Aug 02 2010
I'm a former assistant editor with advice about how to write novels, comic books and graphic novels. Most of my content applies to fiction-writing in general, but I also provide articles specifically about superhero stories.
See the comments below.
Jul 22 2010
My name is Cassandra and I’m a senior in college (YM and sociology major). Writing is mainly a hobby for me; I haven’t thought much of publishing other than in the last couple years. However, I’m afraid that although my stories have decent plots, they are over-ridden with too much pointless romance. And I like to think there is more to a story than romance.
Currently, I’m doing a complete rewrite of one of my novels. It is a YA action-romance superhero novel. Perhaps comparable to Meg Cabot’s supernatural novels when she still wrote under her name Jenny Carroll (such as the Mediator series and 1-800-Missing.)
Summary: Adaline is a high school student by day and the superhero, Volt, by night. But when her family relocates to small-town Indiana, she’s forced to retire her Volt persona. Can she survive the normalcy of the ordinary life or will The City’s pleas for Volt drive her insane? To top it off, high school athletes have been falling ill with a mysterious life-threatening disease. Throw in a love triangle between her next-door-neighbor and the small-town super and you have yourself quite the shocking story.
I don’t plan on posting too much about my overall plot because I don’t like the idea of having the entire synopsis and storyline posted online. However, I may post scenes that I am having difficulties with or would like multiple opinions on. In addition to this, if somebody is interested in learning more or taking a more active role in reviewing, then I would like to correspond through emails.
Thanks!
Apr 10 2010
J. Teer says: This review forum is for an “action prose” series that I would like to see published, but where is the market for such writing? I guess it could be easily translated into a comic series, but I prefer prose, and I wouldn’t know where to start to translate it. I don’t know, so I’ll just post the stories here to get feedback.
The story is a spinoff of a novel I had published called Transcendence (available at Amazon).
The series protagonist is Raymond Cervantes, a wereterrier: a zoanthrope with the mystical ability to transform into a humanoid pitbull dubbed the Pit. It follows the exploits of his “day job” as a world-class mixed martial artist, and Pit’s battles against supernatural evil beings such as werewolves, vampires, sorcerers, zombies, etc…
All feedback is welcome, but I would particularly like feedback on the fight scenes.
Enjoy…
Apr 02 2010
My universe is one where there was a group of heroes who disbanded around the same time as the arrival of two friendly alien races. That was in the late 1980s, after the the Cold War ended with the United Nations becoming a benign world leader.
Now a new generation of heroes and villains is beginning to come out. This time around, these young people have powers on the level of gods, but fortunately some of the older folks are still around to teach them what to do.
The first story I have is about ColdStar, a college student who can control fire & ice. He learns that being a superhero is not something you can do alone. He quickly meets the black-budget government agency that manages people with Talents (powers).
Other characters include Novanna (a woman who explodes over Chicago), the Wolf Lords (fighting gangs in Southern California), Jade Shamaness (a magic user in the Southwest), and AfterImage (a teleporter in Miami).
Mostly, I want to write the stuff I would like to see in the genre. I do have a science background, so I am interested in a little realism, such as may be allowed in a genre where people fly and push planets around. If I can, I want to explore various ways to present my ideas. The Deconstruction of superheroes is over; I just want to put the pieces back together in different ways.
Mar 18 2010
‘Siva Love Siva Hate’ is about a man’s shades of gray and about how circumstances can change a man’s life completely.
Comparable works: Tom Ripley books by Patricia Highsmith; Some incidents are inspired from ‘The Bourne Identity’ by Robert Ludlum.
Target Audience: Young adults, and probably older readers too.
I can take a lot of constructive criticism, so don’t hold back.
Mar 15 2010
I’m writing a superhero novel that will be more emotional than action, so it’ll be more of a drama.
