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writing

We do everything together

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Yesterday I was in the middle of drinking my coffee when I reached out for my mug only to push it over, causing the coffee to spill around the table and my keyboard. And of course – like anyone reasonable – I shouted: “YAAGH!”

This, in turn, scared the hell out of one coffee drinking Kaija, who – like anyone reasonable – spilled her coffee all over the table and the keyboard, and caused her to shout: “YAAGH!”

After a frantic cleaning effort we had a good laugh about it, because like all other things in our life, we do everything together.

 

During our 8.5 year relationship we’ve worked 7 years professionally together. We’ve joined three companies as a couple and done freelancing as a pair. We’ve created RFR, and now Daughters of the Witch Queen, and we have plenty of evil secret projects that we’re saving for the future. We’re doing them all as a couple, because that’s how we work the best.

We’ve learned to work this way by going through plenty of painful failures. During the last three years both of us have worked on our individual projects alongside of RFR, in effort to push ourselves as storytellers, and also because we had the egos of unconfident artists, still trying to prove ourselves as individual voices instead of just doing good work.

And hence we did only bad work; our stories didn’t progress: they were lost in many rounds of rewrites and days of indecision. For a project to go forward, you need momentum and constant, even if only small amount of work on it.

Daughters of the Witch Queen was one of these projects that started as an individual project for one of us; it was worked on for the past two years, and it got nowhere during that time. It was stuck in an endless limbo, bouncing through meaningless changes back and forward – until we decided to team up.

Within couple of months we managed to figure out the story for multiple book parts, make decisions that stood, paint illustrations and get the art direction of the projection down. It’s incredible how much more you can do when you have a bouncing board and some kind of a confirmation if an idea is good or bad. Someone to talk about it, constantly brainstorm, and carry it when you just want to crawl to sleep.

The problem with doing side-projects (in our case, a second side project, since RFR is our priority side project) is that you can commit only so much of your brainpower to it. When we joined forces on this story, we figuratively put our brains together, forming one stronger, more confident brain, that in cases when one part of it was wavering and tired, the other kept going, constantly pushing the project forward in ways the other couldn’t even imagine.

It’s how we worked in the past, it’s how we worked with RFR, and the only way we’re going to work in the future. We learned our lesson not to try things alone. :)

And since no blog post is complete without pictures, here’s Kaija drawing concept art for the Dremor from Daughters of Witch Queen. Part 1 will be out on the 1st of March and is available for pre-order, if you’d like to be one of the first ones to read it.

Love,
Silver

Catch me at twitter @runfreakrun or drop us an email. We love hearing back from our readers, for you truly make our days.

Sneak peek in the newsletter!

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Last Sunday we delivered a promise.

We delivered a promise to give our email subscribers a sneak peek to our next project, and the response we’ve gotten was overwhelmingly positive and exciting. It’s something we’ve been painstakingly working on the little hours when we’re not doing Run Freak Run, and it’s been a tremendously proud experience to see it come together.

I mean, just check it out yourself :)

 

How can we not feel excited after that? :)

It was such an encouraging experience that this Sunday we’re going to do it again, and this time we’re going release more teasers and content to our newsletter subscribers. This time, we’re also going to ask for a limited amount of advance readers to help us bring this project to life.

So, if you haven’t yet subscribed – don’t worry! This Saturday we’re going to re-send the first sneak peek to every one who joined the list after the first sneak peek, and the next day you’ll get the second sneak peek with everyone else!

We’re so adamant on getting you signed up because we never want to lose you as a reader, and we want to have the tools to reach you with all our current and future projects. And trust me, you don’t want to miss them. :)

And just so you know we’re serious, check this out:

Image-1 (1)

 

Sign up to our newsletter, and we’ll rock your world!

Love,
Silver

 

Looking forward to hearing what you thought of it! @runfreakrun

On writing tools Part 2

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Almost two years ago (jesus time flies.) I wrote a blog post about some of my favorite writing tools. Since I’ve learned a lot during this time, and come across even more useful resources, I thought I’d take a second to post three of my favorite ones that I like to share to all my independent/self-publishing friends.

I know there’s at least a few storytelling enthusiasts following this blog, and I hope these will prove as useful to you as they did to me. And even if you aren’t a writer, an artist or any kind of a storyteller, you can still benefit from knowing the basics, and hey – in the best case scenario it’ll enable you to take that step towards being one.

