CREATE A CHARACTER WRITE-UPS
These characters have been created by children participating in workshops and written up by Jay Bird
ZAC
Character idea by Summer
This is Zac Bond and he is 13.
Zac is a cool, chilled out kind of guy, who is utterly obsessed with skateboarding. He hates school because it’s time he could spend learning new tricks. Still, at least he gets to enjoy the air conditioning. It’s always hot where Zac lives in Darwin.
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One evening, Zac noticed an elderly lady struggling with her grocery bags. He offered to skate them to her house and she agreed. It was no big deal for Zac, but it was for the old lady. She was a white witch who had lived a thousand years and she had seen how people changed. They looked at their phones instead of each other and polite conversation and help from a stranger, were things she missed.
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Zac’s kindness caused the old witch to experience a burst of magical power and she pressed a small diamond into his hand. As Zac stared at the sparkling jewel, it absorbed into his skin, leaving a painless yet beautiful pattern on his palm. ‘Kindness and beauty will always follow you,’ the ancient witch said.
Zac didn’t have long to wonder what these words meant. As he skated home, a trail of mystical patterns appeared behind his wheels. They formed breathtaking artworks, encrusted with tiny diamonds that could never be removed.
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Just as the old lady intended, Zac created intricate, glittering wonders that would stop people from staring at their phones and force them to share their delight. Wherever he skated, the art appeared behind him.
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Zac’s magical artworks eventually transformed the bleakest sections of Darwin into heavenly places full of good vibrations. And, to improve how he felt about school, Zac made sure he skated on every piece of concrete. Now he likes the air conditioning and the diamond artwork.
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LUNA
Character idea by Arianna
This is Luna, and she is 16.
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Do you see how the crow is perched comfortably on her arm? Some would be frightened to be so close to a bird with such a sharp beak and strong claws - not Luna. She could call a mighty eagle, and it would obey her commands. She could chatter to rainbow lorikeets, sing along with warbling magpies or listen to the secrets of a wise owl.
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Luna is a bird girl with two budding wings on her back. When she is twenty-one, she will be able to fly. It is hard to hide her growing wings, so Luna avoids going in public. She prefers the company of birds and lives in a tree house in a secret part of the bush.
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Perhaps one day, you might see Luna when you look up into the sky. She will be the most beautiful bird of them all.
JUSTIN
Idea by Ryan.
Hervey Bay Special School, November, 2023
This is Justin Cooper and he is 18 years old.
Justin lives in Las Vegas, in an apartment he bought for himself for over one million dollars. A gleaming Bugatti sportscar sits in his garage, along with three motorbikes and two jet skis.
Justin wears brand-name clothes, and in his ears are diamonds valued at half a million. His most prized possessions are his two Samoyed dogs, Lorenzo and Claudia, who wear collars made out of precious gems.
Justin isn't famous, nor is he a prince, the son of a billionaire or some business genius. The reason Justin is rich is because he has the power to transform leaves into money. This process isn't easy, and Justin works hard to keep growing his pile of money. Every leaf Justin finds has to be held in his hand before it changes into a five-dollar note. That's just how the magic that flows through him works.
Every morning Justin rises early and dresses like a gardener. He rides one of his motorbikes to his warehouse and swaps it out for a pick-up truck with a leaf blower, wheelbarrow, rake and gloves in the back. Then Justin spends hours raking leaves at places owned by older people and those with disabilities. He likes helping others, and late at night, Justin usually drops piles of money into the letter boxes of people from whom he has collected the leaves.
When the truck is full of leaves, Justin goes to his warehouse and empties them into a pile. He puts on some relaxation music and begins the tedious job of making money. He must pick leaves with no broken sections and hold them in his hand for precisely five seconds. At that point, the leaf magically transforms into a five-dollar bill.
Justin has a timer set to help him get this part exactly right because if he holds a leaf too long, it bursts into flames. In a warehouse full of leaves and paper money, fire is even more dangerous, and of course, Justin's hands are precious. He already has many scars from burns received while learning to use his magical power.
It takes one thousand leaves to make five thousand dollars, which takes Justin about one and a half hours. If he works hard in the warehouse for 6 hours, he can make twenty thousand dollars in one day. Justin usually works late into the night until his latest pile of leaves is transformed into neat stacks of five-dollar notes. This job is boring and lonely, but Justin doesn't complain – would you?
ANTHONY
Character idea by Summer
This is Anthony Haggons and he is 17.
Anthony is very particular about who he spends time with. This is because Anthony sees inside people and feels their emotions. He developed the ability the day he put on his first set of glasses, and even though Anthony has the option of contact lenses, he prefers to read people's emotions.
Sometimes, the horrible feelings people hide inside or the sadness of someone struggling can get Anthony down. Feeling someone's anxiety makes him sick in his stomach, and an angry person's feelings are toxic.
Anthony tries to be kind and helpful to these people, but it is often too much. He spends his time searching for happy people, but they are rare. True happiness and peace are the best feelings, and Anthony always looks for them in others. He seems to forget he can feel happiness for himself.
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MIGGEE
Character idea by Annmarie
This is Miggee and she is 11.
Miggee is an outgoing girl who likes exciting things, like hula hooping and unicorns. These are pretty cool interests, but what else would you expect from a girl who can throw rainbows from her hands?
Miggee has perfect control over her ability and she uses it all the time to improve the world and have fun. She just has to think carefully about where she throws her rainbows, because her colours don’t fade.
Once Miggee visited a farm full of white sheep and when no one was watching, she threw rainbows out all over them. The farmer was ecstatic – those rainbow sheep brought him lots of money. Miggee was happier. She had saved all those sheep from being butchered.
Another time, Miggee visited her Granny in hospital. The walls and the ceiling were all a pale grey, the colour of sadness and forever. Miggee thought carefully and then decided to toss rainbows onto the roof. That way, all the sick people could look at something beautiful while they lay on their backs for hours on end.
Throwing rainbows has its downside and Miggee has had some unfortunate accidents. Once, at her school sports day, she slipped on a puddle of water by the drink taps. Before falling, Miggee waved her hands around in a frantic attempt to regain balance. Unfortunately, this triggered a rainbow. and she splattered one all over her friend. Now that girl has rainbow skin. Her face is red, orange and yellow, while her body is green, blue, indigo and violet. Sometimes people think she’s an alien.
I’m sure you’ll agree that you’d have to be careful where you threw a rainbow. Next time you see one in the sky, think of Miggee. Maybe she put it there.
JOSH
Character idea by Eli
This is Josh and he is 15.
Josh lives on the edge of a forest in America. He spends most of his time in nature, sometimes as a boy, but more often in the form of a wolf or an eagle.
Josh is a shapeshifter. He inherited the gift from his ancestor - a great Indian chief called Hania. Hania's blood was mixed with the wolf, eagle, fox, owl, bear, elk, deer, moose and beaver in a powerful ceremony under a thousand-year moon.
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As a shapeshifter, Josh is sealed to the fate of the creatures of the forest, and he must protect them at all costs. This duty brings out the best of his character. Josh is loyal, courageous and fun. However, the wild, unpredictable blood that runs through his veins means he also has a dark and ferocious side. Like the wolf, Josh can never be fully tamed.
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