series.  Also, Earth-based superheroes had been and continues to be done to death.  Windemere still felt right and so did many of the characters.  Yet, I could never get the opening series to come out right.  Part of it is that I can’t tell if I want it to be a solid novel with one story or a collection of short stories that connect to a single plot.  Kind of like a compendium.  This is the same issue I was having with ‘Phi Beta Files’ and I went with the latter.

For a while, I haven’t gone near the Mylrixians.  I don’t know what to do and I’m kind of scared of it at this point.

So, anybody else have a ‘White Whale Project’?

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Invulnerable vs Invincible

Posted on November 7, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

From Goldeneye

I wanted to do a week on characters who are ‘Invulnerable’.  As you can guess, I ran into an interesting stumbling block.  It started with a google image search where the above showed up fairly quickly.  This made me realize something:

People use ‘Invincible’ and ‘Invulnerable’ interchangeably.

Well, I can’t really dive into the topic if people are getting these similar, but different terms mixed up.  To be fair, I’ve used them incorrectly when not paying attention.  I remember comics not always making them different things, which confused me for a while.  Might be the reason for a lot of people making this mistake.  The best example is Superman, who would be considered invulnerable without being invincible.  How is that possible?

  • Invulnerable is when a person cannot be harmed.  They are not vulnerable to being injured.  Even then, certain situations can be created to undo this.  Special weapons or events can eliminate this ability.  Going back to Superman, you have magic, kryptonite, and red sun energy that negates his powers.
  • Invincibility is when a person cannot be beaten.  They can still be hurt, but they cannot be defeated.  Many will possess invulnerability, but this is not a required.  It’s harder to find characters like this because this disappears as soon as they are beaten.  This means, a character who is meant to maintain this needs to win every fight.  Best example here would be Saitama from ‘One Punch Man’.

Many authors will avoid both of these for their heroes, but there’s a bigger effort to dodge invulnerability.  A character who can’t be hurt won’t garner any concern from the readers and lead to invincibility.  That’s boring.  It also ignores that there are ways to work around it, which I’ll get into later in the week.  Really want to deep dive on this one at the end of the week and not with the concept of invincibility hovering about.

Now, the funny thing is that invulnerability is avoided while invincibility isn’t.  Sometimes it turns up without us realizing it.  A character who never loses is very appealing even if you’re having them getting injured in every fight.  We think that them getting hurt is enough to make the audience care, but they’ll pick up on the track record eventually.  This will make the injures feel like tricks that insult the intelligence of the audience.  I compare it to WWE wrestling back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.  Quick story time:

Back in college, my friends and I got into watching wrestling.  This was the over-the-top, action and silliness we needed to socialize and unwind.  As we got older, we started to notice a few trends.  One was that ‘The Rock’ had a habit of getting beaten up for most of his matches and then win with the same combo.  We joked that it was around the time there were 2 minutes left of the show.  So, we called it the ‘two minute rule’ and wouldn’t pay attention until we heard the announcers shout that the People’s Elbow as about to happen.  We knew the drill and felt no tension during these matches because his invincibility outside of PPV shows had been established.

I seem to have gone on more about invincibility and invulnerability, but that’s because the latter can lead to the former.  Not always in a good way too.  Usually in a bad way that hurts the story.  So, we have to use both with caution.  It’s easier to do that with invulnerability by having it not turning into invincibility.

So, what are your thoughts on these two terms?  Did you think they were the same thing?

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Humor in Writing- Five Ways to Do It

Posted on November 7, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

Photo by Гоар Авдалян on Unsplash Hi SEers. John is with you today. The other day I was staring at my computer screen like it was the Oracle of …

Humor in Writing- Five Ways to Do It
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The World’s Largest Deer: The Moose

Posted on November 6, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

In America, we call this animal a moose.  I learned that in Eurasia, it’s called an elk.  We use that word for another member of the deer family, which is also called a wapiti.  This is done to clarify a few things for my followers who are on the other side of the Atlantic.  So, here we have the moose.

I did try to get one picture of each of the subspecies, but most of the ones I found simply said ‘moose’.  A lot of them were also of dead moose who had been shot by hunters who proudly stood over them with guns.  Even with the hunting and a problem with parasites, the moose population holds strong.  They aren’t endangered and have few predators outside of humans, who can’t win without guns.  Wolves as a pack, brown bears, Siberian tigers, and one I’ll mention later are it.  So, there isn’t a lot of things that can kill a full-grown moose.

Let’s get a fact list going:

  • Moose are found in Northern America (Canada and upper states) and along the Northern territories of Europe and Asian.
  • They are most noted for their open-hand shaped antlers.
  • Moose can grow up to 6’11” at the shoulder with males being around 1,543 lbs and females being 1,080 lbs.  They can get up to 10’2” long.  These are massive animals.
  • They have long muzzles and can close off their nostrils to help them feed on aquatic vegetation.
  • Moose are powerful swimmers and can dive over 18 feet.
  • THE SURPRISE PREDATOR:  Orcas (killer whales) have been known to eat moose in the water.  Imagine seeing this happen.
  • Cows typically give birth to twins instead of one calf.  There have also been cases of triplets.
  • They are the official state animal of Maine.
  • Moose are browsing feeders instead of grazers.  This means it is an herbivore that eats leaves, soft shoots, and fruits instead of grass.
  • Their antlers can have a span of nearly 6 feet.
  • Calves can outrun a human by the time they are 5 days old.
  • A moose can kick in any direction.

Let’s get the pictures and videos.  Again, I can’t really be sure if the picture is of the correct subspecies.  Many of them look the same and I had to trust the site I found it on through Google Image Search.

