Draft: Playing The Genre Straight

[Arch9CivilReactor]

I was originally going to go for some subversion of expectations… but then realised that creating a ‘Magical Girl’ story for an older audience will already be difficult. Most examples I can think of are not what I’m looking for or just marketing.

I don’t want to write ‘Panty and Stockings’.

Don’t want to go as dark as ‘Madoka Magica’.

But playing the tropes too straight might also be a turn off. I can probably put the environmentalist vibe in the background for their enemies, as most readers already know what global warming is and don’t need to be taught basic life lessons.

Choosing between whether to keep things episodic or narrative driven will also be a hurdle to decide. What I got right now is that the Magical Girl will meet the man who forces her to be a hero at gunpoint: Mr Mascot. A mysterious man with a past that gets unraveled in time.

What can I do to make the hook interesting?

Being held at gunpoint to become a hero is one interesting factor, but I’m not sure if the vague and straightforward motivation of saving people will keep reader interest. Maybe adding a love triangle will work, but I already decided that the ‘protector’ assigned to nurture her skills as a Magical Girl would only have a platonic friendship with her.

Maybe I can dip into the supernatural by adding vampires and werewolves, but that sounds like it leans into more of a Twilight plot than a story about heroism. Will focusing on her struggles of balancing her normal life and hero life work?

Honestly. I like Mr Mascot more than the Magical Girl herself due to his extensive connections with the wider world. My plans is to start as a magical girl story before unraveling into a full on secret society war between different organisations.

Magical Girls being a weak organisation among them (since it is newly created, has specialist abilities for exorcism, and most team members being regular teen girls until they got recruited).

I’m unsure how to blend these ideas together into something more simple to present. I can’t just ramble on about backstory stuff that won’t be relevant. Maybe it’s better to put clues of the wider world while initially being about the girls.

Would that still be too jarring? I’m unsure about it.

 

[AmeronWerschrux]

Honestly, the idea of focusing on the mascot instead of the magical girl is really interesting. Like exploring the society or how the higher ups manage magical girls. I think you should go for that one. After all, as a fellow cliché breaker, I support breaking the norm!

 

[GlassRose]

Would making the story from the perspective of Mr Mascot work?

Honestly, the idea of focusing on the mascot instead of the magical girl is really interesting. Like exploring the society or how the higher ups manage magical girls. I think you should go for that one. After all, as a fellow cliché breaker, I support breaking the norm!

Honestly at this point, cliche breaking has become a cliche.

 

[AmeronWerschrux]

Would making the story from the perspective of Mr Mascot work?

Honestly at this point, cliche breaking has become a cliche.

Hehe, yep! I can see the vision. How about he secretly manage different girls? Him managing different girls, reminds me of Idolm@ster, in a sense that he roots for every single one.
You said breaking the cliche is cliche, right? How about we double-down on deconstructing clichés? Such as meta? That's what I did at least.

 

[GlassRose]

You said breaking the cliche is cliche, right? How about we double-down on deconstructing clichés? Such as meta? That's what I did at least.

*shrug*

 

[Terrate]

So... you want to do a bait and switch? Magical first and suddenly, it's actually isn't? If you're planning to do that, then there must be some sort of consistency here... like what the two comments above me said, if you decided to focus on the mascot, it won't turn into a bait and switch. People might want to read it because of the "magical girl" on its entirety, so you're already setting expectations right then and there. It would be a different angle entirely if we are following the POV of the mascot though, since we aren't fixated on the "magical girl" and instead, we are more invested on why you chose the mascot as an MC.

 

[Arch9CivilReactor]

Would making the story from the perspective of Mr Mascot work?

Honestly at this point, cliche breaking has become a cliche.

Honestly, I want to give him screen time but not actually make him the ‘main character’. I feel his story hits harder when he’s not focused on too much like you would an MC. Plus I agree with you that it doesn’t matter about breaking a trope unless you feel something about the trope played straight.

I just don’t have the passion to deconstruct or reconstruct the genre in a mascot’s lens.

So... you want to do a bait and switch? Magical first and suddenly, it's actually isn't? If you're planning to do that, then there must be some sort of consistency here... like what the two comments above me said, if you decided to focus on the mascot, it won't turn into a bait and switch. People might want to read it because of the "magical girl" on its entirety, so you're already setting expectations right then and there. It would be a different angle entirely if we are following the POV of the mascot though, since we aren't fixated on the "magical girl" and instead, we are more invested on why you chose the mascot as an MC.

What if the ‘Magical Girl’ aspect is used in a lesser priority than the ‘Supernatural World’? Like making the protector a different breed that’s common in the wider world, but not in a Magical Girl story.

 

[FallenMoon3]

A book about Mr Mascot doesn't sound bad, besides you should write about what you like.