Thursday, November 05, 2009

My next book...(part 1)

I'm currently at the beginning stages of what I hope will be my next graphic novel. This is what I have so far.



No you're not crazy, that is in fact a blank bulletin board. The plan is to cover it with 3x5 note cards of the eventual story beats.



These are the cards. As you can see they are still safely wrapped in their protective wrapper. I haven't been able to free them quite yet, I'm still trying to mentally prepare myself for that task by reading various books.



These are the books that are currently stacked next to my bed. Half of them deal with story and story structure and the other half are mystery/detective novels. It might be safe to assume that my next book is a detective/mystery story, although it's still early in the process and it could always change, maybe to a post apocalyptic romance. I want to keep my options open.



Here is the sketchbook that has been assigned to the project, it's job is to contain anything and everything that relates to said project, like good and bad story ideas, sketches of the various characters, dialogue, tears and/or blood depending on how things are going on that day. I carry it with me as I walk to Starbucks most every morning. So far I've only managed to fill about 11 pages, mostly with lots of writing. It's too soon to post anything but maybe later as things begin to take shape.

Now if I can just muster up the nerve to open that pack of index cards.

5 comments:

BOB BOYLE said...

Free the index cards!

Kiersten White said...

Mysterious Benedict Society = Awesome.

Good luck. The index cards are probably itching to be freed...

James said...

Kiersten - I just came across your blog and it's great. Can't wait to spend more time reading your past posts and not actually working on my latest book. The good news is that I have freed the index cards, they are currently running around the room like overly excited kids amped up on sugar. I managed to catch one and write the title on it. I'm hoping once the others run out of steem they'll be easier to catch, until then I'll continue writing the book in my head.

Thanks for the post and the Mysterious Benedict Society is awesome. I really enjoyed the first two books and I'm looking forward to finishing the third.

Kyle Neswald said...

I don't know, this sounds pretty daunting. Perhaps you should stop and think about this before you act too brashly ...

paige said...

Nice pile (of books).
So far, I'm really enjoying your process (it's a lot like mine)