Brainstorming help. Warning: looooooooooong

Hi Sis! Finally I get around to this part lol, but it's necessary because I feel like I can't write anymore without ironing out some details. Trouble is, these few issues are the same ones I've had since the very beginning, and so I need a different viewpoint I think.

I'm going to copy and paste a summary I sent someone. I tried to join a writer's group but there was only one other person in it, so she and I have decided to try and help each other out. She hasn't seen anything yet though, so I have no idea what kind of critique to expect.

If it sounds a little bit like the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, it basically is but with elementals. :p I need to find ways to help it NOT sound like that though.
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"So what’s my book about?

It’s about a brotherhood (not biological, but not quite a society?) of elemental warriors. Elemental as in fire, water, air, earth, yes, as well as others and interesting combinations. They are not really completely human, but have human forms and live in our world. They have a world (plane, dimension) of their own, but I have not worked out how they travel back and forth to it yet.

Being that elements are necessary and natural to life, their enemy, the ones they are fighting, are screwing with the natural order of things. They are basically chaos and entropy, going around causing disasters. They find “erratics”, humans with latent elemental powers, and cause them to basically spontaneously implode/explode and cause chaos and destruction. Our elemental warriors are soldiers of good, charged with keeping the earth and humans safe, and keeping the world from going out in mayhem and a mess of natural disasters. All anyone has to do is watch the news to see that they are losing the battle. Tsunamis, earthquakes, tornados, flooding etc all get worse every year, with larger loss of life.

I haven’t figured out how the warriors find the enemy first, or the erratics, but so far I just have the idea that they are looking for the humans with powers to protect and try to prevent disasters. I think to make it interesting the enemy must also have a form that can do physical combat, but I’ve not figured out that yet either, or how they battle. I want it to be more realistic and complicated than just hand to hand or opposite elements. No fire vs water for example, I think that’s too easy.

So anyways, we’ve got these warriors all physically and elementally strong, and attractive. Fire  and heat are often associated with passion, so that’s where I’ve chosen to start, with that guy. There’s some personal reasons behind that too, so I think that’’ll be the easiest story to write while I figure out all the details.

Yes, I want to write all their stories, all of the main elementals (some which will be women)….no pressure, right?? I’ve never written a book before at all, but I’m already planning on a series…..! Don’t worry, I know I’m ridiculous, and dreaming. :p

Our hero and heroine meet innocuously at first, then when he’s flexing his elemental muscles and saving her. There’s tension, because she knows she saw something impossible, and also because, hey, she almost died in a fire, which he can control! She’d be silly not to be a little wary. Not to mention, he’s super powerful but has less control than the other guys. However, you know, desire cannot be denied, and true love conquers all, so they will be thrown together again and again until they’re head over heels for each other, and then he will die.

……….

Just kidding, but only slightly. Something has to happen, because I’d like her to have to somehow go to the elemental plane to get him back, and there discover that she herself is an erratic, with slight water powers, and when they come back she’s gained them. This is also kind of setting up the vague and hazy ideas I have for future stories. It’s a little trope-ish I realize (opposites attract and all that) but since his lack of control is a factor, I wanted him to be paired with someone who could have some sway on that, calming him down, so that when his control counts, he is triumphant. Also, fire + water = steam, and a steamy love story is exactly what I’m going for!"

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So, yeah....These are the things I need help scrounging up ideas for.

1) How do human-form elementals fight human-ish forms representing chaos and mayhem?

Fire vs water style fighting is too easy. Should it just be the amount of power vs amount of power? The bad guys are bad partly because they ARE so powerful. It takes all the warriors to fight just one or two. Should it be like, fire damages skin or water drowns them, or lack of air suffocates them, etc? But wouldn't that be too easy? Hand to hand only? Maybe they cant use their powers at all for some reason, while fighting the bad guys? But what about guns? Is there some other way or form of combat between them that would be more interesting/logical? Should the bad guys be human-ish or corporeal at all? Any other ideas?

2) Under what circumstances do they go back to their own plane? Are they called back by higher forces? Do they go back when they die? Is some sort of ritual involved?

3) How would a human with latent elemental powers get to the elemental plane, and how would the get back?

4) How do the warriors identify the enemy, or know that they are nearby? Maybe an unnatural smell? But what is unnatural? Burning plastic maybe? But the bad guys in BDB smell like baby powder, so maybe that's too similar. They need some kind of "tell" that most humans wouldnt notice or wouldn't think was strange. Darkness? Something only the elementals would notice? Any other ideas?

5) Similarly, how do they find the humans that are being targeted? 6th sense? Can they only find the enemy, and then try to figure out who is targeted? That would be problematic, but maybe that's why it's so hard? Any other ideas?

6) If it's difficult to travel back and forth to the elemental plane, when did they arrive here and how? Were they sent, or born? Were they already warriors, or did they have to grow into it?

If it's not too difficult, why do they have to have a life here then? Any other ideas?

I appreciate the help, and I'll go update the hiaku right now! If you cant think of any ideas all at once, you can just comment with any you do have, or you can make a new post if you have a lot!

They dont have to be answers to my problems, just ideas that I havent had yet that might work. I'm impatiently waiting to see what ideas you may have!