I’ve started writing and I’m actually quite happy with it so far. I write in plain text so I don’t know page count, but I assume 250 words per page is about average so I’ll aim for 2500 - 3000 words for the 10 page issue. Which means if I don’t delete everything (which might happen as I start to hate it) I’m already about 15-20% through, w00
Here is what I’ve got so far:
1. EXT. METROPOLIS. TOWNHALL STEPS. DAY
We see the whole townhall with a long flight of steps. There’s a press conference being held and a large amount of people came to watch it. Superman is speaking at a podium to a set of reporters and cameras. As he gives his speech we zoom in panel by panel, until only his face and upper chest is in the frame.
SUPERMAN
The Justice League has uncovered solid information for a planned invasion of the Alien race called the Gao. The incidents in China and Marocco 3 days ago were staged by an advance, sleeper team of Gao soldiers to install bases for the arriving fleet. While The Flash and Green Lantern were able to stop these efforts, they found evidece that within 24 hours a full invasion fleet is going to arrive at multiple strategic places around the world. We know these include Metropolis, Gotham City, Washington DC, London, Paris, Beijing and Tokyo. We have activated all standby members of the Justice League and are in contact with superheroes around the world, preparing for the imminent attack.
2. INT. LONDON. PUB. NIGHT — CONTINUOUS
As we zoom out we can see that the press conference is shown on a small, old CRT TV in a pub. John Constantine sits alone at the bar, both him and the Bartender looking at the screen. There are a couple more customers in the background.
SUPERMAN (on screen)
It is advised that citizens stay in their homes for now and get information for their designated evacuation zones.
BARTENDER
Can you believe that John?
SUPERMAN (on screen)
Be confident that our heroes will do everything in their power to stop this threat, as will the many brave men and women of the armed forces.
CONSTANTINE
Eh, nothing’s shocking to me anymore, Ben
SUPERMAN (on screen)
That is all we can say right now. Thank you.
Constantine starts to light a cigarette. Superman can be seen flying away on the screen.
BARTENDER
Come on, John, you know you can’t smoke in here.
CONSTANTINE
Yeah, yeah, alright, I should go anyways.
Constantine gets up, pays and leaves the Pub as the Bartender keeps looking at the screen, now showing a pundit apparently discussing the conference.
I am taking part in a writers tournament on a forum I frequent. Since I have trouble finishing and publishing my ideas, I thought it would be a good idea to crosspost what I write on here. You can check out the thread on the forum here.
The first thing I wrote is a general idea of what the story will entail and where I want to go with it:
My idea is to write an archetypical John Constantine story at the backdrop of a DC Universe crossover, I’d use as a framing device. John won’t be at the front lines of the event, rather he has his own personal story happening at the same time only loosely connected with the “bigger” happenings in the world.
For the story I see John (at this point in his mid-forties) reconnecting with a female friend (currently named Rose) he hasn’t seen for 20 years. She tricks him into having to help her with a demon problem she has (the demon wants her dead, to be specific), and John has to go on a journey around the world to find the magical tools to ultimately defeat Rose’s pursuer.
I have planned a couple specific scenes (John meeting Batman in Egypt to find “the ultimate weapon”, John meeting Zatanna in the US, Last stand back in jolly, ol’ England …) but it’s not all fully connected yet.
Intertwined in the present day events are flashbacks of how he met Rose, the time they spent together, and how they parted. Explaining some of the actions John and Rose take in the present.
As sort of high concept, I want all three stories (cosmic crossover, John’s present day adventure, flashbacks of John and Rose) to deal with the theme of “End of the World” quite literally and on a grand scale with the crossover, and more personal “Ends” in the two.
Alright, so that’s my proposal, now I’ll just have to put that into a working piece of fiction.
For a couple weeks they wandered in search of supplies as the days grew colder. Earl and Jenny had quickly made friends in the group as people were in awe of the wizards strange abilities. They didn’t have any more run ins with the Vampires, and neither did they meet any other humans. Brock had gotten over his initial anger and they did not speak of it again.
One day they arrived in a small village. No more than maybe 10 houses. Carl decided to make camp just outside the village on a large meadow. As that was set up Lisa, Earl and a couple of guys the decided to decided to scout the town and look for anything that might have been useful for them. In the first couple houses they found very little of interest, the people that lived there must have taken their belongings or it had already been scavenged before, but when they got to the shop they were in luck. In one of the backrooms Lisa found an assortment of conservers that would last them for weeks. Just as they strated packing the supplies to transport them to the campsite a shot rang out from the other end of the village.
Without much consideration Lisa and Earl hurried to see what happened. As they arrived at the end of the town, perhaps with slightly too little caution, they spotted an old barn about 100 feet from the last house. Approaching closer they could hear muffled sounds of an argument two more shots rang out, causing them to throw themselves to the ground. For a moment it was quiet, then a crashing noise could be heard. Earl was first up to his feet and to the barn door. As he peaked inside he saw two Vampire thugs just a few feet from him, and another crouching on top of a man, beating him with his fists. A gun lay just out of the guys reach.
Giving a quick sign to Lisa, Earl stormed into the door, and before the Vampires could even turn around the one closest to him got impaled with the staff. As his lifeless body fell to the ground and his friend turned to face Earl, Lisa’s Machete hit the second Vampire just above the shoulder, decapitating him with a single blow. As all this happened in mere seconds, the Vampire attacker let off the man on the ground and reached for the gun, pulling himself around to fire a shot. But before he could even take aim, the old man, with a mere swipe of his hand knocked the weapon from the monster’s grip, breaking his arm in two in the process. As the purple mist vanished from his first orb, he swung his staff around and aimed it’s globe at the confused Vampire. Suddenly the orb began to glow and a moment after emitted a bright ray, knocking the monster back and through the barn wall, with such immense force it could not have survived.
As the corpses of the Vampires slowly turned to dust, Earl approached the man on the floor, and to his surprise saw that it was another Vampire. He was badly beaten and had a wooden spike stuck in his side. He wouldn’t survive much longer Earl thought. He gestured for them to come closer and Lisa and Earl kneeled next to him, he was no danger to them or anyone. Pointing at a place in the back of the barn he said “My daughter…” in a broken whisper. Lisa quickly got back up and ran to where the Vampire had gestured. He continued speaking to Earl “Please, you need to help her, she has no one.”, he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, but as wasn’t strong enough to hand it to him, Earl took it from his hands. “It is a map, a shelter, for Vampires and Humans…living together. Please, she’ll be safe there”. These were his last words, as he closed his eyes and a second later his flesh started brittling. At that moment Lisa returned carrying a little Vampire girl, no more than 6 years old.