Another week that seemed to be largely spent on the comic book, but with nothing really new to report as far as truly finished pages. Given the time difference between us and our artists, we will oftentimes receive pages after hours or during the workday, which means that we have to really wait until the evening to look at them. While it doesn't sound that hard, the review process is more complicated than it might seem.
Even if it's a layout, we have to compare it with the script and against other pages before. It's made a little more difficult when some of the pages have been out of order. We try to be thorough and then write back our comments in as clear a manner as we can. We're not always successful, but we're trying to get it right the first time.
The same is true with the colorist. We go through the preceding pages and try to make sure there is consistency between related panels and pages. And there are sometimes things we don't catch the first time. It helps that we have fairly easy to work with and understanding artists, but it still seems like a slow process.
One other note on the comic book, the copyright we applied for near the end of October for the script finally came back this past week. Seven months is actually a quick turnaround, even though it seemed like forever waiting for it to come through.
Did finally complete the short synopsis for Pubic and Private. One of the reasons I wanted to complete it is I'm trying to use a website called Author.me, but for some reason I think I'm missing a step somewhere along the way. It's not as user-friendly or as intuitive as I would have hoped. It took multiple tries before it finally accepted my first and last name. And then when I was ready to submit, it said it had already submitted to the agents and publishers I was connected with. When did that happen? My guess is that I'm going to be better off with the old-fashioned query method.
Got close to sending one out, but I'll admit that I got cold feet. I truly dread the process after two failed book efforts prior.
Did continue to update Trophy Unlocked, publishing two reviews this weekend. The Saturday review was for Laurel and Hardy's The Music Box (1932). On Sunday, published a short review for Keanu, an action comedy that is currently out in theaters. Honestly, neither has really been well viewed with only 8 pageviews a piece as I'm writing this. But blogging is a marathon, not a sprint, I guess.
Next week, hopefully, more progress on the comic book and I promise to actually send a query or two, but please remember, promises are made to be broken.
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Sunday, May 8, 2016
A Week in Writing #89
Busy week in writing, though mostly revolving around the comic book. Great progress was made this week on pages from our artist. We're now up to page 16 with inks, with four pages to go to complete that first step. The colorist is also making progress, but this has been a banner week for pages, after a drought of about three weeks with nothing new completed.
Got some good feedback from Paul on edits part 2. Had to make some minor story changes to match what has changed in part 1. Nothing too major, but it was a good chance to revisit some of the dialogue and action. I think we've made it better.
Met on Friday afternoon late with an artist, who is a friend of a friend. He recently published a graphic novel and was willing to look at what we had and give us some advice. He seemed to like the art we had so far, which is a good sign. And he gave us some advice as well on how we could proceed. Overall, a good time.
I hate to say it, but the comic book does take a lot of time and sort of dominates the evenings when there are pages to review and for several days this week we had pages. It sort of takes a certain amount of creative energy to review and make comments.
Did resend my pitch about From Fan To Creator. No meeting yet, as the site, Comic-Con HQ, was going to Beta on Free Comic Book Day. They said we'd talk afterwards, so hopefully in the next week or two.
That said, I did make a breakthrough on a short two page synopsis for Public and Private. Still need to go back and edit it, but there was progress made; I can say that with an honest expression.
Got an email from Writer's Digest hailing a service called Authors.me, which is supposed to link writers with agents and publishers. I signed up, but I'm not sure if this is really better than going about it the old-fashioned way. Something new to explore. Hopefully better results.
Did write and publish a review on Saturday for Charlie Is My Darling, a documentary from 2012 that details the Rolling Stones 1965 tour of Ireland. Back then, the film never made it off the festival circuit, but it finally got a release a few years ago. Also wrote and published a review of Captain America: Civil War, which just opened this past weekend.
As always, I hope to get more done next week.
Got some good feedback from Paul on edits part 2. Had to make some minor story changes to match what has changed in part 1. Nothing too major, but it was a good chance to revisit some of the dialogue and action. I think we've made it better.
