The story: a crazy invention from my beloved niece, about family. Not our family, but a family. Each person has their weaknesses and strengths, or “struggles” and “abilities”. As debilitating as their struggles are, their strengths are little superhero powers. It’s a wild ride so far, with a mean dastardly bunch of evildoers that are ambiguously known as The Dutch. There seems to be a mole in the family hideout, plotting to give the whole family over to the bad guys.
As usual, as I am writing I find I can’t trust my characters. They get up to things I never intended and mess up any plan I might have made for how this story was going to evolve. Unfortunately I can’t tell you the latest twist because I don’t want to ruin the fun if you ever read it.
Below is a chart of the struggles and abilities so far. Love to hear any and all suggestions anyone might have! Send in your weird ideas and I’ll incorporate them somehow. Yay! Weirdness!
Character | Struggles | Abilities |
Vonda | High anxiety. | Incredible sensitivity: her senses capture deeper levels than the ordinary. |
Dek | Lack of confidence; sure his best years are behind him | Strong and agile; a sure-shot |
Levi | A little OCD and a lot resentful | Penetrates glass without breaking it |
Millie | Constantly annoyed with everyone and everything. Lonely. | Knows and remembers everything, and can put it together helpfully. |
Jinn | Mercurial and ineffective | Able to shoot electricity |
Neal | Can’t think big-picture | Manipulates sound |
Bart | Developmentally disabled and in a wheelchair | Gifted with all things fibrous – ropes, knots, lassos… |
Triplets | Too young to be much help against the Dutch; more of a liability | Triplets with a special language among themselves |
Pottie | Indecisive and overly theoretical | Able to speak in binary code |
Lance | Can be self-involved; might be a double agent | Blows air like a hurricane |
Oziel | Surly teenager; lost his mom at a young age | Evades capture |
Burnsy | Mean and selfish. | Emits brilliant light and read patterns in light. |
Grover | Deceased. | Bewitcher, on the city zoning committee. |
Dr. Manta | Turns things into other things; a doctor for people with weird skills. |
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