art

I listened and I heard music in a word, and words when you played your guitar

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Pretty much, Pete Townshend is a lyrical god.

That said, a lot of inspiration can be pulled from music. Inspiration for writing and visual arts, and other music as well.

One of my biggest inspirations is the album Quadrophenia. This was a major influence (along with All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes) on my first novel. I found the ideas expressed on the album weaving their ways through my writing. In the case of the latter, it could have been because I had that album on perpetual repeat during the drafting process.

Quadrophenia in particular provided a lot of ideas because what the main character in the album, Jimmy, goes through similar emotional and personal revelations that my character Will goes through. Isolation, alienation, and, of course, the difficulties of progressing into adulthood.

Sometimes I’ll listen to an instrumental or a foreign language piece to get into a different mood. If I’m writing a particularly emotional bit, I might switch to listening to a track from the Atonement soundtrack (possibly “Elegy for Dunkirk”) or “The Galapagos” from the Master and Commander soundtrack.

Music takes a completely different route in my mind. The different sounds influence how I feel at a moment, or bring back memories.

More on this later.

What’s On the Bookshelf? Vol. 3

What's On the Bookshelf?

Today kiddies is a nice treat. This book doesn’t have too many pages. Heck, it doesn’t have too many words.

It’s a comic book.

Not just any comic book, mind you. It’s Michael Chabon Presents The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist (Volume 3). Like it’s predeceeding volumes, this is a collection of stories based on the character The Escapist, from Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

This slim volume, published by Dark Horse, is very entertaining. Each story is written by a different member of the comics community, like the late great Will Eisner (The Spirit makes a cameo). Also, each story has a different artist drawing it, so the look varies greatly.

One of my favorite parts of the book (apart from the art) are the pseudo-historical essays about The Escapist and his importance in comic book history. They’re a lot of fun, especially if you know a bit about that subject (I don’t know too much, but I did write an essay on the history of Marvel Comics that got me into college. True story).

Blogger’s block vanquished.

Blogger’s block

General Geekiness, The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Ironically, I just posted an entry on writer’s block. Never thought I’d get blogger’s block so quickly afterwards.

So what am I doing? Looking for info on the Highlander remake penned by the Iron Man writers. Not coming up with anything new. Also reading bad fan fiction. Maybe I’ll go and write bad fan fiction.

On a happier note, I found my copy of How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way.  I forgot how much I loved that book. Now I’m drawing random characters who may or may not make an appearance in Nerds Have More Fun. Which I drew the first story of today. So sometime next week it will be posted (no scanner).

I forgot how out of practice I am with drawing action poses.

On vampires

General Geekiness, The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Vampires have intrigued me since I was in third grade. One of my favorite books at that age was the Great Illustrated Classics edition of Dracula. I remember reading that over and over again, especially during a visit to my grandparents on Nantucket. I can’t say that I’ve finished the actual version of the book, but Dracula holds a spot near and dear to my heart.

But more on vampires and less on my emotional attachments to a book I haven’t finished.

Vampire myths are some of my favorite things because they are so strange and varied. Disease, desire, death. If you watch the History Channel as often as I do, you’re bound to have come across some of the interesting hour long specials about vampires in history (Countess Bathory, Vlad the Impaler, the New England vampires). The methods for killing them are so different. Shoving a brick down their throats. Decapitation. Stabbing them with a stake. Sunlight (damn you Twilight with your sparkly, fangless non fiends).

My favorite portrayel of vampires in pop culture is probably in the show Supernatural. The vampires there look like normal folks, they drink, etc, and even if they don’t drink human blood, its for blending in and survival, not because they have a moral code. Oh, and their fangs descend from their gums. How awesome is that?

So, dear readers, any favorite vampire myths?

On Webcomics

General Geekiness

I love webcomics. I like looking at other people’s artwork and reading stories that they’ve come up with. There’s a certain thrill that comes when realizing that, yes, today is Wednesday and that means there’s a new xkcd (and also LOST, but not this week alas).

There’s something special about webcomics. They don’t exist in the tangible realm, and yet they are so vibrant. Growing up, I didn’t have access to comic books. Batman wasn’t a part of my Saturday morning cartoons. I discovered comics in high school, devouring old school Marvel, the Alan Moore DC comics, Sandman, and so forth.

Then I figured out that there were people writing these for the web, and that was was the end.

Some of the first comics I discovered were xkcd and Fey Winds. They still endure as ones I go back to again and again.

But my favorite is probably Skin Deep. It’s got everything I could want–fantasy, adventure, mythological beings. I’ve been reading it almost since the day it debuted.

And the newest one I’ve found? Dead Heaven. This one is only in the prologue, but I really like the art.