A Stalker's Journey
GENRE
HORROR MYSTERY ACTION CRIME SUSPENSE/THRILLER
Core Theme
THE TRAGEDY OF CURTIS’S HORRIBLE HOME LIFE TURNING HIM INTO A TEEN HOODLUM, COMPARED WITH ACE AND HIS FRIEND GROWING UP IN A SAFE MIDDLE-CLASS COMMUNITY, DEMONSTRATING THE THEMES OF NATURE VERSUS NURTURE.
TIME PERIOD
1980s & '90s
COMPARABLE TITLES
STRANGER THINGS; STAND BY ME
CHARACTER LIST
ACE: 10-EARLY 20S, FRESH FACED, PERSONABLE..
CURTIS EVAN WARE: 16-EARLY 30S, DISHEVELED, GLASS EYE, SCARRED FACE, LIMP.
WILLY: 10-EARLY 20A, ACE’S BEST BUDDY.
DONNIE: 10, PART OF ACE WILLY’S NEIGHBORHOOD GANG.
ERIC WARE, 20S-30S, CURTIS'S DISSOLUTE BROTHER.
SANDRA WARE, LATE 20S-30S, CURTIS'S LAW-ABIDING OLDER SISTER.
KAREN, 40S, DONNIE AND WILLIE'S MOTHER WHO IS CONCERNED ABOUT CURTIS STALKING HER CHILDREN.
Logline
A crime thriller about a rivalry in a small fishing town that spawns between a mischievous local newspaper boy and a crazed criminal
Target Audiences
Age: 18-34,35-54
Target Gender: Universal,Male Leaning
Setting
Maine
Based on a True Story
No
Publishing Details
Status: Yes: self-published
Publisher: self-published
Year Published: 2016
Starting Description
This story is about a crime spree that takes place in a small fishing town in Maine. It reveals the lifestyle of a desperate con artist. As you delve into the pages of this intense novel, you will begin to understand the bizarre tendencies of a deranged criminal monster named Curtis Ware.
Ending Description
Two young men realize the true identity of a crazed maniac they feuded with for fifteen years.
Group Specific
Information not completed
Hard Copy Available
No
ISBN
9780997596403
Mature Audience Themes
Extreme Violence, Language/Profanity, Substance Abuse, Language/Profanity,Substance Abuse
Plot - Other Elements
Meaningful Message, Twist, Coming of Age
Plot - Premise
Overcoming Monster/Villain
Main Character Details
Name: Curtis Ware
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Role: Antagonist
Key Traits: Criminal, Clumsy, Insecure, Manipulative, Villainous, Aggressive, Badass, Crazy, Complex, Greedy, Narcissistic,Aggressive,Clumsy,Complex,Power Hungry,Selfless,Greedy,Desperate,Manipulative
Additional Character Details
Name: Ace Gordon
Age: 10
Gender: Male
Role: Protagonist
Key Traits: Confident, Complex, Decisive, Skillful, Adventurous, Aggressive, Badass
Additional Character Details
The author has not yet written this
Additional Character Details
The author has not yet written this
Genre
DRAMA, SUSPENSE
Brief
Ten-year-old Ace and his small gang of friends are harassed by a local criminal, who becomes obsessed with 'defeating' them, even after serving ten years in jail.
Overall Rating
FAIR
Narrative Elements
Authors Writing Style: FAIR
Characterization: FAIR
Commerciality: FAIR
Franchise Potential: FAIR
Pace: FAIR
Premise: FAIR
Structure: FAIR
Theme: FAIR
Accuracy of Book Profile
Yes, it's pretty accurate.
Draw of Story
Personable gang of pre-teen boys in an idyllic small town Maine setting.
Possible Drawbacks
Antagonist Curtis Ware's actions are repetitive; there is no 'big battle', and the kids don't really succeed in taking Curtis down for good.
Use of Special Effects
THE STORY DOES NOT RELY ON SPECIAL EFFECTS
Primary Hook of Story
A gang of pre-teen boys face off against a neighborhood bully and criminal -- but there are no real life lessons for the boys, and later adults, to learn.
