Clarion Write-a-Thon Week One: Back to the Tights and Capes! (well, jeans and sneakers really)

The first week of the Clarion Write-a-Thon is over and thanks to those of you who’ve kindly donated!  (For those of you who haven’t, there are five weeks to go!  But this is the best week to pledge. Seriously)

It’s been a cool, exciting and slightly bewildering experience returning to Noble’s Green for this sequel.  For starters, I wrote the first draft of POWERLESS over five years ago, and for the last year and a half my mind has firmly been in the grip of THE DEAD GENTLEMAN.  In fact, I’m still working on edits for the Gentleman while starting the new POWERLESS book.  It’s a massive shifting of steam-powered gears to go from Jules Verne adventure to flying kids, but I’m not complaining.  Just having to privilege of typing that previous sentence is worth all the headaches!

So what can I tell you about the new POWERLESS story?  Well, I have a real thing about spoilers, so don’t expect any here.  But I will say that I am really looking forward to seeing how the Supers of Noble’s Green deal with the greatest, most diabolically nefarious enemy of all – growing up.

Thirteen.  That magical number has come and gone for several members of our little group and life is suddenly a lot more complicated.  The Rules are gone.  The Shroud is gone.  But those powers just keep getting stronger and stronger.

Of course, the center of the new book is once again, Daniel.  If anything, our hero seems even more powerless compared to his friends as he watches them display an ever increasing array of super-abilities.

And who is that stranger who just arrived in town, and what interest does he have in Daniel and his friends?

Okay!  That’s all!  Just a few plot teases.  After all, I’ve just started the book and it could all change in the end.  Maybe I’ll end up with Daniel and the Great Pie-Eating Contest!

Next week, I’ll be going out to the Adams County Library in Gettysburg to talk to a group of very astute readerly-type kids about POWERLESS and I plan on using them as a little informal focus group. I’ll be asking them what kind of things they like to see in a sequel. I’ll report back here, but in the meantime, do you have any thoughts?  What are some of your favorites?