Still working on the prequel to Shades of Deception; apparently, my mode is more tortoise than hare. This is okay - because the tortoise won, right!? And I know it's going to be a good read when it is done because I'm having such a good time writing it.
Meanwhile, I thought I would reveal a little real-life story. I was walking with one of my gremlins to get my car from the shop. I had told her it was going to be a long walk, but she still wanted to come. I was carrying her booster seat so that she could ride safely home once we picked up the car, and holding her hand with my other hand.
"Look at that house. Do you think those people are home?" I asked, mostly as a way to distract her from what was already sounding like a walk full of whine.
"Yes, they are home. I know."
"Are they? How do you know? Do you have superpowers, and you can see through the walls?"
She giggled. "I do! I have superpower eyes! I can see through things!"
She then proceeded to have superpowers that allowed her to move things with her brain, and make birds blow up like balloons, and explode things when she looked at them. It was a very effective technique at distraction, as I didn't have to hear any whining for the whole walk.
"Do you have a superpower?" She asked, as her appetite for pretending to make things explode petered.
"I do! I have a very magical superpower!"
"What is it?" Her eyes lit with anticipation.
"I create worlds! I can transport people to places they've never been, and let them do things they've never done before!"
"What? How?" She demanded, clearly using a child's concrete thinking instead of my more metaphorical meaning.
To me, the ability to write stories that transport the reader into the story is a superpower. Thinking of authors whose words have helped me stave off boredom, or loneliness, or brought comfort when I was hurting - the ability to create those stories, and the worlds that those stories inhabit is an ability that not everyone has.
I believe there are other superpowers that exist in this mundane world, disguised or downplayed to hide their magical ability to make the world a better place. Like, knowing how to encourage someone with just the right comment at the right time, or making someone feel welcomed or valued. It's easy, for some of us, to forget to verbalize when we are appreciative or to not notice when someone is feeling uncomfortable. Some people seem to always be able to help fix things - or when they cannot be fixed, to at least help things not seem so horrible. These people don't wear capes or emblems on their chests that alert others to their superpowers, but they are there, nonetheless.
Courtesy of Nanowrimo, an organization that celebrates National Novel Writing Month in November, I have a wristband that declares, "Noveling is my superpower." I admit that a cape would be cool, but I make do with that. What about you? Do you believe in superpowers? Do you have any?