Met on Friday afternoon late with an artist, who is a friend of a friend. He recently published a graphic novel and was willing to look at what we had and give us some advice. He seemed to like the art we had so far, which is a good sign. And he gave us some advice as well on how we could proceed. Overall, a good time.
I hate to say it, but the comic book does take a lot of time and sort of dominates the evenings when there are pages to review and for several days this week we had pages. It sort of takes a certain amount of creative energy to review and make comments.
Did resend my pitch about From Fan To Creator. No meeting yet, as the site, Comic-Con HQ, was going to Beta on Free Comic Book Day. They said we'd talk afterwards, so hopefully in the next week or two.
That said, I did make a breakthrough on a short two page synopsis for Public and Private. Still need to go back and edit it, but there was progress made; I can say that with an honest expression.
Got an email from Writer's Digest hailing a service called Authors.me, which is supposed to link writers with agents and publishers. I signed up, but I'm not sure if this is really better than going about it the old-fashioned way. Something new to explore. Hopefully better results.
Did write and publish a review on Saturday for Charlie Is My Darling, a documentary from 2012 that details the Rolling Stones 1965 tour of Ireland. Back then, the film never made it off the festival circuit, but it finally got a release a few years ago. Also wrote and published a review of Captain America: Civil War, which just opened this past weekend.
As always, I hope to get more done next week.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
A Week in Writing #88
Well, plans are made to be broken. While I had big ones for this past week not all of them came true.
First, there was the comic book. Big flurry of pages over the weekend. We realized that it had been three weeks since we had gotten finished pages from our artist and suddenly, it was like opening a dam and letting the water out. That doesn't necessarily equate into finished pages, but it at least shows our artist is still active with the book. Even though we're paying him to do the work, we've been burned too many times before not to be nervous when we don't hear anything for awhile.
The book seems to be coming together in jumps and starts. We've got pages outlined up to page 15, but we're still waiting for page seven. I'll admit that sometimes it's hard to keep everything in mind and I had proof of that last night, when I forgot that we'd received a certain layout three weeks ago that we now received inked pages for. Seeing it finished and against the layout for the next page, left us thinking it was a mistake, but it turns out that it was our fault.
We did receive a couple of colored pages, so there is some progress on that end as well. We're learning a lot about what we don't knew about comics, but we're pleasantly surprised at the reception some of our questions receive.
Tried to work on the short synopsis for Pubic and Private, but having trouble trying to put it all into 2 to 3 pages. Still trying different methods of getting into the story, but not getting it done. So, no queries either this past week. I've got to make this a priority. There I go making plans.
Did finish two reviews this week, but not necessarily the two I thought I'd work on. Did complete the other film noir we saw in the theater, Take One False Step (1949), but still not done with Kind Hearts and Coronets. Somehow, I'm finding that one hard to write, not sure why. But I did finish one for The Music Box (1932), the famous Laurel and Hardy short. I did publish a review of Purple Rain on Saturday.
I did follow up on Friday about my TV series pitch. I know they're busy, but they seemed receptive to at least seeing it. I'll email it to them on Monday. I haven't really changed much, if anything about it since I first submitted it in November. I did register it with the WGA in the meantime.
So, things continue per normal; I make plans, but they don't always come to fruition, or at least not in the manner I intended. But Monday is the start of another week and hopefully I'll get to some of what I plan to do in the way I intend.
First, there was the comic book. Big flurry of pages over the weekend. We realized that it had been three weeks since we had gotten finished pages from our artist and suddenly, it was like opening a dam and letting the water out. That doesn't necessarily equate into finished pages, but it at least shows our artist is still active with the book. Even though we're paying him to do the work, we've been burned too many times before not to be nervous when we don't hear anything for awhile.
The book seems to be coming together in jumps and starts. We've got pages outlined up to page 15, but we're still waiting for page seven. I'll admit that sometimes it's hard to keep everything in mind and I had proof of that last night, when I forgot that we'd received a certain layout three weeks ago that we now received inked pages for. Seeing it finished and against the layout for the next page, left us thinking it was a mistake, but it turns out that it was our fault.
We did receive a couple of colored pages, so there is some progress on that end as well. We're learning a lot about what we don't knew about comics, but we're pleasantly surprised at the reception some of our questions receive.
