A Look Ahead...

Today, I switched printers. Thanks Comixpress -- you used to be cool, but your inability to get back to me in a timely fashion combined with my order still sitting in your "pending" bin after over a month has caused you to lose me as a customer. I know PODs like to play "hide the contact info" on their websites and otherwise remain out of touch, but come on... Nothing like doing everything last minute!

Rant over. Moving on...

Having finished the first issue of Varulv, I'm by no means afforded a break. Chapter 2 needs done by June, and then it'll be time for the third installment, then the fourth, and I've still got a whole new book to scope out, after the first 4 issues are done. With that in mind, I did some sketching just this morning...

One of my favorite things about writing this book has come from using real-world mythology as references for my own. My werewolves are pretty tame when compared to other mainstream versions of that sort of thing, but a lot of that is because fantasy is no fun to me without a writer's unique interpretations thrown in.

One critique I've gotten so far is that I'm not making enough references to Thor and Odin and the other Norse gods in my book, and while I want to and eventually will touch on that, I stayed away from straight-up referencing Scandinavian mythology with this one, because I like keeping things vague and using them for design elements, only. The less people think I'm re-writing the Poetic Edda, the better... which is a nice way of saying I don't like getting yelled at when I get something wrong.

Kidding! But really, I didn't want this to be a Nordic-tales-only book, either...

Another fun thing about writing comes when you get to add new characters to your cast. This is tricky business, and nothing to take lightly, but oh-so satisfying when done well and in a way that compliments the world you already have.

On the agenda, a posse of world travellers and some Ulven who can shapeshift into big cats and other exotic forms. In Book 2, we'll begin to get a sense of how far the Ulven culture stretches, and see other creatures based on the mythology of Egypt and the rest of Africa, China, and Romania.

Speaking of that -- if you're one of the people who noted me and asked about Stig's homeland of Ardeel sounding strangely similar to Ardeal, AKA Transylvania, then you win one internet.