Mostly research going on.

First I was sick for a weekend, then I had company, my Friday evenings have not been very productive. I did make it to the bookstore, though, and found some resources for both the deck and the book. Of course, the one book I thought I’d found for wedding customs turned out to be one I bought back when I first started the manuscript, they’d just changed the cover! Whoops! Brought it back and exchanged it for some other books on graphic novels in general. Now things are all about getting ahead on other projects before I travel in 2 weeks so I’m not sure how much blocking is going to get done before then. Might be a good project to take on the plane, though! Oh, yeah, ding! We have a winner. I can totally mark-up copy on the plane. Awesome idea.

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Another chapter blocked!

Or, well, actually that would be Act 1 Scene 2, still gotta get used to the new structure.

I had planned to work on the book tonight but last nights writing plans kept getting skewed so it was time to fall back a step and grab something else just to be able to count a smidgen of productivity for the evening. Based on the early brainstorm, I ditched the two chapter title/filler pages between original chapters 1 & 2 and now am up to page 21 and not quite through the engagement Act. Apparently I really was writing scenes and not chapters when I started out and the flow of the pages is really working for me. When it’s printed, many of the odd-numbered or right-hand pages will end with something that will make you want to turn the page and see what’s revealed next. This is all part of the blocking process, the planning the visual cues and is kinda cool that–so far–I don’t really have to force these page-turns, they are just happening naturally.

Another brainstorm I had while working last night was that there will probably be 9 Chapters or Acts. The reason behind this plan (which could change the farther I get, of course) is that each will then correspond (though how closely is still yet to be determined) to a card in the 3-tier past-present-future spread that will come into play as the ‘wedding spread’ towards the end of the book. Whether only 9 cards will come to Tessa (the main character) or if there will be fewer or more still remains to be seen. I think the original draft which is about the first third of the book only had a single mystery card but that was one of the details that I knew would change when the prologue got a severe decapitation and the focus of the story shifted a tiny but important notch. An additional benefit to the 9 Acts is that I could, theoretically, put out each part as a printed serial, depending on interest, etc. 9 also works as a good number of months to plan the wedding that the story revolves around, etc. It’s a good number in general.

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Happy New Year!

So, 2008. Yeah. Time to get some work done, don’t you think?

Well, I do, and to that end I’m really hoping this production diary will <strike>guilt me into</strike> keep me accountable for finishing the graphic novel that will be “Wedding Tarot.”

The process, as I see it, will go something like this:

• Breakout the novel-in-progress into pages and panels.
• Format said breakouts in Celtx so it looks like an actual script.
• Finish the story in Celtx, in format, from where I stopped in Nov.04 after NaNoWriMo ended for the year.
• Actually create the Tarot deck that goes with the book (and will feature in the art for the gn).
• Draw the graphic novel.

So far I have the Prologue and original 1st Chapter broken out and somewhat edited. Since the Chapters are turning more into Scenes, I’m thinking that some reformatting is going to happen and the chapters I do have are going to be smooshed together to form larger Acts. But this is just a working theory based on the first 12 or so blocked pages. Regardless of the format, I’m serious about getting this project in the works. Likely as not (read as: unless I get lucky and find a publisher between now and then that loves the project and doesn’t ask me to change anything integral to the story) I’ll web-publish first and then go to print based on interest, but that’s a ways away. The goal for 2008 is just to get the script done and edited. If I actually complete that before the end of the year and can start on the art that’s awesome, but I’m willing to accept baby steps with this project. Also, the Tarot deck progress will probably be concurrent to the editing of the starter-novel, not exactly its own step, but I do have to decide on the card backs and the style of the card fronts–if not actually create them–before I can start on the art for the book. It’s going to be a messy process.

And, for the record, the reason I need this diary to keep me accountable is because I have a lot of other things on my plate. I’m not just writing this book. I work fulltime, have a twice-a-week webcomic and write several articles a month for a website. Two of those three currently make me money, which is why this is item number four on the jockeying for position front, or five if you consider the fact that I do have a somewhat active personal life as well. Somewhere I read that in order to handle a life like this, the thing that needs doing is to stop wondering ‘how am I going to manage all of this’ and just do it. So I’m just doing it, taking a teensy leap of faith (really more of a hop) and seeing where I land.

Here’s to a productive new year!

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