Hey everybody, I'm working on a book project(I like to write), and it's about the street racing scene. I wanted it to be more realistic than TF&TF, more informative, and still have good driving action. I'm also trying to have the setting in my area(Houston).
Here's the basic story for the first book:
The main character, a college student, is trying to join a club. As part of the club initiation, he has to race with the team leader on their favorite country road and not get left behind. But at the beginninng of the book, his car gets stolen and stripped. The majority of the book is about him rebuilding his car with the help of a shop owner and learning to drive from an autocrosser he meets. Then at the end, he finally races the team leader, with surprising results.
I'm still trying to do some research on this, but I really want to start putting things together for the book. There's some other things, like what the characters will drive. I've already decided on an EG Civic for the main character, and a Prelude for the club leader. Don't worry, the Nissan camp will be well represented! The main character's gf will have a turbo S13 240SX, there will be one Maxima(something clean like Y2KevSE's), and possibly a guy with an ICE'd out Q45. In a later book, the main character will get rid of the Civic and get an S14 240SX, and I might figure out a way for him to squeeze a VK45DE in there.

If you guys wanna help me out, I'd really appreciate it.

 

At least tell me if you think it's worth continuing...

I figured we deserved to have a decent Max represent us, rather than some slower-than-stock embarassment. This book will give people a real look into street racing, not some overhyped distortion.

 

just make sure the honda boys realize that just because a certain car is popular it isnt necisarrily better.

Also make nissan the underdog who turns out to murder the competition.

and make domestics look ghey even though in the fst and furs. the 9 sec domestic was the king.

and make sure the charachters are cocky at first but then learn repsect in the end.

 

Yeah, my main character is just working with what he has. A wise, old shop owner takes him under his wing and shows him how to make real power. He knows his car isn't the best, but he's just trying to figure out how he's going to be able to keep up with the club leader's Prelude.
In a later book, my main chracter totals his Civic and moves up to the 240SX. I don't know how I'll have him put the VK45DE in there, but it'll be a sleeper for sure.
Sorry, no can do. I gotta be realistic, and that means giving cred where it's due. I am thinking about having the Civic race against a Z28 SS just to prove the point. The SS driver is is the noob of his domestic car club, had a bad suspension setup and doesn't know the road well, but he still makes it tough for the Civic driver because of sheer power.
Same thing, most of the chracters will give cred when it's due. The leader of the domestic car club gives props to the Civic for its great handling and for having well-planned modificatons. But they both agree that the SS had much more usable power and torque. That gets the Civic owner thinking about how he might do with more power.

 

I'm just trying to show everyone a little respect with this thing...well, except for ricers. I plan on razzing them a lot.

I also forgot to mention there will be two more Nissans at some point. The old shop owner drives an RB-powered Datsun Z, and the main character's mom has an Altima 3.5 SE.

 

fully develop your characters and personalities. create a believable environment to place them in, and let them write your story.

 

I'm just letting people see my concept, and bouncing ideas around right now. I posted this at other boards too. One guy told me not to make a book series, but to put it all in one book. I told I wish I could do that, but it'd be way too long. I wish Kev would get in here and tell me what he thinks of me using a Max like his in the book.

 

Hey, anybody else? I'd like as much feedback as possible.

 

Is this something you are just doing for fun, or are you a real writer and going to get it published? if its the latter, i would worry about appealing to the "non-racers" as well as rice boys, cause i dont know how many "racers" read books!

DPW

 

Yeah, I'm working on making it appealing to others, too. I'm hoping the non-car junkies that liked TF&TF might pick it up and like it a lot more.
To break up my boring techno-nerdisms every now and then, I want to throw in some action for the heck of it. Kind of like how they added the F355 race in TF&TF. One I've thought up is more of a chase than an actual race. My character is on the way home from school or the speed shop, driving on the freeway. Some impatient BMW 5-series driver accidentally taps his rear bumper...and won't stop. My character just goes into a "red mist" and chases him down, driving on the shoulder and everything to keep up because he's so mad, and the BMW driver is freaking out because he can't lose this annoying little Civic. Finally, the 5-series gets caught in traffic, and my character forces the dude to pull over. Pretty cool, huh?

