A Week in Writing #192

Let's start this week with where I left off last week. The videos we shot to promote Powers Squared. I'm happy to report that while I won't be appearing on a TED talk anytime soon, I didn't embarrass myself too badly. Paul and I sat down and watched them during the week and then we edited one of them for eventual upload on YouTube. I give Paul all the credit for editing it. Clever man, he figured out how to use Adobe Premiere to add graphics and titles. Check back here and on our website to find out when it goes up.

More news on Powers Squared, we at least have a date range for when Issues 3, 4 and 5 will go up on comiXology: Mid-June. I know that sounds vague but it is at least something to shoot for. When dates are set, they will, of course, be announced on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. But you'll need to sign up to be in the know. (Hint!)

Our artist is closing in on finishing the first eight pages of Issue #7, so the dream lives on, I guess. Our letterer has even done some pages on Issue #6, so we're moving forward. Next month, we'll have new pages for our colorist and the process will continue.

Because we're moving into Issue #7, Paul and I discussed where we want to go with Issue #8 and decided on a path forward. I started working on the next script this week and have at least a first draft of the script. I need to make another run through it before I show it to Paul and Trevor for their comments.

Heard back from my editor on Familiar Stranger, stating that he got my manuscript and will start looking at it soon. No doubt, more rewrites in my future on that one. I haven't yet decided what to work on next but I figure until I'm done working on the scripts for Powers Squared that decision will have to wait.

This past week, I also worked on a review for Trophy Unlocked, a review of Cry Danger (1951) which was published on Saturday morning. It's a pretty good film noir. Need to work on another one this week for South of St. Louis (1949), the film we watched this past Friday night. You might be asking about why we haven't reviewed Infinity War, the latest film in the MCU. It's not for want of going but because other things, dare I say more important, came up on opening weekend. We should be going next week, so please no spoilers until we've seen it.

So this coming week will be no doubt dominated by Powers Squared and South of St. Louis, maybe a little Familiar Stranger rewrites thrown in. Will let you know how it goes next Sunday.

A Week in Writing #191

Sort of a slow week in Writing. They happen from time to time. I finished up a couple of things but I really didn't work as hard as I could have. Maybe its a sense of ennui, maybe I just needed to recharge a little.

Finished the rewrite of Familiar Stranger. Want to go over the book one more time from a high level to make sure the chapter names all lineup and there are no weird spaces or blank pages before I send to my editor. Hopefully, I'll get that done tonight or soon after and we can move Familiar Stranger on to its next stage in life. I'm still not sure what the next project along these lines will be. I have several books that are in need of another polish but I'm not sure if I don't want to move onto something new with the same main characters. You'll know as soon as I figure it out.

In addition to finishing that work, I completed and posted about 3000 words on Hell's Angels (1930); Trophy Unlocked's Saturday Morning Review. The film is a World War I melodrama directed by Howard Hughes with James Whale and Edmund Goulding assisting but getting no screen credit. The film is most notable for being Jean Harlow's first starring role and while the film lost money at the box office she would go on to become a star at MGM. We have featured her in several reviews on the blog.

I'm going to start on a review this week for Cry Danger (1951), which I hope to finish in time for Saturday.

On the Powers Squared front, this was also a rather slow week. Our artist sent us pencils of the next four issues on Saturday night, which Paul and I reviewed on Sunday afternoon. Only a couple of notes for her. With our colorist caught up, there aren't any pages to send her until next month. Our letterer also worked on some pages, which is a good sign.

With artwork being done for Issue 7, Paul and I sat down to map out the next story arcs for the comic book. We figured out the stories and their order as well as talked about Powers Squared beyond the next three storylines. I hope we're not planning ahead in vain as I would really like to see this become sustainable in the very near future. I won't go into details here, except to say there will be some rewrites in our future as we try to stay ahead of our artist. I'm excited and a little scared. Still posting on Instagram and Twitter, are you following? (Spoiler: Probably not but would really appreciate it if you would. It's easy and it's free!)

On the video front, I hadn't looked at them. I think I'm a little afraid actually; fearful that I won't come across as well as I need to. Right now they're the Schroedinger's Cat, so I'm both bad and really good. Hate to burst that bubble, but I will have to. Time is running out and we need to get beyond this, I mean I need to.

I wanted to participate this week in a local comic creator gathering, Koffee and Komics, but I didn't. I've been a member for over a year now but Thursday nights are sort of hard to pull off for me, even though it's only once a month. My intention was to go this week but we ended up being a car short so I had to come home early from work so one of my sons could use my car to go to class. Sorry about not attending.