Alaskan Moose

Amur Moose

Chukotka Moose

Eastern Moose

European Elk (Moose)

Western Moose

Yakutia Moose

Yellowstone Moose

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Quick Question About Paperback Prices

Posted on November 5, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

So, I’m doing a last minute thing because I’m scratching my head.  It’s involves the pricing for my paperback books on Amazon.

I was hoping to keep them around $10-$12, but some are proving to be bigger than I expected even with formatting.  I should have seen that coming.  I was going to head for $15, which worked at first.  Then, I ran into a problem.

Amazon has this 40% thing where you can have your books at non-Amazon stores.  I clicked on that for the books I’ve formatted so far, but I realized it forces the price to jump up to about $17-$18.  That’s with me only getting a couple cents in royalties from that 40% option.  People may know where my question is going.

Should I bother doing this extra option?  It’s forcing me to jack up the price and I don’t think anyone is going to be ordering my stuff on anything other than Amazon.  So, what’s the point?

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Goal Post: More Successful Than I Realized

Posted on November 5, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

Genuinely thought that I got nothing done as far as last week’s goal list goes.  I ended nearly every night exhausted.  Last full week of the quarter means work was kind of crazy, but helping my son with schoolwork was extra crazy.  Add in Halloween and other areas of drama to make it nearly impossible for me to do any writing.  Still, I can’t say the week was a loss.

To be fair, I never got to any outlining or ‘Phi Beta Files’ prep.  Even when I had energy, I used it to do other things.  Chores, errands, and the whole adulting thing doesn’t do itself no matter how much I want it to.  I didn’t even make a list of books to turn into paperbacks until last night.  That’s the goal for this weekend.  Shouldn’t be too hard, but I don’t know how to do the headers for ‘Life & Times of Ichabod Brooks’.  Do I put the book title on one side and the short story title on the other?  Same goes for ‘Quest of the Brokenhearted’ and the two ‘Bedlam’ books.  I should look at a few short story collections that I have for ideas.

I mentioned last weekend that my son and I were going to try to make ‘Ice Cream Bread’, which is exactly what you think.  It is bread made using ice cream.  Not a cold dish, but a hot one.  We used chocolate ice cream and self-rising flour along with sprinkles to make a loaf.  It was rather crumbly, but this is the end result:

Tasted really good.  I probably messed up trying to get it out of the bread pan as soon as it was out of the oven.  First time making this dish and I didn’t have this issue with the strawberry bread 2 years ago.  It was fun to make and I’m already planning a few more experiments.  At some point, I want to make 3 loaves with each one being a different flavor like chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.  This will be for any event where we’re expected to bring desserts.  That happens fairly often.  We’ll see how it goes that time.  Tough to mix everything up.

The second big event was Halloween, which saw the debut of my son’s costume.  I made a post about it on Instagram, which got a ton of likes.  That was great to see since we had some issues.  The face paint got on everything and my son told me the next day that the wig was really annoying him.  So, we have to do some modifications when he plans on wearing it again.  Here’s the character and then the costume:

Soul King Brook from One Piece

He wasn’t happy about the picture taking away precious trick-or-treating time.  Still, it was a rousing success and some people gave him extra candy.  It was a nice change from all of the store bought costumes we saw.

As I said before, I didn’t get to do anything else this week.  I’m hoping to get more done next week, but I won’t hold my breath.  It’ll be easier if I get most or all of the paperback setups done this weekend.  Opens the way for me to write the next Darwin outline and work on the ‘Phi Beta Files’ notebook.  I’m thinking of making a post every Tuesday in January for each of the paperback series too.  If I put ‘Quest of the Brokenhearted’ up as its own thing then I have 5.  Gives me another delay on putting up teasers.

Nothing else major happened.  Twitter got uncomfortable and bizarre this week.  It used to be that I saw mostly author stuff in my feed.  This week, I saw a barrage of politics and disturbing vitriol.  I started unfollowing the people who were liking and following the terrifying stuff coming through.  Lots of racism and antisemitism as if a floodgate was opened.  Though, it could also be people trying to test out how far they can now go before they are banned.  Either way, I was strongly considering deactivating my account for a little while.  How is it useful for promoting books when people are more interesting in hating others on there?  (Betting this is the paragraph that will garner comments.)

Only other thing that was supposed to happen, but didn’t was starting a new Netflix series that I have a personal connection to.  They made a series called ‘Blockbuster’, which is about the last functioning Blockbuster Video.  For the youngsters, this was a place you would go to and rent movies and video games.  I used to work for Hollywood Video, which was their competition.  Still, I’m curious to see how much of what they show brings back some nostalgia and memories.  It’ll be some nice comedic breaks from formatting books until my eyes bleed.

So, goals of the week?

  1. Writing if possible.
  2. Help son study for last tests of the quarter.
  3. Conference Day.
  4. Take son to ‘One Piece: Red’ on Friday as a surprise.
  5. Take son to his first Bar Mitzvah next Saturday.
  6. Watch ‘Blockbuster’.
  7. Start scheduling January posts.
  8. Sleep better.
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Questions 3: Handling Imposter Syndrome

Posted on November 4, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

Sesame Wars? Star Street?

So, we’ve gone over what Imposter Syndrome is and how it can be triggered.  Maybe it can happen without us identifying it right away.  No matter the case, we need to find a way to handle this powerful sensation.  An author won’t get very far if they don’t gain some amount of confidence.  We get them from ourselves, our friends, our readers, or anything that takes the time to tell us we’re real.  Harder and harder to find those these days, but that’s really a big thing that’s needed.

All that being said, let’s see if we can touch on how to help ourselves and others get through such a period.

  1. What would you say to someone who is suffering from Imposter Syndrome?
  2. What is one thing you can do to avoid falling into this mentality?
  3. Have you ever felt like a fraud and how did you handle it?
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