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. |
