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December 22, 2005
Done with First Edit of Horris, Little Eli, and the Secret Vision
Done! The book stands now at 310 pages. I think it's safe to say it will lose a fair amount, although it will be interesting to see it shrink down to 170 pages! I guess that's about how small it would have to get to accommodate frontmatter and backmatter and all the illustrations. Perhaps it will jump up a signature or something. I don't know. But my editor did tell me to write long. So I wrote long. Or, actually, I wrote until the story came to where I had decided I would end it.
I have no idea how it will go. But to tell you the truth, I look forward to the next stage. And I had to get it out of my damn hands. It's not like I was happy with everything yet. But I had to pass it over. I mean come on. 300 pages. It's a big stack. I'm so inside of that world I can hardly see out. I need to come up for air.
As you can see, I'm playing with a multi-media, drawn/digital, Viewmaster style for the illustrations. It will not be color, sadly. But I still plan on using foreground, midground, and background. Yet another holdover from my origins in film school. Well, hell. I didn't originate in film school. I was scribbling and writing long before that. But you know what I'm saying. Shows influence. But what it really shows influence of is the Viewmaster. Because that was one more diorama I used to peer into as a child and be absolutely entranced by. I loved the half-lit world that never moved, but had blurry backgrounds, and dire, dramatic colors. Those private, shadowy, not-real/real world...I remember spider man and snoopy, and all of it seemed so fantastic. I don't expect anyone else to know what I mean here, or to see what I see. It's just a name I use to describe it to myself. I don't really think it literally looks like a viewmaster.
Anyway, yeah. I thought it would be original (I haven't really seen the style in any books I've read, at least), and really allow me to bring forth the dreamy, dark feel of the books well. I look forward to the art part of this book. I look forward to taking a break from the story, and seeing how it works on other people. And I look forward to bed. It's almost 22:00, and I've been going since about 05:45.
'Night.
joaquín ramón herrera writes for children, adults, and other humans found elsewhere in the continuum of development. He is also an illustrator, musician, and surprise protagonist. If you have found his glasses, wallet, or keys, please contact him here.
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