I’m a very visual person. It’s probably why I wave my arms around like an octopus when I’m trying to describe something and then very abruptly zone off, staring into the distance, as I conjure a mental image instead of talking. I like to listen to music and imagine my scenes being acted out to music as though my novel was a TV show or a movie. J-pop makes me picture scenes as if they were anime openings and so on.
In my daily life I’m constantly noticing how people move, the way the light falls, the facial expressions on those around me, etc. That’s part of being a writer, at least for me. I notice everything. I’m constantly filing visuals away for later use. Speaking of which, I should really start writing those damn observations down.
When I read or write, however, it gets more complicated.
Yes, I visualize the scenes I’m writing about or reading. If I’m rereading something I’ll revisit the same images over and over, like a movie. When I reread something I haven’t read in a long time, the old mental movie will vie for supremacy with a new movie. The result is often convoluted and weird.
Writing and visualizing gets extra strange. I’m going to be honest and just admit that I can’t see people’s faces very well. I get a fuzzy image of hairstyle, perhaps a few distinct features like eyes, cheekbones, and mouth. But they’re never fully put together to form a face, such as you might see in a comic book. Like I have 78% of my puzzle pieces, the middle is missing, and all the other pieces are strung together in 4’s and 5’s, but each section isn’t always connected. I think this is part of why I stopped drawing, among other things. Luckily I still have a few decent character sketches that I can use for references.
I can see my characters well enough to visualize them, to draw only rarely and then not very well, and to write them.
Which is why I’m extra super grateful to people who do have that skill for drawing (and for Photoshop).
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Meet Octavian.
This is a piece of artwork done for me by the talented Paula Albaneze. Octavian, as I have mentioned before, is the main villain of my first novel, The Toymaker’s Opera (a steampunk affair which will hopefully debut later this year).
Paula and I will be working together to create several illustrations in addition to the text; she will also be creating Toymaker’s cover. It’s a collaboration I am super pumped about, especially since Paula is currently producing a comic based on the Mozart opera Die Zauberflöte: Tamino & the Magic Flute
Check out her work on Tumblr, WordPress, and deviantArt.
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In other news I am currently wrapping up my Advanced Communicator Bronze level for Toastmasters, so I apologize if I haven’t been very active on here lately; I’ve been writing and practicing my latest speeches. All of that should be finished by the first week in March so expect to definitely see more of me after that.
Also, now that the holidays are over (and overtime is no longer taking up my entire day) I have much more time to write. Toymaker Draft 5 is coming along at a much faster clip now. It will be done this year. That I promise you. I will inform you as soon as I have a date.
My second project for 2016 is a children’s book, the working title of which is currently Jerry Weasel Wants a Donut. I hope to have that one ready for publication by April of this year, but that’s a tentative date at present. It’s my goal to finish it by then but seeing as how January is already half over I guess we’ll see. But I’ll keep you folks posted.
More to come soon…
P.S. My resolutions this year were mostly writing related; what about you? Anything you’ve promised yourself to get done? Lose 2 pounds? Win the Powerball? Whatever it is, share it in the comments and let me know what you think of Octavian’s design!