Well, that's about it for me, confessions and all. So for sure next week, watching videos and working on rewrites. It's nice to have plans.

A Week in Writing #190

Let's start someplace different this week. The rewrites on Familiar Stranger are going well. I'm up to about page 305, which is pretty good though not great progress. I do find myself occasionally questioning some of the changes but having read the book, or should I say manuscript, again I did get some new ideas about how to say something that I hadn't thought of before.

Still, on that front, I made contact this past week with the editor who had helped me with previous books. It had easily been over a year since I'd written him since I hadn't had anything to show him in several years. Good news for me, he's willing, when I'm done, to edit this book again. As good as I can make it, I know he can make it even better so I'm looking forward to that stage in the process, though it might be awhile before we get into those rewrites.

Back to familiar ground, Powers Squared. Earlier this week, our second issue was reviewed by First Comics News, this time a 4 out of 5. Very encouraging. We also heard back from our man at comiXology and there might actually be something happening there as far as promotion. He's twice requested that I send him the five completed issues so he could consult with an outside PR agency. I have no idea what's in the offing, though I would imagine it has something to do with twins doing a comic book about twins. That is a total guess on my part but that would make some sense.

We did do some reshoots last Sunday and had hoped to do more shooting this weekend as well but our interviewer notified us that he's not going to be available for this Sunday and next; something about getting hitched. You would have thought a major life event, like a wedding, would have come up when we were planning all this but hey that's how life is sometimes. I'm hoping in two weeks we can get back to it with the boys in front of the camera as well.

I hate to say it but I haven't yet looked at the footage we shot a week ago. That's on my to-do list this week I guess.

As far as the issues go, the colorist has finished her work on Issue #6. Now it's up to our letterer to play catch up. The artist, meanwhile, has moved on Issue #7. Paul and I reviewed the first four pages that she penciled over the weekend and gave her some feedback. For the most part, it looks really good, there are just a few minor things we asked her to look at again. The fact that she wrote us back the next day is such an improvement over our last artist that I'm still amazed.

Now, as promised, the Twitter pitch. I'm trying to get better about Powers Squared there but it would be nice if there were more than two followers; one of them is my twitter account. The handle is @MartyandEli and would appreciate it if someone would follow it as well. See, that wasn't such a hard sell after all.

We did pick up three new followers on Instagram this week, though we can always use more. (Hint, this means you.) Where else would you see such images as this:

Steve for Issues # 6 - 

Well, you could see them here but that's not the point.

Got back into writing reviews, publishing Trophy Unlocked's Saturday Morning Review: Clueless (1995). 

I also started a more extensive review of Hell's Angels (1930), the World War I melodrama that made a star out of Jean Harlow. Look for that in the coming weeks.

Well, that about does it for this week. Hopefully, next week will see more work on everything, but time will tell.

A Week in Writing #189

So a couple of things to get to right away. First, last week, we sat down to record some videos to put up on YouTube about Powers Squared. We spent a couple of hours on Sunday, at Galaxy of Comics and came away with several minutes of footage. While the conversation is good, there are some technical issues, such as its very dark and I'm sort of out of focus as a result. We can argue back and forth if I'm better looking blurry or not, but I think if I'm the subject of the shot, I should be in focus.

Long story short, we're hoping to do some reshoots today, Sunday.

And, I did finish just last night with my edits on Familiar Stranger, which means the next week or so, I'll be going through the manuscript and making those changes. I'm pretty happy with the process. It's sort of like reading some of it for the first time since some writing/rewriting is months old by now. But it feels good to be on this side and feel like I'm getting ready to close out this book, at least for now. I'm not sure if I should rewrite another old book, the one that started me on this series, Simple Sins, or go onto something new. I'm sort of torn. If anyone has any ideas, please leave a comment. (Those are welcomed by the way.)

Trying to be diligent about making uploads to Instagram, it would be awesome if you followed the account for Powers Squared. I'm sort of churning through characters at the moment but would like to spice it up with some photos from the video shoot and possibly with thumbnails for Issues 6 and 7. Its sort of awkward to be trying to promote old and new but that's sort of where we are with Powers Squared.

I did post a couple of photos last weekend, however, the one I'm in I'm very much chopped off. It's all about layout and positioning, a lesson I'm only learning after the fact. I was also surprised that the photos I took ended up backward, so I had to upload them to my computer, reverse them, loaded them back to my phone and then upload them to Instagram. Sort of takes the Insta-part away. If you follow us, you'll get to see all of these great missteps as we go along, so a splendid time is guaranteed for all. (Next week, *Spoiler Alert* we'll push Twitter @MartyandEli.)

