Just thought I'd put this up here - collaborator, co-conspirator and all round good egg Jack Tempest has posted to the great wide internets part 1 of "Harrowing of Hell," our submission to Clint for their new character initiative. Cheers to Jack for tweeting me the link.
The story would continue beyond this should it get picked up. Thought it might be of interest for some of you guys to read some material from my not-yet-published pile. Have a looksee. You might enjoy.
Darren Ellis writes, except when he doesn't.
When he doesn't he's more than likely doing something sedentary and fun, like playing video games or reading a book. Or procrastinating over what he's supposed to be writing.
Oh yes. He does that last one quite a bit.
Sunday, 24 June 2012
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Rewrites are hard sometimes.
Started the process on Hudson Falls tonight, and it's already apparent that it's going to be a bigger job than I originally thought, or maybe hoped. A lot of it is quite weak, to be honest. My lead is inconsistent in characters and fairly unappealing, some of the supporting cast are a bit thin and thematically it needs to be retooled.
I sat down and worked out a new structure, just roughly for now, but I'll be expertly moulding it into a compelling narrative over the coming days and weeks. A lot of the scenes work when taken individually, but don't really fit together very well, and certainly not in the order in which they currently occur. There's going to be a lot of rejigging of the chronology to make it a bit firmer and more focused. There's now a steady acceleration of urgency in the events until they reach the climax, which is quite different to the original. A bit more open ended and a bit less trite.
All in all, From the feel of the new outline the end result is going to be less sluggish altogether and more of a thriller than an outright drama.
One interesting thing - I'm not 100% convinced it's a comic book any more. Part of me is saying it might work even better as a novel, but that's probably just me getting ahead of myself. Needless to say, I'll be writing it as a comic book first and will see how it comes out.
I sat down and worked out a new structure, just roughly for now, but I'll be expertly moulding it into a compelling narrative over the coming days and weeks. A lot of the scenes work when taken individually, but don't really fit together very well, and certainly not in the order in which they currently occur. There's going to be a lot of rejigging of the chronology to make it a bit firmer and more focused. There's now a steady acceleration of urgency in the events until they reach the climax, which is quite different to the original. A bit more open ended and a bit less trite.
All in all, From the feel of the new outline the end result is going to be less sluggish altogether and more of a thriller than an outright drama.
One interesting thing - I'm not 100% convinced it's a comic book any more. Part of me is saying it might work even better as a novel, but that's probably just me getting ahead of myself. Needless to say, I'll be writing it as a comic book first and will see how it comes out.
Monday, 18 June 2012
Ahh, silence.
My computer has stopped making funny noises for the time being. You can all relax, I'm still here for now.
As I was saying, I'm not sure what I'm going to do when reporting on my progress with Hudson Falls. I guess I'll just bomb into the rewrite and do what seems best at the time.
As I was saying, I'm not sure what I'm going to do when reporting on my progress with Hudson Falls. I guess I'll just bomb into the rewrite and do what seems best at the time.
The storming of the brains.
I was thinking today about what to do about my blog posts as I rewrite Hudson Falls. I tried to be a bit more in-depth with the reports of the writing process of Murder Malice & Teeth, but I kind of don't want to do the same thing again. Pretty sure there's only so many ways I can write about how difficult the writing process can be before it starts to sound a bit self-indulgent and whiny.
I was toying with the idea of writing blog entries in character as the protagonist of Hudson Falls, chronicling the events of the story as I write them. "The Secret Diary of Eric Hudson, aged 28 & 3/4" sort of thing. It seemed nicely meta, and I figured it'd be a good idea to get my hand in with prose again before I slog into that elusive novel I keep mentioning.
I dunno. My brain kind of feels like it's stuck in neutral at the moment.
Erk, hang on, my PC has just started making weird noises. I think that means it's time to put it to bed for the night. Will have to cut this week's entry a bit short.
I was toying with the idea of writing blog entries in character as the protagonist of Hudson Falls, chronicling the events of the story as I write them. "The Secret Diary of Eric Hudson, aged 28 & 3/4" sort of thing. It seemed nicely meta, and I figured it'd be a good idea to get my hand in with prose again before I slog into that elusive novel I keep mentioning.
I dunno. My brain kind of feels like it's stuck in neutral at the moment.