This blog post will cover my favorite book on writing, my favorite podcast/blog and my favorite youtube-video from the last few years. These are the resources I think everyone should have access to.

And lastly, I think the most important message in all these resources is that storytelling is not just magic, but a craft that involves a hefty amount of theory and skill. And if you put enough hours into it, you too can make a story that’s at least okay – which is just one step away from a good one.

So let’s start!

 

1. The Book: Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

save the cat last book on screenwriting

This is the book I wish I had five years ago. It’s about things we see all the time in television, but can’t really put into words because we take them for granted.

Basically, it will teach its readers how the Three Act-format works, the basic story troupes in Hollywood, and how formulaic it can be. Now when I say formulaic, I don’t mean it in a bad sense: this book teaches how to break down your story into points that will take the story forward, bring it to a satisfying end, and make sense of it all at the same time.

It’s not a book about your creative voice and individuality, but about being efficient. Hence, why I wish I’d had it five years ago, I don’t even want to tell you how much time and effort I’ve wasted because I had no idea what to do next. The time I’ve spent wallowing in waves of frustration and anger, because I was guessing the next step. Well, at least now, because of this book I’ve learned a set of tools that allow me to proceed to the next step, and have basic guidelines on what I should be aiming at. Now, what you do with those guidelines, that’s where your creativity should come to work.

Nevertheless, get this book, pronto.

 

2. The Podcast/Blog: The Creative Penn with Joanna Penn

creativepenn

Joanna Penn is an inspiration among self-published writers. She writers thrillers, self-help books, hosts a podcast/vlog on writing, teaches workshops and shares a lot of it free. The amount of work she manages to put in to get closer to her dreams is incredible, and I can’t but admire her tenacity.

But more than anything, she’s a business woman.

Now, I’ve been brought up in the world of artists; everything we do is for the sake of the fun and self-expression, and when ever we hear business talk we zone out so fast it’s like hypnosis. It’s scary really. It’s the same in the video games industry, as it is in the web comics worlds, as it is in any artist community, and it’s not helping anyone.

Hence my delight, when I noticed how much Joanna Penn is focusing on marketing and business plans alongside the creativity and craftsmanship. I’ve personally learned tons from her massive (over 200) library of podcast interviews, where she talks to select successful authors and really hammers down what strategies they used in their whole operation.

I recommend you check out The Creative Penn, listen to her podcasts, and download her free book on being an author with a healthy attitude to business.

 

3. Youtube-video: Mr Plinkett reviews Star Wars episode 1

So this video is kind of like a summary of the two previous resources. He breaks down the movie step by step, and educates us what went wrong. While the video has a peculiar kind of sarcastic humor (hilarious), it’s also extremely helpful and I recommend to anyone who is even remotely interested in storytelling, or just throwing poo at the Star Wars prequels.

Whichever you fancy, check it out!

 

 

I’d appreciate if you let me know your favorite writing and storytelling resources, because I’m always looking for new things to study.

And while you’re at it, remember to sign up for our newsletter because I want your souls.

 

Love,
Silver Saaremaeel

Twitter me @runfreakrun or comment below!

 

The Legend of the Super Turtle King and the King of Pandorea UPDATE 1

4 Comments on The Legend of the Super Turtle King and the King of Pandorea UPDATE 1

banner

 

Check out the original Super Turtle King post here!

So – I promised myself I’d put this project aside AND NOT TOUCH IT, for I have other projects that ought to come first – but who am I to fight inspiration when it hits me. So here we are with a new update to The Legend of the Super Turtle King and the Prince of Pandorea.

For this update, I made a new animated illustration that takes the journey onward another step. This time, our heroes, the Prince and his guide come face to face with the Super Turtle King. I also updated the graphic design and color grading of the first image, to bring cohesion between the two images. I also changed the project name from King of Pandorea to a Prince of Pandorea. There was too many kings in the name.

Next step for me is to figure out the outcome of this meeting with a super kick-ass story reversal that’ll start something wonderful and magical. I’m not going to promise you guys that this project will gain any footing, but for what ever it is, or becomes, I’ll keep you updated and share the progress as I go forward.

