THE GUARDIANS OF BEN Q. FLANDERS is an idea I've been cultivating since March/April 2011. The story popped into my head during a walk in the woods with my dogs. (Not that woods or dogs have anything to do with the story.) I immediately wrote a first chapter that I was in love with, but I had a lot of trouble moving beyond that point. I then started on an outline, which I've revised several times. In late October I still only had that first chapter and two more that were pretty ho-hum. So, I decided to use National Novel Writing Month to write a first draft.
I am an idiot. I stick at NaNoWriMo. Complete FAIL.
I am not giving up on this idea, but I need to regroup and start again.
Here is what I had about Ben Q. on my "Other Projects" page:
This is a middle-grade story about a 13-year-old who is mostly at peace with his uncool status but still holds out a shred of hope that one day something really, really awesome will happen to him and thrust him into coolness. When something finally does happen, it is not the super-powers he had been hoping for, but a series of attempts on his life by an unknown group who is trying to prevent something Ben will do in the future. Luckily he has his neighbor and former lab partner around to protect him. I submitted a short story version of this work to the Writer's Digest Annual Competition on May 20, 2011. Shortly thereafter I started on the full-length novel.