Tried to work on the short synopsis for Pubic and Private, but having trouble trying to put it all into 2 to 3 pages. Still trying different methods of getting into the story, but not getting it done. So, no queries either this past week. I've got to make this a priority. There I go making plans.
Did finish two reviews this week, but not necessarily the two I thought I'd work on. Did complete the other film noir we saw in the theater, Take One False Step (1949), but still not done with Kind Hearts and Coronets. Somehow, I'm finding that one hard to write, not sure why. But I did finish one for The Music Box (1932), the famous Laurel and Hardy short. I did publish a review of Purple Rain on Saturday.
I did follow up on Friday about my TV series pitch. I know they're busy, but they seemed receptive to at least seeing it. I'll email it to them on Monday. I haven't really changed much, if anything about it since I first submitted it in November. I did register it with the WGA in the meantime.
So, things continue per normal; I make plans, but they don't always come to fruition, or at least not in the manner I intended. But Monday is the start of another week and hopefully I'll get to some of what I plan to do in the way I intend.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
A Week in Writing #87
Well, frankly I'm disappointed that no one told me Saturday was Shakespeare's 400th anniversary until after I posted a review on Trophy Unlocked for Rush Hour. I had a perfectly good one ready for Shakespeare in Love, but I had made the choice on Wednesday night, so it was too late Saturday morning to pull it together. I'll have to find some other occasion to post it, but it really would have been a great time.
Speaking of deaths, in honor of the passing of Prince, we watched Purple Rain on Friday. I wrote up a review of the film for next week, Hopefully no more famous celebrities will die before then. Also finished a review for All My Sons, one of the two film noirs we saw a week ago Saturday and I'm about 1000 plus words into one for Kind Hearts and Coronets, a film we watched since it was taken from the same source as A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.
Didn't have as much time as I wanted to work on the short synopsis for Public and Private. I'm going to continue working on it, but also try to start the query process next week. I'm also wanting to send my editor a new book, actually an old one, Simple Sins. This was actually my first book with my protagonist. I haven't given up on writing books, it's just that I don't have the time I need to work on other ones or new ones.
Part of the problem is the comic book. While most of the writing has been done, the process now is working with an artist and a colorist that are both across the Pacific Ocean. When either of them send something, Paul and I have to sit down and review it, trying to be as careful as we can to check every detail: Does the ceiling work? Is the shirt the same color from panel 5 page 6 that it is in panel 3 page 8? It's harder and more time consuming that you might think.
The other issue is that we never know when we're going to get pages. Frankly, we should be done by now with part one, but there have been delays, some of them creative, some of them personal. But we never know when we're going to get pages from either of them. Usually, if we do, the pages come while we're asleep. When we get them, then it's the first thing we have to do the next night. I sometimes feel like I'm blowing my creativity on those pages.
So, next week, and you have to have goals, it's comic book (if and when we get pages), query letters (hopefully five), reviews (I have two to finish) and then mystery novel (Familiar Stranger, remember that?). And I'm also going to follow up on the From Fan to Creator pitch, but that's actually something I can do at work. Whew! I'm tired already.
Speaking of deaths, in honor of the passing of Prince, we watched Purple Rain on Friday. I wrote up a review of the film for next week, Hopefully no more famous celebrities will die before then. Also finished a review for All My Sons, one of the two film noirs we saw a week ago Saturday and I'm about 1000 plus words into one for Kind Hearts and Coronets, a film we watched since it was taken from the same source as A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.
Didn't have as much time as I wanted to work on the short synopsis for Public and Private. I'm going to continue working on it, but also try to start the query process next week. I'm also wanting to send my editor a new book, actually an old one, Simple Sins. This was actually my first book with my protagonist. I haven't given up on writing books, it's just that I don't have the time I need to work on other ones or new ones.
Part of the problem is the comic book. While most of the writing has been done, the process now is working with an artist and a colorist that are both across the Pacific Ocean. When either of them send something, Paul and I have to sit down and review it, trying to be as careful as we can to check every detail: Does the ceiling work? Is the shirt the same color from panel 5 page 6 that it is in panel 3 page 8? It's harder and more time consuming that you might think.
