Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Sequel Update
I'm sitting here at my desk, determined to not only vanquish this bottle of wine, but finish writing at least 5 pages tonight."It was a key, a symbol, a pattern of a shape that directed him. It was an aberration of iconography that delved deeper into his brain, scattering everything he had known in favor of a simple image of a circle, cleanly broken at its end, with an arrow pointing back to its origin."
I'm finding the process of writing this novel a unique challenge, because I'm essentially referencing The Overman graphic novel as though it were ancient legend. The idea is to introduce readers to the graphic novel as a back-story, beneath the main plot unfolding in the novel. It's an odd balancing act, and I'm finding myself shuffling chapters around, which I hadn't expected to do--but so far I'm happy with the pacing. It's in such an unrefined condition at the moment, but the foundation is building up nicely. As of tonight, I have 54 pages written (nearly 10,000 words).
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Sequel Update
I'm 44 pages into the novel, as of today. “One can only hope that these discrepancies in the OMAKON library will be overlooked. One can suggest the ruin of Earth, or that we are led by the malevolent spirit of our founder…as long as no one goes digging too deeply into the master data tubes. Deflect suspicion in any way. Re-focus their attention into less problematic studies. If all else fails, I can very quietly enact the ultimate failsafe against dangerous truths: historical revisionism.”
--OMAKON PRESIDENT IANN ‘unverified statements’
And there you have it. The first excerpt from the new book. I know, I said I wouldn't post excerpts, but the temptation is too great.
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Sequel Update
I've decided to move forward with writing the novel, which I began working on last year, but put in deep freeze due to other projects. Now, I've determined that it's not only a viable concept, but a necessary one-- for a number of reasons, which I'll explain in a future blog post. For now, I'm steadily chopping away at the story, and feel like I have some momentum building as I'm re-acquainting myself with The Overman and its various concepts. My intention is to further explore and expand upon the ideas from the graphic novel, while introducing new elements that will hopefully allow this work to stand on its own legs. I realize that I'm attempting something that is pretty unique and unusual; writing a sequel in prose form, based on a graphic novel. I don't know if this has ever been accomplished in the past, but in the case of The Overman, it really is the best way for me to tell the kind of story I have planned. That's not to suggest this novel can't be successfully adapted to comic book format (The Overman was an adaptation from an unpublished novel I wrote in 2001), but my primary goal at the moment is to get this story written. Period. I'll reveal more details here later about my publishing plans, once the manuscript itself is finished. In the meantime, I've decided to utilize this blog as a project journal for the sequel, and I plan to share some of those experiences here. I won't be revealing any story details or direct excerpts from the book, but I may start posting a few of my concept sketches related to the novel. They are so bizarre and unrecognizable that I'm not too concerned they could act as 'spoilers'. If nothing else, it could be enough to at least raise a few eyebrows...and keep you coming back for more.