Manga

I'm back in my manga mode. I actually completed a full draft, a pretty good draft, and in fact I must say I'm rather pleased with it. Oh, there's some tweaking to do.

But what I'm doing now, I confess, is drawing it. I can't say my efforts are professional quality. I had a hard time allowing myself to do it. But finally I persuaded myself that "I can't sell it" is a pretty stupid reason for not doing an art project I'm excited to do.

I Made an Animated Film

My first animated film. I love computers. You can do all kinds of things I could never have dreamed of before.

Sam and Frodo take a lovely trip on the Anduin. Enjoy! (But pay attention, the whole thing is only two-three seconds long.)

Back and Forth

Okay, I did work on the transition. It got hard, I got stuck, I got distracted by the summer. I'm back in the colony story. I've been doing a lot of the first visit to the new world, and the lead-up to it. Busy time.

Now I'm distracted from that, by an insane need to build an electric bicycle. Visit http://idledad.blogspot.com for news about that project. Moreover, I've misplaced, maybe lost the flashdrive that had the latest work, with no backup, which has me bummed about writing. If that weren't enough, I've started a new job as a special educator, my first teaching job. Fyah...

Writing Update

I finished all those edits I talked about in my last post. Finished it. Printed it. (Killed a toner cartridge in the process.) Enlisted neighboring author Jennifer McMahon (http://www.jennifer-mcmahon.com/) to read it. Jennifer proclaimed it excellent, saying she felt transported to Uliante, but... she was very busy, and decided she didn't have time to finish it, stopping right around the transition between Part One and Part Two, right where I'd worried that things might lag. She sounded sincere in her description of its virtues, but, I want to write the book that people who are busy don't put down.

She had some thoughts that gave me a direction, and I think it's a good one. It's also possible I might cut out a chapter or two. I'm back into it again, but still feel this beast is near completion.

Still Writing

Things have been crazy this past year, as usual. Sorry I've been away from this board.

Yes, I have been writing. The colonists made it to 44 Bootis A, concluding Part One. Then suddenly I was filled with the inspiration to complete that dang fantasy novel. It looked like it was almost done and would need only a last read-through and copy-edit. Then it turned out that, on the last read-through, I had an inspiration of how to address a long-burning worry I'd had about the transition between Part One and Part Two. Then I realized a character was speaking in the wrong voice, and I needed to rewrite her dialogue. Oh, and, when I wove the scenes of her subplot into the novel, I'd left out one critical one. Hmm, and there were three lowlanders living in the forest who had lowland names, and their names should have been changed to forest names when they were adopted, because the renaming of another character at the end is symbolic of her adoption. Oh, and the torture scene is too graphic, it gives me nightmares, and could get me shelved with horror. Glory, after doing all that I think I'd better read it through again for another copy-edit.

But you know what? I think this novel is coming out good.

Ironically, I'd sent the first chapter off to an agent, as a sort of threat to myself to finish it. (You'd better have it ready if he asks to see it!) I'd initially conceived of the Native American influence as a way to set off what could otherwise be a standard high fantasy story about the magical people in Flimbottomland threatened by the evil Lord Hootchiekoo. Apparently, I was effective. The agent wrote back, and said I had great promise, and wrote very well. Unfortunately, he'd seen the story as being a wholly Native American fantasy, not a high fantasy with NA flavoring, and there wasn't much market for such things.

Keeping the whole story in front of you

For a long time I've had a challenge being able to see the whole story at once, and think about it as a whole, rather than sequentially. This is my latest effort: iconic cartooning. The idea is a simple cartoon that captures the essence of a scene or event. No words are allowed. It is made with symbols of import to the author, with little need for representation.

The clip shown at left is from an early chapter in this story. I apologize for the poor rendering. It covers the journey to the colony ark, and some first events. In the top square, we see a figure with a star on the back of his head and another with flyaway hair. These symbolize Jonah and Mischief, respectively. Mischief is smiling animatedly, Jonah looking away. Heat waves off his head mean he is angry, she irritates him with her cheeriness.

In the second frame are three characters, Mischief with her flyaway hair, then another with curly hair (Avery) and one with dark glasses and a badge (security officer). The security officer strikes Avery with a stun wand that shocks him.

These two little squares describe a scene in which Mischief meets Jonah on the shuttle, and he is rude and spurns her. She moves to sit next to Avery, who is suddenly set upon by security, stunned, and removed from the shuttle, not to be seen again.

The remaining three frames show Mischief trying to make up again with Jonah in the cafeteria, and then Mischief asking the chaplain for news of Avery, where the chaplain warns her that security is watching.

The advantage of the visual format is I don't have to read it, I just have to see it. Moreover, I don't have to think up the right words. I just draw the Mischief icon with a goofy smile and her hand up and I have the feeling of what she is saying without writing it. Seems to be working.

A little Mischief

Okay, here's the protagonist of the latest story. On the right in the cargo pants, name of Mischief. The guy she's messing with, in the tweed, is an older botanist she has a brief fling with.

And here's where they're going: 44 Bootis A, just off the constellation Bootes, 40 lightyears away. Read about it at Solstation (http://solstation.com/stars2/44bootis.htm). But don't tell Mischief, she doesn't know, yet.

Writing Again

Yes, July has come and gone, and I am writing!

After a couple of starts, it seems I am working on a novel about a group that goes to colonize a new world. I started it while I was in school, basically dictating it on my commute and having the computer type it up for me. I've got bunches of pictures for it, I'll see if I can't post something. At any rate, I'm probably about a third of the way into it, having drafted part one, although it is without a title. It's good to be writing fiction again.