On the creative side of Powers Squared, we've received and reviewed thumbnails for the first eight pages of Issue #7. Our artist sends us two sets and we go through each and select the panels we like from each. She then sent us the combined version. There were a few more adjustments we asked for but she's moving on now to pencils.

Our colorist finished her work on the cover for Issue #6 and is working on the last four pages of that issue.

Trophy Unlocked's Saturday Morning Review was a look at the video game The Silver Case for PS4. Once again, written by another writer for the blog. I am, however, finally getting back into writing them. On Friday night, we watched Clueless (1995), a film recommended by one of Paul's teachers at the UCLA Extension program for Writers, which he is currently in. The academic-side is about the inciting incident in the story, while the review will take more of a holistic approach. I've written about 600 + words so far but will be something else I can work on this week.

And, as every week, I'll be back here to discuss everything that has happened to me relating to my writing. Hope you'll be back to take a look.

A Week in Writing #188

A really exciting week in writing. Powers Squared not only launched our own Twitter account: @martyandeli but we also received our first review at First Comic News: https://t.co/WxA8D2RoiL. While that might not seem like much, it is a big accomplishment for us and was for the most part positive; not bad for our first effort at making a comic book. It's a first step in what we hope will be a big year for Powers Squared.

In other news, it seems like comiXology might be planning something. I was asked on Friday to send them all five issues, which, I, of course, did. So, hopefully, something good will come of that.

As much as I think I do, I know there's more that can be done. But I only have so many hours in the day to devote to it. I was encouraged to learn, at the panel at WonderCon, that if you spend more than an hour a day doing social media, then you're spending too much time on it. Even an hour a day is more time then I have to spend on it. Sadly, there are only so many hours in the day.

The artists are continuing their work on Powers Squared. Our colorist has now finished up through page 16 and has done a first pass on the cover. Our inker is already ready to get to work on Issue #7, which seems like a real difference than what we were used to.

Some of the images we posted this week on Instagram:

Mocha

Uncle Brian

Jennifer Perry

Tonight, we're going to shoot some videos to use to promote the comic book. As a basic introverted writer, this will be a new experience for yours truly. I'll write more about that experience next week and, of course, let you know where and when the videos are posted.

Co-writers Paul and David Hankins getting ready to shoot some videos.

No new reviews from me this week, again, but we did publish two on Trophy Unlocked. Instead of our usual Saturday morning review, we published a primer for the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War, coming next month.

And on Sunday, April Fool's Day, we published a review of Half-Life 3, make of that what you will.

Also, still rereading and editing Familiar Stranger. I'm up to page 329 so it's possible I'll get through it all by the end of next week. Then one more round of editing on the computer. It seems like a never ending cycle, but I do enjoy the part of making it better.

A Week in Writing #187 - Report From the Front - WonderCon 2018

Busy week this week. To begin with, spent a good portion of the week working on edits for Familiar Stranger, the oft-written about but never seen novel I've been working on for longer than I care to admit. This is the point in my process where I print out the pages and re-read them and make edits in pencil as I do. It's a chance to really read it, which is something I realize I don't do when it's only on the computer screen.

Sitting down with thirty to forty pages at a time is a real visceral experience that I do enjoy. While no one really loves rewriting, I like the editing process. I'm up to page 208 and feel like I'm making it a stronger book and rethinking certain aspects as I go. As an example, I've vacillated in different rewrites between someone driving a pickup truck or a van and rethinking it, since I have them working as a baker when they're not in this story, a van seems to be truer to the character. I know it may seem simple (and possibly stupid) but it is part of making the overall story better. Details help.

No new reviews written this week; I'm starting to miss writing them actually, but this past Friday night was not movie night, rather Cowboy Bebop night as we finished watching the series for a panel we attended, that we'll get to later when we get to WonderCon. Did publish a new Saturday Morning Review, however, Lady Bird. I know you're saying, hey that was out last year why the delay? Well, to be honest, when the film first came out, it wasn't really on our radar. When it was nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture, we finally watched it. Then there is slating it in for publication, as we want to have new content every week. Sorry for the delay in getting to it.

There was some work on Powers Squared this week, as the artist finished her work on Issue #6, including a cover. Most of the time, however, was spent on social media as we've finally gotten serious about getting the word out. Last week, we relaunched our Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/powerssquaredcomicbook/ and our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PowersSquaredComicBook/ Like our website:
https://powerssquaredcomicbook.com/ they're easy to spot as they contain some version of this image (accept no substitute):

Coming soon, a twitter account and on the horizon videos about the creation and future of the book. So much to look forward to as we try to spread our social media wings. Issues 3 - 5 have been accepted at comiXology and you'll find out here when a release date is sent.

