Those two are much more "real" in my head than, say, Kane Hammerstrom or Debra Malken (lead characters in two of my novels) and therefore much easier for me to write. So there is plenty of truth in what you say.
Yeah, turns out 5500 words wasn't even a quarter of the way finished. This story is currently at 25,162 words - I've been working on it tonight - and is still not completed. Yoiks.
It's done. Holy Mother of God, it's done. First draft is wrapped up and clocks in at 27,805 words. Maybe now I can go back to working on my novel.
Here's the last in my "superheroes on bristol" series. There's so much wrong with this picture that I'm not even sure why I'm posting it. Character's name is Valhalla. The piece was done in August of 1995.
Okay, Lanz, I can tell you immediately that this is not how I want to be introduced to a character. Now, here's why: The physical can be delivered to me at (or near) the front end of what she's doing. What she's doing is always how I want to meet her. Layer the physical onto that. Tell me about her long, deft fingers as they dance on the keypads. Tell me about her lithe body as she scurries up into places she shouldn't be. Tell me about the strange sins her eyes are as she plants the explosives. But here's the key: Depending on her role in the story, don't go too crazy on detail. For example, if she's your main protag, you don't even tattle as to whether she's a blonde, a brunette, a raven, or a redhead. I bet you know why. Sorry, EDIT EDIT: This is in relation to the female character you described, not your novel-WIP.
I like it. I really like it. Compared to my own personal taste, the prose is rather Spartan, but that's a matter of personal style. You do it well.
The character sheet. But it's not your fault -- you did in a character sheet exactly what's supposed to be done in a character sheet. I was only saying that a character sheet isn't how I like to meet a new character. I wanna see her walkin' and talkin', like Petrelya in the WIP you posted.
Yup. She sounds like an amazing character; maybe that's my problem with it. The character sheet is sketching a character that has me saying, "Aw, c'mon! Let's see her at work already!"
Did some sketchbook work today. Colored pencils, which I haven't used in about fifteen years. This is Winter, one of the seasons. I'll eventually get around to doing Spring, Summer, and Autumn to go with her.
Found an old sketch of Jetman going thru some papers today. This was done in April of 1989. The original is on computer printer fanfold paper, if you're old enough to remember what that is. What that really means is I must have been very bored on the night shift at work one evening. I chopped it out of its background in Pixelmator because you could see the green and white lines of the fanfold thru from the other side of the paper. Pencil, black marker and colored pencil.
And started this year's National Novel Writing Month with a 2776-word whack at it. This year's effort is called Charter Unknown. Linky.
5149 words in on Day 2. This pace gets me to 50000 words by 20 November, well ahead of the end-of-month deadline. IF I can keep it going.
9057 words in. Got a late start tonite and I'm just very tired. But damn, it feels good to be writing again.
I've fallen off pace. I just passed 21000 words and I should be above 25000 by now. Still crankin' tho.
My first attempt with water-soluble colored pencils. Just a quick sketch in pencil, inked with a brush marker and colored with el cheapo colored pencils and a waterbrush. Messed up a lot of stuff on this, but since it's really just to play with the pencils and see how they work . . . eh. The "glow" is just metallic watercolor. I did do it on 140lb cold-press watercolor paper, tho. Just so it wouldn't warp and buckle when wet. Michael's was having a sale this past weekend and I got a 30-sheet pad of 9x12 inch Canson watercolor paper for 50% off. Can't beat that with a stick.
Another seagull sketch, this time charcoal on newsprint. Charcoal isn't as forgiving as graphite. Smudges easily, too. There's some proportion issues here and I didn't do any color corrections to the scan, so this is how it came off the deck.