I also want to put in stuff regular people can relate to, as well. As I mentioned before, my character will have a girlfriend. My dude meets this cute older girl that autocrosses. She offers to teach him how to drive. He spends a lot of time at all the driving events, and his gf is wondering where he is. They are riding together one day, and the gf catches them together. She's really mad, and the guy tries to explain that she's just teaching him how to drive. It'll be good.

 

dude sounds good, but unless your John Grisham, not everyones gonna be super interested (chicks read romance, guys read science fiction etc etc) so make it a book for the car guys. make sure theres CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT...we need to see what the guys are like (ie why does he want to get in this club? was me left out as a kid? etc)...a novel isnt a novel if the characters are flat. and make it creative/different : everyones heard the new guy comes in and shows everyone whos boss story (like every single sports movie out there ) so add twists. but it sounds liek a great line. let me know how it comes

 

for the regular Joe as well. I figure there won't be a lot of ladies reading this(if only they were all like the women here! ), so I'm trying to draw in regular guys, and the gearhead guys too. I want to have some stuff that would hold just about any guy's attention(like the part with the gf and the BMW chase), but also some of my speccy nerdisms for the enthusiasts.

 

you can do a scene on gambling for pinkslips, side bets, how using races as a decoy to rob jewlery stores (hella people stage races to dirver cops attention to a remote location, while a group of people go jack a store or something)

a friend crashes and burns in a canyon run race, and the guy races in honor of him, works his way up by going from bussinng tables at a chinese restraunt to working at a mufflershop, then to a performance shop learnign all that he can from each stop.. (i have two friends that actually bus tables for car parts)

the crew gets a nice set of go carts and trains on them. durign the day they bring themz go carts onto the hilly roads to practice..

you can also put in some of the crew rivalry stuff.. like how some crews go out jacking cars from their rivals.. i know of a few local crews that go out and mess up stores that sponsor their rivals.

or there's also the misterious black car that drives around with his lights off at knight AKA batman.. that one crazy foo with the rx-7 and night vision goggles..

the stuff i listed are based on real life things.. cept for racing for somoene that died on a canyon run.

i dunno there's a few random ideas for ya...

and oh yeah... it's all about da bootay.. so gotta have a girl worth racing for.. make sure she's not a skank tho..

 

I like the one about canyon running, but the book is based in my area of Texas, which is flatter than...um, it's just really, really flat, okay?hehe
The karting sessions is very doable. There's an indoor place father in Houston that I've been meaning to hit up. They have custom built, tube frame, 6hp karts, the kind that can pull 1.5g on a skidpad! It would be a cool place for everyone to hang out in the book.
The shop owner was going to own the fast, mysterious black car. It's an RB26DETT-powered Datsun Z. When the domestic club comes to town, the shop owner will race the leader's S/C'd C5 'Vette. That'll be an awesome race.
I was thinking of including something about robberies in a later book, after my character gets his VK-powered S14 240SX. I was going to have him make friends with the leader of the gang that is robbing the stores. He tries to tell 'em to cut it ut, it's not right, you'll get caught, yadda, yadda. During one of the gang's getaways, they cause an accident. A big truck swerves and hits my character's mom, killing her. My dude decides to go after them himself, without the help of the police. In memory of his mom, he takes out the VQ35DE from her Altima 3.5 SE and uses it in his car. Sentimental, huh?
I guess there's "bootay," too. My character has a cool, girl-next-door cute gf that likes to work on her turbo S13 240SX. Her nickname is "PMS" because she uses a programmable management system. I also have this lady that teaches him how to drive. She's based on this really cute autocrosser I know in Cali. Then after my dude beats the Prelude driver, the gf of the 'Lude driver goes after him too. She's a total hoochie, and she tells him "He was never fast enough for me anyway," or something like that."hehe

 

Wrap this subject up. Hang on to your shoes Dorthy, because it's going bye-bye later today.

 

Well it is sort of Maxima related...but thanks for the warning.

 

I'd still like to know what kind of Max should be in it. If no one says anything, I'll just come up with something like Y2KevSE's.