 

princeofpandorea

“Long time ago, in a far away Kingdom there was a Prince in exile.”

princeofpandorea2

“… The legend said, the Prince could only reclaim his throne from his evil uncle, with the teachings of the Super Turtle King – guardian of the long lost secret.”

 

Love,
Silver

Tweet, tweet me your genius ideas for the next step, so I can steal them, and not do any work myself @runfreakrun !

Never grow old.

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I am on a holy mission.

I am on a mission to stay forever young and vigilant, forever excited and positive about life and what it brings, and my only nemesis is called growing old.

Now bear with me for I don’t mean any harm against aging – I’m all for aging and I can’t wait to be smarter, wiser, and more handsome in a way that only a fine aged wine or whisky can be. You know when you see it with some people, and you can’t but admire them.

This has nothing to do with age.

What I am against is the dreading sense of feeling jaded, as if growing old was sucking out all the adventure and surprise out of life, and I don’t like it.

I believe that life should be lived unconventionally. I want to live in an environment of fun and play, where experimenting and dreams rule the day. Where even the craziest of whims get unconditional support, and ambition and greed is not only rewarded, but expected.

And I believe it has to start with the little things in life. Here is a small list of fun, exciting things that we do to keep ourselves challenged.

1. Get a ping pong table.

And get rid of that old dining table! Sure it takes a lot of space, so much we that we had this feeling of “We’ve made a terrible mistake” when got the box home, but it has been all worth it. Trust me – there’s not a person in the world who’s not going to be jealous of it for Ping Pong is not just a great game, it’s also a fun form of exercise.

Sure some may claim it not to be, but they are filthy liars.

ping pong ping pong ping pong

Best fun ever!

Also try: Billiard tables.

 

2. Write on walls.

Just go for it and be a kid again! What’s the worst that can happen? There shouldn’t be anything so sacred in the wall that you couldn’t make a little mark or two on it, and if there is – I recommend you reconsider your relationship to the wall paint. Worst case, you can always repaint it.

writeonwalls

“Bla bla bla bla blaa!” Says Kaija.

3. Learn a new skill.

We thought making a webcomic would be easy; moderately time consuming, but easy. Little did we realize that we weren’t just making a webcomic anymore, but we also had to learn to write blog posts, get groovy with social media and marketing practises, learn graphic design and understand web tech stuff –  all the while trying to better ourselves as storytellers and artists. It has been scary, frustrating and mind-blowingly confusing at times, but if I’d had to start all over again, I’d do it in a second.

powerbluedrawing

Starting something new and massive is supposed to be scary and difficult, you’re supposed to be filled with self-doubt and dread, for learning is challenging. But out of all the little things, it’s also the most rewarding experience of them all. It will take you to places you never saw coming; you’ll meet people who you admire, with similar passions and mindsets and it will always keep you on your toes, for learning never ends.

Unless you decide to stop learning, and grow old instead.

 

Love,
Silver

Never grow old with me @runfreakrun

killing your darlings

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killyourdarlings

Sometimes in production you have to make cuts.

Sometimes no matter how you like something, and think it could be pretty cool and enjoyable, you have to put your priorities right and focus on the real important things. It’s called killing your darlings in literature, and here’s one particular Run Freak Run darling that we killed in order to not get sidetracked!
We cut it because, while it could’ve been a fun adventure adventure for Two; with magic, and conspiracies and some bonding and character-building – it wasn’t taking the story in the direction we want to take it.

But no work is ever wasted! And so, in the spirit of sharing and salvaging we still wanted to release the almost-finished script here in the blog!

Usually Kaija would take a script like this and just play with. First thumbnailing all the pages and then drawing and inking them one page at a time. After that, I do the final text edit and lettering and we’d be good to go to release it online!

So, even if it doesn’t have any pictures at all – we hope you can enjoy this little side story of Two, and her sister Nine.

 

 

SCENE 1 : Two brothers walking in a forest
———————————————-
3-pages
Setting: Lush forest setting in day.
Characters:
Ares (slim and crooked), Vetus (big and slouchy), Mushroom-men and the Guardian of the forest.

1.
Two men are walking on a forest road. They are both shady looking bandits. Faces covered in pores and acne. They are ugly and disgusting and borderline troll-looking. One big, one slim. The slim is leading them forward in the forest road. Let’s call them Vetus and Ares, for the sake of readability of the script.

