Dead Roots - The launch

Just leaving this here for folks to see:

Dead Roots on the App Store

Imminent zombie outbreak! I only received the news myself this evening so this is very much hot off the presses. Indeed, awooga awooga.

Just in time for the scary season. That was curiously well timed, wasn't it? One might almost think ...that it was planned...

(I am stroking my beard and arching an eyebrow now, in an attempt to look enigmatic and knowing. It loses much in the translation to a blog post, but I feel it important to convey the information. Perhaps if feedback indicates that it's necessary I will, at a later date, upload a photo of said beard stroking and eyebrow arching for your continued reference.)

Relatively dull update.

Work continues at a gentle pace. Telling a story with just words is very hard after so long of basically describing pictures and having other people do the storytelling. Fun though. I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now.

Basically, I'm looking at a schedule of a chapter a week. If I can stick to that, by the end of the year I'll have another sixteen chapters done. I'm expecting some will be shorter than others, so maybe more than sixteen. Hopefully that'll be a full book. Draft 1, of course, but just in time to meet the deadline. I can spend next year on, you know, making it good.

In other news, I had a Calippo today. It was nice.

Blimey...

So, August went by quite fast, didn't it? I don't know if it's got anything to do with my computer woes keeping me away from internetty things or what, but it feels like I blinked and I missed an entire month. I do not like it when things like that happen. No blog entries for a month? Tsk, tsk, Darren, you should feel shame for being so naughty.

So then, with four months left of the year, I find myself with an insurmountable obstacle in front of me - to write a novel in that time. It's not going to happen, is it? Still, I shall endeavor to get as much of it done as possible. If I set myself the goal of at least one chapter every week, I can get the best part of the first draft finished by Christmas. Hell, If I'm lucky I might manage to get the whole thing done. If that happens, it's getting entered into the Pratchett competition, even if it's in the form of a ragged-around-the-edges first draft. It'll stand about as much chance of winning as monkeyscribbles in crayon and poo have of winning the Turner Prize, but the important thing is that I'm writing prose again. Maybe that means that sometime during the first half of next year I can call it done and start pitching it.

Which is where I'm rubbish, I have realized. Good at writing, terrible at selling scripts to folks. I seriously need to work on that aspect. I''m not looking forward to having to do that, I can tell you.

On the writing side, things are happening again. Hudson Falls is getting done, slowly, although it'll pick up speed soon enough. The Dead Roots anthology from Mike Garley has begun the countdown to wising fwom its gwabe, and I'm awaiting with baited breath for an imminent update regarding my contribution on that. There's no news on the Murder, Malice & Teeth or Bayou Arcana fronts as yet, although with the winter season of comic book events about to begin shortly, I'm sure there will be things to report in the weeks and months to come.

Oh, and there's also something going on with Harrowing of Hell, but Jack is handling that and it's all very hush hush. So shhhh. You ain't seen me, right?

Anyway, I must get back to Hudson Falls. It's not going to write itself.

Of Couse I'll Wonder

It's been of a bit of a mad week, truth be told, and not for writerly reasons. However, for those non-writerly reasons I unfortunately have nothing new to report. Curses.

One thing I did do was watch the Olympic "Isles of Wonder" opening ceremony. That was interesting. I was a bit pissed when I did, so at the time just let the noise wash over me and assumed that it'd probably make sense later. Then I watched it again and realised: Oh, no. It genuinely was that odd. Liked it, though.

Which is strange because I don't think I was supposed to. It'd be easy to be very cynical about it. It gave the cynic a lot of ammunition with which to be cynical - it was cloying, twee and occasionally a bit smug. But that's the point of Olympic opening ceremonies and criticising them for that reason is like slagging off the sea because you went for a swim in it and got your hair wet.

An Olympic ceremony basically broadcasts a nation's self-image to the world, and what Danny Boyle chose to broadcast was garish, eclectic and just a little unfathomable. So job's a good 'un, then. God help the overseas commentators trying to explain some of that to their home audiences.

The Industrial Revolution section was the highlight. Mostly because it played out like a live production of The Scouring of The Shire. Kenneth Brannagh's sideburns were a happy bonus.

But there was a disappointing lack of Iron Maiden. Gutted.

You don't frighten me, sunshine.

It seems I'm suffering a crisis of confidence of some sort. After several years of writing nothing but comics, my ability to write simple prose has taken a bit of a hit. Doing it is also giving me the fear.

I was not expecting to be so nervous about doing this. Methings there will be much agonising over details in the weeks and months to come. I also can't help but feel it might be silly of me to bomb straight into writing a whole book without first warming up on something shorter and easier. That would be the sensible option.

But screw it, where's the fun in being sensible

So it's a novel and it currently feels quite intimidating, and what I have written so far is bloody awful. Bring it on, bitch. I will soon be eating through your pages like a mad thing.

Hudson Rises.

My computer appears to be briefly behaving itself, so last night I spent a little time writing Hudson Falls - as a novel. It was just an experiment to see it it'd work more than anything, and as it turns out it feels pretty natural and I think I might give it a try.

I'm playing a little with a semi-epistolary form, staggering newspaper stories and press articles in between chapters, and it seems to give the story a bit of extra body. I've not written much of it so far so there's no major changes to report, but I'm already tinkering with the idea of ramping up the fantasy quotient and having a denouement that resolves the story in a more unreal, anthropomorphic way.

It'll be a while yet before I can get back into it properly, but when I do I think I shall be having a real go at this novel thing. Hell, if it doesn't work out, I can always re-convert it to a comic book. In any case it felt good to be writing again, although I'm woefully out of practice writing prose after so long concentrating on comics.

Stupid technology...

It seems my break from writing is becoming even longer than anticipated. Unforeseen problems with my email account and general PC troubles are getting in the way. In short, there are issues with my domain which mean I currently can't send or receive any emails, and my computer appears to be melting, albeit quite slowly.

I'm sorting everything out gradually, but apart from the odd foray that I can steal while my PC is working, or on someone else's rig, radio silence is to be maintained for a little longer.

Frightfully sorry, old beans. I know you must miss me so.

Hell is Harrowing.

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.