There’s nothing like prepping for a Christmas visit with the family to keep us busy… and then there’s all the editing I’ve been doing on The High Road and planning the books to follow. So with all of those thoughts of the people in my life, and the sky-riding tricks in my book, my mind naturally took the “powers we wish for” question in my last post and came up with a whole different wish.

Of course I’ve wanted to fly since forever; that’s always driven that story. But right now, I find myself thinking of another of the classic magical gifts. I’ve always liked the idea of being a shapechanger.

After all, this is a power so versitile many of us don’t think of it (or write about it) in its full form.

• Some people promptly think of Mystique (X-Men) and other tricksters who disguise themselves as people.
• Or there’s the whole world of animal changes:
  • to travel unseen just “go crow” and flit by unnoticed,
  • or shift to a hawk or bloodhound to improve the senses ,
  • or use anything with wings to get around
  • and even you need even more, add claws or an elephant’s size…
• And then there’s specific fine control, shifters who sprout claws on their human hands or will their wounds to close, and much more.

The classic question might be “invisibility or flight,” but a total shapeshifter would have stealth and mobility, plus healing as just the first of other bonuses to come with them. It’s hard to get more versitile than that.

And… thinking back over the musings from my last post, I know I’m most drawn to the animal side of that dream, for a whole set of reasons.

Yes, I can see myself just in the moment catching an updraft as a hawk. And, it’s one of those powers I could wish for knowing I can just shift secretly back and get on with my day—who wants to have the CIA banging on your door when you’re trying to write? But most of all, I like the whole world it unlocks the more I want to explore:

Imagine it. How does the city through a hawk’s eyes, sharper and all spread out below with miles all in view at once? Or to a rat, down there on the ground, snuffling its way through all the back corners and crates and refuse we’ve piled up? Just thinking of it reminds me how long it’s been since I’ve hiked through anything but blocks of concrete. But to look at every bush and know I could be a squirrel inside it… or not just walk past a lake but be a fish to see how deep it goes…

They’re simple dreams, I admit. As an adventure writer maybe I ought to be tracking down muggers as a wolf. (Or else identifying them for the police as a bloodhound.)

Still, there’s a whole world out there to explore, both by venturing farther out and by looking deeper into each thing there. And I realize that the more I’ve been writing, the more of that exploring I’ve let slip by. So if I wanted a gift to change my life, it would be tempting to not have to choose between them.

 

What would you wish for? What worries, hopes, and maybe regrets would draw you to one power or another—and how will we each make the most of what we have right now?

Merry Christmas, Happy (belated) Hannukah, and goodwill to all of you and yours.

–Ken

 

On Google+

It’s a harmless, playful question: “What superpower would you want?” Or magic talisman, ultimate gadget, or any other way to phrase the one thing you know you won’t be getting for Christmas… so what does it matter what we wish for?

I think it does matter. Not only because dreams always do—especially for those of us who spend hundreds of hours reading about dragons and telepaths. But, because it might tell us something about how we see our everyday world too.

So, ask yourself that question, and think about your answer. Then, take a look at a few ideas I’ve put down here.

Of course, it’s not always that simple. If we could all look at our favorite heroes and instantly spot some great missing piece of ourselves, we’d all be doing just that and the world would be a simpler place. (More exciting too. There’s a book in that, I’m sure…)

What I think is, none of us even hear the question the same way as other people, and none of us hear it the same at different times either. Which can tell us a few things too, or keep us guessing.

The Wow Moment?

Your first thought might be a single Moment of Awesome. Buzzing over crowds with flight, or seeing into someone’s mind what they really think of you. Clear, primal satisfaction of using a gift in its most obvious form, just for those pure instants.

If that’s the kind of image that comes to mind, enjoy it, but I wouldn’t suggest trying to see much more in it. You never know: one person might latch onto flight as a way to get away from people, and another loves it because they like spending all day juggling different people’s needs but think of flying away for the few moments they dream of taking a break. And a third might want to fly because she lives near an airport.

A Day in the Life?

Or, you just might picture something more than a moment with that gift, and have a sense of how you might build a life around it. Not just swooping down on those crowds but planning how you’d gear up for a rescue, or a search, or how that power’s being almost impossible to conceal barely matters if it means you become famous for your aerial adventures. It might be you don’t just picture the moment, but pieces of a different life it could bring you.

When my wishes come out like that, I often wonder if the life I picture around the magic tells me more than which power’s at its center. Sure, common sense says that if I want to see the future it’s a sign I’m concerned about my own… but it might just mean I wish I had more to talk about with my neighbors, both to help them and just to practice convincing them I had something to say. If I wanted to protect them without persuading them, I‘d have pictured myself with super-strength.

An Edge on Reality?

There’s one other form that wish might take. Namely, to see ourselves just fitting a gift into our daily lives and barely changing them at all, but with that one great advantage to what we already do. These are the dreams of being the telepath who has the right words to help everyone get along… or walking to work as usual knowing no disease or mugger can touch someone invulnerable.

I have to say, a wish that comes out in that form might be the most interesting. What can I say, these are times I’m dreaming of something I actually could have in some form, if I spent more time in the gym or on Google or wherever else the answer might be.

 

So, which form did your wish come out in? Did you picture one of those moments, or part of a different life, or as a plus to your real one? What degree you saw the answer in might tell you more than what power you saw in it.

One way or another, dreams always matter.