However, I did enjoy reading Richard Sala‘s CAT BURGLAR BLACK.

Trying to script the first 5 pages was extremely difficult.The first chapter in Book One is basically the agents heading up Y.I.D. going over the special “deal” with Draven and going over her first assignment. That’s it. The first 5 pages are the agents explaining the deal.

So, here I am, trying to capture all that.

When Bryan brought the first scripts he wrote, at the top, it said “What Not To Do.”

Basically, it was everything that I did in describing how I wanted the panels to look. LOL

I sent him what I did and here’s the first page with his comments (CLICK TO ENLARGE).

Once I get the hang of this script writing thing, I should be able to do it like this (CLICK TO ENLARGE):

See the difference between mine and the X-MEN script?

In regards to this first assignment, he tells me at the top that I need page numbers and asks me “How do you want pacing?” A typical comic book is 22 pages and the whole thing is scripted in 7-9 pages. The whole thing! My “homework” was 6 pages. Granted, graphic novels are different from comic books and I’ll have more leeway in telling the story, but yeah, I’m definitely a nube here. LOL.

In the left-hand margin he says “A lot of movement. Break it down to photos!”

At the very bottom he gives me a tip from Stan Lee: “Never use more than 28 words of dialogue per panel.”

Cutting dialogue and description is going to be hard for me. Especially description. I’m used to describing everything, from what a person wears to scenery to facial expressions. I mean, I’m going to have to cut out a lot of shit!

During the course of our 2-hr meeting, Bryan and I talked about a lot of stuff:

~ Breaking my novel down into 3 acts

~ Figuring out how long I want the novel to be

~ How many pages do I want my GN to be

~ How many panels per page should I have? The typical number is 4-6

~ Start thinking VISUALLY (very important)

~ Study more graphic novels, especially the ones being read by 13-18 yr olds (and hopefully it’s not those manga ones)

~ Read up more on the GN industry (because I need to know the jargon) which is why I bought Scott McCloud‘s UNDERSTANDING COMICS and THE COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO CREATING A GRAPHIC NOVEL by Nat Gertler and Steve Lieber.

~ As a writer, I’m going to have to leave my ego at the door….because it’s going to be all about the illustrator, not the writer.

~ Illustrators and writers have a partnership and everything should be 50/50

What I love about working with Bryan is that he comes from the comic book world. Section 1138 is the first comic book he’s creating, yes, but he knows comics. He’s been reading them forever. I, on the other hand, have not. I’m coming from the novel world. We view my novel in two different ways and I love getting his opinion/impression/whatev of my novel. I see my novel as just words, he sees them visually and can tell me, “this could be one whole panel, no dialogue” or “you can show her facial expression here instead of saying this”. It’s going to be difficult, transitioning from novel writing to writing a graphic novel, but I know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel: Bryan. He’s going to show me how to do this and we’re going to get through this together. He’ll help me create a graphic novel and I’ll help him edit his comic book. A win-win situation.

One of things Bryan mentioned was the fact that my novel should start somewhere else within the story, like an action scene. Which makes sense if you think about it. The majority of the t.v. shows me and my husband watch start out with an action scene. And then the rest of the show is piecing together what happened. I want all the books to begin with a debriefing and end with a psyche eval (it’s part of Draven’s gig and she has to have one at the end of each assignment). So for instance, in Book 2, it would begin with a little recap of what happened in Book One and then segue into assignment #2. By the end of our meeting, Bryan was able to condense the first chapter (10 double-spaced, typed pages) into just 3 GN (Graphic Novel) pages! Three, peoples! I even got a little giddy when he gave me the suggestion for the back cover: a file showing her case. Hah! How awesome sauce is that?

So, in between working full-time, school, and taking non-school related courses like grant writing, I’m going to turn my novel into a graphic novel. This is going to be my way of giving myself some “me” time and not be so consumed with school all the time. We plan to meet a few times a month, and take it slow: 5 pages at a time. Yeah. This. Is going to be interesting. Hope you all stick around for the journey.

