SuperZero - a tiny excerpt

Chapter 1

Her fingers moved deftly over the small electronic device in her hands. The mustached plumber jumped at her command and caught the green and white mushroom that fell from the brick block above. Then running faster than his little legs should have allowed, he jumped for the brick castle as her score tallied.

“Yes!” Ava did a small victorious fist pump as she turned to grin cockily at her opponent. She reached up to tuck a pink lock of hair behind her ear as the slender man beside her grumbled.

“You’ve been practicing.” He commented. The way his eyes crinkled slightly at the corners was the only hint at the amusement he was feeling.

“Of course. You thumped me in Mario last time I was here.” Ava laughed as she reached for the can of soda off the steel table beside her.  “Can’t let that happen again.”

With a chuckle, Miles stood up and stretched his lean frame. His vibrant yellow and black spandex suit was just this side of indecent in the detail  that it revealed. 

Ava carefully averted her eyes.

“Your mom’ll be here soon. I should get ready. Brush up on Zelda for next time.” Miles said as he plucked the black mask from the table and fixed it over his dark eyes. He was The Bee - sidekick to one of the most mysterious super villains that Acyra City had seen in the last decade. Chaos. No one was sure of exactly  what his end game was. At the moment, his only goal seemed to be to create havoc.  His only obstacle so far was The Crimson Cape.

She was the sweetheart and savior of Acyra City. Not to mention president of the North-Eastern US chapter of the International Coalition of Superheroes or the ICS.

Oh, yeah… and she was Ava’s mom.

When my friend and fellow writer, Jessi, suggested that we do some short stories to enter into a couple of contests, my first thought was 'Wow, she's brilliant' (it's a thought I have frequently) and the next thought to enter my mind was 'I can look through my folder of half started stories and see if anything there is usable.'

See, I have a folder. I'm sure most writers have one similar to it. It's filled with story ideas that I have started but for one reason or another, I don't finish them. Sometimes, I'm not sure of the plot. Other times it's the characters that aren't working for me. And then once in a while there is a story that just has too many possibilities and you aren't sure where to go with it. Not sure which path is the right one for that story.

And that is where I found SuperZero. Sitting patiently in that folder just waiting for me to figure out where to take it.

I had only written a thousand words of it and I truly loved it. Ava, my MC, was fun and she had a very distinctive voice. The premise of the story was solid. A fresh take on an old idea. Yet I had never done anything with it. So I pulled it out and read it over. I mulled over it for a full day and then it was like a floodgate had opened up in my mind and I could see exactly what I needed to do to make this story every thing I knew it could be.

I spent about two days writing it and it came out at about 5000 words. I loved the story. I loved how the characters interacted. I was quite happy with it. (and from a neurotic writer... that's saying something)

The problem? The contest I wanted to enter had a maximum of 4000. I had to trim a fifth of the story away. So the editing process took over a week to do and eventually came down to Jessi and I talking over the mics and pulling the story apart word by word. Finding any and all unnecessary words to cut. It took about an hour and half of intensive editing to remove the final 300 words but we did it. And it's a story that is tight, purposeful and a lot of fun. Every word works toward pushing the story forward and I am actually proud of it.

I sent it off to several friends and fellow writers to read over and have received positive feedback. In fact, I've actually developed my own cheering section for this story.

And now I have a book planned. And when I say planned, I mean I have a 2000 word synopsis of the plot written and details completely thought out. I also have a rough outline of a potential sequel (or series if it ever sold). I have to say, I am more excited about this book than I have been for anything in a very very long time. I am starting a 4 day weekend and I cannot wait to start writing it.

One step forward, three steps back.

No one can ever say the life of a struggling author is boring. I suppose, to the outside observer, it might appear that way. I mean, at first glance,  sitting alone in a room with a computer with nothing but the strains of Adele or Damien Rice playing in the background, may not appear to be the most exciting evening ever. Hell, written down like that, it sounds almost relaxing.

Yet as any writer will tell you, appearances can be decieving.


That scene above? That's how I spend my writing nights. Gentle sounds of music, the quiet clicking of the keyboard but I am usually wired on highly caffienated beverages, I'm possibly in the midst of a really good sugar buzz, I'm figuring out details on a rather tricky scene, and I've actually tuned out the soothing music and I'm engaging in a huge debate with several very vocal and very opinionated people at that very moment. And the best part of it all... those people are inventions of  my own imagination.

Yup, I'm apparently insane.

As absurd as it sounds, I love every second of it! I may sound certifiable when I talk about the arguments with my characters but I have them all the time. They may not be verbal discussions but there are struggles. I can plot a scene and think 'This character is going to react this way and then do this' but as I write I realise that it isn't right. The character guides how it should go. It's then that I realize that I have two options - I can write the scene the way I had it plotted or I can go with this new direction. And I can guarantee you, if I write it according to plan... I will be going back to rewrite it in the new direction before the story is finished.

So no, my characters don't start yelling "Hey dummy, you are writing it wrong!" but they do guide the writing. And it's those moments that I love. Why? Because at that moment I realize that my character have become more than just the sketch of a character I thought of. They have their own way of handling things, they have their own voice and they've developed in my mind the way I'd hoped they would.

To me, characters make or break a story. I love a good plot as much as the next person, but if the characters in that story feel flat or lack a voice, I will lose interest quickly. I can read a book with a less than stellar plot, but give me boring characters that I don't care about and I'll drop the book before I get to the midway point.