Trying Something New

I've been struggling lately for inspiration in my writing.  The ideas in my head don't seem to gel and though I'm still drawn to comics it doesn't seem a likely avenue for me at this point.  Thus, I've decided to return to the writing that has always been my favorite: prose.

My intention is to use this blog, interspersed with the other reviews and tidbits I put up here, to write the story I've been hankering to write for a long time now.  Sometimes it will be plot driven, action laden adventures!  Sometimes it will be a stream of consciousness as I try to work out the next part or arc.  I can't promise that it'll always make sense.  And I can't promise it'll always be good.  There will be times that I just end, in the middle of an event in the story...because I simply don't have the next part, and I might not even pick-up the next time from there, I may jump ahead.

This is the writing process.  Much like a movie it doesn't come together all in order, not always.

Anyway, the one thing I can promise is that what you'll experience, if you stick around for the ride, is my best effort and *hopefully* a good story.  Below is the high concept, though some of the moving parts are bound to change along the way:

Worlds in Space

Thomas Farkaïnd and Nicholas Velvet are two scientists contracted by the OEA (Outbound Earth Alliance) to survey and report on the viability of all the planets found in the Gamma Sector of space, 24 planets in all.  Expecting this to be a nominally dangerous expedition the OEA has decided to send scientists alone into the unknown rather than waste capital like Shock Troopers.  The mission is to record extensive data on weather and the condition of possible living areas of the planets as well as soil and foliage samples to determine whether any of the planets are suitable for colonization.  Also to be included in their report is any information on life forms encountered, though the OEA directive lists this as a secondary protocol due to their being a lack of evidence that any such creatures would ever be encountered.  The story begins with Thomas and Nicholas approaching Gamma Prime, the 4^th world of exploration.  Expecting this world to be the same desolate wasteland they had found with the previous three; the two men quickly find they are in for a surprise that may cost them their very lives.

More to come...

Catching up...

Hey everyone...sorry it's been like a week since my last post. It's part settling into the new job, part trying to be really productive and part trying to be restful in my downtime since it's such a different environment than I've been in for a long while. However, I will hopefully be more in-tune with my blogging in the near future, so for you faithful readers (of my spurtiness) I thank you, and for those of you who long for more of a constant stream of my blatherings, I am working to achieve that for you.

So for now here's what I can tell you...there's four pages of my script up on the Ape Entertainment web publishing page. If you click HERE it'll link you to the first page and you can click Next at the bottom of the page you can continue on through what's posted thus far. Rate it below the "About the Creators" portion of the page if you like it! I really appreciate feedback too, so any comments you have lay'em on me.

Ok, on to new business. I wrote my first pitch for an established comic this past week. I really like the concept I came up with and I think it could be really good for the property. Now, of course you're curious what property it is and all that jazz, but I'm not really able to share that here just yet. We'll see how it goes and then of course if it gets approved I'll have more to share! But I'd like to explore the concept. A lot of independent comic creators strive to reach the pinnacle of working for DC or Marvel. (note that DC gets a hyperlink where Marvel does not...don't really like Marvel these days, so they can suck it) I think indie people aspire to have works published with Image or Dark Horse or Oni Press because of the Independent Comics companies out there, those are three of the biggest. But they're different in the sense that they're more attainable. Each of them will, from time to time if not on a regular basis, accept submissions from outside creative teams to publish creator owned projects. Now, of course, they're only going to take the best of the best and those who fall short will feel slighted (since most creative people feel that their work is superior to all others and the opinions of those that disagree with them are flawed in some way) and that's entirely the wrong way to go about things.

I can't even tell you how many times I've sat in a room with Matt or Eric or any number of other creative people and discussed ideas for stories where we didn't all see it from the same perspective and we would sometimes even get to the point of arguing over how our take on it was better. Having an open discourse is key, that's number one. Number two is just as important and that's this: learn from those who have achieved more than you. Their advice may not be perfect and in the end it may not even help you, but if you refuse to even allow for the possibility that someone that's attained something you hope to could give you help by offering their perspective then you've already failed. Ask Questions. If someone doesn't like your idea, find out what they don't like and ask for their thoughts on how it could be better. Their specific suggestion may not work for you, but it's likely that having someone else provide input will get your creative juices flowing and you can build off it.

Man...I tend to get on a soapbox kinda often in these blogs don't I? Not really sorry about that, since blogs are supposed to be about expression of personal thoughts and ideas and this is the one I am having right now. But back to where I got kinda sidetracked: taking an established property and trying to make it your own, for at least an issue. It's important to have a good grasp on the characters, it helps if you're not trying to write Batman or Superman who have about a BAJILLION issues to their name with almost as many takes on their personality traits and skills and etc and etc. But when it's characters that are less defined it allows you to pick up on one or two key character traits and either work with them or work against them. In my concept I take the fact that the three friends are incredibly close and I explore what could drive them apart, if even slightly, and how that could happen and what the one that was on his own would do. The concept itself has a lot of potential and after bringing it to the creator of the property he and I had a great conversation about it. He had some ideas for tweaks to the story but overall he really liked it! So now...I move on to first draft scripting. Woohoo!

Hmmm...what else...uhmm...well, I got some new characters sketches for the project I'm working on with Shawn Atkins and the direction is good. We've got some work to do but overall I'm loving his stuff. More to come on that.

For now...hope you enjoyed today's post; hope you read my UFO story and hope you continue to be one of my readers. Share the love if you like it!!! I'm proud to say I've had readers from Russia now, I'm officially Global! Scary thought.

Peace,

Tim