Lessons Learned:
~ GNs will be 126 pages long
~ GNs will have 4-6 panels per page
~ Be less descriptive
~ Watch word count

Technorati Tags: X-MEN XENOGENESIS, Warren Ellis, Richard Sala, CAT BURGLAR BLACK, Stan Lee, Scott McCloud, UNDERSTANDING COMICS, THE COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO CREATING A GRAPHIC NOVEL, Nat Gertler, Steve Lieber, Section 1138

Make Your Creative Dreams REAL
A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, Avoiders, and People Who Would Rather Sleep All Day
by SARK
May 2004, Simon and Schuster, ISBN: 0743229215

First of all, I’d like to point out that SARK is one of my favorite authors and literary crush. I am a SARK disciple and pray at the alter of SARK. If she were a cult, I’d join and never look back. I’ve met her several times and have had the pleasure of attending a couple of her workshops. And each time, I’ve come away feeling energized. She has the most amazing presence. Her regular attire of lounge pajamas could be the reason, but I’m sure that’s only part of her charm.

This book changed everything…for my writing. Because SARK (a.k.a. Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy) introduces the Micro Movement Wheel.Click image for bigger view

It’s to help you complete a huge task in increments of 5 sec-5 mins. As you can see in this example, the “dream” is in the middle and each of the 12 sections has a task. Each of these can take 5 sec-5 mins, until eventually, you get further every time and have reached your “dream”.

I applied this activity to my writing, but call it Writing Movements. When I actually have Writing Movements, they get posted here. The results of the Writing Movements, not the actual writing itself. I’m superstitious like that. But I digress…

It works! I’ve finally found something that works for me! Hallelujah, praise the Lord, pass the biscuits!

I use this when:
1) I’m not feeling very productive
2) Trying to crack through writer’s block
3) Procrastinating about writing.

This book was made for me because my other middle name is Procrastination (it’s just not on my birth certificate). I love all this woman’s books, but this one has a special pocket of my heart. The one for writing.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings, Make Your Creative Dreams REAL, A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, Avoiders, and People Who Would Rather Sleep All Day, SARK

Sunday was Mother’s Day, as you know. With my family, it’s a ritual to go out to breakfast. Our usual restaurant is Village Inn, but the one we always go to was closed down. So we invaded the Coco’s near Scottsdale Fashion Square. I say invaded because there was 16 of us!!! Me and Mr Maul; my sister, her husband and their 4 kids; my parents; Jackie and Brandon (long-time family friends), their son Mario, and their daughter Nikki, her hubby James, and their 2 daughters. Technically, it was 17, but one of Nikki’s daughter’s is an 18 mo old baby. We had a great time. I hadn’t seen my 15 yr old nephew since his final football game and that was in…Feb? Long time. He’s getting so tall and his voice is getting deep, too. It’s just a trip.

Sunday afternoon, Mr. Maul and I went to see STAR TREK. I was never really a fan of the shows or the movies. I would catch episodes here and there, but never watched them religiously. Unlike my Dad, who was of the old school Star Trek. I think he watched some of the other shows, too, in all their different incarnations. The only actor from the original series was Leonard Nimoy, which was pretty cool. The actor that portrays him in this movie, Zachary Quinto, plays Sylar on the TV show HEROES (one of my fav shows, BTW). And he did a really good job. Odd cameos: Tyler Perry (the guy behind those Madea movies) and Winona Ryder as Spock’s mother. Really weird seeing her. Anyhoo, we liked it. I thought J.J. Abrams did a bang-up job and I hear another movie is already in the works (per Leonard Nimoy). For those that don’t know the background stories about the main characters, this movie kind of did that for you: for instance, I had no idea that Spock was half-human. Nor did I know that Kirk’s father was the captain of a ship….for only 12 mins. Sad story, that. Or that Kirk was named after his grandfathers. And I still have no idea what Uhura’s first name is. It was mentioned real quick in the movie, but when Kirk said it, Spock talked over him (it was a funny moment, really), so I didn’t catch it. But I have a feeling it was unique, I would’ve liked it, and would probably use it as a character name in a future story. LOL.