The other issue is that we never know when we're going to get pages. Frankly, we should be done by now with part one, but there have been delays, some of them creative, some of them personal. But we never know when we're going to get pages from either of them. Usually, if we do, the pages come while we're asleep. When we get them, then it's the first thing we have to do the next night. I sometimes feel like I'm blowing my creativity on those pages.
So, next week, and you have to have goals, it's comic book (if and when we get pages), query letters (hopefully five), reviews (I have two to finish) and then mystery novel (Familiar Stranger, remember that?). And I'm also going to follow up on the From Fan to Creator pitch, but that's actually something I can do at work. Whew! I'm tired already.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
A Week in Writing #86
I feel like a broken record, but I always wish I had a few more hours everyday or another day a week to work on things. As it stands now, if I sleep a few minutes too long in the morning, I lose my chance to write then and I never know what to expect when I get home. We had a flurry at the beginning of the week with pages from the artist to review, but never got any finished pages from him. Nor did we get any pages from our colorist. Sometimes I feel like we're running really hard in sand. Did broach the subject of a cover with the artist, but no decisions have been made, other than we will really need one at some point.
A friend of ours who teaches drawing has a former student who has become a published artist. We're hoping to meet up during Free Comic Book Day weekend to get some feedback, so I'd like to have as much of it ready as possible to show him. He's coming into town to do an autograph session at our local comic book store, but our schedules haven't meshed yet, but there's still time and there's still hope. I'm thinking someone who's "made it" could really give us some valuable feedback and advice.
Anticipating part 2 of the comic book, I've started to edit, with pencil, the second part of the script to address any changes that the drawing of part one may have caused, including address ambiguities in the script. Since the artist is more than a phone call away, I realize I need to nail things down better than I may have in part one. It's a live and learn process.
Still working on getting Public and Private ready to query. I've done as much preliminary research as I can on agents, but I read several who want a one to two page synopsis with the query. I decided against trying to cut down the long synopsis, so I'm trying to re-write it from scratch. After a couple of tries, I think I hit upon a way to proceed on Friday morning before work, but I never got back to it since. So I want to get that squared away before I query.
If you've been reading this blog for a while, I had unofficially pitched an idea for a show to the Comic-Con HQ SVOD channel. While nothing has really happened, every time I followed up I wasn't discouraged. I recently signed a submission release form so they could officially look at it. It's been a couple of days, so I'll give a week or so before I follow up. I don't think Lionsgate has ever produced any employee pitches before, even though they do allow for them, so it will obviously be a challenge.
Did finish a couple of reviews this week, one for Rush Hour and one for The Jazz Singer, which I published on Saturday morning. Trying not to feel discouraged that I can count all the pageviews so far on my two hands and still have a finger left over. Not sure why this one in particular landed with such a thump.
On Saturday, my family and I attended the Film Noir Festival at the Egyptian Theater and saw a couple of films I'm hoping to review in the next week or so: All My Sons (1948) and Take One False Step (1949). I'm already about 1200 words into the first one. So that will be my focus, along with the comic book, the synopsis and the blog. Just another week in writing.
A friend of ours who teaches drawing has a former student who has become a published artist. We're hoping to meet up during Free Comic Book Day weekend to get some feedback, so I'd like to have as much of it ready as possible to show him. He's coming into town to do an autograph session at our local comic book store, but our schedules haven't meshed yet, but there's still time and there's still hope. I'm thinking someone who's "made it" could really give us some valuable feedback and advice.
Anticipating part 2 of the comic book, I've started to edit, with pencil, the second part of the script to address any changes that the drawing of part one may have caused, including address ambiguities in the script. Since the artist is more than a phone call away, I realize I need to nail things down better than I may have in part one. It's a live and learn process.
Still working on getting Public and Private ready to query. I've done as much preliminary research as I can on agents, but I read several who want a one to two page synopsis with the query. I decided against trying to cut down the long synopsis, so I'm trying to re-write it from scratch. After a couple of tries, I think I hit upon a way to proceed on Friday morning before work, but I never got back to it since. So I want to get that squared away before I query.