Here is an origin I am trying to use for the super-human community. The meteor that destroyed the dinosaur population gave off some strange gas that tainted several primitive humans and eventually formed a second race, identified and named in the 1960s as Homo Super by Dr. Abson. Homo Super or Superhumans as they are now called have all become carriers of the A-Gene. The A-Gene is the gene that is what carries the persons’ super-powers, which have since then varied extremely widely. Super-humans vary differently with their powers and level of strength. This means that some are far stronger than others.
Mar 03 2010
Quill’s Story is a traditional coming of age story, set in a recognizable fantasy world-but with an Asian flair.
The story begins with a young boy meeting his first love, who happens to be an elf. Drawn to her by the outsider character that defines their lives, he has his first meaningful positive emotional experience when he stumbles upon the girl in the deep forest. Later in the story (as you might expect) things get quite a bit rougher for the boy, and he must learn martial and magical secrets to not only fight evil, but merely to survive.
1. What are you trying to write?
*A short story, with an eye to sequels/spinoffs. Fantasy/action genre with martial arts mostly replacing the “sword” in “Sword and Sorcery” as the centerpiece.
2. Do you have a target audience in mind?
*Fans of traditional (Tolkien-style) fantasy, D&D’ers, Martial Arts fans. Generally late teens and older, as I expect to get a little too graphic with the violence for the little ones.
3. How thick is your skin?
* Like a rhino filled with custard. Seriously, though-be as critical as you like, so long as it’s useful in some way.
Feb 02 2010
I’m writing a comic book script with a slightly different slant on the super-hero genre. If I could put it into a pop culture reference I would say it’s Invincible meets Tim Riggins from the TV version of Friday Night Lights. I feel hesitant to describe characters, scenes etc, instead I’ll just post the first 8 pages or so. Let me know what’s working, what isn’t, etc. Thanks everyone. The title of the book is “Sweet Primitive.”
[B. Mac notes: The language here is heavily profane. You've been warned!]
Jan 20 2010
What I’m writing: Flyover City! is a novel told in blog-form. The main character is a 28 year old slacker-type from Denver that would be a bit of a comic book geek in real life. In the world of the story, however, superheroes are real– so Newsweek and Time Magazine feed his fix just fine.
Best references: Pop novels like “Microserfs” and “High Fidelity” are as much of an influence as “Hitchhiker’s Guide” and “Soon I Will Be Invincible”. I SWEAR I had the idea before comics like Astro City, Love Fights, and Marvels came out — but those are good comparisons.
Note: please keep in mind, as far as the writing style is concerned, that it IS written as a blog (and I’d love to have you check out my blog). The entry I’m attaching will hopefully give the readers here a good idea of how the “superhero stuff” plays out against the “regular guy” POV…
Aug 20 2009
My novel is kind of a cross between a dark superhero story and teenage angst. “My father is abusive,” “school sucks,” “I can’t get a date,” “I survived a terrorist attack and now the government is hunting me down.” You know, just the typical stuff.
Aug 08 2009
What am I trying to write?
I’m trying to write a superhero novel about a guy and a girl, I’m uncertain about the age (it happens), who battle some kind of huge pseudo-army of people. Whether it be a criminal organization or a mystical race of vampires, I am uncertain (there goes that word again).
Who is in my target audience?
Teenagers, possibly college students. Of the older, more mature sort. I don’t intend on making this book full of rainbows and butterflies. Some comparable works would include Animorphs, Maximum Ride, Kung Fu Panda, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, and The Wizard of Oz (I’ll explain later).
How thick is my skin?
If you don’t call my work terrible or anything of the like, we’ll be fine.
Aug 04 2009
Lighting Man is working on a superhero graphic novel. Please see the comments below for more details. Thanks!
Jul 06 2009
Hello, I’m working on a superhero novel. Please see the comments below. Thanks!
Jul 06 2009
This is for Trollitrade’s second work, called ‘Candy Land‘.
Please see the comments below. Thanks!
Jul 06 2009
I’m working on a superhero novel called The Black Maverick, a story of a young man who is given a gift he doesn’t rightly know how to use. Even with the help of allies, he makes enemies far more ruthless then he. Can he help save his city from the onslaught of his enemies or will he fall to the temptations that come with his powers?
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