The more things change...

1999 Christmas card - water colour

A friend from home, Don, sent me a Christmas message that put the biggest smile on my face. He stumbled across one of my earliest holiday cards in his office!

It was done way back in 1999 and was the second one ever. It was done in water colour.

I remember having to take the massive page (about A2) down to the local copy shop to get it copied and reduced. They were all printed on plain paper and were just folded in half to make a card. I could only afford to make 20. I was so proud to hand them out to friends and family because I couldn't at the age of 17 afford to buy gifts for everyone I cared about. Don, at the time, was my boss at Barnes and Noble (obviously someone who I was right to hold in high esteem!).

I'm touched he's saved it all these years because I honestly believed they'd all been lost to time by now. I can't even find the copies that I'd saved for myself!

It's nice to see the characters that I conceived all those years ago as just silly ideas have made it through time pretty much in tact. I think you'll recognise them all. The only difference is that Sem was once 'Ben'.

2012 Christmas card

And while the characters may not have changed much what's even spookier/heartening (spookening) is that neither have I really. In 1999 the thing that I wished for is the thing that, over a decade later, I am holding on to; friendship. I suppose the desire for belonging and closeness is a tenant of everyone's life, especially around the holidays. It's a thing that I've learned to appreciate just how much of it I have.

This little reminder of my past is quite possibly the nicest Christmas gift I've had this year; a nice reminder from past me that I'm exactly where I want to be.

Enjoy!
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Book Two begins

The journey towards Book Two kicks off with a quick sketch of a new character.

This kid meets up with Gemmy and his family as they take a long needed beach holiday (especially after the events of Book 1).

He's as yet unnamed and I've promised my mate Darren a crack at naming him.

Who is he? Well, he's a 'coaster'. No, no, not the kind you put under a drink. But, a person who lives on the sunny beaches of the Garzian Isles in south-west Arbea just taking in the surf and sand, living the easy life 'coasting' by... a beach bum. He and his family stay near where Gemmy and his crew are holidaying and he strikes up a quick friendship with Sem.

Any ideas for a name to help Darren out?

Enjoy!
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Canine vs Feline

The machinations of my second book have begun and it's time for the Rhe'zans to appear. Rhe'zans are one of the three sentient races of Arbea.

One thing I've never been certain of is: Are they more canine or feline?

Originally, I began to draw them as definitely having more feline features. I'm more of a cat person, really, so the idea of having giant cat people would be pretty cool. Thundercats... need I say more?

But, then, a lot of the characteristics I'm attributing them closely resemble canines - I always envisioned Rhe'zans warriors to be big pa have the posted ears of a Doberman Pinscher.

I love the Pinscher profile - ballpoint pen

Lions and Tigers (and Bears?) - ballpoint pen

I've done some sketches going for more of a Doberman look, but I'm not entirely convinced. I'm leaning more towards going for a 'big cat' look and using whatever ears I bloody well choose.

A bit doggier than before - ballpoint pen

I find I tend to enjoy the look of a ferocious cat to a snarling dog. Can't decide. Although, I do prefer the Doberman style eyebrows to what I'd previously done.

What do you think? Dogs versus cats?

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Insult to injury

My favourite insult from the book is calling someone a 'wan-faced troc'.

In Arbea, you do get these awful little troglodites called trocs that are blind proto-sentient salamander-like creatures. Nasty, ugly little beasties that live in damp fetid places feasting on decomposing carrion.

One of the best parts of writing fantasy is the sub-creation. Tolkien - one of the first to coin the phrase - created 'deep and wide and beautiful' stories because of the rich invented culture of his lands.

Now, I'm not the biggest Tolkien fan (I enjoyed the Hobbit, but the rest are beyond my attention span) but he was a master of creation. And I firmly believe that to make an authentic reality, one where the reader can successfully suspend disbelief, you have to have an authentic and believable world.

It's the little touches like, in Arbea, reason is the highest power. There is religion and mysticism, but the society's culture is centred on it prizing of intellect. That means the characters wouldn't say things like 'goodness me' but something more like 'reason be'.

And, because the mythology of Arbea is different, creatures like trolls wouldn't necessarily exist. Hence calling someone a 'troc' is similar to calling them a troll.


Enjoy!
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Two become one, but 17 become 26!

I've broken my promise of not touching the book for a week.

As I pondered sending it to a friend  to read it I accidentally, sort of, looked over it myself. I'm questioning the need for a Prologue. But, after speeding through the first 177 pages of Tony Diterlizzi's 'A Hero for Wondla' I began to question my chapter length.