If you've been reading this blog for a while, I had unofficially pitched an idea for a show to the Comic-Con HQ SVOD channel. While nothing has really happened, every time I followed up I wasn't discouraged. I recently signed a submission release form so they could officially look at it. It's been a couple of days, so I'll give a week or so before I follow up. I don't think Lionsgate has ever produced any employee pitches before, even though they do allow for them, so it will obviously be a challenge.
Did finish a couple of reviews this week, one for Rush Hour and one for The Jazz Singer, which I published on Saturday morning. Trying not to feel discouraged that I can count all the pageviews so far on my two hands and still have a finger left over. Not sure why this one in particular landed with such a thump.
On Saturday, my family and I attended the Film Noir Festival at the Egyptian Theater and saw a couple of films I'm hoping to review in the next week or so: All My Sons (1948) and Take One False Step (1949). I'm already about 1200 words into the first one. So that will be my focus, along with the comic book, the synopsis and the blog. Just another week in writing.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
A Week in Writing #85
Well, my goal for the week was to make progress on the book, Public and Private, the comic book and the blog. And while I did make some progress, it never seems to be enough and there never seems to be enough time in a day or week.
I thought I was done with the long synopsis for Public and Private and that I was going to work on a short one, but I ended up editing the long synopsis again. Every time I read through it, I wonder what I was thinking with some of my word choices. Hopefully, now I'm done with the editing and can turn to the short synopsis. I had thought I would base it on the long synopsis, but now I'm thinking I should just use it as its own writing assignment.
It's hard sometimes to see progress on the comic book. We had an issue with the artist, but I think we've gotten past that. We're still missing pages 7 and 11, but we've got 10 pages inked and a layout for a 13th page. No coloring this week. Not sure why not, but he said there were problems. And no new lettering this week, but I'm partially to blame for that. I sort of thought we'd be further along, but it is what it is.
Thought I would maybe squeeze in a review this week, but I ended up writing two, one for Rush Hour and the other for The Jazz Singer (1927), both for future posts. Did post one for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008). Sort of a change of pace for the blog, doing an internet story, but you go where the story is. I had originally intended it to follow the review for Batman v. Superman, since there a super hero involved, but the 666th review of the blog took precedent.
Had a bit of fun with twitter this week. I have a small, but hopefully loyal following, but was surprised to see the following notification at the beginning of the week:
I was pretty sure this wasn't the "real" Taylor Swift; her twitter is in sentence case and before too long whoever stopped following me, but for a brief second there, I thought Kanye would be jealous.
Spent part of Saturday moving into a new laptop. Had to rethink a few passwords I hadn't had to enter in the last few years, but it's like a new car and I'll get used to it.
Looking forward to more of the same next week. Everything is on the table, just need to get things done.
I thought I was done with the long synopsis for Public and Private and that I was going to work on a short one, but I ended up editing the long synopsis again. Every time I read through it, I wonder what I was thinking with some of my word choices. Hopefully, now I'm done with the editing and can turn to the short synopsis. I had thought I would base it on the long synopsis, but now I'm thinking I should just use it as its own writing assignment.
It's hard sometimes to see progress on the comic book. We had an issue with the artist, but I think we've gotten past that. We're still missing pages 7 and 11, but we've got 10 pages inked and a layout for a 13th page. No coloring this week. Not sure why not, but he said there were problems. And no new lettering this week, but I'm partially to blame for that. I sort of thought we'd be further along, but it is what it is.
Thought I would maybe squeeze in a review this week, but I ended up writing two, one for Rush Hour and the other for The Jazz Singer (1927), both for future posts. Did post one for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008). Sort of a change of pace for the blog, doing an internet story, but you go where the story is. I had originally intended it to follow the review for Batman v. Superman, since there a super hero involved, but the 666th review of the blog took precedent.
Had a bit of fun with twitter this week. I have a small, but hopefully loyal following, but was surprised to see the following notification at the beginning of the week:
I was pretty sure this wasn't the "real" Taylor Swift; her twitter is in sentence case and before too long whoever stopped following me, but for a brief second there, I thought Kanye would be jealous.
