even heroes

Movie Review: Kick-Ass

astheheroflies4 Comments

Okay, so when this movie came out in 2010, I was dying to see it, but I was also terrified because of its apparent similarity to my then-unpublished novel, Even Heroes. If memory serves, I would have been finished with the actual writing of the first draft in 2010, and possibly done typing it out (yes, I wrote my first draft by hand!), but it was still a 300K-word hot mess that was nowhere near ready for publication. Then along comes this movie about a regular kid who decides to go out and become a superhero in the real world – EXACTLY what my novel was about. So yeah, as a newbie writer, I freaked.

In the years since then, I’ve realized that having other stories out in the world that are similar to mine isn’t a bad thing – especially if people seem to like them. In fact, it’s good to know that there is an audience for your work, that it fits into some specific category (although, admittedly, real-world superhero tales don’t seem to be a very large category…yet). I’ve also come to realize that I didn’t have to be worried about being accused of copying Kick-Ass, or vice versa. Even if the plots bear a close resemblance, every author, every creator, has their own unique take on the subject matter that will set their work apart.

So, fast-forwarding to 2022, when one book blogger mentioned Kick-Ass in a review of my novel, I was delighted that someone made the connection. I also realized it was high time for me to watch the movie. Here’s what I thought:

At the beginning, I LOVED it. Dave Lizewski is a likeable teen who decides – despite having no powers, no training, and no special skills – to don a spandex costume and attempt to help people as a superhero named Kick-Ass. When he tries to intervene against some local thugs, things take a startlingly violent turn when Kick-Ass gets brutally stabbed and then hit by a car. A very realistic outcome, I thought, for someone with no training and no real plan. In the hospital, he awakens to find he’s had metal rods put in his body to stabilize broken bones (like the Wolverine!) and has sustained nerve damage which makes it difficult for him to feel pain (a superpower!).

Despite his disastrous initial attempt, Dave gets another costume (the paramedics kindly got rid of his first one before anyone saw it) and goes right back out for more superhero-ing. I love him for this. He has a kind heart and genuinely wants to help. He even goes so far as attempting to retrieve a lost cat named “Mr. Bitey.” That reminded me so much of a cut scene from my book that I had a huge grin on my face. What superhero story is complete without trying to save a cat from a tree (or in this case, a billboard platform)?

Kick-Ass eventually has his breakout moment, becoming an internet sensation when someone films him standing up against three criminals who are viciously beating a man on the street. It’s a great moment in the film, because the only thing keeping Dave standing is his heart (and his nerve damage, which allows him to withstand some of the worst blows).

At this point, I was full-on in love with the movie. Yes, it was bloody and gory, and the language was over-the-top foul, but it was every bit the realistic superhero story I’d hoped for.

Things went downhill for me when Kick-Ass heads to the apartment of some dangerous drug-dealer dude who’s been bothering Katie, a girl at school that Dave has a crush on. Kick-Ass is soon WAY over his head once again, facing down a group of armed gunmen ready and willing to kill him. Enter another costumed vigilante – an 11-year-old girl in a purple wig who, after saving Kick-Ass’s life, goes on to horrifically murder every single person in the apartment, including people who are fleeing and/or unarmed and begging for their lives.

In the wake of the senseless violence, the movie lost so much of its heart – as well as its believability. The purple-wigged Hit Girl and her father, a Batman-ish vigilante called Big Daddy, introduce themselves to Kick-Ass as the “real deal” compared to his wannabe superhero efforts (in my opinion, it’s Dave who’s the real deal – a person with his heart in the right place who’s trying his best). Hit Girl and Big Daddy have a completely carefree attitude about violence and killing, and happily stab, shoot, burn, and crush (yes, there’s a trash-compactor murder in there) their way through the criminal organization that Big Daddy blames for the death of his wife.

