Basically, in a middle of the field in terms of size town, everyone falls into a coma. Everyone who enters the town suffers the same affect. And twenty six hours later everyone wakes up... But all women of childbearing age are pregnant (yes I know, Village Of The Dammed springs to mind) and nine months later they all give birth to children, who's paternal DNA matches no known man. Long story short all the children turn out to possess superhuman abilities. The powers vary immensely and manifested when the kid's were around seven or eight. Ever since birth they've all had a telepathic connection. So what could be some psychologically realistic reactions to the kid's birth and manifestation of powers from the mothers, their significant others, and the kid's themselves.
The idea of everyone being pregnant with the unknown DNA is creepy (esp if the DNA was not even human or something). As far as the telepathy itself, I think it's cool but not that big of a deal...it's the unknown that will create the most suspense, so milk it for all it's worth.
Does this sound like a good protaganist? A child with water manipulation abilities, who once attempted to be a superhero when they first manifested. It ended badly, shaped his mindset quite a bit. And funny fact all the kids can fly does that affect things?
About telepathy - remember to consider the consequences of being able to read someone's mind or stuff like that. If you could really actually read someone's mind, you're going to get a lot of reactions, like real fast, as in within minutes or seconds, even. Imagine if someone could hear all the inane and/or weird thoughts in your head all the time.
Still, one of those kids communicating with the other kid is still a person communicating with somebody other than themselves. It might have an effect on their psychological development, for instance.
The kids, early in their lives were assumed to be developmentally impaired since they start talking until they were like four. They didn't aquire language as fast as nomral kids since telepathy was faster and mor intimate. So how would the mothers of the kids have reacted when their powers emerged?
If the children can fly, how has this not attracted national attention? Some of the parents might deny it, cover it up, and try to pretend their children are normal. Others might be afraid of them, grow to resent them for their strangeness, especially considering the circumstances of their conception. Others might just accept it, especially once they realize their children are not the only ones.
The children have been recieving international (like most of my stories it takes place in Australia) attention since they were born. How might their mother's signifigant others have reacted to the kid's conception? How might America have reacted to roughly eight thousand super kid's in Australia?
Also, make sure you're not ever using the telepathy as a plot device. If your main character really needs to solve a mystery or track someone/something down, but it's no effort at all because they can use their handy-dandy telepathy, that's kind of...annoying. I'm not saying you're doing this; just giving you a heads-up.
The link is only strong enough that they can "chat" with one another, not nose a through thoughts without permission. And how could the water manipulator kid's attempts at superherosim have gone wrong? And how might the mothers of the kid's have reacted to all this?
Elaborate on this a bit. (Not necessarily here, but when you write it) What is considered superhuman to the story? Can they lift extremely heavy objects, run at amazing landspeeds? Can the heal fast, process information quicker than the average seven year-old, leap tall buildings, etc? I'd recommend stream lining this a bit. Maybe stick to the minor abilities, like lifting, speed, etc. And then at seven, perhaps like the opening of the 90's Tomorrow People, have two of the kids play a guessing game whereby one has to "read" the other's mind only to find out that they can both do it. There's a whole range of things that could happen. For one, what time period does this take place in? Where exactly is this village? If it's a close knit town where everyone's business is everyone else's, you could have a church group calling this the work of God or the Devil. Maybe a bunch of people with "normal" children, get together and spread rumors about the people who suddenly became pregnant. For the extreme worse case scenario, look up a little song and dance called the Salem Witch Trials. If this is 2011, I highly doubt an event like this could happen in any part of the world without the media getting wind of it. Someone posting the event on their facebooks, the military responding, someone passing through the village and calling 911 as they see an entire town of people seemingly unconcious. Eventually those kids would be bigger than the Dewey Sextuplets. So it's all about how you approach it really.
Sounds to me like there would be a lot of tension between adults and the children born. Perhaps some parents are afraid or even hate their children, and many fathers might be unreasonably jealous that their wife was impregnated by someone (or something) else, and though they never say anything because they want to be supportive, it irritates them every day and it affects their marriage. There's probably some bullying going on, either on the children with powers by some older children (that are idiots for picking on someone with powers), or by some of the more misguided children with superpowers on children both older and younger than them. Just brainstorming some thoughts. Very interesting idea!
Like I've said before the kids have had media attention since they were concieved. And how would the world powers react? What would be the Left wing and Right wing responses?
Well, again, look at The Tomorrow People. You had people forcing telepathic children to do subterfuge. And one lady wanted to use the kid's teleporting ability to transport bombs into major landmarks and tourist attractions. How do you think the governments of the world would treat a potential ace in the hole. Look at the opening scene of Serenity. When The Operative calls out the guy responsible for River Tam's conditioning, he very calmly points out, "You put several members of Pariliment in the same room...with a telepath." Not saying your kids have that kind of telepathy, but there you go. The reactions are pretty varied, no matter what wing they come from.
The kid's can't use telepathy with normal people, unless that's their power. And all the kid's posses abilities other than the link, and they vary wildy.
So what might be affected by the fact that the kid's are seven when they get powers? And to make it clear, the powers are like those found in comic books.
Don't take this the wrong way, but why are you asking US what the reactions would be? It's your story, and how people react is part of that story. In other words, how they react is part of your statement, as a writer, about the people in the story, and people in general. Keep your voice. Don't let other people take that from you.
^Thanks, I needed that. Although I ask qyestions like "How would America react" since I'm not American, I don't have a grasp on their general cultural mindset.
Well, an American has as equal a chance of reacting one way or the other as someone from any other nation of the Earth. It's all about the environment and the up bringing.
Anyone in a position of power or responsibility would see superpowers, even in children, as a possible threat. Certainly anyone with a military backgroound would. Threat potential is based on capability, not intent, because intentions can change at any time, and need not be apparent to any observer until it is too late.
The Westboro Baptists would have a field day. And how might the kid's link affect the way they interact with people?
