Photo credit: Amy Nickerson
It’s not much of a secret: I’m a sucker for stories about people with super-human abilities. Superman. X-Men. Heroes. Smallville. Even Twilight wooed me with vampires* that have special gifts.
I had a realization when I began my current novel. This is the first story I’ve written that hasn’t involved super powers of one type or another. That’s a pretty significant fact, when I stop to think about it. The Flawed series (Empath, Outcast, Provider) is about people with super-human weaknesses – which is really just a twist on the whole super power thing. Foreign Identity involves two individuals who display certain unnatural gifts. And the world of Sub-Normal revolves around genetically enhanced humans who all have super abilities.
So I have a thing for the super (powers, that is). And on that note, I want to tell you about this really handy site I discovered. It is http://www.superpowerlist.com/. Not only can you be entertained (presumably for dangerous amounts of time) by reading about off-the-wall super powers and categorizing them via a “would you rather” style voting method, but you can also add your own invented abilities. More importantly, you can glean imaginative ideas that may jumpstart a character, a scene or an entire novel. I’m telling you, there’s loads of mind-boggling stuff on there. If you’re a super hero junkie, you’ll fall in love. Even if you aren’t, you can snag tidbits and use them as you will in your own non-super (but still fantastic) plot. If you’re struggling with writer’s block, you might be able to find something on the site to get you going again. I took a few of the ideas for my last short story. (I won’t tell you which ones…you’ll have to wait until January when A Consortium of Worlds Volume 1 Winter Issue comes out. In the mean time, you can download the Vol. 1 Fall Issue here.)
So, hop on over and check it out! Oh, and when you’re done, post your favorites in the comments below. One of my personal faves is Walker, Texas Pizza Delivery: “The ability to order any pizza for free and have it delivered instantly by Chuck Norris.”
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*I use the term loosely, knowing that some refuse to define Meyer’s creations as true vampires. I, however, refuse to take sides on this one. 😉
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