"Life does not happen in regular chapters, nor do movies, and Homer did not write in chapters. I'm blessed if I know what function they serve in books for adults." - Terry Pratchett

A friend had admonished me ages ago about the length and I did a lot of work on the first few chapters to trim them which is why the number went up from the initial outline. He said (and rightly so) that with children's writing you want it to be smooth and quick. You want your young readers to feel like they've accomplished something by finishing a chapter, especially when they want to read 'just one more' before the mom switches off the light.

I definitely think getting all the information out to start for me is far more important than getting it right out the gate. But, I definitely see the wisdom in going back and pairing things down. So, I had a quick flick through and figured out where I can keep chapter length to a minimum. It's quite funny because I realised how much I break up chapters in the middle anyway. So, it was actually quite easy to just change where the 'official' chapter breaks happen.

Although, is it worth it to just go for a Terry Pratchett and just scupper the idea of chapters all together?

Enjoy!
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A book is born

The book is done!!!!

The Strange Chronicles: Book 1 - The Mighty Orange-Peel (first draft) was finished last night 8 August, at 9:30 pm in Edinburgh, Scotland weighting in at a healthy 17 Chapters, 125 pages (A4 1.5 spaced),  52,000 words. It will obviously change and grow as edits are made and an epilogue is developed. But, no matter what, it is novel! And, in the cold hard light of day, the final chapter still reads well!

It was a long process. I started writing the book early 2010 (I still remember the moment I 'found' Gemmy's face and writing really took off). I'm over the moon with how well it's turned out. I've reread the first half and it feels like a book. So, I'm confident the second half, which I finished much faster, has the same depth even though the pace of writing and story is much faster.

My favourite part of writing so far has been seeing how the story has developed. In my outline it was meant to be 15 chapters. The way the final book has actually taken shape is so much more different to what I'd intended. The characters have grown and changed with the story and it’s been just as much an adventure for me finding out what was going to happen. The major plot points haven’t changed, but the characters’ reactions to situations have become more organic and truer to the characters. Also, the world that I established changed. So, plot devices I’d planned for suddenly didn’t make sense. What I’d planned to go A, B, C, D ended up A, F, Z, B, D.

So, now begins the process of rationalising the book. I’m sure there’s a plot hole somewhere, a few mistyped names (Mhetli became Mehtli for about two chapters), superfluous sentences, areas needing to be expanded, etc. But, my beautiful book has been born.

It’s been crazy and fun getting the characters and story to the place where it’s at. So, I’m going to do my preliminary edits, celebrate and let the baby rest for a week, play Lego Harry Potter (finally), read A Hero for Wondla (finally), maybe do some more illustrations and then come back with fresh eyes! 

On a side note, I absolutely can't wait to get it printed and bound - by my own fair hand of course. Definitely going to have a party then.

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Who's guarding tomorrow?

So, the ominously named facility, Morgengarde, is headed up by an equally ominous director, Ixtilton Wurmstab. 

He is described as:
The director stood at least two heads taller than Gravander and was heartily built. He wore elaborate Garzian robes of red, black and gold that matched his bright flame of vermillion hair. His wide, sun-kissed face was open and pleasant. Off-set by his brilliant green eyes, Gemmy was transfixed by the man.

The character in the book comes from Vfor (pronounced 'Fuhr'), a country on the continent of Arbea minor. His 'healer's' name is directly linked to the work that is conducted at Morgengarde (which means 'guard of tomorrow'). Is he working for good or evil?

A lot of the names and places in the book are related to mythology. Ixtilton is the name of the Aztec god of medicine and healing. 


I'm not sure if the surname sounds a bit too 'on the nose' though. It's misleadingly sinister however.  'Wurmstab' refers to the Rod of Asclepius which is a symbol of healing (contrary to popular belief, it is not the caduceus).

How could a man with such a name and face not be working for good?

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Judging a book by its word count

So, chapter 15 is finished and I decided it was time to go back and look at the rest before I sprinted on with the remaining three chapters. With this two errors of memory happened.

1) I realised that chapter 15 was in fact chapter 14! Long story short, the first two chapters were extra-long with exposition so had to be split into five shorter chapters. This took them out of sync with the outline. Then, as the story developed some of the later chapters ended in the middle of the following chapter according to the outline. So, I misremembered my numbering. No big deal, right?

