Tag Archives: nanowrimo

Oct2

Inktober 2016 Day 2

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Here’s Day 2 and I reveal the first half of our 2 protagonists, Lisa Scott. I already knew that Lisa was an 11-year-old Earth refugee, but I was surprised by how much I learned about her while drawing her outfit and character design.

The gloves were fun, looks like she likes to pretend she’s a grownup while she tinkers with things, no doubt with that tool belt of hers, probably filled with mismatched tools with broken handles and other defects.

The tee-shirt she’s wearing is too small. Either she’s holding onto it for sentimental reasons, or because she couldn’t find a bigger one. Her socks (cut off in the picture) have no heels or toes, but I imagine she likes it better that way, since she prefers to wear flipflops. Perhaps, she’s like my girl and would rather go barefoot when she can.

That’s all for Lisa now. Stay tuned.

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Lisa Smith, by Monica Marier 2016

Oct1

INKTOBER 2016

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It’s that time of year again, folks! I might be crazy trying to do Inktober this year, but this is actually going to be less about drawing and more about learning to budget my time. It’s also about getting ready to start writing again. I’ve gotten so bogged down in old writing that I feel like I’ve forgotten HOW to write again. I really haven’t written anything new since 2014, and that’s a big problem.

So my 2016 Inktober album will be looking for inspiration and casting my book for NaNoWriMo. It’s going to be a pre-teen/teen scifi space opera, partly a comdey—you guys know me—that I’ve been sort of fleshing out with the help of my kids.

Today, I did an expression sheet for one of the main characters, Henrik Cates: the captain of the fishing star-ship, the S.S. Mallard. Want to find out more? Keep watching this site.

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Expression Sheet: Henrik Cates by Monica Marier 2016 using Prismacolor Premier pens

(Just a note: I will NOT be doing “Carpe Scream” this year. I just can’t do both projects, sadly.)

Nov12

Hell is in the Details

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It’s NaNoWriMo time!

It’s been almost 2 weeks now since I started on this year’s NaNoWriMo. I’m busy working on a prequel to the Linus Saga, in which we get to meet young(er) Linus as he meets Deirdre for the first time. I’ve been doing NaNoWriMo’s since ’08 and it’s consistently how I get most of my writing work done.

But I get distracted, hell everyone does, but my worst foible is research. I LOVE research. I’m an absolute Hermione when it comes to getting all the facts and trying to magick up my own rules for my world. It’s led me down a few rabbit holes like the article hole, the Wikipedia hole, and the ever dreaded Elven Dictionary hole (although that one’s probably just me.)

Case in point, today I have spent an hour trying to research poop. That’s right. POOP.

I need to know how Dragons poop. Do they have pellets like raptors? Do they grind things up with gastroliths or maybe their bodies make their own calculi? Do their bodies do something incredible with the parts they can’t digest like fossilize them or do they incinerate the their waste in their own furnaces? How does that work?

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This doesn’t exist apparently.

Will all of this make my book all that better? Who can say? Who all out there is interested in how Dragons poop? If only one person is nodding right now, then congratulations. You’re the reason I’m looking up bezoars and mineralization. I’m doing this for you.

Okay, I got to get back to it now. I’m about 200 words away from hitting 20,000. Good luck to everyone else out there doing this! And good luck staying out of the rabbit holes!

~Monica

Oct31

Inktober 30

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This 30-day horror movie challenge is starting to get to me. Guess what I’ve been watching lately? (heh)

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Vengeful Ghost by Monica Marier

Tomorrow will be the last day of this Challenge, giving way to NaNoWriMo. And I’ve decided in the vein of inktober, I’m going to try to post my “writing thought of the day,” on the blog. This will be part of the November countdown to the launch of my next book, “No Shoes No Service,” and include tips, observations and a lot of whining, as well as sneak peaks, sketches and teasers for my upcoming book. It’s book 3 in the Linus Saga, so I’ll also be constantly reminding you that the first 2 books, Must Love Dragons, and Runs in Good Condition can be purchased through Hunt Press or on Amazon.

Jun4

More Audio Goodies!

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Just a quick one here!

I’m still playing the wine glasses (see last post) with all the things I have to finish before (DUN DUN DUN) summer vacation.

SO,  last week my brother and co-writer for the Tangent Artists comics, Dave, posted a link to THIS site on my Facebook wall. (click the image to see the link)

ImageThis lovely site, http://tabletopaudio.com/,  is similar to the soundscape sites I’d posted earlier, but this is less “whales and nature” and more “dungeons and Old Ones.” There are dozens of 10-minute tracks of world-building sound tapestries to help you enhance your brain juices and bring your imagination to full HD clarity with rainbows and unicorns and leprechauns on rollerblades with Roman candles. It’s original use is for tabletop gaming (I love using soundscapes for those too) but I think this would make a great tool for writers too! I’ve already been using “Dessert Bazaar.”

There’s a huge selection of scifi/fantasy/horror/specfic landscapes like the humming warp thrusters of  “Starship bridge,” the eerie echos of “catacombs.” Tread the salt-crusted boards to “the age of sail,” and challenge that yellow-bellied lowlife Slim Jim to a showdown with “True West”—just to name a few.

Worthy of note: this is a FREE site but it’s funded entirely by donations. If you find this site as engaging as I do, please consider donating to their site.

See you all tomorrow for Character Spotlight Wednesday!