::Old Timey Radio Voice::

"Lois is trapped underground and tied up next to the bomb! Jimmy Olsen is being held captive by the gangsters from the underground syndicate! And Clark Kent can't leave the Daily Bugle in time to rescue them without giving away his secret identity!!! Can Superman possibly HOPE to save the day???

Hehehe...umm, of course he can! He's freakin' Superman! Duh!

I remember being in the college dorms with my roommates and some of our friends, discussing which characters in fictional folklore it would be near IMPOSSIBLE to write a compelling and interesting story about if we had to...no matter how much money was being tossed our way for it. And my very first thought, and ultimate answer, was Superman. To this day, I think I would have a difficult time trying to write a Superman story with any kind of 'stakes' involved, because...well...he's Superman.

You wont find a more impenetrable version of plot armor in any character than you will with the son of Krypton. He's invincible, he's insanely fast, he has eye lasers, he has frost breath, you can run from him, you can hide from him, he's got X-Ray eyes...WTF? And the thing is...people who love Superman WANT that from him! They won't stand for anything less. No weakness, no conflict, no corruption...none of that. Unh unh! Superman is Superman, and that's all there is to it.

I, personally, have problems with that idea when it comes to writing a story. Not just for the main characters, but for the characters surrounding them. I feel like super overpowered characters make it extremely difficult to create feelings of tension or provide any real sense of danger or conflict when it comes to bringing an audience into my world and getting them invested in the idea that my main characters might actually lose in the end.

I mean, seriously...who cringes when Superman gets punched in the face?

However, when you see Jackie Chan make a near impossible jump from one rooftop to another, throw himself down a flight of steps, and nearly get IMPALED on a bed of spikes??? It's like, "JESUS!!!" That's what I want in my stories! Those gasps and cringes and true worry when it comes to the main characters that has an impact that almost makes you forget that the 'story' is supposed to make them invincible. Hehehe!

I have been a movie buff my entire life. I was sooooo little when I was introduced to film, and I can seriously remember being totally vulnerable to the idea that the heroes in my favorite movies could actually die or come to serious harm. I hadn't become movie savvy yet, and that gave these stories an entirely different level of breathless excitement when I watched them! The whole house could have caught fire in the middle of one of these movies, and I would have kicked and screamed and thrown a full blown tantrum if I didn't get to see what happened next. Why? Because I had no real vision of 'plot armor' at that age. The concept was beyond me. And, for a long long time...I kind of missed it.

Watch this video below. I wasn't much older than the boy watching "Return Of the Jedi" for the very first time in his life...and I can remember feeling the EXACT same way when he was facing off against the Emperor! I mean...how do you even battle something like that???

An emotional time, indeed. And this was at a time when I was under the assumption that no one was safe, no matter how cool or important they may be to the story or franchise itself. This is an extremely difficult trick to pull off in stories these days. As always, people are more savvy to all of the smoke and mirror tactics that writers and filmmakers have used in the past...and that means that we, as writers, are all facing new challenges when it comes to creating a sense of urgency and loss in the stories that we tell. Especially when it comes to characters who may come off as overpowered to the readers who dive in to check your story out.

Now...when I say 'overpowered'...that doesn't just mean some hunky super hero or magical fantasy wizard. This works in general, down-to-earth, fiction as well. Overpowered can mean a guy who is obscenely famous, extremely wealthy, outrageously gorgeous, or insanely popular. A character who seems to be lacking any visible flaws at all. How do you beat that? What do you do?

Having your protagonist struggle with that and slowly begin to figure out ways to get around what seems so unbelievably unavoidable in terms of being a challenge to the 'un-challengeable'...will make for an EXCELLENT story! Readers always love to root for the underdog, after all!

Going back to the whole Superman idea...I distinctly remember seeing the final trailer for the "Man Of Steel" movie just before it was released, and I was soooooo impressed! It was, like...they solved the biggest problem of all! How do you hurt someone who can't be physically damaged in any possible way? And watching this trailer gave me an explosion of hope that they might actually be able tackle this problem the way it needed to be tackled.

