I've started a new novel.

Post Reply New Topic

Since I've finally finished a draft of Redesigning Eva, I thought I could set it aside to work on something else. My current major WIP, Alphaboy, is something I've wanted to tackle for a long time, perhaps more so than Eva. Unlike that nightmare of a book, Alphaboy is much more upbeat and fun, akin to a late 80's/early 90's action movie that Joel Silver would be involved with.

Here's the gist of the plot. I also took the liberty of "casting" some of the characters!

Sean Gillespie is a 14 year old boy who has Superman-like powers. He's modeled in appearance after Henry Thomas from films like E.T. and Cloak and Dagger, with a voice and smirk similar to Bruce Willis. Raised by his loving adoptive parents, ex-Special Forces operative/handyman Joe and ER nurse Mary (Keanu Reeves and Molly Ringwald), Sean has grown up ostracized because of his abilities, and is encouraged to live as normal a life as possible. Little do the Gillespies know that Sean has attracted the attention of the superhuman terrorist cult known as Legion, led by the diabolical Zauzer (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Zauzer intends to turn Sean over to the Dark Side, in exchange for the identity of his birth parents. Sean, a white hat if there ever was one, flat out refuses, and in retaliation, Zauzer launches a series of terrorist attacks throughout Janus City and its various suburbs. Donning a suit of technologically advanced armor left behind by his birth parents, Sean becomes Alphaboy. Aided by Joe and Mary, Sean realizes its time to kick ass and chew bubblegum... and he's all out of gum!

RATED PG-13!

Any thoughts?

yeah..how/where did you come up with some of these names? Zauzer? while i know he is a real person, i like the sound of Jean-Claude Van Damme and i get the image of mid 20th century porters of high-end hotels (and other tropes). not martial artists.

heh, i quite like those kids of sayings.

Congratulations. Writing a novel is a monumental task. I've been able to write several full screenplays in my youth but I've never been able to tackle something as big as a novel. I wish you luck in completing it.

Though that one's kinda taken from John Carpenter's 'They Live'...

What's the tone of your novel? Is it serious, or is it satire?
Regardless, the best of luck with your book. After losing all the work I had done on a book i was working on, I lost all heart and haven't tried rewriting it. Perhaps I will someday again. Currently, I'm focusing on short fiction.

It's kind of in the middle. There are serious moments, but it's all part of the tongue-in-cheek fun. As I've mentioned before, it's a throwback to the testosterone-fueled action movies of the 80s and early 90s, particularly films like The Last Boy Scout, Die Hard and Commando.

Why does the organization want to know about his birth parents?

That sounds like a good novel.

I've written self published books but they were too short and didn't take off.

I'm kinda intrigued by this. It sounds pretty well thought out. My question is "does Sean have a love interest?"

Noting its similarity to Superman (isolated childhood, adopted), that "Legion" exists in the DC Comics universe, and all the Superman timelines in the multiverse, I can see it might be difficult to write something original.

Of course, don't stop, but with the current market saturation of superheros, I personally would like to see the satirical direction you've mentioned. But on the other had, it sounds a little like teen fiction, which is less satirical. If it is teen fiction, it sounds good.

Congratulations on completing your Redesigning Eva draft! Finishing the first draft of a novel-length work is an accomplishment I've never attained yet.

It can't be a testosterone-fueled action movie without one. Her name's Lisa, and she's inspired by Alyssa Milano.

She's the daughter of the local sheriff, Ben Phillips, who initially isn't too keen on the idea of her having a crush on a boy who is practically a god.

Thanks. I've started a pretty thorough plot outline for it, and I'm going to be doing some research.

Nice. Very classy choice for inspiration. Speaking of inspiration, did you know that she was one of the inspirations behind the design of Ariel from The Little Mermaid? Ariel was like my first crush when I was a kid so I'm really interested in seeing what's done with Lisa here. Also, I couldn't help but get a feeling of familiarity with Lisa and her dad, Ben. It reminds me of Gwen Stacy and her dad, Captain George Stacy, from the Spider-Man storyline. Was that intentional? Maybe a hint of foreshadowing?

Thanks. I didn't know she inspired Ariel's looks. I learn something new everyday! I used to be a huge Marvel Comics fan, but in recent years, I've been gravitating more towards DC. If there was a similarity between the Phillips and the Stacy's, it wasn't really intentional.

Going off on a tangent here, but what action movie throwback would be complete without an elite henchman to back up the main villain? First, we have the Cygar, modeled after controversial comedian/actor Andrew Dice Clay.

Cygar is one of Zauzer's top enforcers in the Legion organization, having earned the nickname "The Ghoul" both for his goon-like appearance and for being personally responsible for roughly three hundred contract killings in the past several years. Despite his massive brawn and attitude, he's surprisingly intelligent, commanding some of Zauzer's mooks. He doesn't always see eye to eye with his boss, though. Whereas Zauzer wants to basically turn Alphaboy over to the Dark Side, Cygar has his own agenda: he wants to kill Sean in retaliation for unintentionally killing his son during an action scene early on in the story.