Brian, Mateo, and I returned from Comic-Con Sunday at five p.m., after spending three great days at Comic-Con. Mateo was a champ on his first plane rides and the overwhelming experience of Comic-Con. I spent most of the convention doing the legwork for some of my personal projects. I didn’t get to do the movie about creativity as I had planned because of that, and the only panel I got to was the one I thought I wouldn’t be able to get into (we wandered into the Scott Pilgrim panel after it had already started), but I think my time was well spent:
- I met with an editor at a book publisher about my novel Sliver of Light (working title — I also call it Half a Person). She gave me some notes for my next revision, which will be the third one, and gave me some encouraging feedback about what the other editors thought of it. They’re quite excited about my writing but want to help me get the structure and content to be as strong as possible. Everyone loved my supporting characters — the exuberant Luci, who is the best friend of my protagonist Chi, and the introverted Juan, Chi’s brother — and want me to make them more of co-protagonists, so I’m telling the stories of these three characters almost equally. They also want me to streamline the interstitial chapters that tell the story of Chi’s and Juan’s dead sister so that they don’t repeat any of the details that are already in the main narrative. I’m excited to get started.
- I talked to Eric Stephenson at Image Comics about an anthology I’m getting shaped up. I just need to get the contracts squared away and I’ll be ready to start inviting contributors.
- I talked to Meredith Yayanos and finally met her fellow creative powerhouses behind Coilhouse, Zoe (with whom I have shared mutual acquaintances for about a decade) and Nadya. I am so impressed with what these three women have accomplished with their exquisitely-designed “love letter to alternative culture.” Once I get Fascinator closer to a final stage, I’ll be contacting them to pick their brains about distribution.
- I talked to Mariah Huehner at IDW about a graphic novel I’m outlining. It’s been rolling around in my head for a while now, and I’m trying to inject it with the most energy and emotion as I can. The concept is a little gimmicky (I call it a cross between The Prince of the Pauper and Pygmalion), so I want the characterization and details to be as strong as possible.
- I lunched with some friends and they offered to get my comics writing portfolio out to some of their contacts.
Comics we picked up: The Last Unicorn #1 (for me), Bumper Boy and the Loud, Loud Mountain by Debbie Huey (for me and Mateo), Droids (for Brian). And of course Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour — I even waited in line to get Bryan Lee O’Malley to sign it, to which he said, “What are you doing in line?” It has spot varnish. Fancy!
As always, the amount of creativity surrounding me at Comic-Con was a great inspiration. I’m ready to get to work on my projects. If only the days had more hours or I didn’t have to sleep! Now, I’m off to shower and crash out. (Mateo’s been asleep for a couple of hours now, and I’ll regret it if I don’t get to bed soon.)
