Okay, apologies in advance if this is in the wrong forum, just got a quick question for you all: In my young adult, urban fantasy (male audience) story that I'm currently writing (First draft, 15002 words currently written), I need a situation where my character suddenly becomes very good at something he wasn't very good at before, and because of this he learns that somebody in his family has cast a sort of 'protective spell' on him, which will make him suddenly really good at fighting once he is threatened but is unable to replicate the moves once he is not fighting. However, I need a different situation to the fighting scenario for my novel. Hopefully that's understandable, and basically, I currently have the following scenarios in mind: a) A football/soccer match (informal, between friends), in which he suddenly comes on to the pitch having arrived late and leads one team back from a defeat to a victory. Problem = I cannot write football/soccer scenes to save my life. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. b) A classroom where he suddenly answers questions about topics that he had no knowledge on about whatsoever at the start of the novel. Problem = The time in which he discovers his abilities is set on a Saturday, and there's no College on Saturdays. c) Your own suggestions. I should point out that this is a novel set in a large town in southern England, by the sea, and the character is a sixteen year old male teenager. (I'm around a similar age, although I'm not going to say how old for obvious reasons).
Hmm. I think your second idea is a good start. Maybe something with a bit more adrenaline such as relaxing at the "sea" location and two children drift further out then expected. The character has always been terrified of going into the water due to his past, and not being able to swim. Then his adrenaline kicks in to help the children. Using something small such as being an amazing swimmer would be good because he can be confused about his ability but blame it on adrenaline until the truth is told. Maybe someone, a close friend, has an emergency at the school, such as choking on lunch and he has to perform a Cricothyrotomy with lunchroom utensils. Not sure if this helps, but these are the ideas that popped into my head. Good luck!
I like your idea about the swimming, I can't believe that I hadn't thought of that, and I'll think of some way of including that for sure. . Thanks for commenting, and the quick reply.
He is hydrophobic or so he thought. Someone is drowning, he jumps into the water and save the person. He becomes a hero, but he is confuse and starts asking questions about his ability. Edit: Looks like somebody beat me in posting the idea
Your story, your decision. Don't get stuck in the habit of asking others to direct your story for you. If you're a writer, exercise and TRUST your own imagination.
If the spell is for protection maybe finding some other boys playing rugby and getting dragged into joining them could be good. If you've ever played rugby you would notice immediately if some magical force was protecting you. Although I realize this could present you with a similar problem to your football idea :/ Good luck with the novel
