forum I need help. i need to introduce a character to her powers.

Started August 29, 2019 by @wwWolfgirl

tune

can anyone help me?? i am writing about a character who is just now getting her powers. she is getting the powers of her worst fear. how should i make her realize that she has magic? Anyone?

Gimme more context, what's her worst fear, how does the power work? I might be able to brainstorm something up.

(Sidenote. is this world, to get powers you have to go through trauma and you get the powers of what you have trauma from. eg a girl who is has trauma with fire, gets fire powers.) the plot is, she is a young girl, 14, and she and her mother and sister moved away from their abusive father. there she meets a girl her age and befriends her. months later the two friends go out on a boating trip. the friends drowns bc she jumped in the way of the young girl. the girl blames herself. so she goes home (She lives at the beach.) and for weeks every time she sees water she flips out and have horrifying flashbacks.(Idk if you guys know anything about trauma, but most of the time when you see (in her case water) anything that reminds you of the traumatic experience it horrifys you all over again.) sorry if it is to long. :( and the weird spelling. Arwen=sister Jajube=fruit Irvian=a pet silamanon=fruit

here is a piece of the actual story.

It was time. Today was the day that finally face my fears.
I made arwen guide me the edge of the water. I kept my eyes closed the entire way. I felt the sun warm my skin as I got closer the water.
“Here's the water. “
I am going inside now.
“Ok." I said.
I walked up to the ankle deep water. It was cold. A wave sprayed water in my face. as i went into the knee deep storm clouds wafted innocently overhead. I was met with horrifying flashbacks of her.
Malia.
Images of her drowning and gasping for air blinked in and out of my mind.
But I was used to this.
The images were not as scary as they used to be. The deeper I went the more terrifying the picture became. I was about waist deep when I couldn't take it anymore. I tried to force myself but the clouds began to rain down. Strange. The sky was sunny when I walked outside.
I ran inside as fast as I physically could.
I looked out of the window of the kitchen, and to my surprise, the sun is shining and there is not even one cloud in the sky.
I walk back out.
The sky is foggy and clouds look as if they were cauldrons about to overflow with rain.
I imagine the clouds of rain just disappearing out of fear.
And much to my bewilderment, they did exactly that.
They seemed to evaporate faster than a millisecond.
“Mother?!” I screamed in terror.
Images of lighting popping right in front of me flashed in my mind as I felt the heat of a real lightning bolt strike the ground about one foot in front of my eyes. I rubbed my eyes as I scrambled towards the house and screamed again for mother.
I focused all of my energy on a peaceful sky.
No clouds.
No rain.
No storm
I opened my eyes and there it was, a perfect sunny day.
“Yes Ara?! What do you need dear?!” I hear mother scream as she bolts out of the back door as runs over to me. “There was a huge storm!” I cried as I buried myself in her blouse. “What do you mean darling? It is sunny. When was the last time you ate? Perhaps you saw a mirage.”
“No! Mom there was a huge storm. But right before you came outside i thought of a sunny day and the weather changed! You have to believe me!”
He facial expressions betrayed her thoughts as she said. “Of course. I am truly sorry i missed it then. Come on. Let's get you inside.”
After that day I always felt peaceful around the water.
But about a week later, something I never would have thought could happen, happened.
I was minding my own business, folding clothes when i heard a few voices whispering. At first I thought nothing of it. I had just assumed that it was Mother and Arwen. But then I remembered. Mother had gone to the market and Arwen had gone to a friends.
I was alone and i was hearing voices. I froze and began to listen. At first I just heard the ringing in my ears. Then I heard “Come my queen.” “Hello?” I shout. Dropping the shirt that I was holding. I listen as I walk towards the back door. “Come my queen.” The voice is louder. I walk outside, “Come my queen!” the voice it much louder and the words are spoken with much urgency. I walk until i land upon the edge of the water. Squeezing my eyes shut I hear, “Come my queen!” by now the voices are screaming. I gasp as I open my eyes and take in the sight i see before me. I watch as the water crafts a wave. This is no normal wave. The water flows up but does not overflow. And in shock I wave my right hand in front of me. Strangely the wave obeys. It copies my actions as if it were natrel. Think of a fish i imagine a beautiful fish and I look to see that she water has created the exact fish that I imagined. I toyed with it for a while. I must be dreaming. When mother arrived home i had made a fish, Arwen, Mother, a silamanon tree, Irvian and jajube fruit. “Mother! Come look!” I squeal with excitement as i make a mushroom. “What do you need dear- Oh my gracious! What is that?” “It is a fish! I am very happy you are in my dream.” “Um dear?” she asks as her eyes get wider and wider. “You aren't dreaming. my hands drop to my sides. The water falls to my feet as my face goes white as a ghost. “You can-can see it to-to?” I stutter as I realize she is telling the truth. ““Yes dear it is very real.”

So after reading all of that, how should i make her realize that the powers are her?

Okay, so here it's just a strange coincidence to her. But now you should really have a situation where she is forced to use her powers otherwise she'll die. So I'm thinking there could be a flood. Draw out this part and save the realisation till last. So the entire time, she's trying to escape the flood with others. At the end of this part, she's caught in a dead-end and a huge flow of water is coming towards them and before it gets them she sends the flow of water up, not like a geyser but straight up moving it as you described.

So it forces her to basically switch off to instinct. She's not going to push her hand out she's gonna cover her eyes or something but the water will be so close she touches it and when she looks up she's gonna see the water flowing slowly upwards like a giant slow-motion fountain.

Obviously you can use this idea or let it help with your brainstorming but here ya go.

It reminds of a character I'm doing in my sort of superhero story where people are born with powers that can develop randomly. Anyways she controls the weather with her emotions. She realises this after she makes rain stop when she cheers up then when she strikes someone with lightning when she's pissed.

thx so much Caboose! i had no idea how to go about this.

No worries