Deep in Michael Sigler's basement was a world of fantasy — where young Sigler and his pals had superhuman powers and battled the "bad guy" with plastic swords and toy guns.
Those childhood games of make-believe have come alive for Sigler, who now is a self-published author.
In high school, Sigler wrote "Elementals," a series of books based on those fictitious basement adventures he used to act out.
Now, the physics sophomore is still at work — rewriting his stories and searching for a bigger, commercial publisher to reprint them.
Sigler carries a copy of "Elementals" with him. The pages are dog-eared from constant use. Whenever he has a chance, Sigler scrutinizes over his characters' dialogue, highlighting different scenes so he can rework them later.
On a normal day, he rewrites his book for five hours, which "only gets me a few pages," Sigler said. So far, he is 75 pages behind in his psychology textbook and three chapters back in anthropology.
Writing "Elementals" and the other books in the series has been a massive endeavor for the science fiction guru. Analyzing each sentence, rewriting, brainstorming for more story ideas — it's a grueling process that Sigler loves.
"I feel like I should be able to walk through walls or teleport," he said. "But I can't — so I write about people who can."
Sigler's tales are about a high school student named Jason, who gets struck by a bolt of lightning on a cloudless day. After that, Jason and his friends discover they have magical powers derived from five elements in nature.
"It's not 'Lord of the Rings' or 'Harry Potter' because it's a grander scheme of technology," Sigler said.
Instead, the 18-year-old called his book a mature version of "Captain Planet" that meets "Power Rangers."
It all began one day in seventh grade when Sigler decided to sit down and write about his basement fantasy games.
"I said I was going to turn it into a book — nobody believed me," he said. "By the end of seventh grade, it was a handwritten draft of 270 pages.
"I just love writing," Sigler said. "I can get everything out. It's pretty much like living a second life."
Sigler kept his work in a binder, toting it to his classes and squeezing in time to write during math.
Donna Christina, Sigler's fourth grade teacher, remembered the future author devouring page after page while reading at Flickinger Elementary School in Utica.
"You don't get a child at that level every year," said Christina, who keeps a copy of Sigler's book in her class. "Every so often, you have a student who shines."
Sigler's intense hunger for reading is what evolved into his love for writing.
"He was always working on his book," said his mother, Judy Sigler. "When his brother had basketball games in the junior high, he'd be in the front lobby working on his book."
As his younger brother played, Sigler wrote away in front of a sign that read: "Author in process — looking for publisher."
Sigler completed his writing project during his senior year of high school, and his family paid almost $1,600 to publish it through a company they found online. Sigler ended up selling about 100 copies to his friends, family and his parents' co-workers.
One copy is laid out on the Siglers' living room table in case a visitor enters their Shelby Township home, Judy Sigler said.
By this summer, Sigler said he should be finished rewriting his book and can start searching for that big, elusive publishing company.
"If I show them something I've self-published, they're going to take me a little more seriously," he said.
But instead of science fiction paying his bills, Sigler said he plans to go into science for a career, maybe working in a hospital as a medical physicist.
Still, writing is something Sigler said he'll always love.
"Writing is my passion," he said.
