Comics, and Novels, and Stories... Oh, My!

Well, things are moving along on the comic ideas I've had. I'm working with one artist on character concepts for the dark fantasy, and am 90% certain I'll be working with him all the way through to the contest. I've been approached several other artists, waiting to hear back from them with some sketches, and hopefully will find an artist for the second pitch soon. Meantime, I'm outlining and synopsizing and scripting my way to complete stories for the artists to draw, on the off chance we actually win the contest on one of these pitches.

On the novel home front, my revisions for book 2 have been on a backburner for a little while as my concentration has been directed toward the comic pitches. I started some work today on revising, with the idea that having stepped away from the project for a little while, I'd have a better perspective. However, after printing out the book, I began reading through and looking for changes to make... and I found myself drawn into the story. My OWN STORY! How often does that happen to a writer? I know that on my first novel, and on every short story I've ever written, I can usually look back on the and feel pride, but very rarely do my own writings draw me in as if I were a reader instead. I can read my own work, and see both flaws and strengths, but this book is different. It was like reading an old favorite novel, instead of like critiquing my own work. I have to admit, it makes it difficult to find places to revise as my agent has suggested... but I LOVE this book! Not just as a writer, but as a reader. Regardless... I have to go murder a bunch of my darlings, and in many places replace them with new darlings, to please my agent.

And short stories... oh, my! All of my short story work has dropped by the wayside. I have mutiple projects that I had been outlining (one of which got turned into the dark fantasy comic pitch), but I haven't done any work on them in a couple of weeks or more. Short stories are often considered the true test of a talented author... and it seems I've let those particular skills desert me lately. Ah, well... there's plenty of time for that, I suppose. I shouldn't stretch myself too thin. I should concentrate on the things I already have an agent for, and the things where other people (artists) are likely going to be depending on me to do my part.

And last, but not least... I'm broke. I need a job BADLY. I've been looking, and I've been interviewing, but nothing has solidified. I've even been contacted by multiple recruiters and contract agencies based on my resume and qualifications, and they all seem excited about working with me, but none of them has turned into a job yet. It's driving me crazy. I'm not just a little broke... I'm BROKE broke. As in, have to borrow money for my son's school lunches broke. As in, going to be lacking in certain creature comforts like electricity, water, and shelter broke, unless I can come up with some way to make some money. It's not that I'm lazy, it's not that I'm unqualified... it's just that there are only a few things that I know how to do that can earn me enough to live on, and I can't seem to find anyone who wants to pay me to do them. It's getting frustrating.

That's enough about my personal life... I'm sure that's not what you're here to read about. I just throw it in there because it's yet another of the examples of real life intruding on my writing time and my frame of mind.

Good responses so far

I've received quite a few good responses from my request for artists. I have to say, I appreciate it, and I'm glad I've been able to create a little buzz.

As of yet, I've not cemented any arrangement to work with anyone. I'm waiting for preliminary sketches of a couple of my character outlines from several folks, hoping to find one (or more) who "gets" my concept and is excited about the project.

For anyone who's interested, what the contest requires is a page of story concept from the writer and a page of art from the artist. My understanding is that these could take several forms. A synopsis of the story, or a page of script, or character outlines and a general story concept from the writer. A page of character sketches, a page of finished character concept drawings, or a finished comic book page with or without letters from the artist. If I'm understanding the contest right, they'll look at these and narrow it down to fifty semi-finalists who will travel to California with more work to pitch to the judges there. I'm assuming this will be anything up to and including a full comic book ready to be sent to the printer. These fifty will be narrowed down to three, which will be posted on the web and judged by the public.

I'm working on two separate story pitches. One is a dark fantasy interacting with modern characters. There will be characters as wide ranging as Auberon/The Erl King, Titania/The Witch Queen, and Puck to more normal characters like Detective Jeff Mabry, Cassandra O'Neill, and Gustav "Gus" Stratman. If it works out the way I want, it will be interesting and fun to read on a "Strange Tales" or "Tales From The Crypt" level, and it will be graphically interesting, both dark and sinister and light and cheerful depending on the scene's setting or characters focused on.

