𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐂:
Twilight fanfiction aid
𝐢𝐢𝐢. Creating a timeline for an OC

I'm writing this while watching the Silverstone GP 2024, LOL.

Let's explain what a gift/ability is. So, here is the canon description of a gift/ability according to the Twilight Illustrated Guide:

Most vampires find their key personality characteristics intensified by the vampire transformation in the same way their physical abilities are strengthened, but relatively few have abilities that can be classified as supernatural. More common would be a human with a love of learning becoming a vampire with an insatiable scholarly curiosity or a human with a deep value for human life becoming a vampire with the strength to avoid human blood.

But a few vampires do develop additional abilities that go beyond the natural. These extra abilities are due to psychic gifts in the original human that are intensified in the resulting vampire. For example, a human who was very sensitive to other people's moods might develop the vampire ability to read thoughts or influence emotions. A human who had some limited precognition might develop into a vampire with a strong ability to see the future. A human with a good instinct for hunting might become a powerful vampire tracker.

The proportion of supernaturally talented vampires to "normal" vampires is greater than the proportion of psychically gifted humans to "normal" humans. This is due to the same factor of temperament that results in more beautiful humans being selected to become vampires. Vampires are also drawn to gifted humans when they look to create companions. Some vampires actively seek out the gifted in the hope of utilizing that extra ability in their coven.

"I've always loved superheroes, so the vampires I created actually have a lot more in common with superheroes than with horror-genre vampires." —Stephenie.

That's pretty much it, but let's discuss why the Cullens and other vampires have their gifts.

Edward, as we all know, is a mind reader. As a human, Edward can easily read people, their mannerisms, etc.

Jasper is known to be emphatic, persuasive, & often agreeable as a human; that's why he easily talked his way through to join the army even without knowing his real age or experience with combat.

Alice's gift manifested from when she was human; she already had visions of the future when she was a kid, and this caused her to be the odd one in town when she saw her mother dying to see herself being sent to the mental asylum by her father and stepmother.

Kate's gift, electric shock, is purely a gift that she gained when she turned into a vampire. But as a human, she was an attendant—basically a bodyguard—to a highborn female of a warlike Slavic tribe, so her ability might have manifested from that as a protection gift of some sort.

Bella's gift, mind shield. This manifested from when she was human. It's why Edward became so interested and, at the same time, frustrated because he couldn't read her mind. Now, I have seen a lot of questions: why does Jasper's, Alice's, and Kate's gift work on Bella? There's a very easy explanation for that: Jasper's gift works emotionally & physically, not mentally. Kate can project a painful psychic electric-like jolt into anyone with one touch, so it's mental. Alice's gift is literally the future. The mind has no connection with that. Bella's gift is powerful in the mental department, but if she doesn't know how to fight, then she loses physically.

This is mentioned in the third book, Eclipse: "Jasper's abilities affect the body physically. He really does calm your system down or excite it. It's not an illusion. And I see visions of outcomes, not the reasons and thoughts behind the decisions that create them. It's outside the mind, not an illusion, either; reality, or at least one version of it. But Jane and Edward and Aro and Demetri - they work inside the mind. Jane only creates an illusion of pain. She doesn't really hurt your body. You only think you feel it."

Renesmee's gift can be utilized by anybody, even her mother, as she possesses the capacity to communicate her ideas through touch and break through mental barriers. Again, physical touch.

Do Carlisle, Rosalie, Emmett, or Esme have a gift?

No, they do not. It's more of an enhancement to their traits that were present when they were human.

When Carlisle was human, he was known to be compassionate, which manifested in his vampire abilities. It's why he was able to practice medicine without being tempted to drink blood; his humanity persevered.

Rosalie's been very gorgeous since she was human. As far as I know, she's known to be the prettiest woman in her hometown. So her beauty is enhanced when she turns into a vampire—Emmett mistakenly sees her as an angel.

Emmett has been strong since he was human because he used to hunt and work on the railroad.

Esme had a baby when she was human that unfortunately died; when she got turned into a vampire, her maternal trait manifested into her vampire trait. So, on and so forth, it is not a gift but an enhancement of their human traits, as explained in the Twilight Illustration Guide.

With that, "How do I pick a gift/ability for my OC?"

If your OC is human, you can easily show their noticeable traits through writing them. For example, My OC, Eloise Hareton from Raison D'etre, is known to always pretend to be someone she is not. So her gift is mimicry; she can copy others' appearances in hair, skin, face, voice, basically everything; she can completely turn into a different person.

Then another, my OC, Corazon Cecelia Salvador from Sinta, is known to be a know-it-all - someone who gets their way and persuades everyone to follow whatever she said - so she has mind control when she turned, and also, because she experienced extreme pain both mentally and physically when she was human, she can give/absorb pain with a touch so physical unlike Jane's gift of illusioned pain, it's mentally, so Jane's gift does not work on Bella but Corazon's gift does—except for the mind control.

But unlike my other OCs like Genevieve & Greyson Stone, Shadow Manipulation and Death by Touch is purely a gift/ability that appeared when they got turned into a vampire.

There's actually a list of powers that I used if I have no idea what to give to my OC:

https://powerlisting.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Powers

So it really just depends on you and what gift/ability you want for your OC! That's it. I don't know how to broaden this.