Plot armor is when important characters seem to survive each and every treacherous obstacle that is thrown their way just for the sake of the plot. The readers know that your protagonist is important and won’t meet their demise because who else will defeat the bad guy in the end? This can result in underwhelming battle scenes, loss of suspense and an overall boring experience.
Here are some ways to avoid having your readers notice the plot armor (because let’s be honest, it’s there whether we like or not) or at least make it more realistic:
1) Injure your characters. Let it be known that no one is safe. During the heat of battle, the prized soldier loses his sword arm. The invincible superhero receives PTSD after witnessing a terrible event. Raise the stakes!
2) If they escape, make it believable. Did they sacrifice something to escape? Did a past experience give them the wits and knowledge to outsmart the danger? Justify your protagonist’s escape. Don’t make it an easy get away just because you need them out of the situation.
3) There are consequences. Every action sparks a reaction. Have there be realistic push back. Your character shouldn’t be immune to the rules and laws of your world.
4) Detailed Explanations. So, your character needs their limbs, their sanity and anything else you could strip them of. How do you make it seem like they’re not immune to everything then? Equip them with what they need (knowledge, weapon, confidence, etc) and really sell it to your reader on how they survived.
There’s no way a teenaged girl stakes a 400 year old vampire just by picking up a branch and defending herself. Equip her with some knowledge of vampires (fanfics to the rescue?), an ancient relic that she unknowingly wears around her neck and an insane amount of adrenaline… and maybe I’ll believe it.
5) Kill off other characters. Have their deaths affect the protagonist.
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The cold, paranoid, hunted, broken, flinching, stubborn, smitten, contrarian, opportunist, skeptic, Hero
Guy
Heehee i cant belive you gey to act with him.......
Today I tried painting Grace and Simon with gouache
still figuring out how to shade.
anyways. Bug guy :)
this dude
D: rose and miriam stayed together, got married, and had a kid together! instead of becoming a gym challenger, he is crowned with the future responsibility of marcos cosmos
POPPY: professor rowan, instead of letting poppy go by himself, takes responsibility and takes care of him! as a result, he becomes his assistant :^)
TURQUOISE: her family doesn’t hate pokemon, and since turquoise was still a bit of a brat, they sent her to train with the local gym leader: brycen!
THANK U TO THIS ASK FOR GENERATING A WHOLE ASS AU LMAO
i scribbled this out quickly on my phone bc I'm TIRED! they could be SO silly if ppl let go of the angsty gross torture porn
Shantotto vs Cefca in chess!
i need to reblog all my likes so badly ur honour