After coming to an agreement with Bruce, things moved pretty quickly. Being off from work meant that Aiden could spend all his time making the comic with Bruce.
He wanted to get on with the novel fast as it was a way for him to get over the nightmares.
Bruce held the same thoughts as him, so they quickly started working in Aiden's office. Bruce asked him if he could just sleep there instead of walking there everyday.
It was a way for him to finally get away from living with his parents. Aiden also realised that, but he was completely fine with it as there was enough space in his office.
Both of them also decided to pitch it to Vikings publishing after the draft was completed. Aiden knew Marshall well, so it was a natural decision.
One more thing was that unlike other famous publications that have been publishing comics for decades, Viking publishing's Graphic novel department was pretty new, so there were chances of getting more promotional resources if the pitch was successful.
Wade was a bit iffy with him suddenly getting a new project when he was on a break, but he cooled down after Aiden told him that it was something Dr. Penny had recommended to him.
After all that was over, and Aiden and Bruce finally got to work, he showed him the ideas he had for the story.
It soon ended up in a discussion.
"A more mature tone with the character. Are we going to make it for adults only?"
Bruce had asked after hearing a few of his ideas.
"Not necessarily. A heavier mature tone really doesn't always mean gore or sexual content. I mean more on the basis of making everything in the world have a price on it. The consequences of actions need to be dire, and I want to add heavy philosophical inspiration to the characters. We can't make it a happy-go-lucky superhero story."
"But doesn't that sell more?"
Every year, there are so many superhero movies that are regarded as movies that families enjoy together. A happy, go lucky movie with the characters being goofy and having great superpowers.
These types of movies earn billions. The same goes for the comics.
"Not always really. They do work better as they are just stories that you could enjoy without worrying about real-world problems. Kind of a theme park ride, but life isn't like that, and you do know that there's an oversaturation of these types of movies and comics."
"So, you want to go opposite of that?"
"I just want to build a universal story and build lore around the nightmare powers. I want the antagonist to actually have a story of their own. In my eyes, the main character doesn't become a hero without a villain, and the best villains are the ones with ideologies. Moreover, if there's no consequence for the protagonist's actions, then what's the fun in a story? I want to create something that would last generations. People die, but ideologies pass on. I want the exact same thing with the story."
As Bruce listened more and more to Aiden, he got very excited. His words were making his body shiver like he was going to be a part of something big.
At the same time, he felt like a lock was opening in his mind. He had been too engrossed in creating something similar to what was working in the market currently that a lot of ideas never crossed his mind.
Following a trend was good but it also meant that one wouldn't get out of it to create its own trend. Most classics created trends and weren't a part of them.
As the discussions went on, Bruce asked one question that he was the most curious about.
"How are you going to create the lore around the powers?"
In his own draft version, Bruce had just explained the powers as an ability that he got from an evil god. He was going to add up more in it later on but that idea was scrapped now.
"You probably don't know it but there's an old Indian folklore about a king and a ghost. The ghosts were attached to the back of the king and would always ask him questions that would be in puzzles. It's a pretty interesting story. Anyway, I wanted the main character's powers to come from a god-like entity that is locked in his subconscious. We won't reveal it in the first draft itself, but we would show the god-like entity in chains, and to unlock his powers, the main character would need to answer riddles that would connect to the story and paths he would choose."
"That, that's a very impressive idea."
Bruce said. He liked it more and more every second. It would give enough mystery to the readers. As graphic novels were in issues, a hook was good to make the reader wait for the next issue.
Mystery was always good in comics, especially if it's done well.
Aiden obviously had more ideas on it. He wanted to create seven god-like entities and give them to different characters, one of them being the main character. Aside from that, he also made up secret clans and other power systems.
In his words, it didn't make sense if an entire world followed the same kind of power system without any variety. If a world was vast, then there would be more than one path — Different types of superpowers.
For the main character's background, Aiden wanted to keep the character arc of being bullied and making him a high school student, but he wanted to add it in a way that showed grit and character development.
Using his powers to take on the bullies was a pretty old take, but Aiden wanted to show the main character handle it himself, and as a consequence of it, his powers would start to awaken.
He was also going for a more secret organization approach with the fantastical powers being something that the normal people know nothing about but in secret, they all had played their parts in major world events.
All in all, it was a pretty daunting task as he needed to flesh out a lot of things but while doing so, he truly felt a kind of passion that he seemed to have forgotten in the recent months.
The passion to create a good story.
He and Bruce discussed a lot of things about how the story would move but most of their focus was still on the pitch and the draft that they were preparing for it.
After all, they couldn't let it be rejected again.
For the pitch, Aiden had already talked to Marshall about it and although he was very surprised by Aiden's sudden decision to make a graphic novel, it was welcomed by him.
At least he could see the pitch.
Marshall anyway wanted Aiden to do another book or at least start in it. A project like this was different but something that was along the lines.
As they worked, Bruce agreed with most of Aiden's ideas, having taken the role of the artist. Although he was missing having control of the story and feeling a bit odd that the main character he had made had changed a lot, he knew that it was for the better.
Aiden's storyline was rough as he was still making the power systems and they needed to give more personality to the characters but Bruce knew that it was way better than his storyline.
He also felt a bit free as the pressure of creating a good story was not on him now.
He could focus solely on the art and knowing that it was his last chance, he worked day and night.
The pitch needed to be successful!
***
In a room that looked like an office, a woman was silently typing on her laptop. Her hands were moving very fast and from time to time, she would stop to think and read the contents that she had written.
Sometimes, she would erase something and sometimes, she would add something more to a sentence. The whole process seemed tiring but she was making a lot of progress.
For some reason, she felt like she could finish an important arc of her script today.
It was at that moment that a few steps rang out and before she could react, a hand grabbed her shoulders.
She let out a small cry, scared for a second before turning around and looking at the man that had decided to pull a small prank on her.
"You scared me. You should never do something like that."
"I thought you would notice me but you were too busy with your script. Can I read it now?"
"It's not completed yet. Would take more than a month easily but I'm making great progress on it."
The man sighed hearing that, he really wanted to go through the script his wife was writing.
"Don't be like this. You would be the first person I would show the script to after it is completed. When the movie is finally ready, I'm going to be in the same league as you as a director."
"We will see about that."
"It will come true. My current script has the capability to bring true cinema lovers to the theatre. I'm just tired of superhero movies and heavy VFX stuff. People don't appreciate other genres now."
The woman complained and the man didn't say anything, knowing that it would cause an argument.
After a while, his wife changed the subject.
"Anyway, how was the meeting? Did they agree to your demands?"
"No, it's still a stalemate. I want to do an original but they want me to start working on the sequel of [Black Saints]."
The man was actually Zavier Lamb, the director and writer of [Black Saints] which was a superhit movie and Aiden had played the role of Kai in it.
His wife was also a director like him named Florence Levine. Currently, she was writing the script for her next movie.
...
