How To Write An Alex Rider Fanfiction

Training Exercises

Okay, so I was reading some Alex Rider fanfictions and some things struck odd to me. 

First, the training exercises. Authors are making him do forty mile hikes in ten hours. He's a fourteen to sixteen-year-old teenager!

In context, I'll give you an example. My brother is a Boy Scout and something all Boy Scouts have to do is go on a series of hikes. One of them is the five-mile hike. They also have to do three ten-mile hikes, one fifteen mile hike, and one twenty mile hike. 

Being the devoted, sometimes hit with insane manias of wanting to exercises and get out of the house, sister I am,  I decided to come along for the five-mile hike and one of the ten miles. 

By the end of it, I knew one thing-never again. Never again. 

I suddenly had a newfound respect for the military and the SAS. How could they go on stuff like this and survive? That too, with forty pound backpacks. My legs were frozen stiff. My whole body hurt. 

It took us three hours to complete the five miles, and five hours for the ten miles. 

Now, let's do the math here. My brother and Alex Rider are fairly close in age-about four to six years apart. While my brother may be a bit less physically active then Alex Rider and is not a teenage spy (the last time I checked, haha), Alex Rider would still be close enough for us to compare them. 

So if my brother has trouble with a ten-mile hike, is anyone going to be fooled by a forty mile hike? And while we're at it, let's think some more. 

A ten-mile hike completed in five hours. Okay, then a forty mile hike at that rate would be completed in twenty hours. 

I know in the books Alex Rider went on a forty mile or something close hike in twelve or fourteen hours. By the end of it, he was surviving on glucose and caffeine pills, cursing Alan Blunt out. Also, the physical terrain is something to consider. 

Hills equals more time spent on hiking. Flatland equals less time hiking. Obstacles such as snipers equal some fair bit of sneaking around and taking long cuts, so that would be another factor to consider. Here are some more factors you might want to consider when writing a training exercise: 

-Obstacles such as- snipers, minefields, traps, grenades, rough terrain, weather etc.

-Physical health such as- cuts, bruises, wounds, infections, heat-stroke, hypothermia etc. 

-Mental health such as -willingness to continue, mental trauma, PTSD etc. 

And keep in mind that glucose and caffeine pills aren't going to keep you running forever. They will simply give you energy, but they won't feed your staving hunger. It's basically like drinking water when your hungry-you'll be full, but you're still hungry. 

Also, it is possible to overdo pills. Glucose overdose can cause hypoglycemia, which is when your body absorbs too much glucose so your bloodstream has dangerously low levels of glucose in them. Caffeine overdoes may be rare but it can still happen, causing abdominal pain, seizures, and vomiting. You would have to take 5 to 10 grams of caffeine to die, which is like drinking fifteen to thirty, twenty ounces Starbucks dark roast. 

Logically thinking, would MI6 even give him pills? They won't give him a gun, yet they expect him to infiltrate dangerous organizations. It's not too far of a stretch for this, and let's face it, they probably think he'll overdose on purpose. 

I would recommend researching further into this to write as realistically as possible. Maybe go to a local pharmacy and ask them is it safe for teenagers to consume caffeine pills? Or if that's not an option, google it! Google's there for a reason. 

I'm not criticizing anyone in particular. I'm guilty of this mistake as well, so I'm trying to stop future authors from making this mistake. 

Until next time!

-Amber