This was an idea from some time ago, when I was wondering if I could basically write more Hunger Games fan fiction without it actually being the Hunger Games. Better title suggestions are welcome.
Working Title: Tournament of the World
Genre: Horror/Sci-Fi
Protagonist: Corey, a 17-year-old Canadian and one of Region 4's randomly-chosen athletes for the year. He's not actually particularly athletic, although he does pride himself on being a very good swimmer. His hair is a medium brown and kept short. His eyebrows have a solid look to them. He's a bit of a people-pleaser, although he can loose his cool if someone's a bit too irritating.
Other Main Characters: Pierce, a 21-year-old American and another of Region 4's athletes. He's a star wrestler on his university team and looks the part. Reasonably handsome, he has blue eyes and dark, cropped hair. He's more annoying than kind verbally, but he's not opposed to helping people out every once in a while.
Aiko (愛子), an 18-year-old Japanese (Region 3). She's quite small and not much of an actual athlete, although she's determined. She's also quite the doormat about anything she's not so devoted to.
"Rin" (Екатерина), an 18-year-old Russian and athlete from Region 17. Slender but toned, she's tall and keeps her dark hair in a low ponytail. She's fierce and not very friendly, although she's a team player when she sees strength in numbers.
Antagonists: The other athletes in the 16-23 bracket, as well as those in other age groups if the protagonists get that far. More trouble will usually come from within their group and the elements.
Setting: Future Earth, with a much-too-large population that has already started many wars just to reduce itself. The council of civilised nations has condemned such activities but opened up a life-or-death international competition. Nations compete to host as they would the Olympics, but the competition is once a year. The world is divided into regions for the purpose of the competition, and a certain proportion of "athletes" of reproductive age are randomly chosen (although some nations send out a suspiciously high proportion of actual athletes) from each region. Each competitive bracket is thrown into a vast arena with each other until few (or, in the final competition, one) remain alive. Competitors are given a meal and a pack of supplies before each round and helped no more. Around-the-clock footage is provided so regions can cheer for their athletes, although the cheering is more often by country.
Plot: Corey and company struggle to stay alive, particularly in the way of food, in the outdoor arena. They also struggle to stay together when certain revelations (say, Corey having a real-life girlfriend despite keeping up an online relationship with an anonymous young woman who may also be in the competition) come to light.
Point of View: First person (Corey).
It still rings a little too close to the source material. Perhaps if there was some reason that everyone was a volunteer (Social pressure, greed, glory, ect.) Just taking out the random choosing would probably make it seem much less like The Hunger games, as well as provide good fodder for character development or plot points.
ReplyDeleteMim
I like how you've differentiated it from the Hunger Games by having the Games serve a different purpose (and a quite clever and scarily feasible one at that) and dividing them into certain rounds rather than just one long stretch. The idea of Corey's online girlfriend possibly being in the Games is interesting as well; it could lead the readers into a sort of guessing-game as to which character she is and lead to some stunning twists. I agree with Mim that it's still a little too close to the source, though. I think that having them volunteer might be a step in the right direction, or making the Games less wilderness-survival focused (for example, making it be just like the modern Olympics, with different sports, but the person to come in last is killed, or something like that).
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