Erk, hang on, my PC has just started making weird noises. I think that means it's time to put it to bed for the night. Will have to cut this week's entry a bit short.
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Back to The Front
So, then. A blog entry. Finally. As you might have guessed, I've had a couple of weeks off from all things writery. This has not been deliberate.
Well, I say that, but at least the first week was on purpose. I wanted to take a step back from everything after Kapow and just ponder things for a bit while I planned ahead. Through my natural laziness that one week became three. Oops.
On the plus side, I watched a lot of Jackie Chan movies and played a fair bit of Star Wars: The Old Republic. So it's not like I sat there doing nothing.
So to catch up, Kapow was - as you probably all know by now - awesome. The weekend went by in a bit of a blur in hindsight, but the running highlights included hanging out with that lovely Bayou Arcana lot, sitting in baffled silence on our panel while other people talked, and meeting Glenn Fabry. That last one was a bit of a shock. I was genuinely starstruck and lost for words when he handed me his work-in-progress and asked me what I thought. I managed to hastily cobble together some comments that possibly made sense, but there's an equal chance that they were gibberish. I shall have to make more of an effort to not react that way when people I admire and respect ask me things.
It was great to see all those I saw. Overeager puppydog wavings go out to all, including Jon Lock, Corey Brotherson, Yomi Ayeni, Lynsey Hutchinson, Dan Hartwell, Karen Rubins and of course Jimmy Pearson for making Bayou Arcana happen. If I missed anyone out, next time I see you I will make it up to you by picking you up in a warm embrace and shaking you until you go limp.
I won't dwell any more on Kapow, because everyone is probably sick of hearing about it at this stage. I will instead look ahead, to that vast horizon that beckons from the other side of my keyboard, where magnificent stories unfold and I make big bags of cash. To that end, I'm once again postponing the novel I was supposed to start in April to get another comic book project going.
I know, I know. At this rate I'll never start that book. But this comic project is hopefully not going to be an enormous undertaking. It's a rewrite and possible retooling of Hudson Falls, my project from last year, which I will be aiming at a new publisher. Nothing definitive yet, as I wasn't able to pitch it to the publisher at Kapow, but I remain optimistic about its chances. There's no artist attached to it yet so once the new version of the script is properly underway I shall be going on a bit of a talent search.
Well, I say that, but at least the first week was on purpose. I wanted to take a step back from everything after Kapow and just ponder things for a bit while I planned ahead. Through my natural laziness that one week became three. Oops.
On the plus side, I watched a lot of Jackie Chan movies and played a fair bit of Star Wars: The Old Republic. So it's not like I sat there doing nothing.
So to catch up, Kapow was - as you probably all know by now - awesome. The weekend went by in a bit of a blur in hindsight, but the running highlights included hanging out with that lovely Bayou Arcana lot, sitting in baffled silence on our panel while other people talked, and meeting Glenn Fabry. That last one was a bit of a shock. I was genuinely starstruck and lost for words when he handed me his work-in-progress and asked me what I thought. I managed to hastily cobble together some comments that possibly made sense, but there's an equal chance that they were gibberish. I shall have to make more of an effort to not react that way when people I admire and respect ask me things.
It was great to see all those I saw. Overeager puppydog wavings go out to all, including Jon Lock, Corey Brotherson, Yomi Ayeni, Lynsey Hutchinson, Dan Hartwell, Karen Rubins and of course Jimmy Pearson for making Bayou Arcana happen. If I missed anyone out, next time I see you I will make it up to you by picking you up in a warm embrace and shaking you until you go limp.
I won't dwell any more on Kapow, because everyone is probably sick of hearing about it at this stage. I will instead look ahead, to that vast horizon that beckons from the other side of my keyboard, where magnificent stories unfold and I make big bags of cash. To that end, I'm once again postponing the novel I was supposed to start in April to get another comic book project going.
I know, I know. At this rate I'll never start that book. But this comic project is hopefully not going to be an enormous undertaking. It's a rewrite and possible retooling of Hudson Falls, my project from last year, which I will be aiming at a new publisher. Nothing definitive yet, as I wasn't able to pitch it to the publisher at Kapow, but I remain optimistic about its chances. There's no artist attached to it yet so once the new version of the script is properly underway I shall be going on a bit of a talent search.
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