You're not going to be able to hit, stab, shoot, burn, blow up, Superman. It just won't work. BUT...if you can really hit him where it hurts the most? Then you'll win every time. Superman cares about humanity. His heart is his greatest weakness, and always has been. And by attacking the people that he loves...his plot armor doesn't really mean much. And that is where you, as a writer, can find opportunities to inject feelings of dread and danger into your story. Something tense that will keep your readers on the edge of their seats, even though their main hero is invulnerable to being taken out of the game prematurely.

So this trailer really caught my attention. This is what Superman fears most. Being exposed. Having people hurt because he wasn't able to save them. Knowing that his very presence is a threat in itself. Brilliant!

If you want to write a compelling story and keep people locked in (And maybe piss off a few people along the way...it happens...), take the plot armor off. If you can't do it for your main character, then do it for the characters that he or she cares about most. This is where building up the personalities and interactions with your side characters will come in handy. Make people love them. Care about them. Want them to make it through towards the whole 'happily ever after' in the long run. And then threaten the stability of that dream by putting them in danger and stressing your readers out with situations that your main, overpowered, protagonist could easily solve on their own...but aren't there to do so.

I hope that makes sense.

For me? In the vampire story, "Gone From Daylight", the main character, Justin, is definitely powerful enough to do a LOT of damage if he really wanted to. There aren't many problems that he couldn't solve within a matter of seconds if it really came down to a life or death conflict. But, one thing that I always tried to keep in mind was the fact that I really can't tell a decent story when my protagonist can simply vaporize everybody he comes across without any effort at all. I mean, where's the excitement in that? So I had to 'anchor' him somehow. Justin is 14 years old...powers and all. He's never known how to fight before. If anything, he's spent a majority of his life being a victim. He struggles with the idea of crossing over the line into a much darker side of his personality that he may not be able to come back from. He's making up all of these things as he's going along. He's no trained warrior, nor does he even fully understand what abilities he holds within him yet. There are limits on what he can do, and how he can manipulate his extras to help him out in a serious situation, but I can't just having him destroying entire Chicago neighborhoods in the blink of an eye. Hehehe, I' surprised that he gets away with as much as he has so far.

However...his biggest weakness...much like with the Superman trailer above, is that he has a heart. He's suffering through trauma and heartbreak, and he's doing all that he can to be a part of a brand new family in darkness for the very first time. If anyone really wants to hit Justin where it hurts the most? They can start with the people he cares about. Which has been a running theme in this series from the very first chapter. He's overpowered, but far from invincible. And I like keeping him that way...for now.

I think that 'plot armor' can create a certain flatness in a storyline. No...Harry Potter isn't going to get stabbed in the heart while he's sleeping. Captain America isn't going to get shot in the head while giving a speech to the public (Hehehe, at least not in the movies! :P), and Indiana Jones isn't going to fall off of a jeep and get run over by a TANK! I mean...we're past the age of thinking that such a thing is a possibility anymore.

BUT...I have to admit that there were a few shows that completely ripped the entire concept of 'plot armor' all the way off and tossed it to the four winds! And gripped me in a way that I never thought I'd ever see again! Omigod! That feeling...that anybody could go at any time...wow! It's priceless. It creates such an intense experience when you're watching it. And while I would definitely put "Game Of Thrones" in that category...my favorite (all time FAVORITE) series that display how white knuckled tension can be created by letting the audience know that 'plot armor doesn't always exist here'?

They would have to be "24" (If you've never seen "24"....WTF? You need to make that your homework! Season 6 was fucking CRAZY!!!) and "The Walking Dead"! (Again...Seasons 6 and 7? PHENOMINAL!!!) Watch those shows, and you'll see the impact of not knowing whether your favorite character was going to make it through the next 40 minutes or so. You won't regret it!

The whole point of this article is very simple...

If you want tension, worry, paranoia, and high stakes, in your story...putting your readers through bouts of stress and discomfort (You SADISTS, hehehe!)...then remove the plot armor. If you can't do it for your main character then let the dangerous consequences of that character's actions spread to the people that he or she loves most or keeps closest to their hearts. It creates a sense of vulnerability. A chink in the armor. And that makes people uneasy.

Pick at it. Tweak it. Have some fun. Hehehe, writing a really good story can be a gleefully manipulative effort some times. Enjoy it!

I hope this gives you guys something to think about in the future! Happy writing! And I'll seezya soon with more!