It really is the question. I've been writing my book for the past seven or eight months without any special powers at all. My characters are just regular, powerless shapeshifters. However... I sort of want to have special powers again. Strictly elemental—water, earth, fire, air—because otherwise it gets too complicated for me. I'd be asking my older sister this question, but she's still sleeping.
Should my characters be able to wield the elements? Or should I just stick with what I already decided?
Important things that might weigh into your response:
No, I wouldn't have to start from the beginning of my manuscript to add this in.
Not everyone would have a power. Only about a third of the entire population and even less of my characters.
This doesn't overwhelm me—I just wonder if anyone thinks it would add to my story or not.
I've written powers like this before, and—not to toot my own horn—I write them fairly well.
Powers in SMV?
Do it! I think it would be really cool.
Mmm... I don't think it would add much to the story.
Also, I have thirty thousand words in my WIP right now!! 🎉
I can't really tell you what to do because it's your story, not mine! What do you feel would be best? And I know you're probably really conflicted about the answer, but that question is pretty much true. Picture yourself writing your novel. Which one can you imagine carrying out all the way to the end?
And you can always try both directions! Write it out! It's not going to be a waste of time, believe me! It'll certainly be much better than just staring at your screen and going, 'which way do I go???' Not sure if that's what you do, but it's certainly what I do. Save each draft you write! And even if you don't stick with that direction, you'll still have learned something along the way!
And when you try writing it out, trust me, you'll know if it works or not. AKA if it's the wrong direction, it'll be like wrestling with a story...
The story will win.
Also congrats on the 30,000 word count!! That’s almost a short novel!
I mean you do what you want with your story, but honestly in my opinion the whole story about SMV is already so good with the whole humanimals idea. One of the things I love most about your story is the simplicity of the story how it’s like a classic fairy tale and I just think adding elemental powers as well as humanimals would be too much. That’s just my opinion. But hey, I’m not in your head on what you intend to do with this idea in your story. If you feel like it could add to your story, go for it!