Background came from this design.
Genre: MG Magical Realism
Word Count: 78,000 words
3 line Pitch:
It’s not easy being a superhero with a different power every day and a 9:00 bedtime every night. Ten-year-old Alex Daily has no way of controlling or predicting which superpower he’ll wake up with each morning, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to discover the source of his abilities. But it’s hard for Alex to find the time, between protecting his stepsister’s life-saving research from sabotage, and learning that his biological father is a criminal.
First 250:
The day before getting his first superpower, Alex Daily found himself climbing to the top of his stepdad’s forbidden twelve-foot ladder. The sun-soaked metal burned his fingers and the cardboard box under his arm kept catching beneath each rung and throwing him off balance. He’d be grounded for life if Mom or Walter caught him climbing this ladder. The worst part? He didn’t even want to climb it.
Melanie watched from below, a half-smile tugging at the corner of her tiny mouth. He was afraid of heights and of breaking rules, but he was most afraid of being called a wimp by a girl. Melanie was a tomboy but she still counted as a girl, and her smile (which could open wide and start yelling insults any moment) was the only thing that kept him climbing.
When he got to the final rung he set the box on the little shelf at the top.
"Okay, Melanie, you ready?" Alex asked. He wanted to get it over with.
“No!” she said. “You have to go to the tip-top.”
"The box is on there. Besides, it’s for paint cans and tools."
"Not that part, stupid. Look! You’ve still got a step to go."
Melanie was right, as usual, but she couldn’t see the sticker that covered the top rung. "NOT A STEP!" the red letters warned. There were pictures of stick figure men falling to horrible stick figure deaths. One fell forward, bringing the whole ladder down with him. Another fell backwards somehow landing directly on his head with his legs straight up in the air, which didn’t even seem physically possible but scared Alex nonetheless.
It’s not easy being a superhero with a different power every day and a 9:00 bedtime every night. Ten-year-old Alex Daily has no way of controlling or predicting which superpower he’ll wake up with each morning, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to discover the source of his abilities. But it’s hard for Alex to find the time, between protecting his stepsister’s life-saving research from sabotage, and learning that his biological father is a criminal.
First 250:
The day before getting his first superpower, Alex Daily found himself climbing to the top of his stepdad’s forbidden twelve-foot ladder. The sun-soaked metal burned his fingers and the cardboard box under his arm kept catching beneath each rung and throwing him off balance. He’d be grounded for life if Mom or Walter caught him climbing this ladder. The worst part? He didn’t even want to climb it.
Melanie watched from below, a half-smile tugging at the corner of her tiny mouth. He was afraid of heights and of breaking rules, but he was most afraid of being called a wimp by a girl. Melanie was a tomboy but she still counted as a girl, and her smile (which could open wide and start yelling insults any moment) was the only thing that kept him climbing.
When he got to the final rung he set the box on the little shelf at the top.
"Okay, Melanie, you ready?" Alex asked. He wanted to get it over with.
“No!” she said. “You have to go to the tip-top.”
"The box is on there. Besides, it’s for paint cans and tools."
"Not that part, stupid. Look! You’ve still got a step to go."
Melanie was right, as usual, but she couldn’t see the sticker that covered the top rung. "NOT A STEP!" the red letters warned. There were pictures of stick figure men falling to horrible stick figure deaths. One fell forward, bringing the whole ladder down with him. Another fell backwards somehow landing directly on his head with his legs straight up in the air, which didn’t even seem physically possible but scared Alex nonetheless.
Tp!
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