I can't stop thinking about the new video for Katie Herzig's song LOST AND FOUND.
Is the sheet a distress signal? Did she expect an answer when she hung it up? Who's shining that light? Do they do this all the time, or has she been trying for years, hoping one day for an answer?
AND WHERE DID THE FLASHLIGHT PERSON GO? Will they be back?
Is it even a person?
Completely haunting.
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By: admin,
on 10/27/2011
There are plenty of NaNoWriMo prep guides and blog posts out there but this is how I do it in 5 easy to follow steps.
Go to http://www.nanowrimo.org/en and sign up. Then go to your My NaNoWriMo page and fill out your info (or in my case update it). Some features aren’t unlocked yet (like the writing buddies and word counters) but they will be in a few days. I’m KatGirl_Studio if you’d like to add me as a writing buddy.
Some people like to make it up as they go but I wouldn’t advise starting the month off with no idea of what you are going to write about. If you need help deciding what to write about these posts I wrote for The Graphic Novel Challenge may help you. They’re both about making a graphic novel but should be relevant to writing non-illustrated novels as well.
Picking Your Project
Developing Your Story
For me it was just a matter of choosing which project to work on since I have about 15 story ideas in queue. I decided to go with the sequel to the book I wrote last year for NaNoWriMo.
If you’re writing a sequel, for your own sanity read the previous book beforehand. As you’re re-reading your first book take notes of possible things to explore with the sequel. Look for plot elements and loose ends that can be tied up, walk on characters that you can have make a second appearance, or new ways you can throw a wrench into your characters lives.
Outlines are like blue-prints for your story. They help you quickly map out the bare bones of your story so you don’t write yourself into a corner. You don’t have to have a very detailed outline but you should be able to at least answer these 5 questions.
Who? Who are your characters? What are they? What are they like?
Where & when? Where does your story take place? Another planet? Another time? An alternative reality?
What? What do they do?
Why? Why are you telling they’re story? Why do they do what they do?
How does it go? Do they succeed? Do they fail? Does everyone make it out alive? How did they grow along the way?
Scrivener allows you to construct outlines in a more visual way much like how some authors use index cards and move them around on a table or bulletin board. In fact they even made it look exactly the same in Scrivener, just paperless.
I start by picking an arbitrary number, 30, and creating new pages and numbering them accordingly. I take the notes I made while re-reading my first book and start filling in the 30 note cards to make my outline.
Once you have your outline done and your story broken up into chapters take 50k and divide it by the number of chapters and you will get your required word count for each chapter. Doing this will help you break down the daunting task into more manageable pieces. As you move forward you can easily adjust you chapter word counts to accommodate longer or shorter chapters or extra chapters you added in.
Most of my stories are inspired by the music I listen to. When I listen to music I see stories; like small movies playing in my head. Because of the music magic I actually make playlists for every project I work on. If you have iTunes it’s relatively easy to make one from your music collection. I myself seem to own a lot of movie soundtracks which are great for this sort of thing. Another thing you can do is visit free for use music sites like 0 Comments on How I Prepare for NaNoWriMo as of 1/1/1900
By: admin,
on 9/12/2011
Due to various delays the production time of the Daemon in the Mist visual novel is taking a bit longer than expected.
Books bring worlds to life through word but translating that world into a visual medium is a whole different thing entirely. When I wrote Daemons in the Mist I never imagined that I would then have to visually create the world of The Marked Ones. It’s no easy task but I hope in the end that you will be able to enjoy a game that is just as carefully crafted as everything else you have come to expect from KatGirl Studio.
Here is an early concept design for Nualla. I captured her other-earthly quality but she looked a bit too soft. Also the production team decided this anime style looked a little outdated. So I went back to the drawing board for a second go.
This was the next concept design for Nualla which got the green light.
But after a few more meetings we decided to go with this more refined design. It’s a bit more work but we only want the best for this visual novel.
With Patrick it was all about the eyes, let me tell you black brown eyes are really hard to translate into anime form.