So because of this I decided to corral the final chapters into one document and do a word count. Then,

2) My word count revealed I was at almost 43,000 words! Now, I'm terrible with remembering numbers and the word count for a novel can be arbitrary. But, in my head I remembered that the average novel was 200k words! Panic (and probably too much coffee) set in.

I was almost certain I was on the track to exiting 'novella' territory. It's a young adult novel, so I don't want it to be J.K. Rowling/harrypotter-book-seven-long. But, I was hoping for something a bit more than Neil Gaiman/Odd and the Frost Giants-short.

I could have sworn that I'd worked out that if each chapter was around seven pages of A4 at roughly 11 pt type that I would have hit the mark. My shortest chapter is six pages and longest at eleven.

GOOD NEWS folks!!
Well, a bit of Google looking later, I realised I misremembered the figures. It is in fact (roughly) 50k words for 200 pages (printed)- which is where my memory of the 200 figure came from. So, the tale of the Mighty Orange-Peel has been given a respectable amount of space so far.

Time to crack on with the last three chapters. I'm actually really really excited. In a lot of ways, I'm finding out how it will all go down just like everyone else. The details of the story keep shifting as I write because the characters are growing and changing with the story.

Oh, here's a first crack at a cover for the book. What do y'all think?

So good!
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The girls are back in town

So, as the novel is careening towards it's end I've gone back and consistency check names, places, etc. One of the biggest gaps I noticed was that I hadn't named Gemmy's sisters. They were referred to simply as 'B' and 'L' which are my older sister's initials.

Much like Gemmy, I'd just carried on writing referring to their letter and as the characters began to take shape, so did their names. It's been a while since I did some character drawings for the book and I realised it would help bring things into focus to take the writing forward.

Bringing their faces into focus has really helped define and fully thresh out their personalities in writing as well. Here are the sketches of the girls next to their finished drawings.

I introduce Ilamatä (Ilä  for short - pronounced 'EE-ley'):

  

And Lauta (pronounced 'l-Ow-Ta'):

 

Ilä's name comes from the Aztec goodess, Ilamatecuhtli, who created the stars. But it is also a nod to her developing powers. Lauta is based on German for 'shout' as she's a very boisterous character. Also, she often speaks for Ilä who is mute.

I actually spent time drawing pictures of my wee niece to inspire the facial features for the girls. Ilä looks most like what I imagine she'll look like when she's ten. Though, I think, if she ever came home with a haircut like Ilä's her mother would scalp her, hop a plane to Scotland, then pummel me! The haircut was inspired by my youngest sister who always had a short cut (more function than fashion I think) as a little girl. Lauta is the wild child but that's why I wanted to keep her hair long - think, Summer Glau, prima ballerina meets action hero.

Enjoy!
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‽ Marks the spot

In addition to being an illustrator and writer I, a proud bibliophile, also bind books as a hobby. As my binding (and avid collection of papers and bookbinding cloth) has increased to a 'proficient' level I decided it was high time that I get my very own maker's mark. Remember the interrobang? Well, meet the themobang!

This beautiful brass handled letter is a finishing tool used to engrave letters and patterns into book covers and spines. I'm hoping to get a full set of handled letters at some point for customising the books that I make. I'm also itching to get my hands on some gold leaf!

The tool itself was created by Kevin Noakes of Bookbinding Designs. He's a crazy talented guy and I can't wait to get more tools from him. If you're looking for a custom tool get in touch with Kevin. Not only is it well-crafted he was soooooo quick and professional.

I studied binding at the Owl & Lion Gallery in Edinburgh under Isobel Ting. She is wicked cool and my books are not a patch on hers. If you're looking to learn a new skill, even just as a hobby, I highly recommend her courses. Or if you want a handmade journal, get thee to the Owl & Lion!

Enjoy!
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Walk on the wild side

Here are some sketches of Polin Gulsse one of Gemmy's classmates.

I actually did this drawing last November but was hemming and hawing about a name for him. His name originally was 'Marte Jemp' and then I realised I had about five characters with 'M' names. It wasn't until I was chatting with a mate (who we call Pol) that I realised Pol was actually the perfect name!

Pol in the book is one of Gemmy's classmates. He's incredibly enthusiastic, an excellent fighter and a bit of a class clown. He's obsessed with Rhe'zan culture and has adopted the haircut of Rhe'zan warriors (yes, he looks a bit like a jedi padiwan). Similar to how academics have hair and chin tufts, warriors sport a pony tail. Pol has also shaved his head so that he has a tuft of hair at the top similar to how a Rhe'zan mane naturally sprouts and an earring. He attends the military academy but is part of Gemmy's endo class.

