Is it wrong to start designing the cover art before you write the book? I hope not. These are pen-and-ink studies for the cover art of The Dragon of Iletupa, the next novel I’m working on. The first one began as studies of dragon scales and then turned into an odd little street scene with characters taking their colorful balloons for a walk. This in turn inspired a limerick entitled ‘The Droll Encounter.’
The other two managed to come out looking like dragons. Progress!
One of the principal joys of being an author is killing your characters in imaginative ways. Don’t believe me? Try it.
For your amusement (and my own) I have assembled a table of the various gruesome ways characters have met their deaths in the work I have published so far. I’ll build new tables as I work on other projects, and publish them here from time to time, perhaps with a running total.
You will notice Perilous Jack’s name many times. The Perilous Adventures of Jack the Dragonslayer are Choose Your Own Adventure®-style stories, in which there are numerous ways for him to meet a bitter ending. Since all the action is directed by the reader, the squeamish or guilt-prone are advised to proceed with caution!
Enjoy!
When I tell people how many projects I’m working on, their usual first response is “How do you keep all that straight in your head?”
Simple: I don’t. That’s what technology is for! I use Word, Access, Excel, Visio, OneNote, Notepad, and the Snipping Tool constantly to keep myself organized.
The gallery below has screenshots of a few of my organizational techniques. How about you? How do you keep your writing and artwork organized?
When I tell people how many projects I’m working on, their usual first response is “How do you keep all that straight in your head?”
Simple: I don’t. That’s what technology is for! I use Word, Access, Excel, Visio, OneNote, Notepad, and the Snipping Tool constantly to keep myself organized.
The gallery below has screenshots of a few of my organizational techniques. How about you? How do you keep your writing and artwork organized?
When I tell people how many projects I’m working on, their usual first response is “How do you keep all that straight in your head?”
Simple: I don’t. That’s what technology is for! I use Word, Access, Excel, Visio, OneNote, Notepad, and the Snipping Tool constantly to keep myself organized.
The gallery below has screenshots of a few of my organizational techniques. How about you? How do you keep your writing and artwork organized?
When I tell people how many projects I’m working on, their usual first response is “How do you keep all that straight in your head?”
Simple: I don’t. That’s what technology is for! I use Word, Access, Excel, Visio, OneNote, Notepad, and the Snipping Tool constantly to keep myself organized.
The gallery below has screenshots of a few of my organizational techniques. How about you? How do you keep your writing and artwork organized?
People ask me this all the time, and I never really know what to say. Usually I say either ‘good’ or ‘slow’, and leave it at that. But it dawned on me the other day that since I track my own progress (more because I’m an Excel nerd than anything), I always have an easy answer to that question at my fingertips. So here it is, broken down by project, with grand totals at the bottom. I’ll keep you updated. 😉
Chronicler's Note: 