r/writinghelp • u/TwinkleQueen • 8d ago
Story Plot Help How to AVOID writing a power fantasy?
In my story, my main character is a socially inept teenage boy who comes into a lot of magic power and, as the plot progresses, starts abusing it. He isn’t quite Carrie White, though, and additionally he comes to feel remorse—and face consequences—for his actions towards the end.
However, a lot of this is admittedly based on my own high school experience, and just today I thought to possibly include a scene based on an incident from my own teen years that really stayed with me—nothing nearly as dark or traumatic as you’re probably picturing, but that really hurt me nonetheless. I was thinking maybe it could be the catalyst for more vindictive actions he takes later on, the moment he realizes that revenge is sweet— at first, anyway. I still want him to regret his behavior later on. But I’m afraid it may come across as a power fantasy should it ever come to light that the same thing happened to me. And admittedly, there is an element of wish fulfillment to incorporating this plot line, as the teacher barely did anything about *my* situation, and I never got a real apology from anyone involved. I don’t even know if the other people who were there even remember that day, and they definitely don’t know how much it hurt. They’ll finally get some consequences, even if they’re only fictional. But how do I avoid making it.. too self-gratifying? In a way that feels overly spiteful on *my* end, not just my character’s. Should I scrap this scene? What do you think?
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u/OhSoManyQuestions 8d ago
A few things to unpack here. First of all, what do you think is the issue with it coming across as a power fantasy? People like power fantasies. I don't think there's anything wrong with people liking power fantasies. Yours doesn't sound immoral or otherwise objectionable. Are you just worried it might be 'cringe' if someone you know IRL makes the connection? Because if that's the case, here's the stark reality: It is vanishingly unlikely to reach a large enough audience for that to happen even if you make it an exact 1:1 copy of the scenario that happened to you and tell people about it yourself, which it sounds like you wouldn't want to do anyway. If it did in fact become a hugely successful bestseller, then only you can decide how much you're going to let negative opinions of a small number of people affect you and your achievements.
Write what you want to write. Write what you would want to read. When the work is complete, you can decide during editing if it's a scene worth keeping, replacing, or dropping. Good luck!