The Spectacular Origin Story of Alien Fighters (Part 2)

Just in case you missed the first part of this epic tale, click here to read it. But if you’re too lazy to scroll or you’ve already read it (thanks a lot, loyal reader), here’s the teaspoon-sized version:

When boredom attacked me with its very own army of Twelve Rokus during a Christmas holiday in my village, I conquered it by writing a Power Rangers fanfic. It starred my friends and me (I was the Blue Ranger, obviously), and our school became a ninja training academy. It was complete with zords, morphers (I couldn’t decide between belts or watches, so I used both), and a whole lot of aliens… just not a lot of worldbuilding. 

Baby steps.

Here are a few headshots of the book back then. They were three seasons. (Though, umm, rat has eaten the cover of season 1 and parts of it).

Mind you, back then (that was 2022), I hadn’t gotten it into my head yet that I wanted to become a teen author. I was just writing for fun. 

It wasn’t until later that year that the idea really hit me. (But that’s a different post for another day)

Anyway, it was that Power Rangers fanfic that eventually morphed into what you now know as Alien Fighters.

Though, to be fair Alien Fighters wasn't the first story I wrote when I decided to become an author.

I actually wrote a bunch of other stories and one of the later ones was a middle grade fantasy novel called “The Dragons’ Redemptor.” It was a tale of witches, maids, princesses, and a long-lost dragon clan in torment. Basically, a fairytale with more drama and chaos.

(Actually, it was a longer, novel-ified version of the short story I posted here two years ago: “Happily Ever After.” You can tap here to check it out if you want to see my early writing energy.)

But... The Dragons’ Redemptor just didn’t work out. I made a bunch of newbie mistakes I’m not proud of and still too embarrassed to talk about (I’ll get there, one day). So, it kept getting rejections after rejections until I finally gave up on it.

And just as I was losing hope, guess what floated back into my brain?

“Power Rangers: Ninja Strike.”

Almost like a sign from God. I even had a dream about it.

I found the old notebooks I’d written it in (this was around last year now) and started thinking:

What if I rewrote this? What if I made it better? What if I didn’t make the same dumb mistakes?

It also just so happened that around that same time, I read Percy Jackson and the Olympians for the first time, and hoo boy, that had a lot of hand in driving the new story.

When I officially gave up on The Dragons’ Redemptor, and decided to give “Power Rangers: Ninja Strike” another strike. I told myself I wouldn't make the same mistakes again. I would do everything the right way this time. I would visit every writers nightmares myself.

The writer's block, the breakdowns, the “my book is trash” days… everything.

Then I began. But here’s where things actually got real.

At first, I just wanted to rewrite “Power Rangers: Ninja Strike.” You know, still keep it as a Power Rangers story, just move it to America instead of Nigeria (for vibes) and make it better and richer. But then I learned about this annoying little thing called…

Copyright.

Apparently, you can’t just write a whole Power Rangers book and call it a day. 😅 So I had to reimagine everything, and that’s when Alien Fighters truly began to take shape. And it was nerve ruffling.

Zords? Had to go.

Morphers? Reinvented.

The whole world? Rebuilt from scratch.

Honestly, this might’ve been the hardest part of the entire process (sorry, editing. But you're tough in your own BIG way).

But I did it all.

And the proof is right here:

“Bolts of Leadership: Alien Fighters Book 1.”

(Well, we’re still stuck in editing, but we’re getting there!)

One day, hopefully soon, you’ll get to read it, and we can officially do a Power Rangers vs Alien Fighters comparison (👀 I’m totally down for that).

In the meantime, from everything you’ve seen and read about Alien Fighters so far…

How do you think it stacks up against the Power Rangers franchise?