Should I give my main character the ability to fly, or not?
the book I'm writing is called Flight and Shadows, but now I'm not sure if I should add the flying part in the mix anymore, after what people have told me... It's about a fourteen-year-old girl (not sure of a name yet...) who wakes up in a hospital with amnesia, and overhears her doctor talking to a woman about getting a drug that will put her into a coma, and eventually kill her, to make it look innocent. She tells her brother Devin, and eventually he rescues her from the hospital and takes her to Jennifer Wakeman's Foundlings (made up) in Chicago, where he tells her both of their parents are dead. She becomes confused and steals a jar-ful of money from the orphanage, buying a train ticket to a small town in Michigan where she begins to go to school and meet friends, trying to lead a normal life. She falls in love with a boy named Danny White, and just when things are getting good, the doctor's hired men land a helicopter in the harbor of Lexington (the small town), and steal Danny, telling her they already have Devin and Coal in captivity, her brother and best friend. The police laugh at her, so she tries to get all the way to NYC in three days (the deadline they gave her), but decides she can't once she reaches Maryland. She winds up falling off of a cliff on the Atlantic coastline and floats back to the top, flying the rest of the way to NYC. She rescues her friends, and Flore tells her that she was a science experiment to him, and her cells are dangerous, and that she only has a year to live. He's already extracted her DNA and blood, and shipped it around the world, for use on normal people... but I'm just not sure if I should include flying or not, because it seems corny, I need some help!! Please, tell me what I should do! Thank you! yes, I know it sounds like James Patterson's Maximum Ride, probably because Maximum Ride is my favorite book... and I know it sounds cliche, which is why I am asking advice on how to fix it... it would be a whole lot better if Maximum Ride wasn't out there, so I've had to take a lot out... I can always take the cliff part out, and do an entirely different thing, but I've always loved writing about flying, even before I read Maximum Ride, but Maximum Ride has really inspired me to write about flying and other things.
Books & Authors - 2 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
What happens in Chapter 2? It seems to me that the ability to fly is pretty important once she falls off the cliff.
2 :
Hmmm... It sounds quite a bit like James Patterson's Maximum Ride. Here are a few pointers for you: If she has amnesia, then how does she know Denis is her brother? Why on earth does the doctor want to kill her? Why does he keep on trying? Does he have any motivations? How is she able to fly? Now, if you already know the answer to those questions, you are doing great. These were just things that confused me when I read your synopsis. Now, it seems like the entire plot is tied in with flying. If you lose the flying (which is super cliche) you lose the entire book. For that reason, I would advise you to keep it. However, make sure you don't invade another author's territory. Read the link below, if your story is significantly different, go ahead. If it is too close (or worse, you have read this book and based your off of it!) head back to the drawing board, and add a twist that makes it truly unique, truly your own. I wish you luck!
