Powers & systems
The New Accelerator · H. G. WellsA drug makes them so fast that an ordinary walk becomes an experiment
Make a science-fiction power feel strange and usable by tracing what it changes about everyday perception and movement.
His face earns trust. A hidden picture tells another story.
Let a character keep their public reputation while private evidence makes it harder to ignore what they have done.
Read the scene & sources · Plot spoilers
The Picture of Dorian Gray · Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray: Chapters 2 and 7, the wish and the portrait’s first changed expression.
The situation
Dorian has wished that his portrait bear the marks of age and experience while he remains young. After rejecting Sibyl, he returns to the painting.
What the source describes
He notices cruelty around the portrait’s mouth and compares it with his unchanged face in a mirror. The discrepancy prompts him to consider his treatment of Sibyl and the possibility that his wish has taken effect.
How the choices connect
- A character retains an outward sign that others trust.
- A private indicator records what that appearance conceals.
- The discrepancy creates a choice between response, denial and concealment.
Watch for…
The first alteration does not establish a complete numerical morality system. Avoid turning every later choice into an automatic score without support.
Read the source passages
Chapters 2 and 7, the wish and the portrait’s first changed expression. ↗
Selected passages: Chapters 2 and 7, the wish and the portrait’s first changed expression.
How this moves the story
Dorian can compare two visible things: his unchanged face and an altered portrait. Other people still respond to the first, while he must decide what to do with the second. Keeping, hiding or inspecting the evidence can each become an action with consequences, rather than leaving guilt entirely in his thoughts.
Try it in your story
Choose what makes other people trust your character and one private record that challenges it: an object, message, account or witness. Establish why the record is kept. Write the first occasion when another person might encounter it, and the choice the protagonist makes to allow or prevent that.
Use in my storyKeep exploring
Powers & systems
Dracula · Bram StokerA morning shave reveals something wrong with the host
Reveal a hidden danger during a task the character would do anyway, then let the exposed person react to the discovery.
Powers & systems
The Time Machine · H. G. WellsThe light still works. He has only four matches left.
Make a reliable advantage create suspense by limiting how often or how long it can be used.