Wolfguy (working title)
Day 1
Need to know:
This is written to be a full-length graphic novel. For the purpose of giving you a mental picture of the art style to go on, you may want to quickly google “Axis and Atlas” written/illustrated by Pau. The target audience is middle school to young adults, genre: light-hearted fantasy. Accessible to people unfamiliar with fantasy and werewolves, the story has simple internal rules that are shown throughout the narrative.
Also, I’ve stripped the story down to just the plot points I thought were necessary for a leisurely review, so many aspects that will give the final illustrated book its feeling and tone, such as humor, pacing, and general presentation, have been taken out. If you have questions or want just need more details, I’d love to answer and give them.
Background on this story’s version of werewolves: This is also free to critique. The werewolf “virus” acts, in some ways, like Rabies—it’s passed via saliva (biting), causes a phobia of water. However, instead of causing health issues, it causes the bitten person to become part wolf (not like a furry, they’re still recognizably human but more hairy, basically). The main issue is that if a human is about to see a werewolf (making visual contact), the werewolf will change from their humanoid form into a dog. The dog form thinks and acts like a rabid dog, so the werewolf can’t do anything about it until their dog form meanders, or is taken, to a place humans can’t see them, then the effect will wear off and they’ll turn humanoid again. Also, I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not full moons should have an effect on the werewolves. Through the drafts, it hasn’t played a huge part in the plot, but I acknowledge that readers would almost always come into the story assuming the moon would have some effect. Would love to hear thoughts on this aspect. Almost lastly, based on a few similar werewolf myths, I’ve decided my version must wear the clothes they were bitten in to stay in humanoid form (this isn’t a major plot point to remember). Lastly, none of the werewolves know how to cure themselves, all they know is that silver bullets can kill them.
Setting: In the forest on the outskirts of a small college town in the northwestern US. Events take place in late fall.
Characters:
Mums: A fairy who can interact with and who accompanies the reader through the story. She often acts as the audience, observing the main character, Wolfguy, while unseen. No other fairies are shown or mentioned in this current draft.
Wolfguy (placeholder name): Is a male college student who was bitten by a werewolf (in its rabid dog form) on his way home from baseball practice (he played for the college and lived with his parents close by). He’s the main character. He became a werewolf on the night he was bitten and fled to the woods, and now lives in an abandoned trailer. His treasured possession is a battery-powered radio-alarm clock, which he uses to listen to music.
Ghost: Is a spirit of some kind who appears to not be able to physically interact with objects. This story is a mix of “hard” and “soft” magic. It’s technically hard magic, but neither we nor the main character understand the rules, so for all intents and purposes it’s soft. The Ghost is Wolfguy’s closest friend ever since he was bitten, and is supportive and helpful in acclimating to living in the woods.
Other werewolves: Only one other werewolf has a real, individual role. The werewolf who bit Wolfguy is part of the group. They were seen unintentionally by Wolfguy, resulting in them turning into a rabid dog and biting him. This werewolf feel guilty and has learned to coexist with Wolfguy without being forgiven. As for the other werewolves, there are about 5-7 in the group, and it’s very much a frat house kind of dynamic.
The Druid: The Druid is, in the eyes of Wolfguy, a mysterious person who only the Ghost seems to believe in. He’s only talked about for the majority of the book until the final scene.
Streams in the forest: Rivers and streams are seen throughout the story from the beginning. We see how Wolfguy’s fear of water controls him and dictates how he lives his life and where he can go.
Start:
Mums introduces the concept of the wolves with some torn-out pages of an old book from the college library. The book records the town’s history of supposed werewolf sightings from the 1800s, with details and diagrams by an unknown author stating some basic rules on how and when the werewolves transform into dogs. Mums says she’s been studying how to cure “werewolfism” and has been paying special attention to Wolfguy, the most recent addition to the group of werewolves (he was bitten just 1 year ago). Mums states werewolfism’s similarity to rabies victims, such as how werewolves have a fear of water. Mums also mentions her theory that heated silver might have some effect on werewolves, given their weakness to silver bullets.
Day 1 - Night
Wolfguy is out looting a stranger’s house (it seems like it’s his house until he flees when the owners get home). He’s met by the Ghost, who suggests he should take some mostly-dead, thrown out AA batteries. (Wolfguy doesn’t think batteries will still be good but takes them anyway)
While they’re out, the Ghost mentions the Druid and how he’s possibly able to cure wolfism, but he mentions that his place is surrounded by water so Wolfguy dismisses it. It even angers him that the Ghost would even suggest this, given that he knows of his phobia of water—the knowledge will just torment him.
