I don't think mine do very much tbh. I guess they
begin having outlandish lives and all from the point where the comic starts but their lives weren't very aesthetically cute normal before too. I think it's probably due to some sort of political consciousness on my part, though my comic is hardly political but I think most of us who do feel that things are going somewhat skewed do feel a sort of guilt of not doing enough to fix things or being unable to. I guess they have at most some sort of hidden guilt and an understanding that even all their powers can't really make the world better, that's always going to be a team effort. And none of them have superman esq powers either

Well, I dunno about the rest of y'alls' characters, but most of my MCs never had the chance at a normal life. Even before being, like, forcibly transformed into the supernatural. I mean, my protagonist? A queer, autistic changeling. Yeah, I don't think they even know what normal would be, let alone to strive for it, haha.

Hehe… Hehehehe… Not wanting to spoil what happens later on in my comic‘s plot, but this is a topic I‘ll also heavily focus on because there is just so much you can explore with it x3

It also starts off by „some teens going on an adventure of their lifetime“, but little do they know that they open one too many pandora boxes along the way and as they get older and have to face the consequences of their actions, which, more often than not, tend to be quite cruel and harsh, even though they were rewarding at first.
So sure, they‘re gonna want to live „normal“ lives - or even want to go back to the way it was, when nothing happened at all, but also do they have to learn to hold their head high under the ever growing outside pressure that comes with their presence and public knowledge over them and their capabilities. And sometimes it‘s not only the pressure from outside, but also from the inside; for example, if a character doesn‘t succeed their own expectations and keeps on failing over and over, despite having the power to change so much.

It‘s not really a superhero story, though, more of an anime-inspired crossover fanfic (lol). But from the concept itself (anime & video game characters getting sort of reverse-isekai‘d), as I said before, characters wanting their normal lives back or working hard on having one is a very intriguing theme to include. ^^

I've thought so much about this! I didn't want to give the obvious answer "yes, my mc wants a normal life", so I'll try hard to express this theme in my story (a fantasy webcomic about a war between humans and creatures capable of using magic. Main character is the only human who can use magic too).
When he was younger, he wanted to be special, to be the hero; now he learned that being special can suck and people not necessarily love you for that. But I didn't want to take that "I wanna be the hero" away from his personality, so I stuck him between two needs: the first is the wish for a life with stability and no-one bothering him (and no-one dying because of his choices), and the other is the desire for adventures, fame, greatness. He sometimes behaves in a selfish way, because he'd like to have "powers without responsibility".
In the beginning, he's not working to have his normal life back, he's just running away from problems.

Honestly, like me, most of my main characters yearn for it. I had a pretty unconventional upbringing, and with it came a lot of heartbreak and instability that many of the people I saw around me didn't have to go through. As a result, when I was old enough to venture out on my own, I longed for that predictability, that stability that came with what you might call a "normal life,"

Suddenly, generic things became the most special things to be, being alive, well, stable and happy became the main pillars of what I hold dear. Thats why my novel is a slice of life, to those seeking an action packed thrill ride or a dramatic journey, they will find my writing a little anticlimactic. But this is the genre of games, books and shows that I hold dear - I love watching people go through and grow up with that almost mundane experience I never got.

That isn't to say that experience is boring, not at all - it's filled with growth, personal goals and meaningful relationships with others. It's about developing a home and a family, filling a pointless existence with purpose and enjoying the little things life can throw at you. I like to focus on characters, having them enjoy their own company and hold the company of others in high esteem. Enjoying their hobbies, and making fond memories together.

My characters have all different archetypes, but in the end they are a reflection of me in some form or aspect. The darker characters excude the darkness from my life and the happy ones embody the happiness that I have felt or that I long for. But no matter their darkness or their happiness, they all yearn for the same things in the end once they have caught sight of it and capture it. They don't seek power, fortune or fame - just someone to call a friend, a place they can love and a life worth living. I hope that their stories become a source of happiness and hope for the reader, even if only for a few short moments they can encompass them in a "normal life" and make them feel at home.

Yeah, my issue with this trope is how shallow it often is. Series go "I just want to be normal" without bothering to show the not normal being anything but cool, except maybe for one episode.

I've got 2 projects I'm working on right now, although which actually makes it to publishing is up in the air, and both have protagonists want a normal life. I think it works best because none of them really decided on this life, it was forced upon them.

One of them is basically a siren, so is legally not allowed to do like anything. Yes, they have this super cool ability and can control some people's minds, but they're also guarded constantly by people who're immune to them, can't really control it and are isolated and controlled and not even allowed to get out of the little village full of government agents watching them to go to university in case they accidentally break someone's mind by humming without thinking.