Spent part of Saturday moving into a new laptop. Had to rethink a few passwords I hadn't had to enter in the last few years, but it's like a new car and I'll get used to it.
Looking forward to more of the same next week. Everything is on the table, just need to get things done.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
A Week in Writing #84
Received the new Writer's Digest this week: 101 Best Websites for Writers. Still digesting it, so to speak, but really only a few are relevant for me. I'm more interested in websites about agents and queries.
I'm already a user of QueryTracker; I'm also interested in Agentquery.com, which covers much of the same ground. What I like about QueryTracker is that you can develop a list and export it to Excel. This list was the basis for the spreadsheet I keep on agents and queries. Agentquery has some of the same information, but the format is less user friendly for me. You can get a list of agents who handle mysteries, for example, but then you have to page through the listings which can be very time consuming.
I try to identify potential agents and then research them in small groups, since information can change quickly over time. Sometimes an agent who was closed to queries or would only take them on recommendation is now open and vice versa. I'm in the process of trying to put together agents to query for Public and Private.
While I think I've nailed down a good query letter, I'm still working on the long synopsis. I did get through it once and have done a round of editing. Now I'm updating the revised synopsis again. It's about 12 pages long, so next I want to make a 5 page version. Different agents ask for different lengths, so it's good to be prepared before starting.
I know it sounds like I'm procrastinating, but I'm not really. I just want to be ready before I throw myself out there.
Some progress made this week on the comic book. Our letterer is getting started, our artist has made some layouts and the colorist should deliver some pages later this week. This is sort of a wild card, as I'm never sure when something will come in that we need to look at. It's a little it like a jack-in-the-box, no action for days and then suddenly several things at once. It keeps me on my toes, but it does get in the way from a concentrated effort on other things.
As for blogging, we celebrated our 666th review on Trophy Unlocked with Satan Met a Lady (1936). It's actually a remake of The Maltese Falcon (1931). The Humphrey Bogart version, which we all know, came out in 1941 and was the third film version of the Dashiell Hammett novel. No new review this week. We re-watched The Iron Giant this week, as a follow up to seeing The Giant's Dream last week at WonderCon.
My goal for this week is to make progress on as much as I can, regarding Public and Private, the comic book and maybe squeeze in a review as well.
I'm already a user of QueryTracker; I'm also interested in Agentquery.com, which covers much of the same ground. What I like about QueryTracker is that you can develop a list and export it to Excel. This list was the basis for the spreadsheet I keep on agents and queries. Agentquery has some of the same information, but the format is less user friendly for me. You can get a list of agents who handle mysteries, for example, but then you have to page through the listings which can be very time consuming.
I try to identify potential agents and then research them in small groups, since information can change quickly over time. Sometimes an agent who was closed to queries or would only take them on recommendation is now open and vice versa. I'm in the process of trying to put together agents to query for Public and Private.
While I think I've nailed down a good query letter, I'm still working on the long synopsis. I did get through it once and have done a round of editing. Now I'm updating the revised synopsis again. It's about 12 pages long, so next I want to make a 5 page version. Different agents ask for different lengths, so it's good to be prepared before starting.
I know it sounds like I'm procrastinating, but I'm not really. I just want to be ready before I throw myself out there.
Some progress made this week on the comic book. Our letterer is getting started, our artist has made some layouts and the colorist should deliver some pages later this week. This is sort of a wild card, as I'm never sure when something will come in that we need to look at. It's a little it like a jack-in-the-box, no action for days and then suddenly several things at once. It keeps me on my toes, but it does get in the way from a concentrated effort on other things.
As for blogging, we celebrated our 666th review on Trophy Unlocked with Satan Met a Lady (1936). It's actually a remake of The Maltese Falcon (1931). The Humphrey Bogart version, which we all know, came out in 1941 and was the third film version of the Dashiell Hammett novel. No new review this week. We re-watched The Iron Giant this week, as a follow up to seeing The Giant's Dream last week at WonderCon.
My goal for this week is to make progress on as much as I can, regarding Public and Private, the comic book and maybe squeeze in a review as well.
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