If I were you, I would think about exactly what direction I would want this story to go in. It seems he read an incantation and was possessed just by reading it, so that entails some powerful magic. However, possessed by what? Is this possession a positive or a negative event?
If positive, you can perhaps work the angle that angels empower humans in your world and allow them to use magic by possessing them, which would be an interesting and unique twist on an angels/demons story.
If negative, I have to ask, what the hell is an evil book capable of possessing people with a single, accidental incantation doing in a place of comfort, safety, and piety like a church?
Then again, you can use this to your advantage: Paint the church as an organization into a corrupt group seeking some sort of nefarious goal/item/whatever. Or make a certain sub group within the church corrupt. Or, it can even be one person that's corrupt, and simply his less important followers. This will all depend on what message you want your story to convey, and you'll best find this answer by working on an ending before starting with the rest of the story. If you know how you want it to end, and the final message you want your reader to take away from your story, then it's much easier to work backwards from that and start simply. This will also help you with avoiding plotholes and redundancies/discrepancies.
In your case, it could even be an ancient, lost tome that grants the user the ability to channel ancient, primordial devils...and the only thing that can stop them is by finding someone both powerful and pure enough to channel an angel of unbridled power, one of the first...using Archangel Michael would be cheesy, but not if you did it right. Do some research. Most books detailing the angelic heirarchy list 9 levels that angels are ranked by, and they are all cool sounding just by themselves. They list names, functions, etc., and some even list angels that belong to several denominations.
As classical as an angels/demons struggle is, you need a unique twist and a unique message that only your story can convey. Maybe try painting the heroes as villains and the villains as heroes? Say the church is a great organization and started out as a fantastic idea, but eventually began taking on more militaristic undertones throughout history, and in the current timeline of your story, they are more of an oppressive, tyrannical regime that does more harm than good, possessing more fanatics than moderates, preaching more intolerance than understanding...and make it an even more sinister portrait: This comes not from the vices of the human soul, but rather, the angelic heirarchy and he/those who command them have decided to rear humanity in this direction.
The reason? Simple: Humans, if left to their own devices, will only wreak havoc, war, chaos, and eventually destroy themselves. Now God, or whoever you want to make the angelic overlord in your story, has decided that old fashioned tricks like flooding/plague/famine/war/etc. didn't seem to do the trick, because he designed humans too well...they'll adapt to even the most unlivable conditions, short of just erasing them from existence. So what is your overlord supreme to do about this catch 22? The next best thing: Rear them in like cattle. The moderate path seems to be best for humans, neither annihilating them, nor granting them freedom. Keeping them mildly oppressed seems to work best, and for hundreds, or even thousands of years, this has steadily become more and more the case in your story. So, with all this background, where the hell does the interesting part come in?
The interesting part can be that your hero needs a devil's touch. Not just any devil's, however. Make it a really ancient, powerful one...perhaps "the devil", but that might be a little cliche. Use someone like belial, mephisto, or someone a little less known. Why in God's name would your hero need a devil's help, though? Even if he needed it, why would he ever agree to using that help? From here, you can take several directions:
1. Maybe humanity had it all wrong. It wasn't God that granted humanity free will, but rather the man downstairs, and THAT's the reason he's been demonized from the dawn of time. Now, in this time of worldwide, government/religiously endorsed human slavery, a devil is perhaps humanity's only hope at restoring the balance.
2. Maybe divine beings aren't infallible. They, too, can see only a limited portion of the infinite spectrum, and whatever course they plot for the race called humanity can not necessarily be the one with humanity's best interest in mind. Try and explain that to the stubborn bastards, though. With explanation stricken off the list as an option, the power of a primordial devil and the magic he can imbue a human with is just the ticket in bringing down holier than thou big brother.
Now, we get to why anyone would agree to use this, and perhaps other humans willingly possessed by devils', help. Well, what if they were shown a vision of the future, should the current course remain unchanged? A rigid, lifeless place of absolute law...nothing out of order, nothing out of place. No vitality, no spontaneity, no...essence of life. Yet, all will be provided for, and "existing" is easy. But, especially for humans, can that ever truly be considered a life? And thus your conflict begins.
You can make it even more interesting by the hero's conscience constantly being tested. After all, he's working with an ancient, primordial devil to take down an arguably beneficial and terribly powerful religious organization. He'll meet unimaginable resistance, of the physical, magical, emotional, ideological, and moral sort. Is it even worth it? Is what he's doing...right? Does security take precedence over possibility? Is certainty worth more than risk? Which yields more benefit? At what cost? These are all questions you'll need to consider, as the hero does...and then answer them, in whatever unique way you see fit.
Hope this helps. By the way, using tomes is cool, but why not update it a little bit? You can pretty much use any physical medium you want to channel/possess one's self with devils/angels...why not go wild and use whatever will be easiest for you to work with, and closest to your heart as a writer?
Topic: Writing a Manga Novel (Read 6871 times)