You can see Pol in all of his butt-kicking awesomeness in my post 'New and Improved'.

Enjoy!
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New and improved

I've been on a writing spree and Chapter 13 is finishing up nicely so I've taken some time to update my blog - not just adding posts but tricking it out with a new look. I'd finished the 'chibi' drawing of the O-Peel characters a while back and I'm not sure why it took me so long to realise that this perfectly done landscape illustration would work well as the masthead of my blog.

Here you see the main characters in their colourful RGB splendour: (L to R) Pol, Mercy, Sem, Gemmy, Nareth, Gravander and Mhetli.


The image features the first finished drawing of one of the book's characters, Polin Gulsse (Pol for short). He actually crops up in the book a lot and is one of Gemmy's pals. I have some proper sketches of him that I'll post later on with a bit more detail about his character. 

Hope you enjoy the new look of the blog and stay tuned. I've lined up a few posts that have been hanging out in the back room of the site that I'd just not gotten around to finishing since I've been on my writing spree.

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Containing a a thunderstorm

So, we've arrived at the major point in the book where Gemmy is captured and contained. As part of his imprisonment he's made to wear a containment suit that keeps his power from spinning out of control. The theory is it will need to be head to toe. The suit is designed to syphon any excess energy he generates at 'collection points' around major muscle groups. These points serve a two way function which can send a pulse that paralyses the major muscles to prevent escape. Here are some initial sketches for what the suit may look like.


Enjoy!
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Burfday drawings

So, it's a the big 30 this year. I'm planning to have a bit of a shindig and, sadly, the thing I'm most excited about is designing an invitation! I've got several projects on all at once, so I won't be able to properly get stuck in until at least June. But, I had a crack at an illustration and I think I'm going to go for an Alphonse Mucka style image. Here's a first draft of Gemmy lounging reading a book.

A new species

There are the three main species of Arbea. But who are these guys? I won't give too much away but they're character ideas for a later book. What do you think they should be called?

It's Christmas time

So, as I begin the search for an illustration for this year's Christmas card I'm trying to think of the thing I want the most for Christmas. No, no, not Santa wish-list style but what I want my Christmas to be like. I'm having a bit of trouble at the moment so I'm taking a quick look back at previous years to try and remember what I was doing at that type that inspired me.

My earliest cards are somewhere in boxes so I'll have to fish them out and scan them, but since 2003 I've been doing digital so here are some delights. You can see my 2010 card on here.

2003

2003 was my last Christmas at University and all I wanted was to stay in college forever! So, here's Opeel having a white Christmas out in the snow wearing a big cosy Yale jumper. And there's Wishmaker, the mascot for my greeting cards, on the back working his magic.

2004

This was my first year out of Uni, away from home, out in the big bad world waiting for my next big adventure - moving to Scotland. So, the card is a bit etherial. It's actually my least favourite card, but looking back I realise how relevant it was to my current situation. And there's Wishmaker, stuck out in the cold looking in through a stained-glass window - psychoanalysts eat your heart out!

2005
I missed my 2005 card because that was the year I first moved abroad so I was a bit preoccupied. But, I came back with a sufficiently Scottish themed card the following year.

2006

I took a trip to the Isle of Skye in early 2006 so wanted to treat family and friends back home to one of the idyllic views that I witnessed on the trip. It was amazing!

2007

2007 I got into collage. So, all of the textures of the characters clothing are actually images of clothing photoshopped in beneath the drawing. This was the first year I switched to postcards because the cost of postage on top of printing a 3-sided printed card was getting higher and higher. And, I wanted to be able to still send cards across the waves. So, sadly, my little greeting card mascot Wishmaker did not actually make it to the final print but here's the sketch of his swan song.

2008

2008 I was keen to create a new character for Opeel's universe so meet Lautza, a wish dragon. He makes Arbeas (Christmas) wishes come true. This is actually a predecessor of the creation of Arbea so, hats off to Lautza for being the first bit of Arbea folklore.

2009

2009 was my first venture into reality with my card. I envisioned that the only thing I really wanted for Christmas was to have a nice family Christmas with my then partner. I have to say, 2009 turned out to be everything I wanted it to be and fantasy became reality. See if you can spot my parnter's dad peeking out from behind the door with cups of tea!