at work: nascence ~

[lookingland]

Mostly for my own amusement (and because I have a ton of stuff to do so I need to break up my day), I thought, after posting the draft of my next installment yesterday, I would sort of follow the process through to the finished deal (see if I can't kick this thing in the right direction).

So while I'm typing and futzing with the text (and this is a very short piece to boot), I'm also working on the picture. Above is the pencil sketch for it. My pencil sketches are usually much dirtier than this. I really managed some relatively clean lines here and less erasing.

Now I'm going to make breakfast and tea and finish up the text so I can move on to the next stage.

Hope everyone is having a happy Saturday!

: D

edit: rather than spam with a buncha little posts, I've added the followup on the above image! (apologies if it's a tad wide).


I will probably use this set of images (along with some narrative) for a "process" section in the FAQs on the website. It's a little bit atypical in terms of how I generally work, but I think it covers all the bases. And it looks cool, which, as we know, is what's really important ~ !

Comments

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, that's just lovely (baby toes!).

Sending wishes for a productive YES sort of weekend to you!

oh yes ~ !

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

thankie Cat!

rather than spamming with a buncha posts, i added the finished dealie in an edit. i'm pretty pleased with the results!

hope you are sending that certain story off (nudge nudge).

: D

Re: oh yes ~ !

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like the lighting effects. It reminds me of forest-light...

And yes, the story has been sent. Now, we waits...:)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

thanks ~ and yay ~ !

: D

[ironichles.livejournal.com]

Speaking of installments. I just finished some reading about how people like Dickens and Conan Doyle produced their serials. I've looked at this concept before and I find it really hard to figure out beforehand how a story can be serialized. I'm more tempted to take a number of short self contained stories and have a theme going. What's your experience?

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i think a lot of 19th century serial writers wrote like TV writers of today. many of them kept a master outline and worked toward cliff hanger "chapter" or "episode" endings. but they also hired people to do their research, add filler, etc. some of them were sloppier about tying up all the ends than others (i'm thinking of Dumas compared to Dickens here).

i originally started this project as a single novel. then it was several novels. then suddenly many novels. it got so that the story was so enmeshed, it seemed almost like even though each book could stand on its own, they worked together a lot better ~ and it was the only way to make the overarching premise "work". so in many ways, Reconstruction is self-contained stories with themes that connect them toward an amalgamated ending.

if that makes sense?

: D

[ironichles.livejournal.com]

I've tried that a bunch of times but it's really hard. I think I need to become much more disciplined in taking notes as I go along. When you serialize something you tend to add new characters here and there that start to trail along with the bigger story. Before you know it you've got this large cast of characters you have to keep in mind. Keeping track of characters has to be a big weakness in my case I have to admit.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

I find outlining really helps keep you focused on the big picture. I guess I've also had a lot of time to spend with these characters. There are very few I lose in the shuffle and I do have an obscenely huge cast to play with.

Index cards are also pretty swell to being able to physically arrange characters and scenes to their best advantage.

: D

[utter-scoundrel.livejournal.com]

Coolness.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

thankie ~ !

: D