It's been difficult getting the third chapter of CORA on its feet. I'm attempting to tell 18 years of Rose Callaghan's life in 80 pages. The story will focus almost completely on Rose, from age 4 up to age 22 when she decides to leave home in search of her missing brothers.
(I've added some rough panels to show how I've been working. This is what the first stage of writing and drawing looks like).
My approach to this book isn't any different than the others, although this time I'm drawing scenes out of order, which I have not done before. Call me crazy, but I'm letting the book define itself; I'm drawing the scenes I know I want and then figuring out how to piece them together as well as create the proper pacing. It's tricky business but as I've said in other posts, very liberating. What I'm coming up with is vastly different from what I imagined the book would be. The story line is essentially the same, but the path has changed.
This kind of outside-the-box, on-your-feet thinking is good story training. It really gets your brain working to come up with the best and most honest solutions. For most scenes I know the intent, but not how it will play out or what the character "business" will be. I read the incomplete story over and over and work it until it feels right.
Sometimes I get what some friends and I call a "story hangover" where you think your story's working great, wrap for the day, re-read it the next day, and say to yourself: "what was I thinking?? This stinks!" The drawings might be there, but the emotion just isn't hitting. When that happens move on to another part of the story you know you want and give the tough stuff some time. The solutions will come.
More soon...
CORA3 Status:
50 pages roughed
5 done