Part of that included attending the recent WonderCon in Anaheim this past Saturday. We all attended a panel first thing in the day called How To Get Press Coverage, which was very informative. The panel included many in the media who cover comics or who have comics they're promoting or are in promotion. Learned that Press Releases are still a real thing and that there are other places to ply your promotion efforts besides the obvious. Here's a tip, the military press, since servicemen have a lot of time to spend reading and read comic books.

Manged to make contact with the moderator of the panel and will be following up with him this week. I wasn't planning on hitting him up about Powers Squared, but when he asked what I had I fumbled into my elevator talk, which was a bit rusty. Still, he seemed interested and gave me his card.

Also, Paul and I attended another panel later in the day called Writing Great Dialogue. While all of the panelists were informative, Mairghread Scott really stood out. She's written for both comic books and animation. A lot of what you hear in these panels is somewhat common sense, but it's obvious that she's studied the craft and is applying what she knows.

We did spend time on the floor and ran into some very helpful people in Artist Alley, including the artist Sean Galloway, currently our only Instagram follower, and some members of the Koffee and Komics group that we've belonged to but haven't attended any of their monthly get-togethers. Very cool people.

We also managed to slap a howdy on a couple of friends we've met through our con attending, including Doug Neff, who runs the Comic Creator Connection at WonderCon and SDCC amongst other endeavors, and an editor at IDW who we've been running into for years at conventions, Wonder, Comic and Bot. We gave them each our latest issues of Powers Squared and asked for comment.

Attending conventions has turned into a little more work than play sometimes, as we try to maintain our tenuous network of friends in the industry and make a point to attend panels that are informative. However, it is not all work and no play.

One of the nice things about WonderCon, as opposed to its big brother Comic-Con, is that you have a real chance to get into popular panels. The Anaheim Convention Center recently added a couple of really big rooms, so we were able to get seats together in popular panels like Cartoon Voices and a screening of an episode of the Netflix series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, hosted by Nathan Fillion. We attended the latter so that we could get into the panel that followed, Celebrating 20 Years of Cowboy Bebop (see how it circles back to Friday night). The latter was surprisingly sparsely attended but was still a fun way to end our WonderCon.

For the next week, the goals are to keep up the editing on Familiar Stranger, make more progress on the content of Powers Squared and also to work on those press releases and to update our social media presence. Whew, a busy week ahead for sure.

A Week in Writing #186

Looking back this was a pretty good week all the way around when it comes to writing. Daylight Savings Time only weirded me out a little, as I only had one sleepless night. I was pretty much tired all week but I managed to work through it.

A lot seemed to be happening with Powers Squared this week. Not only did we hear routinely from the artists involved but we also made some headway on putting together some ideas for promotion. First, on Thursday, we had a lunch to discuss ideas with me, the boys and a guy from work who is involved with social media and had some ideas about what we should be doing.

We discussed the usual ideas, videos on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, all things that have been mentioned here before. We're, of course, still in the planning stages but we're starting to put together a plan. The idea at present is to do one long interview and then divide it into shorter videos. That's the plan, at least for now. We've even lined up an interviewer for when we're ready to proceed.

We've also made some updates to Powers Squared Comic Book.com, including adding drop-down menus and organizing the issues and characters together. We've added biographies for the current creative team and added some preview pages as well. For some reason, I'm having problems uploading jpegs for a couple of issues. I'm not sure why, but after about twenty to thirty minutes of trying, I put it away for now. So only Issues 1 - 3 have previews at present.

Below are some preview pages we've uploaded. For the few of you who have already purchased the books, two of these will seem familiar. These are the first pages of the first three issues.

Also on Thursday, we finally had the oft-discussed and oft-delayed talk with our connection at Comixology. Now the plan is to have them process our submission and then hold it until we can put together some promotion. Even he's going to publicize the issues on their website and then possibly some other stories about the twins angle, i.e. twins doing a comic book about twins. No promises, but we'll see what, if anything, comes of it.

No new reviews were written, at least by me, this week. I had originally planned to post a review of Lady Bird on Trophy Unlocked, but instead, on Saturday morning, we published a review of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie (Remastered) which Paul and Trevor attended this past week. Got to keep things fresh.

On the Familiar Stranger front, I managed to finish the rewrite I've been working on like forever. At present, it's 86,303 words and 467 pages long. Now comes the print it out, read and edit portion of our show. I'm going to start that process this next week. Not sure how fast that will go, but I must admit I'm a little happy to get to this stage.

Well, that about summarizes this past week. In the coming week, we've got WonderCon on Saturday so there will be some prep and ready for that. Look for another Report from the Front next time.