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12 Books in 12 Months

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To Strip, or Not to Strip

I figure there are a couple of options available to me this month, which is Graphic Novel month.  I can do a collection of one-off strips like the one below (which took me about 5 or 6 hours), or something longer with a narrative arc.

Strips are easier for readers to dip in and out of, but it might be quite hard going to think of and draw something new every day.  Longer stories are more work for all concerned but at least if I have one idea and run with it there’s less pressure because I can essentially storyboard and get on with it.  Also I have been saying ‘graphic novel’ all year, not ‘collection of comic strips’…

Such trials and tribulations I face, doesn’t it make your heart bleed?! Continue reading “To Strip, or Not to Strip” →

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Book 12

December is here at last, which means I am on the final stretch of 12 books in 12 months!  Well, the first stage of it at any rate.  It’s been quite a journey.

The last genre is ‘graphic novel’ – a nice easy one to go out on, I’m sure you’ll agree.  The idea is to draw as I go which will take me quite a long time, so realistically it’ll either be a comic, or series of comic strips.  I am still thinking about what exactly I’m going to do, so for now help yourself to something I drew not that long after the UK elections…


Why is Nick Clegg under the sea in a suit?  That is for me to know.  Also it’s a comic, you shouldn’t read too much into it.  I’ve done a few cartoons about whale shark which you can find in the depths of my other blog somewhere, and I think I’ll make more at some point.  Maybe even this month, who knows.

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#NaNoWriMo 2011: Lessons Learned

Like a trainee social worker or a graduate of philosophy, it is important for the NaNoWriMo participant to reflect on their experiences and achievements in order to get the full benefit from the experiment.  So, what have I learned from churning out 50,310 of literary fiction over the past 29 days?  (For the slower amongst you yes, this means I have now ‘finished’ the challenge for a second year).

  1. NaNo is not a time for Literary fiction.  It is a time for quests, humour, twists and silliness.
  2. Literary Fiction is, if anything, harder than I anticipated.  And I was anticipating that it would be well hard.  It is not the sort of thing to attempt in a month.  Not without about 50k forward planning anyway.  At least I now have that…
  3. Write or Die is one of my favourite things on the internet.  It has helped me focus on getting words down brilliantly, and I can only assume that had I known about it earlier this year I would have had a much higher word count – particularly in those difficult summer months.
  4. My inner critic is decimated.  The other day I wrote 869 words in 20 minutes.  These were not quality words.
  5. Other people doing better than you is a good motivational tool, so thanks to Writing Buddies John and Laura for racing ahead and finishing pure ages ago.  Your purple-for-finished status bars on the website galvanised me right up.

Now to get ready for book 12 (which at this point in time is likely to be a series of one off webcomics, although we’ll see how I feel come Thursday…)

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NaNoWriMo: Where Did It All Go Wrong

This weekend I started a journal documenting my last-ditch attempts to catch up with NaNo.  This is how it went:

Saturday November 26, 13.40.  I am sitting in our kitchen/living room listening to the hum of the washing machine and the wind outside.  The enormous evergreen in the garden next door waves frantically at me and I wonder how much damage it would do if the wind was strong enough to knock it down – it’s as tall as this three story tenement building.

I should not be thinking about the tree, of course.  I should be catching up on my NaNoWriMo story, which sits at 35, 962 words after a week of work, hanging around an industrial estate in Dundee, applications for funding and writing jobs, and last night an unexpected trip to everyone’s favourite grotty rock club in the cowgate.  As I sat in this very same seat at 4am, scarfing down chunion crisps from the garage, my book was the last thing on my mind.

Time to Write or Die.

Continue reading “NaNoWriMo: Where Did It All Go Wrong” →

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The Sphere (November’s Pictonaut Challenge)

We are now into the third month of Glempy’s Pictonaut Challenge, and what a month it is.  I don’t know what this is a picture of, and I don’t darn well even care, but I wrote a short story about it anyway.  I look forward to reading your one.

Continue reading “The Sphere (November’s Pictonaut Challenge)” →

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Interview: Angry Robot Books

Jhonen Vasquez (http://www.questionsleep.com/)

Some publishers think technological changes in the way we read may herald the end of books.  Lee Harris, editor of “SF, F and WTF?!” publishers Angry Robot Books (home to books by Dan Abnett, Andy Remic, Chuck Wendig and a host of others – my title tip is The World House by Guy Adams) says not.  In this interview he explains why…

How and when did Angry Robot Books get started?
Angry Robot was founded by Marc Gascoigne in the summer of 2008 as part of HarperCollins. We published our first titles in the UK and Australia in July 2009 and in the US and Canada in September 2010.

What is the robot so upset about?
He’s not upset. He’s angry. Big difference. Pray you never find out why…

Continue reading “Interview: Angry Robot Books” →

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