The other pitch is a fairly standard reluctant superhero story, with a twist. There won't be any tights or secret identities, although the reluctant hero will act behind the scenes and in secret. He's basically a troubled teen, slacker, gets in trouble all the time, and suddenly finds himself gifted with superpowers. He uncovers a terrorist plot, and must try and convince the authorities of it or try and stop it himself. His only friend is a comic book geek from school who idolizes him for his rebellious ways. His friend will be the one urging him on to use his powers as a superhero, and our hero will resist as much as he can.

That's basically it. I'm excited about both of them, and honestly think that with the right art, both of them have a shot at winning. However, I must admit to being far more intrigued by the dark fantasy idea.

So what's anyone think? Do either of those sound interesting for a graphic format? With the right art, would you read a book based on either of those premises?

Comic Book Challenge coming FAST!

I just read the info on the blog of the previous winner of the Comic Book Challenge ( http://yirmumah.net/comic-book-challenge-2-details/ ), although it's not been updated on the official contest website yet. Here's what he had to say:

"Submissions will be open from 12am May 1st to 11:59pm May 31st. People will need to submit a one-page paragraph and one completed page of art, showing what their plan for the overall book is. Submitters should have an art team selected and in place, ready to commence production on the book as soon as the winner is chosen."

Now, here's what I have to say: HELP!!!!!

I can't draw. Don't get me wrong, I have a slight bit of talent in the area. But it's in COPYING, not orignal artwork! I can do rough drawings of other people's work, or even from photos, but I can't produce original work from my own head! I need an artist to collaborate with me. I have pitches that I'm working on. But if I can't find an artist, I'll be stuck with sending in a page of stick figures! Which the contest guidelines say is acceptable, but really, does someone who does that have any shot at winning? I think not.

So if you're a talented illustrator... if you've always wanted to break into the comic book industry... if you KNOW anyone who fits either of those criteria... if your cousin's second wife's thirteen year old daughter is an artistic prodigy with a comic-book bent... LET ME KNOW! Put me in touch! I've got a month and a half to find an artist that I mesh with, who likes my pitch and wants to be part of this. Not even a month and a half, considering the artist will need a full page or more of illustrations by the end of May!

HELP MEEEEEEEEEE!

Inspiration while seated on a throne

I've discovered that one of the best places to get inspiration is in the bathroom. Whether it be in the shower, an extended stay on the throne, whatever, something about the cosmic vibrations in the average bathroom stimulate the mind. That's one reason my laptop, or at least a notebook and paper, go with me almost wherever I go. No, not into the bathroom. But they're never far away for those times I have a brainstorm and need to write something down or type a quick outline for an idea.

Case in point: Book 2. I've been working on the revisions for the first chapter of my second book, and tossing around some ideas that would work, but weren't really all that pleasing to me. Then, while seated on that majestic porcelain throne, inspiration struck. The problem with the opening chapter was with character development of the two main characters in the scene, and an unbelievable plot leap that my agent just couldn't accept. So I realized that part of the problem is that the opening to the scene is the epilogue to the first book. Other than the whole cliffhanger aspect, making people who read the first book want to pick up the second one, there's really no reason to split it up like that. Moving the epilogue from book 1 to the first chapter of book 2 allows for the character development that my agent felt was lacking. In addition, I also came up with a solution to the plot leap that fixes the problem and yet still allows our two heroes to be thrown into the same situation as they were in the original version... which is where I need them.

So things are moving along. I still haven't figured out what to do about the prologue, but I'm moving along on chapter one. Once I have that put together, it'll be time to go back and tackle the prologue and hope I can figure out what to do with it.

Maybe I should go visit the throne again and see what I can come up with.

Today's Job Interview

That went well.

My interview today was with New Harmony Public Schools. The position they advertised was vague; I thought it was for a PC technician. What they actually want is a Technology Coordinator. And guess what? That's a good next step for me!

The interview was good. I spoke with the principal of the school and the superintendant. The interview lasted a full hour. They were impressed with my resume and qualifications, liked my skills, and seemed to genuinely like my personality and background. They went to great lengths to describe their current situation (they have a teacher who has been handling the duties part time) and their current configuration and potential changes they'd like to make. They asked me about what I would do in certain situations, and seemed pleased with my answers. They asked about my hobbies and interests, and were surprised to hear that I'd been writing fiction novels. The principal was also pleased that I have an interest in vocal music performance, because that is his background as well.

