in 2015, I got an idea for a Young Adult superhero novel. It would be told in first person by the son of a super villain hellbent on revenge against the man who killed his wife, the mother of his child. Our narrator, though, both used and neglected by his father, would want nothing to do with the family business – and he would be gay – and in love with the son of his father’s nemesis. I think I wrote three or four pages – I even gave it to a couple friends to see if they would have any interest in reading more – which they did.
And then I didn’t touch it. I wrote two other novels instead and a screenplay instead.
I think part of the thing that scared me about writing this (I’m now admitting I was scared) was the technology I’d have to learn about and potentially create – which is not my forte. Before I started Lucy, though, I did write out a summarized plot for what I’d want this book to be.
Then came November – NaNoWriMo. I’ve never been able to commit to 50K words in November due to that being a busy time for grading papers. So instead, this year I decided to write a script. I’ve had another idea floating around since last summer, and I figured a script would be an easier/quicker way to at least get the story down. I did manage to do so, and while it’s short even for a script, the idea is on paper. And I was left with thirteen days in the month.
So, I opened up and reread those three pages I had written five years before – and then kept the story going. Goode Versus Melville is sitting at a little over 20K words – not to mention countless hours into researching things like how a ray gun might work and how to put together an IED. (Pretty sure I’m on a government list, now.) It’s been fun, and in the midst of the final weeks of the hell that is COVID-teaching and grading, it’s been fun that I have definitely needed.
Now to finish grading final papers so that I can dive back into this world and figure out how to create a freeze ray.
Ami Maxine 