MEET MY WIP: Not The Chosen One (A Totally New Story! Dragons, Ganglords, Cliche Flips, oh my!)
by
R.F. Gammon
- July 24, 2019
Hello, peoples! I figure it's just about time I introduce you all properly to my new WIP! I've been teasing a lot about it in certain circles, but I haven't mentioned it at all on my blog, so it is time.
Not the Chosen One
A Novel by R.F. Gammon
Years ago, the Six Warriors saved New York from the Forces of Darkness. They were dragon riders, heroes, wielders of a deep and unknown magic. Now they work 9-5 jobs and have kids, and it’s time for someone else to face the Darkness in its resurgence.
The Mage announces that there is only one way to find the next Chosen One: a light from the heavens will shine down at the next assembly, and the person it strikes will be the next hero. Everyone expects it to be Cassie, the daughter of two of the Six. No one expects the real Chosen One: Keo, the most ruthless mafia lord in NYC.
When Cassie is sixteen, Keo contacts her with a deal: she will perform his Chosen One duties, while he defends New York. An easy fix for everyone. But the Forces of Darkness are stronger than anyone could imagine, and it’s possible that Cass isn’t strong enough to save the world...
I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH OKAY. So, here: some snippets, aesthetics, character art, and songs!
Cassandra Mae Tennant (aka Cass), the Protagonist
Someone banged on the bathroom door. “Cassandra! If you waste all the hot water there will be nothing left for your father!”
Cass moaned. “I’m coming, Mom! Geez!” She forced herself out of the shower. Wringing her hair out with a towel as she applied her thin layer of makeup, she stared at herself in the mirror. An angry face, paler than a vampire’s and with more zits than was healthy, stared back at her. She could probably enter a contest and win for Most Tired with those shadows under her eyes. She was dead, basically. She was absolutely dead.
Vampire or zombie? That was the question.
Either way, she could imagine drinking blood or eating brains. Preferably those of her teachers. And the dress code people. And the stupid idiots who tried to rob her island and burn Manhattan down every night.
Coffee//self-defense class//hoodies//gal pals//caramel flavoring//the hero we didn't need//famous//bad grades//dragon rider//sass//warrior
Keo, the ganglord
Every seat and table was empty.
Except for one seat, where a man in a black suit and sunglasses sat, his dishevelled black hair in a tumbled mess across the top of his head. His feet were propped on the table. Two steaming mugs of espresso sat on the table before him.
“A pleasure, Miss Tennant,” he said, rising from his seat and pulling off the sunglasses. His eyes were shockingly black. “Fancy a caramel macchiato with whole milk?”
Secret strength//suits//honesty//make a buck//power is awfully nice//close friendships//mentor and father type//vodka occasionally//smokes out of spite
Myles, the gangster boy
“Myles, are you crazy?” Cass shrieked.
“They took my hoverboard!” Myles looked up. Despite the split lip, the blood in his hair, his black eye, and the fact that he was being forced up onto his knees, he looked the most upset about this statement. “They took it from me and they beat me up! And they took my gun, too. I hope you’re proud of yourself, Cass.”
“You idiot!” she screamed.
“Aww, thanks, does this mean we get along now?”
“No!”
Petty thief//hoverboards//I like guns//three younger sisters//romantic at heart//afraid of nothing//friends before anything else//no sleep//blue eyes
The Six: Yolanda, Zeke, Vera, Simon, Alina, and Wile
From the dining room, Dad’s voice boomed, telling some sort of joke that made the female voices of Yolanda and Alina howl with laughter. Dad, the only person who could make Alina laugh. A glass clinked—almost certainly Wile, proposing a toast. Mom laughed out loud and turned to run back into the dining room, leaving Cass alone with the dishes.
She groaned, plugged her earbuds into her phone, and hit the video chat button.
Lifelong friendships//the once and future heroes//dragon trainers//swordsmen//stuff of legend//business and day jobs//glorious past, monotonous future//collective parenting
Allison, the BFF
“I want espresso,” she said, and Allison nodded. “Mom will probably kill me if I miss the bus home, but I can probably just get a cab…”
“Oh, yeah, just get a cab out to Long Island. Because ‘I have money to throw around!’ ‘I’m rich!’ Sometimes, Cass, you’re despicable.” Allison sighed. “I’ll pay for the espresso.”
“No, you don’t have to do that!” Cass protested, but Allison was already marching down the street, and Cass had to run to keep up with her, ducking around a group of college students lurching along the street with fast food beverages and backpacks.
Food//living in Manhattan//sisters before misters//vigilante justice//"poor"//unpopular but above all that//would kill you for hurting her bestie//makeup is life//let's give Keo a manicure
Some general aesthetics:
New York City//nighttime//gangsters//dragons//romantic flight//Chosen Ones//saving the world//evil vs. good//sass sass so much sass//Sassy Cassie//crying over opera//unlikely friendships//see the giant guy? he's your mom now//politics are irrelevant, nobody will ever remember us
A couple more snippets:
“You don’t believe in the Darkness anyway, Keo. My parents know who it is and they’re prepared to fight back. That’s good enough for me.”
“Oh, but Cassie, what if they don’t know? Or rather...what if they do know, but they won’t admit it? You need to know a painful truth, and you need to hear it now.”
Cass snorted. “Why the heck do you think I care what you have to say about it?”
“Because you need to know the Identity of the Chosen One.”
“If you say my parents have been lying to me for my whole life and it’s actually me or something, I’ll probably shoot you in the face.”
“Let’s not resort to that, please. I can’t help thinking that would be rather painful for me. It’s not you, and that’s the problem.”
“Just hold on, Miss Tennant.” The voice was so casual she would have expected it to be from Alfred, Batman’s Butler or something, not someone who had just snatched her out of the sky. “We’ll have you home shortly.”
“WHAT! THE! HECK!”
They were on—a hoverboard. Some guy had caught her. On. A. Hoverboard. The city of New York sailed by below them, only a story above the ground. The guy’s arm was tight around her waist, holding her steady on the hoverboard.
“Why am I on a hoverboard?”
“Why am I on a hoverboard?”
Myles chuckled again. “This thing is loaded and ready to fire, boss. As always.”
“You’re cleaning a loaded gun?” Cass turned to stare at him, unable to ignore him anymore. She took a step back, putting the bulk of the desk between her body and his gun. “Are you an idiot?”
“How many people have said that at this point, Quentin?” Myles asked.
The big man in the doorway just laughed. “I think the count is something like seventeen now?”
Cass gaped at them. They were all idiots. Keo employed a bunch of hare-brained idiots.
Dad looked up from his game. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt and watching football with a can of beer in his hand, his bad leg up on the ottoman. Mom was dressed in sweatpants, had her graying hair in a ponytail, and was drinking hot herbal tea. Both of them looked like totally normal, suburban, working-class parents. Neither of them looked like the Saviors of the world who had ridden against the Dark on dragons. Dad definitely didn’t look like he’d absorbed all of the Dark into his physical body and then tried to die in order to get rid of it. They were her parents, nothing more.
And yet the fact that they lived on a private island with the rest of the Six and a stable full of dragons definitely said something about the truth behind that statement.
That's all, folks! Does this WIP sound like fun? I admit, I really, really love it. It's SO MUCH FUN to write and I think it's going to be a blast both to edit and to query, so I'm really really excited by that!!!!! Chat with me in the comments and tell me what your WIP is!
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