Trying something new

Another week rolls by, another submission is sent - Come & See is once again done with for the time being, leaving me to soldier on with 'Broken,' my next project. Still a working title, natch.

I'm going to try something a little different with the blog entries for this one - I've noticed in the past that I've not been particularly specific about things until I'm done with them. I guess I like to play things pretty close to my chest. This time I'm going to try to change that, and make much more specific entries that dig into the minutiae of the writing of the script. That way the blog will not only include the usual progress reports, but will also chronicle the writing process, its missteps, dead ends and various other warty bits. The intention is to give people a much clearer picture of how I get through the writing process.

I thought it might be interesting to try it - being fully open about what I'm finding fun, what's proving to be a ballache, etc. Never let it be said I'm afraid of trying new things.

'Broken' then. It's a revenge story about a former soldier who gets volunteered for a super-soldier type program like Captain America. Only in this case, the powers manifest unpredictably and end up crippling him the first time they kick in, killing both his superhero and his soldier careers in one fell swoop. Then the man learns that he was volunteered for the program by his superior officer for exactly that purpose, to get him out of the way for nefarious reasons. The theme is the man learning to turn his powers to his advantage, taking a curse and it turning into a blessing in his pursuit of retribution.

Firstly, I'm fairly constrained by a limited page count of 40-50 to tell what could, if left unchecked, develop into a much more convoluted story that's just too long. I already have a lot of plot that I'm going to have to cut, as I originally conceived it as a story of intrigue that I just don't think I'll be able to tell in the pages I have. To that end, I'm going by the rule of "show, don't tell" to avoid it getting too wordy, and streamlining the story to cut out the stuff I don't need.

I've already thrown out what little I wrote last year and come up with a punchier opening that in one page exactly defines the man, his powers and his mission. That's what I'll be going for in this script - if a scene isn't doing at least two or three different and relevant things, it's getting the elbow and I'll be searching for some other way to tell the story.

So it's going to be a challenge. I actually think that keeping these blog entries is going to help. Being quite neurotic, I may not be able to cope with the guilt of not having anything new to report in my weekly posts. That should keep me writing.

In other news, I'm regrettably shelving my plans to attend the London Super Con in February. Unexpected expenses and London prices are not compatible. Hotel prices for that weekend are just bloody stupid. Unfortunate, but it didn't look like it was going to be much cop anyway (excluding Stan Lee), so I'm not losing any sleep over it.

Demons! I have slain your mighty guards!

...God, I love writing lines like that.

So, after a week or so of fretting over lettering, the submission I was working on with Jack Tempest is complete and submitted to Clint. Now it's in their hands and we just have to wait and see, but now that it's finished I don't feel at all hesitant about putting samples up here, so this blog is about to get a bit more colourful, with pictures and everything.

See?

Jack's art has been great on this one, as you'll be able to see in this blog entry. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Clint feel the same way. You can check out more of Jack's work, and news about his upcoming projects on his blog.

In other news, things chug along. I'm not mucking about, and next week I get on with the next submisson, which is the new submission pack I prepared for Come & See, off for it's second attempt with some American publishers after a number of years on standby. I've decided I've had enough of faffing around. This year I want progress, and if it means I have to bombard publishers with my stuff then so be it.

Once the Come & See thing is done, which should be by this time next week, it's time to get stuck into the script for Accent. I still have Hudson Falls, which was the original script but turned out too long, but that's not one I'd like to cut down. So onto the backburner it goes, waiting for the time to be right. I have a new script to write for Accent, and I want to crank this one out hard and fast with no procrastinating or messing around so I have a good few months to do something else.

And by something else, I mean a novel. I was supposed to start it last year, but one thing after another happened and I had to shelve a lot of my schedule. Getting back on track I learned that Terry Pratchett has an award this year for new writers' debut novels, with a deadline of New Year's Eve.

So I have a deadline. I can DO deadlines. Less time wasting, a definitive deadline, and a net result of a completed book. Even if it doesn't win, I'll be armed with something I can do something with in 2013.

Beyond that, in comic book terms this year is all about exploration and putting feelers out. I'll be attending as many cons as it is economically responsible to, and I'll be at those events with my game face on, looking to aquire further projects to keep my comic book momentum going while the majority of my runtime is devoted to the novel.

It may sound like I'm planning on spreading myself a little thin, and maybe I am. Time will tell. But it's a definite improvement on last year, where I didn't spread myself at all.

Indeed. And of course, in amongst all this mighty guard-slaying I'll be doing, I'll have to find time to indulge in my gaming/DVD/reading habits, which I haven't been doing anywhere near enough of.

