Jan 23 2009
Choose Your Own Adventure, Installment Number 1
I told you this was starting today, that every Friday I would write further on a novel, encouraging your feedback and suggestions as the story went along. As promised, here’s the first installment. I tried to keep it short:
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Chapter One
I shouldn’t have pretended to be Superman all those years. Or Batman, or Spiderman, or even the Green Lantern. Of course, Mom hadn’t ever seemed to mind. I could still remember the first pair of superhero pajamas she bought me, the Superman pajamas with the velcro-attached red cape.
Not that I wouldn’t have made a superhero out of any pajamas. The first two I invented were Strong Green and Strong Lellow (I couldn’t pronounce yellow when I was three). Then I became Car Man, Dinosaur Man, or any kind of superhero I could find on the front of my shirt. Dad thought I was crazy, Mom thought I was cute. I thought I was superhuman.
But that was a long time ago. All that pretending was nothing but a waste. I can’t fly. I can’t even run fast. I can’t call animals, or see through lead, or stop a racing train. I can’t even keep from being beaten up after school.
It used to be a lot worse, I guess. I used to get my lunch money stolen every day. Someone ripped off my backpack three times in sixth grade, and the look on Mom’s face each time was–well, it was more proof how much I wasn’t a superhero.
Now, at least, I didn’t have to worry about that. My backpack was too cruddy to be worth stealing. No lunch money. Not even a quarter for popcorn Fridays.
And no Mom to look like that when something got stolen. No Dad, either.
I could tell you some tragic story about what happened to them. I could say he died trying to save her from our burning house, after he’d pulled me out to safety. I could tell you they were on a spy mission, and were caught by the enemy, who tortured them to death. I could tell you they kept their secrets despite the torture. I could tell you they were heroes.
But they were no more heroes than I am.
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So, let me know what you think should happen next. I already have some ideas, but I welcome your suggestions. What do you want to happen to his parents? What do you want to happen next? Think of it as a web “Choose-Your-Own-Adventure” sort of thing, the sky’s the limit, and I decide the actual page we turn to. You can also suggest his name.
Put on your creative caps (most of you keep them on full time, anyway) and tell me what you want. I’ll let you make suggestions all the way through Wednesday or so, but then I’ll need a day to get the next installment together for Friday. If nothing else, check out the Friday selection each week to see what happens.
So far, it sounds depressing. Why do I want to read more about this fellow who sees himself as a loser? The next step is to show the reader that there’s more to the main character. No clue as to how to get there, though.
aw2500
www.permissionsplease.today.com
I tend to prefer characters who think less of themselves than they are… I’m fond of the underdog, but I think most people’s potential is limited far more by their thinking than by their actual circumstance/strengths/abilities.
Yet I hate people who are so stuck on how fabulous they are that they stomp over everyone to get what they want.
The point is, this boy THINKS he’s a loser, mainly because I see him blaming himself for the death of his parents (though that may change if all of you push me in a different direction), but he will find out he really isn’t.
Don’t worry, aw2500… he doesn’t stay this way for long, and my intros are typically very short. Something will happen very soon. What would you like to happen?
Oh, and sis, I think a little more background would be best first…though I will likely make something happen once the background is finished, next Friday. The installments may get longer, as I go along. I just hope they don’t take over the blog completely (though they just might). I have a new topic area for the novel, though, so even if readers get a little behind, or come in after a few weeks, they’ll easily be able to catch up.
Thanks for the suggestions so far! Keep them coming!
Ok, if his folks weren’t heroes, and he doesn’t see himself as a hero, there is a reason he thinks this. After all, the average person doesn’t go around thinking about whether or not he/she is a hero. Makes me wonder if the character in this tale is denying being a hero because others have said that either he or his folks were heroes. A real hero doesn’t think of himself as a hero. How often have you heard someone doing an amazing act say they were just doing their job. The pilot who brought down the plane into the Hudson river just made a remark like this today.
aw2500
www.permissionsplease.today.com
It is ironic that like Superman and Batman, we have someone who thinks they are not a superhero, however they have the make-up of most superheroes - the tragic beginning (of sorts), no parents.
Very interesting start.
After reading, I was thinking maybe the parents died…no dramatic bravado, just sudden and tragic. Stephanie mentioned the possibilty of his feeling guilty, which would be a good reason for his holding onto his poor self-image into adulthood (is he an adult yet?)…what if they were killed by a drunk driver heading somewhere to do with him or something to that effect?
Then again, what if you went another way entirely and kept them alive…it would certainly be an unpredictable way to go, but would open a different can of worms.
I almost felt that he was some poor schmuck working in a boring office cubicle, afraid to ask his boss for a raise, on the verge of something that tests how he feels about himself or makes him learn something out of necessity that changes his confidence level.
I’m absolutely stuck on a name for him…I tend toward “different/uncommon yet socially integratable” and this character doesn’t feel like an unusual name kind of guy.
Great start!
P.S. I agree that people are often far tougher than they give themselves credit for…it’s the story of our lives!
I love all your suggestions! I could make his parents die suddenly (but in some way he would be made to feel guilty), or I could make them just become total flakes, abandoning him for some reason, either physically or emotionally. And while this would make sure he’s alone either way, their absence would still add a bit of the tragic to him.