Invert Your Characters

I have a story idea that’s been germinating for some time^*. The element of the two main protagonists I want to share is a rather common one: one of them has the “special powers” and the other acts as the “guide” and liaison for interactions with the normal world.

As it is now, the “powered” sibling is the introvert, the conflicted soul, the wandering misidentity. Not necessarily the natural-born loser but in need of reliance on his familial counterpart for basic life management skills. Naturally, the average-powered sibling plays the outgoing caretaker, able to configure a life enough for both of them while maintaining a steady hand behind his back to ensure safety for the weirdo in the background. Charlie Babbit and Raymond Babbit.

Boring! Duller than yesterday’s oatmeal. Initiate inversion protocol!

Make the superpowered sibling older, more mature^**, high-functioning, high-energy output, out there socially: lots of friends, parties. A skilled, successful, leader of men by sheer intuition. And somehow his extroversion is a way to contain or mitigate the powers^***.

Now make his sibling younger, quieter, with child-like (not childish) behavior markers combined with the attendant maturity that brands nearly lifelong caretakers. He would need to balance being the parent with learning how to be an actual, biological adult.

How would that play out? Would it bear a more interesting character development or end up being too weird a nail onto which a plot could hang^****?

^* The story mentioned here is an anime series idea, but, in the minds of uninitiated folks, the genre implies malformed concepts and images of American dorkwad males with stunted social skills. So you can safely ignore that designation for now. Plus, getting an anime series sold is impossible.

^** “Mature,” within the context of my story idea, comes with a hedge. The superpowered sibling is motivated to get “lost” throughout many points in the narrative. This does not manifest as an accident or pure personality quirk but as a character motivation crucial to the story.

^*** The “superpowers” in the story are rare but well-known to the general public. It’s not exactly certain death to reveal that you have them but if you’re high-profile enough the wrong people could take a keen interest in your person.

^**** No reason for this footnote. I’m just starting to think all of these are an indicator of poor writing or organizational skills.