Fanbase Potential
Not really. The story lacks a distinct beginning, middle and end, and any real life lessons for the boys' experience in combating stalker Curtis.
Awards Potential
No. At present, it's too small a story and has no real ending.
Envisioned Budget
LOW BUDGET
Similar Films/TV Series
STRANGER THINGS; STAND BY ME
What’s New About the Story
The gang of personable pre-teen boys facing off against a deranged criminal - who has his own sad past. The story could use some more editing to make Curtis a bit more humane, perhaps the boys even apologize to him for breaking into his shack, and they have a temporary truce before Curtis reveals he can't outgrow his vengeful nature.
Lead Characters
Ace is a classic young American prototype, the young kid in a middle-class neighborhood who does his paper-route on his bicycle and enjoys getting into mischief with his pals. He's a very relatable character. Curtis is less convincing, as his stalking seems a little over-the-top, without much motive other than to scare the boys.
Uniqueness of Story
Not a rare gem as is. The story needs more editing to turn it into a moral tale of good v. evil, to show two paths in life, either Curtis's, unable to overcome a bad childhood and resorting to crime, or Ace, rightly offended and frightened by Curtis, but not resorting to violence.
Possible Formats
Film: Indie
Analyst Recommendation
WORK IN PROGRESS
Justification
The story feels unfinished, and needs a stronger structure to give it a real beginning, middle and end, with resultant life lessons learned.
Tips for Improvement
Curtis needs to be humanized more, to make his descent into crime more understandable. There needs to be more interaction between Ace and his friends and their parents, to show their prevailing attitudes about combatting local street crime.
Brief
A small gang of childhood buddies living in a scenic Maine town, face off against a local petty criminal who becomes obsessed with harassing them.
What We Liked
Classic tale of a small gang of childhood buddies in a safe middle-class Maine town who find themselves up against a deranged petty criminal, who becomes obsessed with stalking and scaring them.
Film: It could make a great little indie film, as per Stand By Me, about kids growing up in a small Maine town, inadvertently attracting the attention of a deranged petty thief.
TV: It could be a useful moral tale in teaching pre-teen kids how to observe and identify threats on the street, and a lesson in character building as to how to they react and deal with it.
Key points:
Gang of cute kids, very relatable to audiences.
Charming middle-class Maine small town backdrop.
A deranged criminal getting his just desserts.
The ominous 'ordinariness' of criminal elements in our midst.
Synopsis
CURTIS EVAN WARE (late teens) grew up in Iowa. Both parents were alcoholics, and his mother was also a drug addict. Curtis dropped out of school at 15. He became addicted to drugs and alcohol and survived by petty theft.
After being badly beaten up by a drug dealer after attempting to steal his stash, Curtis lost an eye and his leg was screwed up. He had an eerie glass eye and ever after walked with a limp. He spent a year in jail where he was brutally molested by inmates. He grew his nails and scratched a rival’s eye out.
At 20, he was accused of indecent exposure when a Girl Scout came to his door selling cookies.
In 1990, at 23, Curtis moved to Maine where his brother ERIC (mid 20s) and sister SANDRA (late 20s, law-abiding) lived. He dressed up his car as a fake taxi cab and persuaded Eric to join him in robbing families leaving the beach.
During a town carnival, he sets up a gambling game of his own creation, always triggered to lose. A fellow carnie spots him cheating and angrily confronts him, stealing his considerable takings. Curtis loses it and beats him with a baseball bat. He’s arrested and sent back to jail.
ACE GORDON (9) lives on the same street as Curtis, with his brother DANA (11). They are good friends with their neighbors, the McNolte family: DONNIE (9), WILLY (11) and TASHA (18). Their mother KAREN (40s) is suspicious when Curtis approaches her in a grocery store parking lot, claiming to be ‘Howard Clemens’ and collecting money for veterans.
Curtis starts staking out Ace’s street, trawling up and down in his car as Ace is on his paper-boy route. Residents are appalled when he appears at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony and rips the lights off the tree. Ace and his gang are always up to mischief but when they pelt a car with snowballs, they’re worried when they see it’s crazy Curtis!