I love tournament-based stories. They have this unique sort of excitement and anticipation, much like when the World Cup or the Olympics come around. My favorite tournament-themed story would be Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was the first of many elements of inspiration for this five-part action series. I was 16 when I started this, and I started rewriting it when I was 19, while on my first winter break (now I'm 20). Hope you love it! God bless you, and enjoy the book!
The Spanish version will be published alongside this book! Spanish version: https://www.wattpad.com/story/199678924
Versus is also available on Royal Road under the username "emriverawriter" here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/68869/versus-parts-i-and-ii
On Royal Road, chapters are longer, uploaded three times a week, and includes bonus chapters!
Inspiration Credit to:
-Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling: For giving me the original idea to write this book and inspiring the fighting tournament idea.
-The Gauntlet Duology by Jamie Harris aka words_are_weapons: For giving me the idea to turn the book into sci-fi, since it was previously medieval fantasy (and therefore more difficult for me to write in the plot I'd come up with, since it fit the sci-fi genre better).
-The film adaptation of Ernest Cline's Ready Player One: For giving me ideas for the many games and strategies in the book.
-Veridian Shores by Jamie Harris: For helping me with my narration and also giving me great ideas for fight scenes.
-Celeste Academy by Lovely aka MyLovelyWriter: For inspiring some of the fantasy elements and helping me regain ideas for the rewrite, especially from the 1st, 3rd, and 5th installments. (If you're interested in reading this series, it is available on an app called Tapas, it's not available here anymore)
-I also took inspiration from the World Cup, the Olympic Games, and from the videogame released on Google in 2021: Doodle Champion Island Games.
-words_are_weapons also introduced me to League of Legends, which also helped inspire me with its soundtrack.
-I watched a few clips of the Netflix series Squid Game (I don't have Netflix, so I only had access to clips) and took inspiration and ideas from the games used in the series.
-And of course, after starting my Creative Writing career at Stockton University, my Creative Writing courses have helped strengthen my writing ability and technique. Thank you to my amazing professors <3
NOTE: The comments section has old comments from the first edition, so they may not be relevant to the story, and may contain spoilers.