This is written to be a full-length graphic novel. For the purpose of giving you a mental picture of the art style to go on, you may want to quickly google “Axis and Atlas” written/illustrated by Pau. The target audience is middle school to young adults, genre: light-hearted fantasy. Accessible to people unfamiliar with fantasy and werewolves, the story has simple internal rules that are shown throughout the narrative.
Also, I’ve stripped the story down to just the plot points I thought were necessary for a leisurely review, so many aspects that will give the final illustrated book its feeling and tone, such as humor, pacing, and general presentation, have been taken out. If you have questions or want just need more details, I’d love to answer and give them.
Background on this story’s version of werewolves: This is also free to critique. The werewolf “virus” acts, in some ways, like Rabies—it’s passed via saliva (biting), causes a phobia of water. However, instead of causing health issues, it causes the bitten person to become part wolf (not like a furry, they’re still recognizably human but more hairy, basically). The main issue is that if a human is about to see a werewolf (making visual contact), the werewolf will change from their humanoid form into a dog. The dog form thinks and acts like a rabid dog, so the werewolf can’t do anything about it until their dog form meanders, or is taken, to a place humans can’t see them, then the effect will wear off and they’ll turn humanoid again. Also, I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not full moons should have an effect on the werewolves. Through the drafts, it hasn’t played a huge part in the plot, but I acknowledge that readers would almost always come into the story assuming the moon would have some effect. Would love to hear thoughts on this aspect. Almost lastly, based on a few similar werewolf myths, I’ve decided my version must wear the clothes they were bitten in to stay in humanoid form (this isn’t a major plot point to remember). Lastly, none of the werewolves know how to cure themselves, all they know is that silver bullets can kill them.
Setting: In the forest on the outskirts of a small college town in the northwestern US. Events take place in late fall.
Characters:
Mums: A fairy who can interact with and who accompanies the reader through the story. She often acts as the audience, observing the main character, Wolfguy, while unseen. No other fairies are shown or mentioned in this current draft.
Wolfguy (placeholder name): Is a male college student who was bitten by a werewolf (in its rabid dog form) on his way home from baseball practice (he played for the college and lived with his parents close by). He’s the main character. He became a werewolf on the night he was bitten and fled to the woods, and now lives in an abandoned trailer. His treasured possession is a battery-powered radio-alarm clock, which he uses to listen to music.
Ghost: Is a spirit of some kind who appears to not be able to physically interact with objects. This story is a mix of “hard” and “soft” magic. It’s technically hard magic, but neither we nor the main character understand the rules, so for all intents and purposes it’s soft. The Ghost is Wolfguy’s closest friend ever since he was bitten, and is supportive and helpful in acclimating to living in the woods.
Other werewolves: Only one other werewolf has a real, individual role. The werewolf who bit Wolfguy is part of the group. They were seen unintentionally by Wolfguy, resulting in them turning into a rabid dog and biting him. This werewolf feel guilty and has learned to coexist with Wolfguy without being forgiven. As for the other werewolves, there are about 5-7 in the group, and it’s very much a frat house kind of dynamic.
The Druid: The Druid is, in the eyes of Wolfguy, a mysterious person who only the Ghost seems to believe in. He’s only talked about for the majority of the book until the final scene.
Streams in the forest: Rivers and streams are seen throughout the story from the beginning. We see how Wolfguy’s fear of water controls him and dictates how he lives his life and where he can go.
Start:
Mums introduces the concept of the wolves with some torn-out pages of an old book from the college library. The book records the town’s history of supposed werewolf sightings from the 1800s, with details and diagrams by an unknown author stating some basic rules on how and when the werewolves transform into dogs. Mums says she’s been studying how to cure “werewolfism” and has been paying special attention to Wolfguy, the most recent addition to the group of werewolves (he was bitten just 1 year ago). Mums states werewolfism’s similarity to rabies victims, such as how werewolves have a fear of water. Mums also mentions her theory that heated silver might have some effect on werewolves, given their weakness to silver bullets.
Day 1 - Night
Wolfguy is out looting a stranger’s house (it seems like it’s his house until he flees when the owners get home). He’s met by the Ghost, who suggests he should take some mostly-dead, thrown out AA batteries. (Wolfguy doesn’t think batteries will still be good but takes them anyway)
While they’re out, the Ghost mentions the Druid and how he’s possibly able to cure wolfism, but he mentions that his place is surrounded by water so Wolfguy dismisses it. It even angers him that the Ghost would even suggest this, given that he knows of his phobia of water—the knowledge will just torment him.