Uncharted 3, Batman Arkham City, Picture of Dorian Grey and season 3 of Northern Exposure all sit around me, wondering why I'm not giving them the attention they deserve. I need to start getting paid for this writing schtick so I can free up more time for all my hobbies...

Weekly Is Unlikely At Best

Don't hold me to this, but I'm going to try to keep regular posting reports on this blog. I'm aiming for weekly, but knowing how prone to distraction I am and how slowly things can move for writers sometimes, I probably won't be keeping to that. Bi-weekly is probably the best I'll be able to manage, and then only if I'm in the mood. I dare say it'll become more or less frequent based on how much there is to report.

For now at least, there is news. Bayou Arcana continues to pick up steam. Followers of the related news will already know that the book is garnering more press attention, some of which I'm not sure I should reveal, so I'll just keep my mouth shut for fear of spoilers. Needless to say, Jimmy Pearson has been working hard on making the title as visible as possible.

On the writing front, my collaboration with Jack Tempest nears completion. I've seen most of his coloured pages and they look great, and once it's complete I'll ask him for permission to show a sample panel or two here, so people can gawp at them.

I've been keeping up my end, and am currently going through the laborious process of rewriting a synopsis of the continuing story. It's not the most thrilling part of prepping a submission, truth be told, but it needs to be done and it's given me an opportunity to work a little bit on the central role's character arc. I'm about halfway through the second rewrite, and I think it's going to need at least another once-over when that's done before I can safely call it finished. Then, it'll be onward with the lettering.

Looking forward to sending it off. Once that's done; along with the other submission previously mentioned; I can get started on the Accent thing again. That should keep me busy up to and beyond the London Con in February, at which I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some more possibilities will arise.

And amongst all this writing, I've got to find room for sitting around doing a little reading and playing some video games. That copy of Uncharted 3 sitting on my shelf isn't going to play itself, you know.

The Unknown Future Rolls Toward Us

Well, the year has gotten off to a fine start! After an extended Christmas period of doing sod all, which followed a bit of a rubbish year to be honest, 2012 has started with a lot of activity. Go Seahawks, etc.

Bayou Arcana continues to get press attention from all over the place. Everyone from The Canberra Times in Australia to Wired magazine in the UK seems to be inquiring about the project, which of course everyone involved is made up about. Well chuffed, in fact. You can follow out the latest news and developments on the public page on Facebook at this location. My contribution is proving to be an interesting experience - my artist is Davina Unwin, who is so talented it's almost obscene. Her art is heavily stylised, with heavy Japanese watercolour influences, which should give the story a beautiful aesthetic. Samples of her art can be found here.

Davina works in quite an unconventional way, which is to paint each panel separately, which Jimmy Pearson; the editor of the book; and I will assemble into the finished comic book pages. I'm very much looking forward to that process - as well as eager to see Davina's wonderful artwork, it's going to be an interesting experience to build the pages from the separate images. Hopefully Jimmy's contribution will compensate for my total lack of visual flair.

You can preorder Bayou Arana here.

In other news, Mike Garley's Dead Roots anthology is chugging along, and I'm now up on the official website as a contributor, so that's all in hand. I've yet to be assigned an artist for my short story, but considering the sheer quality of the samples that are already up, I think my script will be in safe hands. I've got every confidence in the world that Mike will find someone ideal for the script.

It was a tough slog getting through this script, and it went through numerous iterations before I found the one that will be featured. Credit goes to Mike for pushing me in all the right directions.

In addition to those two, work continues slowly on the Clint submission I'm working on with Jack Tempest. Jack only has a couple of pages to colour and his contribution is complete, and I've just got a couple more drafts of the synopsis to do before we can bung that out in the post to them.

And finally there's one more submission that's ready to go. This one is a collaboration with Roland Bird that is pretty close to my heart, so I'm keen on getting this sent out as soon as possible. I'm being realistic about it's chances, but we'll see. Even if it gets rejected I'm not giving up on it. I'm determined to see it published.

Beyond that, once the Clint thing is done, I'll - finally - be soldiering on with the one shot for Accent that just got delayed over and over again last year, which will probably take up the first half of the year. Busy times ahead!

So, there's a lot going on, and my head is swimming with it all. And in between all that I've got to find time to play Uncharted 3 and Batman - Arkham City before Mass Effect 3 is released, so my free time has pretty much been solidly baggsied for a good few months.

And that's before we get to the season of comic shows, which begins with The London Super Con in February. Stan. Bloody. Lee. No way am I missing that. Damn the expense.

I'll check in later this month with more progress updates. Maybe I'll manage to keep posting regularly this year. I should set aside half an hour on a Sunday afternoon just to come here and gibber, even if there's been no news.