2014 was a year of burning candles. Adding wicks and burning them from hidden geometric angles. Turns out having a kid means you burn non-stop. On top of having a day job and trying to get better at, and into this writing thing, it all amounted to a mountain of stress.

And a lot of happiness. Turns out having a family and working (towards) the dream job feels really rewarding when the arrow points upwards. And in 2014 the arrow swung both up and down, but mostly up.

Film

I didn’t get as much time as I hoped writing screenplays last year. I had plans of beginning my first feature script in Norwegian, but that never happened. I have a plan of writing a peculiar thriller/horror that would suit a Norwegian approach. But that plan includes directing it, as well. So I figured that could wait a while longer. There’s been sporadic interest and talks on my earlier feature scripts, but nothing has amounted to anything tangible yet.

Two of my earlier short film scripts were picked up, though. Disappearing Darlings from 2011 is now being produced as a puppet animation by Klipp & Lim. They are a local production company with brilliant people and I get to see this whole project come to life every step of the way. We ended the year by doing some test footage and doing a little Holiday salute, which can be seen on Vimeo. We hope to get full funding this year, so its 10 minute glory can come true before the end of the year.

My other short script, a quirky, atmospheric horror called Krusninger (English: Ripples) hooked a great up-and-coming director from Oslo and we hope to attach a production company on it as soon as possible. If not it’ll be DIY all the way.

A short film I was commissioned to write will be made these coming months and shown in May, if the gods be good. Based on famous psaligraph Karen Bit Vejle amazing creations.

Also, at the end of the year I decided to devote time to develop a sci-fi concept I’ve been harbouring for nearly a year. Firstly as a feature screenplay, then as a comic book series. I’m nearly there with developing it, so next week I’ll write the first draft of the screenplay. Goal: Black list.

TV

A large portion of my writing was in television last year. My brilliant co-writer Robert Klecha and I developed a 6-part occult crime noir show and wrote a pilot. We’ll be reworking and fine-tuning the pilot these coming weeks, then it’ll be out the door.

We also have another show in earlier stages of development. Perhaps there’ll be time for that one this year.

I’ve also been approached by a European producer to write a treatment and a pilot for a really interesting historical thing. This is something for the first half of 2015, and I’m not sure what to think of this yet, other than it being really interesting and something I’m excited to dive into.

Games

Since summer I’ve been heavily involved with Snowcastle Games, bringing their title Earthlock forward. I’ve been writing lore, game story, dialogue and a tie-in comic book one-shot. Been really fun to help develop such a fun world and such great characters. I can’t wait to reach the end of this thing and see/hear the reaction from players.

I’ve always been a big admirer of games, and before I decided to dedicate my time to become a writer I played a lot. So seeing how games are made and being part of a great team is really cool. I hope this will be one of many game projects going forward.

Comics

Outré had another good year, releasing two more anthology volumes. We’re also coming to Comixology now on the 7th. That’s a nice milestone to start 2015 with. Been really great to work with so diverse and talented comic book creators, so I hope there’s no end to it.

Spiral is in a sort of limbo. While we’re waiting to hear back from a certain big-name publisher me and Emerson are working to finish up the Earthlock one-shot. Fingers crossed Spiral will be enough of an uppercut to have this publisher get back to us. (I have another future project I’d love to pitch these good people!) Whatever happens with this publisher, I’m really looking forward to getting back to Spiral together with Emerson. People really seem to like Spiral, which is motivational beyond words.

Earthlock – The Clay Orchid and the Stormdog (one-shot) will be done January/February and hopefully the Kickstarter Backers can receive it in March. It’s turning out to be a really fun little double-adventure. A perfect addition to the Earthlock universe, I think. Emerson, as always, has really brought his A-game.

Empire of Blood issue #1 has been hand-lettered by the fantastic Gaspar Saladino and we’ll put it all together these coming weeks. This is a huge project that me and my co-creators Michael and Jelena have been working on a long time. The future is uncertain, but we have been toying with the idea of a Kickstarter. Firstly, we want to see the reaction to this initial issue.

Me and María José Barros have a short comic called Next Ovum in the wicked-crazy anthology Imaginary Drugs, hitting shelves now in January from IDW and Michael McDermott. Another nice way to start the comic-year!

I also have a date with Dave this year. We’ll see if that date ends with a crescendo in a haystack somewhere.

Books

Me and Steeven decided, after having no success getting any publishers (English or French) interested in our children’s horror comic, to rather go down the illustrated children’s book route. This story has been with me since 2011 and we aren’t going to let last year’s setbacks stop us. After some back and forth we decided to go down a slightly older age segment (11 – 13), so we’ll be tweaking the plot a bit before I go back to writing. This is a new venture for me (children’s/teen’s literature), and it’s a market that’s been cornered by a few big name writers. So nothing short of A+ game will make do here. It will take as long as it takes, but I hope to have a good portion of the book written by the end of the year. Maybe in 2016/17 you can buy The Sounds from the Sinkhole.

Lastly, but not least, I’m working with Marcus Muller in bringing another children’s book project to life. It’s got heart, thrills and a fantastical world. It’s so high-concept I’m not even going to reveal the title. But it’ll be fun, just wait and see!

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That’s most of what happened last year and what’s on the plate for 2015. It will continue to be a struggle to do this writing thing full-time, but giving up is for the unhappy. And I don’t plan to be.