Seeing a father raising a young girl to be nothing but a revenge-obsessed killing machine was hard to watch. I also felt that Hit Girl’s skills were way too advanced for the amount of time she’d been trained by her father (she’s only 11, and he’d been in jail for at least part of her life). There is an action scene near the end of the movie that’s absolutely epic to watch – Hit Girl fighting her way through a hallway full of hardened killers – but there’s just no way a child that small with that little training could fight like that. I will say that the actress does a great job. I’m not a fan of little girls cussing every other word and slaughtering people with abandon, but there are moments when she is cornered and scared and grieving that she portrays very well.

Other storylines include Dave pretending to be gay to get close to Katie, and a kid named Chris who becomes a fake superhero to get close to Kick-Ass (Chris is really gathering intel for his father, the head of the drug operation Hit Girl and Big Daddy are targeting). There is a lot of potential in these elements, but too much of it is glossed over and underdeveloped. Not enough time is spent on Kick-Ass’s relationship with Chris’s alter-ego, Red Mist – a true friendship between the two could’ve made their battle at the end much more emotional. Likewise, I thought Katie was way too quick to forgive Dave for lying about being gay (and also for breaking into her room to reveal himself as Kick-Ass). The movie tried to cover too much ground, and many of the elements did not get the attention they deserved to make them full-fledged story arcs.

Despite the gruesome, over-the-top action finale, the movie does finally find its heart again through the bond between Kick-Ass and Hit Girl, who end up working together, and eventually trust each other enough to take off their masks and reveal their true identities.

In the end, I loved the concept for the movie, and some of the characters and relationships, but I wanted it to remain what it was in the beginning – a realistic story about a kid trying to be a superhero in the real world – rather than devolving into a tale of horrific child abuse and gratuitous violence. In order to get the regular-teen-becomes-a-hero flick I’m truly longing for, I may just have to take a page out of Kick-Ass producer Matthew Vaughn’s book and make the movie myself. Realistically, would I ever be able to raise the budget for a film adaptation of Even Heroes at a dinner party? Probably not. But would the movie be epic if it ever got made? Totally.

Free Book and Self Publishing Reflections

astheherofliesLeave a comment

It’s been a little over a year since I self published my first novel, and it has been a LOT of fun, as well as a huge learning experience.

The happiest moments so far:

  • Seeing my book’s product page for the very first time
  • Having friends and family send me pictures of my novel after they bought it, or screenshots of themselves ordering it
  • Getting a multi-page letter from one of my uncles, out of the blue, with a detailed review of the book and the words “This is the best book I’ve read so far this year.” Okay, it was only March at that point, but still. ;P
  • Hearing from another uncle that he’d given a copy of the novel to his grocery shopper, and she “loved the book, could not put it down, and even cried at times.”
  • Being lucky enough to get three really positive reviews from three awesome book bloggers (check out the latest one here: https://amanjareads.com/2022/12/08/even-heroes-book-review/ )

The most difficult lessons I’ve learned so far:

  • It’s really hard to get readers when you don’t have many reviews.
  • It’s really hard to get reviews when you don’t have many readers.

Right now, I am still struggling to break out of this chicken-and-egg cycle. I totally get why people wouldn’t want to buy a book – or any product – that doesn’t have reviews, because the quality might be poor. I also totally get that most people don’t have lots of money to spend at the present time. Heck, the majority of books I read these days are either library books or those obtained through giveaways. Free books rule – and I think they’re a really great way to find a new audience.

On that note, I am SUPER excited to be holding my very first free promotion for Even Heroes, which will run today (Monday, January 16th) through Friday (the 20th). My ebook will cost a very affordable $0.00 for all readers during that period. You should be able to simply visit the product page on Amazon, and then download the book to the reading device of your choice. I really, really hope some folks who don’t have any extra money (or are just wary about trying out an unknown author) decide to give my novel a chance. If you miss the promotion, don’t worry, there will be more in the future (plus, the book is already free to borrow for anyone with a Kindle Unlimited subscription).

And hey, if you do decide to give it a go, please consider leaving a review. Or even just recommending the book to a friend or family member, who might then enjoy it and pass it on to someone else. Word of mouth is a powerful tool, and I have personally discovered plenty of great books through recommendations.

