Why I chose this title:

I chose the title Jack's World because (1) the protagonist of the story is a young boy named Jack (2) as a pasttime he creates through his imagination and his drawings a fictional world filled with Superheroes, and (3) a major theme of the story is Jack's struggle to escape from the real world - one in which his father is away at war, his mother is depressed, and as a child he feels powerless to change the situation.

 

Although it is still in development, the current rough-draft plot of the story goes something like this:

• Jack's father leaves for war

• Jack spends increasing amounts of time creating his imaginary world - he uses fantasy to escape from a frustrating reality where his father may die and his mother is depressed

• One night, two superheroes from Jack's imaginary world appear to him, tell him that the world he created is actually real,a nd that they ned him to become a superhero and help them bring peace to the superhero world - they also hint that he may find a way to save his motehr form depression with the new superpowers he will acquire

• NOTE: Jack is not acknowledged as having power over the world he created, it simply happens ot exist for Jack

• From then on Jack spends his nights the superhero world as a superhero, and during the day he daydreams increasing amounts, becoming more and more detached from reality

• I haven't thought of where the story should go from there

• I'm considering Jack becoming lost in the superhero war he's fighting, and struggling with the acquisition of power, perhaps realizing that he is on the way to being a supervillain

• In the end I think his father will come home, as Jack relinquishes his superhero persona, who has become increasingly violent and out of control

• He leaves the superhero world in peace and symbolically "hangs up his cape"

• I have no idea how long I would make this story as far as actual pages are concerned

 

Some Context:

• Jack's imaginary world is a reflection of his frustrations as a helpless child

• In the superhero world Jack is able to fight and feel strong like his father, who he idolizes

• Jack is also filled with anger that he expresses through violence as a superhero

• A good portion of the story will deal with Jack trying to understand his newfound power

• In Jack's superhero world there are 2 types of violence that Jack exhibits: innocent "fight the bad guys violence" and angry powertrip violence

• This is intentional - I want Jack to grapple with the meaning of power, the meaning of violence, and moral grey area (or where is the line between superhero and supervillain drawn)