A look at defining a world, the backgrounds for the visual novel
Design: main character designs complete
Game Art: currently working on Chapter 1 art
By: admin,
on 6/24/2011
Hi viewers and KatGirl Studio fans, guess what came out today?
If you said Daemons in the Mist then you are correct! My debut Young Adult novel Daemons in the Mist is now available in a paperback book edition for only $14.99.
That’s right you can now enjoy this story in both print and e-book form. The book is currently only available from Amazon and the publisher’s website but we will have Indiebound options soon and Signed Editions as well.
Korat Publishing
May-June 2011
She could have been a perfectly normal, albeit a breathtakingly beautiful girl, but she wasn’t, for I knew there were secrets hidden behind her eyes.
Seventeen year old Patrick Connolly has been drawn to Nualla ever since he first saw her, but as the years pass she seems to take absolutely no notice of him. Until, that is, he rescues her from a confrontation in the school hallway. Little does he know that he’s about to be thrust into a world of life altering secrets and things that shouldn’t exist, because the fog and mist of San Francisco is concealing more than just buildings.
Deliriously captivating and extraordinarily soulful, Daemons in the Mist beautifully weaves together two voices to tell the story of what happens when life leads you down a not so normal path.
Signed Edition ● IndieBound ● Amazon ● Kindle ● Nook
By: admin,
on 5/22/2011
Hi viewers and KatGirl Studio fans, guess what came out this weekend?
If you said Daemons in the Mist then you are correct! My debut Young Adult novel Daemons in the Mist is now available in e-book form for the Kindle and Nook for only $2.99. That’s right, you can enjoy Daemons in the Mist for less than the cost of a cup of coffee. You start exploring the mystery of The Marked Ones by download a free sample at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. For those of you who love the feel of the printed book, don’t worry, the print edition will be out in early June.
Don’t have an e-reader? No problem, you can get the Kindle or Nook app for free for the following devices: PC, Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, BlackBerry, Nook, NOOKcolor, NookStudy, NOOK kids, Android Tablet and Android-based phones.
Korat Publishing
May 2011
She could have been a perfectly normal, albeit a breathtakingly beautiful girl, but she wasn’t, for I knew there were secrets hidden behind her eyes.
Seventeen year old Patrick Connolly has been drawn to Nualla ever since he first saw her, but as the years pass she seems to take absolutely no notice of him. Until, that is, he rescues her from a confrontation in the school hallway. Little does he know that he’s about to be thrust into a world of life altering secrets and things that shouldn’t exist, because the fog and mist of San Francisco is concealing more than just buildings.
Deliriously captivating and extraordinarily soulful, Daemons in the Mist beautifully weaves together two voices to tell the story of what happens when life leads you down a not so normal path.
By: admin,
on 4/9/2011
We started production on the Daemons in the Mist Visual Novel this past week. The novel engine was designed by the fantastic team at CWS Software and with their help I will be creating the vast majority of the Visual Novel myself.
Yes you heard that right, I will be the writer, artist and coder for the visual novel version of Daemons in the Mist. This means I had to learn the game engine that CWS uses for their games. So I spent the better part of two days reading the manual and working with one of the lead programers. I was able to walk away with a least an understanding of how to code the visual novel. I’m not saying I’m an expert or anything, and I’m sure that once I actually start coding the VN I may run into some problems. But that’s true of learning any new computer language or engine (trust me I know four already).
Aside from learning the needed coding I also started breaking down the book similarly to how one would break down a book that is being translated into an animated film. Because other than movement visual novels and animated Features are pretty much the same. Good thing I have all those “art of” books right? The text all has to be broken down into script form since the text will be similar to close captioned shows and movies. And just like an animated show or movie I have to figure out how many backgrounds will be needed, how many expressions for each character is needed and how many outfits they all wear during the course of the story.
On a side note, because Daemons in the Mist is a long YA novel (over 90k words) we have decided to release the visual novel in serialized sections. We are still discussing whether to release the 55 chapters individually or in chapter bundles.
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