I've been writing since the age of 14 or 15, short stories mostly. Trashy teen slasher and vampire stories to be more exact. These stemmed from reading too much Richard Laymon and watching Lost Boys again and again. From a young age I knew I had a fascination with immortality. Peter Pan became the undead, became Anne Rice's Lestat and James O Barr's The Crow.
I began writing a short story when I was 23 called the Cycle of Violence about a troubled teenage girl who struggles with life, her family and her increasing insanity. All brought on by the vampire that lurked in the dark corners of her life - forever watching, waiting, molding, and shaping her into the vampire she is to become.
These were snippets of a vulnerable girls harsh life and I admit that they stemmed from my own depression and were most likely a way for me to work out the anger within me.
I never knew where it was going or where it would end and I put it down for a long time. I stopped being depressed and more and more what I attempted to write in that time didn't feel right. I struggled to compose anymore until recently when I finally decided to start again with the same character. A fragile vampire in the world of blood and violence, of magic and sorcery. Powers that her and her friends find it hard to escape.
I have created a world full of rich characters and vibrant settings from America 1000 years ago, to the sacking of Constantinople by the knights of the 4th Crusade.
So now I have a clear idea and the stories are flowing and the characters are jumping out of the page, what do I do with it?
My stories have always played in my head like a movie or... a comic book. So I decided to turn my stories into a comic.
I began writing a short story when I was 23 called the Cycle of Violence about a troubled teenage girl who struggles with life, her family and her increasing insanity. All brought on by the vampire that lurked in the dark corners of her life - forever watching, waiting, molding, and shaping her into the vampire she is to become.
These were snippets of a vulnerable girls harsh life and I admit that they stemmed from my own depression and were most likely a way for me to work out the anger within me.
I never knew where it was going or where it would end and I put it down for a long time. I stopped being depressed and more and more what I attempted to write in that time didn't feel right. I struggled to compose anymore until recently when I finally decided to start again with the same character. A fragile vampire in the world of blood and violence, of magic and sorcery. Powers that her and her friends find it hard to escape.
I have created a world full of rich characters and vibrant settings from America 1000 years ago, to the sacking of Constantinople by the knights of the 4th Crusade.
So now I have a clear idea and the stories are flowing and the characters are jumping out of the page, what do I do with it?
My stories have always played in my head like a movie or... a comic book. So I decided to turn my stories into a comic.
So how do you do that with no degree in script writing? What else but read a book on it of course! (Writing and Illustrating The Graphic Novel by Daniel Cooney)
I have now drafted the prologue of my short story into seven pages of comic and I hope for the best. So far I've been told by comic artists that it's good.
As a stand alone story in itself, I have decided to create a seven-page mini comic called Instruments of Darkness and the Cult of Camazotz as a promo for further up-and-coming titles from the franchise. I will give this to comic book shops for them to read and for customers to pick up, all for free.
Also, I'm still openly looking for artists to help me get this comic series up and running which starts with this seven-pager then extends to a four-issue mini series and finally to a full graphic novel.
I have people drawing conceptual art which they are doing for free! Which is really cool of them but I need more!
What you see over to the right is art by Nathan Wirtz, a rather good artist who I found on the net, Zwol.com. That will be my cover for the 7-pager and I'm just waiting for the final coloured version to come through any day now! I cannot wait.
What you see over to the right is art by Nathan Wirtz, a rather good artist who I found on the net, Zwol.com. That will be my cover for the 7-pager and I'm just waiting for the final coloured version to come through any day now! I cannot wait.
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