All in all, it went really well, and I think the were impressed. They're still interviewing, of course, so I won't know anything for a week or two. But I found the interview to be encouraging.

My little darlings won't go down without a fight!

Kicking and Screaming
I'm telling you, revising sucks rocks. If you read my blog regularly, you know my agent gave me a moderately brutal appraisal of the opening of my second novel, and I've been working on addressing the issues she identified. So far, I'm stuck on the prologue. In her opinion, it needs to be "edgier", and there's too much internal monologue going on. So I've re-written it now FIVE TIMES with no success. One attempt was even to throw away what I'd written altogether, and just keep the basic premise ad write something dark and edgy. Each time, it's been given to my first readers, and come back marked up as unacceptable. Everyone (except my agent) seems to think that my first draft is great the way it is, and that it doesn't need anything done to it. It's been driving me so crazy that I haven't even been able to address the other concerns she gave me, which seem more valid and probably easier to fix.

How do I resolve this? How do I fix something that one person out of seven has told me needs fixing? How do I find a middle ground between keeping myself happy, my first readers happy, and my agent happy? My agent has to be happy, because she has to love my books in order to sell them. But I have to be happy, too, or else why write?

Suffice it to say, I'm starting to grow frustrated with these initial revisions. Again.

On a side note, I have another job interview this Thursday for a local school district. I don't know how much it pays yet, but at this point, it doesn't really matter. I'm broke.

Wish me luck!

No matter what you read in any review, including mine, go see this The Last Mimzy.
I just went to this movie with my son (13), neice (16), and brother (43). Let me say from the very beginning, I enjoyed this movie immensely. You may not see that from the review you're about to read, so I just wanted to state it up front. Also be aware, there are SPOILERS ahead, so if you don't want the spoilers, stop reading!
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The movie had several flaws, and I'm going to bash them here, hard.

Number one, the movie is apparently set as a story being told by a teacher in the far, far future. However, the only references to the movie being a story are found at the very beginning, and the very end. That is, by far, the cheesiest and hokiest part of the entire film. It would have been better as a whole to drop those two scenes (although the cinematography in the far future scenes is beautiful, as is the countryside).

Number two, there is a scene toward the late-middle of the movie that introduces a new character played by Michael Clarke Duncan. He plays a Homeland Security director in Seattle. Now, there are some small problems with both the character, and the portrayal of the city of Seattle. First of all, they try to make the city seem... small, I suppose. The Homeland Security folks even make a point of asking why anyone would want to attack Seattle. Umm... huge population? Microsoft? Major corporate centers? That, along with other things, just seemed strange to someone like me, who lives in a town of 10,000. In addition to that, the introduction (and subsequent actions, and worse, INaction) of the Homeland Security folks just serves to make the entire sub plot pointless. They don't really DO anything. And at the end, after all is said and done, Duncan and the Homeland Security folks just... leave.

Number three, while we're shown this semi-interesting subplot about the elementary school teacher of the young male protagonist, it's hardly developed at all. The teacher (Dwight from The Office) has been having dreams for quite some time, and as it turns out, these dreams are directly connected to what's happening with the kids in this story. However... it NEVER EXPLAINS WHY! It never explores it one little bit. Here's this guy having prophetic dreams, and it relates to all this amazing, fantastic stuff going on, but we're never given an explanation as to why.

And, finally... we don't get closure! Or at least, not as much as I'd like. These kids develop interesting abilities and newfound intelligence... is it still there after it's all over? They suddenly have new insights into the way the world works, new ways of thinking. But we don't really know if any of this has had a lasting effect on them at all.

OK... so, all that being said... Go see this movie! The two kids are great, and the story itself, while having a few plot leaps that you have to pretend not to see, is engaging. The special effects are very, very well done, but not overused. They're not sparse, either. In fact, I'd say the quality of the SFX and the amount of effects use meld together to be near perfect.

So... A good movie. I'd give it a B to a B+.