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Post by ScintillaMyntan on Jan 23, 2022 19:27:14 GMT -6
Do you consider the overall feel or aesthetic of your piece? Do you do anything to help solidify it in your mind as you write? In the first of the Authors Publish lectures Raveneye linked, the presenter suggests putting together a visual poster thing to represent your story to yourself. I tried that experimentally for the short story I was revising at the time, but I didn't get much out of searching and placing relevant photos. My own mental images of places and people in the story would still dominate in my mind over whatever I found. What I did find helpful was the part of the 'poster' where I chose a font and color to type my title:  It was surprisingly hard to get right. Some fonts and colors I tried out looked too much like a romance movie poster, or too much like a bestseller girly memoir or something like that, you know the sort. I don't think this here is good design or anything, but it looks just how I wanted the story to feel: a mix of seriousness and gentle humor, but not too 'breezy.' The blue-grey evokes the cloudy sky. Today I tried it out on the two novels in my head that I'm not writing:  I sometimes use music or ambient noise for this purpose as well. The Wisp-Farer is a really post-rock story; I might make a playlist for setting the mood if I ever do write that. |
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Post by RAVENEYE on Jan 23, 2022 23:24:26 GMT -6
Love this question, and your explanation of why you chose certain colors and fonts. I do use ambient noise. That's become very important as I write, esp. when I'm trying to block out distractions. The whole time I was writing my recent seaside horror story, I was listening to ocean surf, and it's surprisingly close to white noise, so I heard nothing else outside that story world. The cops coulda pulled up with sirens blaring and I wouldn't have known.  Hmm, I haven't made posters, but I have messed around with making book covers to capture the feel of a story/novel. (involved a lot of copyright issues b/c I used owned images, so I won't share any of them.) And I used to draw/pastel characters or settings as I noodled on them. It was a good way to meditate on who they were and why. Haven't done that in forever tho. Anyway, I really wish I had more time to devote to this answer, but it's late, and I have an early start on the ski trip in the morning. |
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Post by HDSimplicityy on Jan 24, 2022 20:09:17 GMT -6
Great question.
I also have the images already firmly stuck in my head. Images, and emotions, colors, action, characters, you name it. Most likely its already there. Posters haven't really helped me out. I do like how you describe that here - the colors and text on them. Finding others like these can help you further picture chapters.
I listen to orchestrations on Spotify. The motifs, the melodies, the emotional tracks, sweeping scenes that I am writing in my book are usually expressed in the videogame and movie scores I listen to. Sometimes they aren't, so I listen to the next best option.
When I want to see something on paper, I - in a hilariously poor method - try to sketch items, people, whatever. Relevant plot material I want to try using. One of my roommates' buddies, someone that I have sort of made friends with, has sketched a few of my ideas. He likes sketching to relax from his busy life. His style has been so useful its insane; I saved them on my PC and on Google Photos with his name as the artist. Seeing a few of my ideas that I have brainstorming for over four years on paper is just amazing! And if that is something you can have done, non-commissioned or commissioned, try it out. For myself, he is the first one to give me reasonably accurate depictions of Ellexis, the sword she later gets in the book, and a simple concept of the sci fi military suit she uses. Definitely want to pay him sometime for a full blown piece of concept art - a scene, an item, a landscape.
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Post by RAVENEYE on Jan 31, 2022 10:13:05 GMT -6
Great question. I also have the images already firmly stuck in my head. Images, and emotions, colors, action, characters, you name it. Most likely its already there. Posters haven't really helped me out. I do like how you describe that here - the colors and text on them. Finding others like these can help you further picture chapters. I listen to orchestrations on Spotify. The motifs, the melodies, the emotional tracks, sweeping scenes that I am writing in my book are usually expressed in the videogame and movie scores I listen to. Sometimes they aren't, so I listen to the next best option. When I want to see something on paper, I - in a hilariously poor method - try to sketch items, people, whatever. Relevant plot material I want to try using. One of my roommates' buddies, someone that I have sort of made friends with, has sketched a few of my ideas. He likes sketching to relax from his busy life. His style has been so useful its insane; I saved them on my PC and on Google Photos with his name as the artist. Seeing a few of my ideas that I have brainstorming for over four years on paper is just amazing! And if that is something you can have done, non-commissioned or commissioned, try it out. For myself, he is the first one to give me reasonably accurate depictions of Ellexis, the sword she later gets in the book, and a simple concept of the sci fi military suit she uses. Definitely want to pay him sometime for a full blown piece of concept art - a scene, an item, a landscape. Ooo cool! Does your roommate's buddy have his stuff on a place like DeviantART? |
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Post by HDSimplicityy on Jan 31, 2022 23:08:29 GMT -6
Great question. I also have the images already firmly stuck in my head. Images, and emotions, colors, action, characters, you name it. Most likely its already there. Posters haven't really helped me out. I do like how you describe that here - the colors and text on them. Finding others like these can help you further picture chapters. I listen to orchestrations on Spotify. The motifs, the melodies, the emotional tracks, sweeping scenes that I am writing in my book are usually expressed in the videogame and movie scores I listen to. Sometimes they aren't, so I listen to the next best option. When I want to see something on paper, I - in a hilariously poor method - try to sketch items, people, whatever. Relevant plot material I want to try using. One of my roommates' buddies, someone that I have sort of made friends with, has sketched a few of my ideas. He likes sketching to relax from his busy life. His style has been so useful its insane; I saved them on my PC and on Google Photos with his name as the artist. Seeing a few of my ideas that I have brainstorming for over four years on paper is just amazing! And if that is something you can have done, non-commissioned or commissioned, try it out. For myself, he is the first one to give me reasonably accurate depictions of Ellexis, the sword she later gets in the book, and a simple concept of the sci fi military suit she uses. Definitely want to pay him sometime for a full blown piece of concept art - a scene, an item, a landscape. Ooo cool! Does your roommate's buddy have his stuff on a place like DeviantART? I have noooo idea. Never even occurred to me to ask! I will have to email him to find out. |
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Post by HDSimplicityy on Feb 1, 2022 23:07:10 GMT -6
@raveneye and @scintillamyntan, here is a link to lots of his artwork. www.instagram.com/rdsnyderart/ He doesn't use DeviantART or doesn't know if he ever had an active account. Reach out to him if you're interested! He's pushing to the final stretch of his doctorate degree, but he is happy to talk about commissions. He does take time to respond for now. |
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Post by RAVENEYE on Feb 2, 2022 9:00:02 GMT -6
Gorgeous work! I clicked that "follow" button. Thanks for reaching out, HD.
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You add them to your profile as you do them around the forum.
