abuse-related superpowers

Suggestion- unabused kids with the genetic thing also get superpowers, they're just not so amazing because their lack of abuse meant that they didn't have such a strong desire for something to keep them safe.

What if there was a handwavey thing like the Powers That Be thought it would be lulzy to give traumatized people powers? Would that get rid of the Unfortunate Implications?

I really don't think it's Unfortunate Implications, though, if your concern is that it'll inspire people to beat up their kids. Because said parents would have to be unable to tell fiction apart from reality, and those sort of people probably shouldn't be parents in the first place. It's that "violent videogames make people violent" thing again.

Dunno what kind of plot Ettina's planning on, but it would probably be better to explore the not-so-good psych issues and whatnot. I am guessing that she will do that.

My concern is not that it will inspire people.

My concern is that people will see some sort of Warped Aesop and be highly offended.

I don't know about Ettina, but if I didn't write things I thought were offensive, I would never have written the one story I've completed that I actually think is good.

That said, I suppose a possible workaround would be to say that superpowers come from a focus and a belief so strong it bends reality, Unknown Armies-style, with abuse being one way to generate the necessary monomania.

There is a distinction from when one gets strong because they want to survive, and just being given something because they are traumatized.

The problem I have is more with a metaphorical implication; prizes and things make it all better. Where as the kids becoming stronger PEOPLE, is symbolic of the effort and self. The thing is when you give kids powers like this, to them it will be "cool!" or a gift.

In many people's minds, it will reinforce the idea that you can fix a kid's life with THINGS, as opposed to love and understanding, and non-dogma guidance. It ignores the emotional needs and thinks that material things can take this up.

Material things are a means to an end, not the end in itself. Art, for example, buying art will not make you happy. Something is experienced through art, but it is the experience that counts. Don't just give your kids stuff, DO stuff with them. If it's expensive or not, it does not matter, that is all icing, we need the fluffy and bready part of the cake, not that sugary stuff, though that does taste good, it is not the important stuff.

These superpowers come off a lot like icing. If you want the same theme and lesson, do it about a couple of kids that are abused, but learn to not become like their parents, have at least one good or decent role model outside the home, have the parents not realize how bad they are to their kids, and have the kids learn to live decent lives, but still with scars, and become stronger (but still weaker than average in the areas they were abused) for it, maybe even get married.

THAT would be much better, and still have the theme you seem to want to go for, unless this is some gimmick, and if it is.

@ OP, Be glad I am giving you this advice, I suffered a lot of abuse in childhood and lived my whole life in a broken home, talking about this stuff like this makes it very painful, as if it was some game. This gives my advice about this SO much more gravity, don't take any of the possible negative reactions or consequences lightly, as we (abused people) won't, many implications will reinforce common and sometimes even deadly miss-conceptions that lead people to not notice when someone really needs help, as people will assume that is just them wanting attention, and not the real thing.

How else does no one really notice or do anything until a kid commits suicide or homicide? Heard of the girl who killed herself, and all the kids who got charged with stalking, assualt, and other things, and thought they did nothign wrong? No one did anything, no adults, or anyone, even when they knew, and these kinds of warped aesops people accidentally get are in part very much to blame. Alongside hardcore attitudes about how to raise kids.

I suggest any kid with the genetic make-up should get powers based on their personality and life experiences, whether traumatic or not. Even if a kid has a perfectly normal upbringing, they'll probably want to be special and have some kind of dream life.

I wonder if the Third World in this setting has a high number of supers.

Probably about 6 out of 7, given the genocides, starvations, war, and disease everywhere.

When I think third world, I think rebels, refugees, sand, dead people, and a dozen huge cities per 1,000 square miles where some people live great, as in lower American middle class are like the richest.

Though Africa isn't all sand... that's mostly just Sudan I described, or Ethiopia.

There are barely any humans in the Sahara, so there aren't that much problems there.

The Sahel is the part where the shit hits the fan though.

The thing about controversial stories is that there are a fair amount of people who will absolutely hate the work, no matter how much effort the writer put into it.

(Caveat: I've never suffered from abuse, apart from some bullying during the first couple of years of school.)

I find this idea interesting, and I also see the problems other people have pointed out. If you're going to write this, the Grimdark route is probably the only way to go. I suspect that's what you're going for anyway, since superpowers caused by abuse is hardly anything that can be made light and fluffy.

Consider the possible changes to the world: powerful meta-humans are going to be a lot more common in the developing world, which is going to change world politics quite a bit. Do your research when it comes to the psychological problems the characters will have. And yes, as jasonwill 2 pointed out, bear in mind what is likely to happen when an abused child suddenly finds him/herself with more power than the abusers. Avoid the pitfalls that others have already pointed out: no "I spent the first fifteen years of my life starving in a war zone, but I can fly now, so that makes it all OK!"

I think this could be written, and make a very powerful story, but child abuse is a subject that needs to be treated with gravity and respect. If you stick to that, I think you can pull this off.

