Getting Organized and Psyched Up

I've been studying like a crazy person on the principles of visual storytelling, and soon there should be some pay-off as some pages start to take shape for Fading Cloud soon. Got the layout for the first page ready and sent off to Katya (check her stuff out here!), so she can work her artistic magic on it and get it reading for inking.

I was calling these "thumbnails," but that's not really accurate anymore.

I have some cool ideas lined up for this project, specifically for how I want the inking to be done. It's been a long time coming, and the hard deadline is for it the first issue/chapter to be done by Christmas. So stay tuned...

Changes and Focus

It's been a while since I posted something here, so I figure I should post an update.

In the last few months, I've moved from San Diego to Los Angeles, so I can get closer to the animation industry and possibly get my foot in the door at a studio there (well, "here," now, since I'm actually here, so LA is no longer a "there," technically).

Anyway, in the mean time, I'm working on growing my drawing skills, and I'm focusing exclusively on Fading Cloud. I'd like to work on Legacy also (a novel that takes place over 3000 years after everything else), but I'm in a season right now where I'm very strapped for time, and need to focus.

But, the last few weeks have been great because of it. The script for Fading Cloud just continues to get more and more solid (partly because I completely ditched the original ending I'd written). Good things are coming down the pipeline, so keep an eye out!

Who Needs a Lightbox....

...when you have a perfectly good window on a sunny day?

Got this idea from Paul Shultz...now just gotta trace over it, then I can start inking it, then coloring it, then it will be done!

New Strategy...

Going to be using this website more often soon...stay tuned...

Also planning on setting up a Zazzle page, to make it easier for people to buy my art and stuff!

Getting Bit By The "What Happens Next?" Bug

Okay, so, I've spent a lot of time ruminating over the issue of how to properly write the first part of a novel...I've even written a blog post on here about overcoming the "wall of words" problem. There are a lot of issues to take into mind, but the most important...the one I've been chewing on for the last couple months now...is The Hook.

As silly as it sounds, if the first few pages of a novel don't suck in the reader, it doesn't matter how good the book is. It doesn't matter how solid the characters are. It doesn't matter how sharp the dialogue is. It doesn't matter how epic the story is. If a reader gets bored after the prologue, you're in trouble.

I've figured out what needs to happen. The first 1-3 pages of any novel has to be engineered to present a specific feeling:

"There's more at stake here than meets the eye."

Check it out. Look at the beginnings of any of your favorite novels. They all start with something happening that bates you, that leaves out some important pieces of information. Either the characters are confused and intrigued, or as a reader you're jumping into the middle of a conversation that you'd need to hear the beginning of to know what's going on (in a sense).

Dune begins with Paul pretending to be asleep while people talk about him, about rituals he's going to have to go through, rituals he knows nothing about.

Lathe of Heaven begins with George waking from a twisted nightmare, surrounded by paramedics, who notice that he just took a very strange, very dangerous mixture of drugs. He incoherently explains that he took them so that he could try and stop himself from dreaming, and that he's been doing this for a couple months.

Macbeth being with the three Weird Sisters speaking in riddles about an upcoming meeting with Macbeth, with heavy implications that this is not a good thing (to say the least).

All throw out bits of details. All produce a specific type of confusion and anticipation: "What's going on?" It's this that should carry the reader through the sometimes difficult and sometimes slow first few parts of a story, when they have to get to know and get used to the characters and the situation and what-not.

And, even though it pains me to admit it, I failed to pull this off with my novel Imperfect. I believe I can remedy it easily enough, by re-doing the prologue. Stay tuned. I'll probably post it here soon.

Crazy Wikia Project

So, a friend of mine recommended I create a Wikia page for the Lower Knights. This has resulted in increasing the level of insanity in my life, but in the end result should be pretty cool. I'll have a fancy website with all the details and background info for the franchise, all organized and streamlined.

It's going to take me a while to transfer the dozens (or hundreds?) of pages of notes scattered throughout my computer to the website, though. You can check out what I have so far:

http://lowerknights.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

A Little About The Whole Social Justice Angle

I think I'd mentioned this sometime before (and if I didn't, that's okay, because I'm mentioning it now), about how all profits I receive for sales of Imperfect will go to Love146.

There is a very good reason for this.

First off, it's has to do with a principle I have of wanting to keep my focus right. I wanted to give the first profits of my work on all this to a worthy cause, and one that correlated with the theme of the novel.  I did research on non-profits out there, trying to find such a cause.

A friend of mine let me know about Love146 and their mission to help people trapped in the slavery and trafficking industry that's running rampant around the world (despite the fact that this problem isn't well publicized). I did research on them at CharityNavigator, and they checked out as accountable and legitimate, so I chose them.

I tell people that choosing such an organization makes sense once you read the book. I do this partly to try and tease them into wanting to read it, but also because I don't like trying to boil down the message the story tries to deliver. Often, doing so feels awkward, as if I'm doing the message an injustice.

I will say, however, that the main character of Imperfect, Cass, would have been very happy to find out that such an organization existed in her world. There are many people in the real world that would share such a sentiment, so I'm going to take steps to help.