Refraction by Hayden Scott Guest Post & Excerpt!

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Hi guys, we have new author Hayden Scott stopping by with her upcoming debut YA story Refraction, I’ve nicked Hayden’s YouTude announcement so you can get to know her and her story a bit 😉 , Hayden writes a guest post for us about her story and we also have a great excerpt, so check out the post and enjoy!  <3 ~Pixie~

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Refraction

by

Hayden Scott

Max Jackson spends his days worrying about the same things most teenagers do—homework, college admission, and how to detonate the doomsday device his mom built in their basement. As a member of the “Injustice League,” Max has devoted his life to destroying his city’s corrupt power structure. Everything is going according to plan until all-American superhero Crush Goodman steals the device right out from under him. Max’s life gets even more complicated when Crush starts stalking him at school and acting friendlier than he ever should to his archnemesis. Caught between his evolving feelings for Crush and wanting to protect his secret identity, Max has to steal his device back and show Crush the true meaning of supervillainy.

Hayden Scott

I have a type.

When it comes to fictional characters, I like one thing: smart. The trappings might change (conman, cop, book smarts, street smarts, heart of gold optional), but at the core my favorite characters are always one step ahead of everyone else. They look for patterns, they question everything, and they always, always anticipate.

And there’s always a grand plan, whether they’re plotting a heist or solving a murder. This plan is a doozy. This plan is more complex than your relationship with your father. This plan teeters like a house of cards built on top of a champagne pyramid.

This plan would never, ever work in real life.

It’s a masterpiece woven together with assumptions, esoteric trivia facts, and improbable feats of technology and psychological insight. In the face of reality—human caprice, the laws of physics, bad weather—it would crumble like New York City when the Avengers are in town. It’s absurd, and I love it.

One of the things I wanted to create in “Refraction” was a culture that celebrated the impossible plan. Superheroes and villains alike adhere to the pageantry of their inevitable, cyclical competition with each other. The villains construct absurdly complicated plots, as much a performance as an actual attempt at world domination. When you know the heroes are always going to win anyway, what can you do but bring in the hot air balloons and a three legged dog?

Amidst these elaborate, theatrical machinations, the superheroes stick to the Hero vs. Villain script out of little more than the knowledge that this is how the world works. The pattern is established and well-worn, and in spite of a certain level of self-awareness, everyone continues to play their parts. To the people in this world, the process of fighting evil (or fighting for evil) is as important as any potential triumph.

At its core, “Refraction” is a story about appreciating the journey of life rather than the destination, a heartwarming concept that Max and his supervillain cohorts would be horrified to endorse.

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Excerpt

“Dynaman, to the bell tower!” Max’s mother bellowed at him, swinging wildly from Mr. Magnificent’s shoulders as he heaved, trying to unseat her.

“You won’t get away with this, Catalyst,” Mr. Magnificent declared. “Your days are numbered!”

“You couldn’t even count high enough for that!” sneered Max’s mom, and she toppled them both over the railing onto a large conveyor belt.

Max sighed.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t committed to the mission or didn’t understand how important their work was. It was just that his mom and Mr. Magnificent had the same exchange every other week. And the worst part was that Mr. Magnificent was always right—he never let Max and Catalyst detonate their doomsday device, even though it would make a totally impressive battle finale. A lever always broke at the wrong time, or the sharks escaped the shark tank, or one time his mom’s monologue ran long enough for the SWAT team to arrive.

It was enough to give a guy a complex.

But Max flew up to the bell tower anyway, because one time he had gone home in the middle of a fight, and he was pretty sure he was technically still grounded.

The doomsday device sat proud and tall like a throne on the stone floor at the base of the bell. Max crouched in the windowsill for a moment, observing its majesty, then indulged himself in a midair backflip as he landed in front of it.

He could still be badass even if no one was around to see it.

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About Hayden

Hayden Scott grew up, very reluctantly, on a farm in the middle of nowhere. She spent her time climbing trees and playing in the dirt until the day she discovered books, at which point she holed up inside her imagination and never came out again. She prefers to believe the whole phrase is “Jack of all trades, master of none, certainly better than master of one.”

Hayden likes magic, adventure, romance, and puns. She has no idea where she is going but hopes that writing stories will make the journey more interesting.

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