Just a quick update on current projects. The day job has been keeping me busy, but I’ve been chipping away on the creative endeavours which fuel me.
Sadly, it looks as if Empyre is dead. For now at least. We submitted it to a few comic publishers, one of which didn’t bother to respond at all, so after several months we sent it to a different one. An editor got back in touch with us, told us it was too similar to lots of other comics out there, and he thought the art was good, but not great. I disagree completely, and despite his modesty, I think Adam’s art is excellent, especially when I’ve looked back at the original pages he did a couple of years ago. He’s progressed significantly since then and he is a really good artist. As to the comic being too similar to others out there, well, I can’t find any, but perhaps they’re in the works now and will come out soon. Anyway, my disagreements don’t really matter as they don’t want it. So, we talked about self publishing, we discussed other options and decided to leave it for now and maybe come back to it. So in the meantime we’re currently thrashing some out some new ideas together, and Adam, Ryan and I will start work on something new very soon.
Flux is pretty much ready to submit to a publisher. We had to make some changes to the first few pages of art, due to external complications, so that required a rewrite and then Maysam rejigging and redrawing parts. However, that’s all done, we’re tweaking the submission document and then it can be sent off.
I also want to move forward with a digital comic idea I’ve been knocking around. The whole script is done, I just need to find an artist now with the right style and then get it moving.
On the novel front, I’ve been delaying the inevitable. I’ve been revising it, and editing it, polishing it and then polishing it again. I’m currently working my way through another polish, this time by printing it all out on paper in a different font to normal, and marking it up with a red pen. It’s slow going and I’m taking my time and trying not to rush it, but I also think I’m now just stalling. Once this latest draft is done, I’m going to submit it to the first agent on my list. This will be some time in May by the time I’m done with the red pen. I’ve very carefully drawn up a list of agents, listened to a lot of the #askagent Q and A sessions on twitter, done my homework on other authors and who they are represented by, and I’ve listened to a few agents at events. Feedback from beta readers has been positive, and I’m looking carefully at their comments, but now it’s really all up to me.
So, it’s almost time to cross my fingers, close my eyes, and hit Send.
Once it goes off, I will move forward on book 2, which I’ve actually started and have gone over the first chapter eight times already. Normally I keep moving forward, then come back and revise, but I’m being a little bit more careful this time. I suspect once in find my rhythm again it will become easier but I’m a bit rusty.
I’m still remembering to take the odd day off, relax, not do any writing and try not to feel guilty about it. I’m also trying to remember a previous promise I made to myself about getting enough sleep, which I seem to fail at regularly. So, it’s a work in progress, like everything else it seems.
Stephen Aryan 