At the end of the day, though my sales are basically nonexistent and KU subscribers haven’t borrowed a single copy yet, my chin is up. I have no regrets about self publishing, and can’t wait to share more of my titles this way. I knew this would be a hard road. I knew I would get out what I put into it, and I haven’t done nearly enough yet to promote the book. Hopefully in time, with many more books and giveaways under my belt, I will actually find my readers. In the meantime, my wonderfully supportive friends and family (plus some very encouraging reviews) help me keep the faith that I do have something special to share with the world. 🙂

Indie Publishing: Published (Finally!)

astheheroflies2 Comments

First things first: my debut novel is published. Like, for real. The official “birthday” for the eBook was January 1st, 2022. Its nearly identical twin, the paperback, was born the following day. Instead of announcing this joyous occasion to the world, my first instinct was to keep it a secret while I made sure everything was okay. Call me paranoid, but I had so many formatting problems – particularly with the eBook – that I figured it was better to be on the safe side than the “filled with horrific errors” side. I bought a copy of the physical book, and while that was being printed and shipped, I checked out the eBook on the few devices we own. Aside from an odd white border around the eBook cover (which has since been corrected), everything looks good.

So, it’s out there, and now I feel…weird. Not in a bad way. More in an “Okay, now what?” way. I mean, this book has been with me almost my entire adult life – all the way from that little spark of an idea I had over seventeen years ago, while talking to my brother in the parking lot after watching the movie Spider-Man 2. Just hearing how much those characters meant to him, and realizing how much they mean to so many people. The escape they offer. The hope they give.

That little spark led to sticky notes on my wall, which led to a handwritten, 300K–word first draft (three years to write, another two just to type). Once the word processing was complete, I remember feeling pretty smug about my own awesomeness. Then I started to read the book, and actually shed tears over how bad it was. At least, the early part of the book was bad. Towards the middle, when I learned not to describe in detail every time a character blinked or inhaled/exhaled, it got a little better. By the end, the writing was halfway decent but still a far cry from publishable.

I got painful but extremely valuable notes from my mom (who else but a mother would read a 1,500-page, not-so-well-written manuscript?). I revised, cut 100K words, revised again, got more notes from Mom and a few from my newly formed writing group. Sometimes, I’d let the book sit for months or even years as I worked on other projects, strengthening my craft. But I would always come back, cutting, polishing, searching for that diamond I knew was in there. When I finally got it down to 150K, I felt I’d hit a wall. I needed help to break through that last barrier, and found it in an amazing critique partner named Anna, who read the book with her then ten-and-a-half-year-old son and gave me the fresh perspective I so badly needed. Boring scenes, cut. Target age group, decided. Another 57K, gone.

So, yeah, this book has been over seventeen years in the making. But really, I think the story has been with me for even longer.

It might’ve started when I was in seventh grade, standing outside the main office at my junior high school, clutching a folded letter addressed to my band teacher. I paced for a good ten minutes, sweat soaking through my Mickey Mouse t-shirt, before finally darting inside and placing the note in my teacher’s mail cubby. Then I high-tailed it out of there, wondering if I’d just made the biggest mistake of my young life. Wondering if my teacher would believe me about the terrible things some of my classmates were doing to me behind her back – words I had to write, because I couldn’t say them out loud.

Amazingly, she did.

Or, maybe it started even earlier than that, when I was a small child watching X-Men cartoons with my brother in the mornings, then spending the afternoons jumping off the back deck with a garbage bag parachute, chasing the thrill of that gravity-defying moment of lift before the inevitable crash down to earth. Didn’t matter how many times my knees buckled, or my teeth clacked together, or my feet ached from that jarring impact. It was all worth it for that one little second of something more. That one instant when I felt like I was flying, even though such things are not possible in the “real world.”

I wrote this book for that little girl. I wrote it for any kid who’s ever tied a red blanket around his/her/their neck and pretended to be a superhero out fighting the bad guys. I wrote it for all the kids who are standing outside an office right now, holding a letter filled with words they can’t say out loud. And I wrote it for everyone – young, old, or anywhere in between – who believes that inside each ordinary person lies an extraordinary one, just waiting to break free.

I hope you guys love it.

~G