Ideas for Final Class Novel

The theme for the graphic novel I want to explore is how a tragedy about another family member can effect a young boy for most of his life. When reading Essex County I was surprised that this theme was explored as well so inspiration may be drawn from that despite the characters in both pieces of literature being under different circumstances. The characters that are to be involved are a young boy, his mother, a killer, and a dog. Those are the four main characters. The plot idea for this novel is about a young boy and mother entering death game so the mother can see the father again (the man she loves). The boy never met the father as he impregnated his mother and left before he was born. A figure known as The Reaper appears in the story and ends up killing the mother. The boy lives by himself for 10 more years with a dog he finds during the death game until the next death game. The graphic novel is gonna explain the world (for good world building) and the rules of the game at the start and for the rest of the pages show the troubles of the boy during the first game. This is a prequel story to a much larger story that details the events of the next game that takes place 10 years after the first one the boy participates in. By the end of the novel the reader is going to know why the boy decides to enter the game again. In terms of character development the reader is going to see how the murder of his mother effects the boy as he gets older.