i've been planning a story where some characters in a post-apocalyptic world has been affected by the atomic bombs, by developing a gene that gives them the power to bend different elements. the problem is that the more i've tried to develop how their power works and how it manifests, etc, the more i realise how much of how the powers works look like it's taken directly out of Avatar the Last Airbender. any advice on how to avoid a magic system looking like a carbon copy of one that exists?
Avoiding Copycat Elemental Magic System
I’m not that familiar with AtLA,so I don’t know how unique the magic system is compared to other magic systems in that genre or among fantasy in general. However, I’d imagine that when it comes to elemental magic, it’s probably fairly difficult to avoid having similarities with AtLA and any other story that uses elemental magic, because there are only so many elements and they all have a specific way that they would work or things that they would do. So, I think the best you can really do is look for the things about the AtLA magic system that you can do differently. But when it comes to the way that the elements work and what they can do, you’re probably going to be limited as to how different you can make that. Just do the best you can to make it as different as possible, and you’ll be fine! <3