Writing Movement – Revisions for DA Book 2 are coming along nicely. I’m almost done with Chapter 5. Here’s a funny: we had an hr for lunch on Saturday, so I took the MS along to edit. And I discovered that Chapter 5 contained only 3 pages. 3 pages made up Chapter 5. LOL. I don’t know how that happened. Maybe I got sidetracked and thought I was done, so when I went back in, I created a new chapter and kept on going. Needless to say, Chapter 5 will be combined with Chapter 6. And I can tell, just with the chapters I’ve done so far, I’m not moving the story along too well. I can hear my beta reader saying “There’s too much Poe and Rico.” I may leave it as is for now and just wait for the comments later.

For weeks now, I was making the announcement that Book 1 was going to be released Oct 23rd, during Teen Read Week. Then last month some time (or it might’ve been earlier this month), I rescinded that date. The reason for that, simply put, was that I changed my mind. I thought I was going to go the same route as I did with my first two books and then decided not to. I’ve decided to dip my toe back in the traditional pool—again—but on a smaller scale: small presses, no agent. On Friday, I went to Barnes and Noble on my way home and spent close to $50 on books. I bought three romances (of course) and the 2009 Writer’s Market. So, in between revisions for Book 2 and Book 1 (whenever I decide to send it to an editor again), I’ll be making a list of small presses to submit to.

I also signed up for NaNoWriMo this year. I’m going to try my hardest to write Book 3 during that month. Notice I said ‘try my hardest’. By then, I will have started school—and possibly my 20-week volunteer mentor program—so it’ll be interesting to see how I’ll juggle all that. Within the coming months you’ll be seeing a new blog post title: Writing Thoughts. Unlike my Random Thought posts where I talk about, well, random things, Writing Thoughts will be about writing, in all its forms: from query letters to NaNoWriMo.

This should be interesting.

So, how was your weekend?

Technorati Tags: SARK, Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper, Village Inn, Coco’s, Scottsdale Fashion Square, STAR TREK, Leonard Nimoy, Zachary Quinto, HEROES, Tyler Perry, Winona Ryder, J.J. Abrams, Teen Read Week, Barnes and Noble, 2009 Writer’s Market, NaNoWriMo

1) Get rid of dialogue attributions. These are the words you tag when your characters are talking: she said, she beamed, she laughed, she cried out, she teased, etc. I had no idea those even had a name until I took her class. Unfortunately, I do that a lot. As I’m sure all you other writers out there do, too. Pam says “If you are writing in character, you do not need to use dialogue attributions because the reader already knows who is talking or thinking. To show the reader this you may use action, reaction or emotional responses. You can also set up gestures and tagged responses for the reader to get to know the style of dialogue for each character. It is not easy to do. The simple thing to do is to use and attribution. But, if you want to write in character you must force yourself to learn by never using them.”

2) The 3 stages of human emotional response are visceral (physical), behavioral (instintive and learned response) and chosen (where the story is)

3) Every scene has to have a hook.

4) Use place holders in your scenes. It’s basically explaining something that the reader should already know. Pam says “You use a place holder because you know the reader will understand it; usually a cliché’s or an explanation of something that had happened earlier in the character’s history. If you recognize this in your own work, when you go back to revise and edit, you can take that place holder out and write a scene to set up what you were trying to explain in the original scene. Then when the reader gets to the original scene he/she will already have the information needed and will feel so very smart to understand the emotions of the character he/she has become attached to. It is really a secret to “showing” and not “telling”.”

4) A character cannot have the same emotional curve at the beginning than they do at the end. Emotional Curve is the name given to describe the emotional development of a character throughout the story. For instance, a character who starts out cynical and untrusting of men at the beginning of a story can’t remain like that by the end. It doesn’t have to be a happy ending, but you have to show the character as growing and changing emotionally. Pam says, “It is the emotional changes that make the story real and relevant to the reader.”

One thing she did tell me was that I’d have to change it from present tense to past tense. That’s going to be a lot of work. Good thing I’m up for the challenge. Clearly, I myself need to grow as an author still–and as we all know, learning to be a better writer is a never-ending process–and I look forward to working with her.

