Originally Posted by
Domino_Dare-Doll
Characterisation--this is equally important as plot, if not more-so! Find the character's voice, get into their head, really assess how they'd feel about the situation beyond the author thinking "This is the way forward." Challenge that, even alongside leaps of progress! Individuality is key here; though people will unite for the greater good, they'll never see it the exact same way, nor will they be quite so willing to go along. Show that! And stop with the broad-brush, hyperbole, rhetoric language. If it's important enough to challenge, have the character show us why.
Narrative resistance--only on a much more personal level. Let characters explore gut feelings, if something looks too good to be true, let them suss it out for themselves, let us as the audience see it through their eyes! Simply being told "Everything is amazing right now," quite often, isn't enough for our suspension of disbelief; we need to experience it, not just be told about it. Address the audiences concerns, don't snark at it! It hardly makes for an endearing experience. For every one character telling us about why things are great, have another asking "why do you think that?" or at least disagreeing slightly!
Nuance--this is something that feels totally lost in this new direction. Hickman's distilled the problem to "Us VS Them" on a global scale without considering the grey areas in between. For example, while characters like Magneto might be perfectly content with looking down the bridge of his nose at humans and all that makes them such, religion for example, others like Dani, Rahne, Kurt and Kitty are going to think differently; their religions and cultures have heavily shaped and informed who they are. It's not the extent of their personality, of course, but it's definitely run alongside them in a meaningful manner. That can't be simply tossed aside; show characters who still identify with the 'human' side of themselves, explore what that means! Show characters who still have close ties to their families but might not like the idea of being completely separated from them, show characters who resent the idea of having to uproot themselves from their communities, and just as importantly; have characters call out others' rhetorics. Additionally, have characters react to the things that are going to push them from point A to point B. Don't just drop us in there and expect it to be alright!
Storm is a prime example of this: why is she so dedicated to the cause beyond the data-pages? What has pushed her from what was a generally objective, moderate outlook to a much more jaded and embittered one? Even one sentence with clear, unambiguous language would help us empathise with this and be much more receptive to seeing it explored.