We’re closing in on another Outré launch. Here are two recent promo images to wet your appetite.

 

 

 

We’re also open for submissions for our 5th issue, coming spring 2015. Read all about it here.

Part 1 – Idea to concept
Part 2 – Concept to outline
Part 3 – Outline to page breakdown
Part 4 – Scripting and the first step of finding an artist
Part 5 – Finding a great artist
Part 6 – The great artist and defining visuals
Part 7 – From script to finished page
Part 8 – Identity and branding
Part 9 – Pitch package

This blog post has been way overdue. And with a sense of irony, that’s good, because that’s what this post is all about: waiting.

THE GREAT WAIT THAT (NEVER) ENDS

In the previous installment I talked about submission packages and how we went to London where a few editors really liked what they saw and wanted to see more. And the Great Wait was on. I’ll talk a bit about what to do while waiting in a bit.

But first, let’s get to the point in the timeline where we received emails from the publishers: Rejection emails. The first company, a fairly large American one sent us a standard rejection email two months later. The UK company, which we felt we had an even better chance at, sent us a rejection four months later.

Were we back to square one again?

Psychologically, rejections can really jolt you back and feel like a massive negative blow. I’ve had a lot of rejections, from big to small, and you just learn to live with them. No one ever got anywhere without wading through some rejections first. It’s part of any creative game.

It’s when these rejections arrive you need to look at all the positive aspects. We still had a great comic, and we did continue producing pages to finish our first issue. (Crucial point I’ll elaborate on a bit about further down.) And we’d managed to show a team of editors at two publishers what we were about, show off my writing and Emerson’s art. Just because you get a rejection doesn’t (necessarily) mean the project is bad in any way, it just means it doesn’t fit the publisher at that moment. Either due to schedule, genre and style, we being unknown, the financial risk too great in today’s market, or that it just didn’t stick with the editors personally.

But they had our names and saw our story and art, and that they’ll remember next time our names and art hit their desk again in the future. And that’s when they see that the team is still creating, still honing and keep getting better. And come that time, they might take a risk on us.

Gotta take the positive out of the negative.

Back to the crucial point mentioned. I knew the wait would be a long and arduous one. In every type of creative field this exist, and the most important thing is to hurry up and forget that you’re waiting, get back to the project you’re waiting on or new projects. Keep the wheels rolling.

Now, in the case of Spiral, we continued creating the pages to finish up the first issue. Since Spiral is just a 4-part mini-series I decided to go through with it despite rejections. Bigger projects or other type of projects might need to be considered up against the risk, though. If you’re reliant on getting your project in with a publisher for it to actually survive to the end, then you’re probably best shifting your focus over to new projects while you wait—but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be prepared for when the no/yes arrives. When that moment arrives, you need to know how to play the ball. Is it best to put the project on ice, repeat and pitch to other publishers, or continue production anyway and have a back-up in self-publishing. This is project based, and up to the parties involved. My best advice is to talk it out and find good solutions for every creator involved. As a writer, don’t sit there and make calls you haven’t explored with your artist(s) first. That might derail the project completely. It’s a collaborative effort to reach the end result, no matter if you unload buckets of cash on your co-creators/artists, so make it collaborative.

THE CRAZY PLAN

With Spiral we had already finished up the first issue when that second rejection came through. We had our back-up plan, but also intended to continue finding a publisher. After showing the first issue around to people whose opinion would be valued, I realised we did have something good on our hands. It cemented our intention of getting Spiral out there, publisher or not. But favorably, it would be through a publisher. The hunt was still on.

Since I didn’t have the possibility to attend any conventions in the UK and the US during or after summer, I knew it would be really hard to get Spiral into the hands of editors. Sending it to the regular submission piles wasn’t really an option. Then a long-time industry pro suggested we try something different with a publisher I’d long admired: A physical copy sent to all the (non-senior) editors at the publisher’s HQ.

So we did. I printed up 25 exclusive copies with UKComics, wrote up an informal cover letter to each of the editors, explaining why such a freakish attempt was needed and what Spiral was. Enveloped that and a copy of Spiral #1 and sent it. To 9 different editors at that publisher.

A devious plan, bending the rules—because I don’t think it’s air we’re breathing now—but also one I hope will put both me and Emerson’s names to a variety of editors and especially showcase Emerson’s art. And the idea is that there’s a greater chance that one of 9 likes it, rather than the one person-shot you get by going through the official submission pile.

Did it work? We don’t know yet. As I type this the packages might have arrived, might be a day or two off, and it might take some weeks to hear back, if we ever do.

Such is the gamble. Such is the game. Such is the wait.

So now we’re back at the top of this article, to the great wait. But while this waiting happens in the back of our minds, me and Emerson are already working on another project (a one-shot) and intend to get back on Spiral #2 after that. I’ve also started gathering pull quotes from good people I know and/or admire, preparing for both the yes and no that might arise from this crazy plan.

So next installment of “Creating a noir comic book” will depend on the outcome of this plan: will I talk about working with a publisher, or will I talk about preparing for self-publication.

Check back in about a month, and we’ll see!

With an inventive, grounded spin on the costumed vigilante genre, SPIRAL has a chilly aesthetic I found reminiscent of Nordic thrillers, wrapped up within an intricate plot that puts character at the forefront. A massively intriguing opening chapter.

– John Lees