Saturday night, the hubby and I went to see Wanted. Very. Cool. Movie. We loved it. It even had some supernatural undertones to it, which made it even more interesting. I mean, besides the fact that they were a secret society of assassins, they have this…unusual ability. The hero (James McAvoy) thought he was having anxiety attacks, only to find out it was nothing close. The one thing I’ve discovered lately is that–SPOILER AHEAD–I don’t like it when Morgan Freeman plays the bad guy. I haven’t seen his full repetoire of movies, but this is the third movie (Chain Reaction, Lucky Number Slevin being the first two) in which he’s been the bad guy and I don’t like it. I realize actors and actresses need to mix it up a bit, but he doesn’t appear evil to me. I can’t picture him torturing someone or being the mastermind behind a plot to do harm. Some people have it and some people don’t. He’s one of the people that doesn’t.

On Sunday…

I did two weeks worth of laundry. In one day. At least, it seemed like two weeks worth. And most of it was mine. The hubby will wear the same shirt, pants or shorts 2-3 days in a row before tossing it in the hamper. That’s definitely a guy thing, right? We also worked on the cover for DA Book One and created some new bookmarks for Secrets and Kisses and Dance Jam Productions. I’ll bust those out another time.

As I mentioned last week, yesterday was the final day for Chapter One. Hope you all enjoyed reading it. Your comments are greatly appreciated. Come back on Monday, July 7th for Chapter 2.

So, how was your weekend?

Technorati Tags: Pamela Goodfellow, Goodfellow Publishing., Crafting the Character-based Novel, Wanted., James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Chain Reaction, Lucky Number Slevin, Secrets and Kisses, Dance Jam Productions

Beginning writers and bestselling authors alike can benefit from having a simple, inspiring career plan to guide them. Whether you’re working toward that first sale or aiming for the NY Times bestseller list, knowing where you want to go and how you plan to get there can make all the difference in achieving your goal. The Snap Plan is a short and sweet, high impact career plan… a snapshot of your purpose, vision, brand, goals, and much more. It’s everything you need to help you stay focused and motivated, all on one sheet of paper. What more could a busy writer ask for?You’ll leave this hands-on workshop with a complete, personalized career plan to help you stay on track and pursue your goals with confidence. If you’d like to take your writing career to the next level—whatever level that may be—let the Snap Plan be your guide!

With all the worskshops I’ve taken through this website (their blog has a perm link in my blogroll), I’ve come away with something new. Every. Single. Time. All of the worskshops are very hands on. They post 3 times a week and we have homework on each of those three days. I learned a lot about myself as a writer in the previous workshops and this time was no different.

In fact, it was a little bit of a struggle. More so than all the others.

Lecture #7 had to do with Production Goals, Milestones, Intentions: goals to work towards and set target dates to finish by.

My Production Goal: To finish a first draft of Book Two in my YA series by 11/01.

My Milestones:

Milestone #1: complete first 66 pages by 5/31

Milestone #2: complete second 66 pages by 8/31

Milestone #3: complete third 66 pages by 10/31

I’ve written about this before, so you know that I don’t do deadlines very well. It reminds me of being in school and the pressure to finish a homework assignment by a certain time. Also, I’m a worrier, and when the little things happen in my personal life, I’m thrown off my creative game.

Like the fact that I need to look for a steady 40 hr work week type of job and then get a new car once I do. Yeah, hearing that my transmission is failing, two of my 4 cylinders are misfiring, all the mounts are out and to fix it all is going to cost me $3000-$3500 was something I so didn’t need to hear right now.

But I digress.

The month of May is going to be a fresh start for me. It’s going to be about commitment, achievement and determination. I made the commitment to finish the first draft by 11/01 and I am determined to prove that I can achieve that goal. Or come as close as possible. If I can do this, then I know that WHEN I get that book deal, I’ll be able to accomplish what I say, when I say.

Be forewarned: from May to November, you’ll be seeing more Writing Movement posts. If not everyday, then at least on a weekly basis.

I can do this.

I will write one page everyday. Even if it’s crap (which it probably will be).

I will reach my first Milestone deadline.

I will take a moment to reward myself for reaching my first Milestone.

Words of encouragement and plenty of good writing vibes sent my way will be much appreciated.