Intro, Explanantion, & First Idea

This blog is where I'm going to try to make myself into a better writer. I'm starting this blog mostly for myself, but I wouldn't mind any constructive criticism or thoughts.

I started writing when I was a very little kid. I read a ton and tried to imitate what I read. I was never very successful, and I never thought of it as anything more than a way to have fun. In middle and high school, that changed a bit, with me taking my writing seriously and dreaming of having it published. In college, I didn't write much on my own, if at all, except for the essays due in my classes and the semester I took a creative writing course. It wasn't something I devoted myself to. I had my reasons; writing takes time, and I had never gotten much from writing. Few people read what I wrote, and even fewer gave compliments besides, "It's good." Also, the majority of my free time during college was spent at my computer, which was the first my family had ever owned (bought halfway through my senior year of high school), so I didn't read very many books of my own free will. I still did have to read a lot for college.

So, after I graduated from my measly community college, I stopped reading almost completely. I never lifted a book. I read manga, but that's not the same as an actual book. Not to say that literature is always better than manga, far from it, but there's a difference, plain and simple. Manga is easier, in a way, because you can just show what is happening without explaining it. With literature, you have to tell the reader the actions. Anyways, getting back to the point, I read manga and tried to think of creating my own comic. That didn't work out of course, because I cannot draw at all. My brain isn't visual. My skill is with words and thoughts, not the physical. If I make anything, it should be a book.

Right now in my life, I don't have anything going for me. No job, no school, no prospects. While writing probably won't net me a career or any money at all, I want to write, to be a creator. It'd make me feel better. I am going to use this blog to post my thoughts, my ideas, and anything else that might help me shape up and produce something worth reading. If I can accomplish that, then maybe I can try to get it published, but that's not my goal. I just want to be able to call myself a writer, without adding, "but I haven't written anything in a while."

First, there's an idea that's been swimming around in my head for a long time. More of a desire than an idea, really, and it's not ground-breaking or new, but I like it and want to do something with it. It's people being able to sense one another. Not everyone, just certain people, like those with special powers. I don't know why, but I love that idea. Imagine a battle series, where the heroes can feel when the villains are approaching them, and vice versa. A good guy would feel another like him close by but wouldn't know if it was an ally or enemy. He wouldn't know if the other person was looking for him or someone else. It's knowledge with a lack of knowledge. And it's just cool. I want to do something that involves that. Maybe psychics (I use the term loosely) who can even communicate with each other mentally, if they know each other well enough, or create weapons, invisible to the human eye, that can damage a person's body on a mental level. No outside pain, but tricks the mind into believing that it has been cut or hit.

Now, I can come up with a cast of characters and explanation of their powers and so on, but what would set it apart? What would keep it from being a generic fighting series, with one group against another?

EDIT: You do it by making it a story about what it is to be human, and more than human. Are the people with powers better just because they can feel one another from a distance? Are their brains better than regular people's? Are they smarter than other people? Are they more moral or ethical? What about the ability to mentally connect with another person? Is that the key, is that what really makes them better (if they are indeed better)?