The other was taken away from the cool fantasy assassin life style by their mother during a divorce and is now shoved back into it after her death and suddenly boring classes look at lot more interesting than people hating you and trying to kill you just because of your family's reputation. Although on the other hand the other protagonist is a typical bored of everything kid who took a little too well to the exciting life of fantasy questing, looting and murder and never wants to go back to normal and everyone should be concerned by that.

This is a complex question for both of my MCs, for different reasons.

Adi learned early in life that she wasn't going to be 'normal' by her small community's standards, so she grew up wanting to see the world beyond her tiny town, because she was uncomfortably aware that she didn't fit in there. Being a rebel bites her in the butt really fast, and her life changes dramatically in the course of barely 24 hours, and she spends a long time after that trying to sort of simultaneously find someplace she fits in, and also running away from close relationships or other commitments because she doesn't want to think about/deal with what happened. She doesn't know if she wants a 'normal' life... or if she's terrified of having one, because what if it gets ripped away from her again? She's not even sure if she's capable of having one.

Koreal, meanwhile, was an intensely curious child, and once he discovered what magic was, he wanted as much of it as he could get his hands on. He was never really the sort to settle down to a relationship, 2.5 kids, and a stable job in the same city for his whole life. His opinion of a 'normal life' is that you sort of have to be a bit... incurious, unmotivated, or short-sighted to be content with that existence. Because if you're dying to know what's over the next hill, or where the geese go in winter, or why fire burns, if news of monsters attacking the next town over isn't just mildly concerning gossip but something you feel compelled to look into (because your town is 'the next town over') ... those sorts of intense need to know, to act, to DO something don't really mesh well with stability, predictability, safety. He relies heavily on his magic to make sure he's alive/doesn't starve/always has a roof over his head, but I think he'd die of boredom if he had to live a 'normal life'.

For both my mc's:

Andrew: In a sense, yes. While living in a world with magic is not ordinary, the situation he desires is. He just wants to reunite his family and live with them again. So in that sense I consider Andrew wanting to live a normal life.

Danivere: Absolutely. During her life she is taught how to become a ruler and bear the weight of responsibility for the kingdom. But during the main plot she gets a taste of normal life and starts to crave for that instead.

Within his community, Donnie definitely does not seem "normal," and is perfectly fine with that. Donnie lives in a backwards, authoritarian dictatorship, and is one of very few people to be against it, and their leader. In that way, Donnie is perfectly happy being an outcast who doesn't share his "love" for the country's dictator, though for safety reasons he obviously isn't open about this fact with just anyone.

I definitely changed in how I saw characters wanting 'normal', especially happy endings that involve returning to a normal life, which used to feel very boring and disappointing to me.

For my characters... it's a bit complicated. None of my characters are off saving the world.

In Rethe, the characters are all totally incompatible with normalcy. They've all chosen to functionally self destruct with magic. Vedya is the only person who aims for a somewhat stable life.
In Left to Rot, Allie craves a normal life outside her family drama, but Vanya was very unhappy in a 'normal' life and just wants to hunker down with old people and ghosts.
Most of the cast of Arcane Transcript are workaholic detectives, and are good with that situation. Many have stable personal lives. Claire would really like more of a 'normal' situation, but is also unwilling to do what it takes to get it

Ooh, gosh, I was like that. When I was younger, I thought they ought to stop complaining and just save the world. Good is being done. But now that I'm older...

In one of my more recent projects, there's a little girl who wishes she could have a normal life. "Normal life" to her is simply not being a sacrifice for the entire world. She has no real frame of reference for the apocalypse she was born into what the more charming aspects of "life" really is, but she still wishes she didn't have to die so soon. She's not a person to the "world", however--she's merely an object that can be used as sacrifice to the gods, to end the apocalypse for everybody else. It becomes a question of "one for the many" and the willingness of a society to kill a child for themselves. She knows the end is coming if she does not serve as a sacrifice but she just wants to live out the final days with her mom. She has no say in the matter, though.

The vast majority of my characters would say YES oh man a lot of them were forced out of their normal lives through forces they couldn't control, and they have to live with the fact that they can't go back to their normal lives ever again. Their new lives have become a normal for them in a way since they've had to live with it for so long, but they'd give anything to go back. My main character though has a normal life but just wants to blend and fit in because she is afraid of judgement. Maybe in time she'll learn she can just be herself around others.

My characters both have/want some have some semblance of a normal life, from certain points of view at least, lol.

I have two characters, one a werewolf, another a cop. The werewolf, despite the obvious, lol, has a normal life outside it, has a friends, does well in school, the perfect small town life, but like many people like that, werewolf or not, she longs to meet others like her, see how big the world really is. She eventually does, but not all the results are good.

For the cop. his life hasn't really been "normal" in most sense of the word. He watched his parents die in a home break-in, and even after 20+ years, there are moments where the event still weighs heavy on him. He does his best, balancing his work as a detective, brining helping others get justice much like how he got justice for his parent's deaths.