Ya, don't treat it lightly or your organs will be ripped out and we will play jump rope with them as the Dadrea Lord of Maddness plays on his fiddle made of an argonian's bones.

All hail Sheogorath!

I seem to recall Ettina posting about being abused as a child, so I don't expect her to be disrespectful of others' abuse.

edited 22nd May '11 9:40:55 PM by feotakahari

I do not recall that, and if she was, then why would she mess with the idea anyway?

^ . . .

Ettina, you'd best field this one yourself.

(Are you still reading this, or did they drive you off?)

@Zolnier

That could be a problem if you want to maintain Conservation Of Normality with this world, even if the concept could ever get off the ground, judging by the reaction from this forum.

A country, even one wracked by civil war, would cease to be third-world if it came to be the world's leading supply of super-powered people.

edited 23rd May '11 4:52:10 AM by doorhandle

And why would you want to maintain Conservation Of Normality? It's already a world with superpowers; it shouldn't look like our world.

I looked through the whole topic, the OP only posted one post, the original.

Well, it was mainly inspired by dissociative disorders, which involve a person, due to trauma + genetics, being able to do fairly remarkable things with their own perceptions and physiology. Like wiping their own memories, developing multiple personalities, causing medical problems, etc. I think of those things as almost like real-life superpowers. So I thought, why not have real superpowers that work the same way as dissociative disorders?

I will explore the issue of a negative experience having some positive effects. The protagonist (a kid superhero) is delighted at his powers because they mean he can protect people (he's got a Big Brother Complex, which he also extends to other vulnerable people). Only later will he realize what caused his powers, and then he'll do some soul-searching wondering if he shouldn't like his powers because it was his suffering that caused them.

Before my autism diagnosis, I used to think all my differences, including the good differences like obsessive interests, had been caused by abuse. I went through a rough time at one point, worrying about what that meant. So I'll be able to empathize with this kid pretty well.

Most of the superpowered kids in this story won't be heroes - only the protagonist, maybe one or two others. The others will be mostly villains, but played such that they're doing exactly what a person with that kind of psychological problems would do if given superpowers (eg someone with borderline PD using it to keep his/her partner from ever leaving). Others are no danger to others, using their powers just for their own benefit, like the protagonist's younger brother hiding from people by going invisible.

Regarding 3rd world countries, remember, the genetic predisposition is rare. They would have a higher rate of superpowers, but not overwhelmingly common. If every single person with this predisposition got traumatized, there'd be only about 2-3% of the population having powers. And those could range anywhere from minor things like talking to your shadow and having it talk back, to something really powerful. Only the very strongest or those who use their powers very cleverly would be able to take on modern weaponry and stand any chance whatsoever. (Dropping a bomb on them is an effective counter to a lot of special powers.) And the countries secretly benefitting from the conflict make sure to manipulate the superpowered people into fighting each other instead of banding together for the common good.

Have you thought about areas of the wrold that are unstable? They'd have a lot of supers.

2 or 3 percent of 8 billion is still a freaking lot.

For a small but sizable minority, one to four million would be enough. This is considering that this is a world-wide thing, and that India and China are packed with supers.

Are you all right?

edited 26th May '11 7:23:40 PM by chihuahua0

2 percent of that is 160,000,000

talk about lots of kids with revenge

anyways... super armies kids iwth blow them waswesa adsf!32

sorry ive been crazy lately so excuse my asapfA SPA Satic typing. I'm like some kidn of werido or somthing.

anyways, 2% of 8,000,000,000 is 160,000,000 kids with P 0 WAS!!!! Kids who get abused and get POWAS!!!? well, you'd need to look at a population density map to find out where most would be, that would be eastern china and parts of india. ffs communism china stfu china you suck communism ssucks

so,. um... idk china would have a lot cause of oppression and stuffs. India? idk. lot's of tech support people there and caste system is gone so idk guess tehy'd be better off, i think india is better about their peopel being free and stuffs.

Um, africa is screwed and most would die anyways or... no, idk. depends if the kids are made soldiers with the other kids. America is, idk.

Might be better to make the genetic thing a smaller amount. like uber uber rare mutation that is caused by some virus, or it could of been a mutation in a small population from something in the enviroment only in that location.

ya, that maks more sense anyways, but its ur story so you do whats you want im just a crazy miserable person. that's just my suggestion to not have kids with POWAS! everywhere

Well, one thing I decided to do was make it that there was an artifact suppressing the development of powers worldwide, and it was just destroyed recently. The first people with superpowers showed up about 2 years ago. (I wanted the police to be kind of at a loss for how to deal with supers. The army knows how to handle supers if they don't mind collateral damage, but police are still working out their methods.)

The abusepowers are genetic. You need to have the gene so it can be activated.

Therefore, people of darker skin do not get superpowers.

That is a stupid concept and I hate it.

edited 26th May '11 8:36:40 PM by OrangeAipom