Vetus:
Brotha, I dun’t think we should be here…

Ares:
What’s the matter brah? Forgot your guts home now didja? It’s just a forest,
nothing more, just like father told. And when we reach the center of it, we’ll find the treasure.

Vetus:
But the witch…

Ares:
Just a little mushroom witch, father said we’ll be fine. Stupid mushrooms, ain’t got nothing on us. Ain’t that right, brotha?

Vetus:
Right…

Ares:
I made a song for this trip, it’s called Money.
Money money money.
Money-eeeee.

Vetus:
…Umm.
Brotha?

Ares:
Money money moneeyy. Means a lot of honey. If ya know what I mean. Rah rah
rah rah!

Vetus:
…Brotha!

Ares:
What! I’m busy!

The slim brother’s ready to beat on his brother.

Vetus:
M-m-m-Mushrooms…!

A tiny spirit mushroom is standing on the side of the forest.

———-
PAGE 2 : The brothers first poke the mushrooms who then exponentially start to overrun them, and something bigger, the guardian is getting closer.

Ares:
What is that…?

He pokes it with a stick. It MEEPS.

Ares:
Rah, what a cute little monster. We’ll be home rich before noon.

He starts singing again.

Money, money, money,
buy’s lot of..?

A mist rises.

Vetus:
There’s more of them.

More small mushrooms arrive, like a horde of cockroaches, they are attracted to the visitors like dogs are to food.

Ares:
Hey! Cut it out! Leave us be!

Vetus:
Brotha! What do we do?

Ares:
Just push them away, father said we can just…push…them…away. Damnit, get off me!

They are practically covered in them now. Trying to struggle free of the peaceful little happy mushrooms.

Vetus:
Brotha! What do I do?!

Ares:
Just kill them if you can, they’re just… mushrooms…ugh! Slice with everything you got!

They have their daggers in their hands and are ready to start slicing them. once they realize there’s another, larger silhouette arriving walking out of the sea of mushrooms.

Ares:
What… the… damned…?

Vetus:
The witch!

———–
PAGE 3 : Just the Guardian

It is in the shape of a large caterpillar, that has tree branches growing out of it. It’s head is a body of a young naked girl, with it’s head hanging upside-down with bone-like wings, like eagles spreading from the temples as it’s crown.

it opens it’s mouth, not to speak but to show its master what is happening. The mouth opens larger and wider than should be possible, another tiny face, just eyes inside the dark appear to take a peak, then disappear again.

The guardian:
“Welcome friends, to the carnival.”
The guardian, inside the guardians mouth, smiles.

Welcome to
Run Freak Run chapter 7
The One With The Good Girl.
————————————————————————-

SCENE 2 : The Queen gives Two an assignment and a mentee
————————————————————————-
2-pages.
Setting: The Queen’s Throne Room.
Characters: The Queen, Two, Alonso, Nine, Captain of the guard, royal guardsmen and Queen’s handmaiden.

PAGE 4 : Two and Alonso have set in the room and are getting new orders from the Queen.

Two and Alonso enter the Queens Throne room. This time, Two looks more pissed than before. She slouched over, hands in her invisible pockets and she’s grimacing.

In front of them in the end of the hall is Queen sitting on her throne. Next to the Queen is her two loyal handmaidens, and also number Nine, who is now fourteen years old, an over excited teenager in her first day of school. Next to her are heavy bags, she’s carrying a heavy book and she’s ready to prove herself..

Around Queen are her guards, generic looking, but well dressed soldiers with halberdiers, in a similar fashion of the Swiss guard for the Pope. The Captain of Guards is standing closest to the queen as her most personal bodyguard. He’s dressed in ornate armor, but is scruffy and looks like he knows what he’s doing.

Queen:
My favorite power-couple. Thank you for arriving with such short notice. Do forgive the company, but there’s rumors of a wild cat loose.

And I so hate cats.

Alonso:
My Queen, is there anything we can do?

Queen:
No. You’ve done enough helping, just ask Cardinal Ambrosia.
No. Inquisitor Two, my dear will do something totally different instead.
She will do some teaching.

——
PAGE 5: Same setting but focusing on Queen, Alonso, Two and Nine.

Alonso:
My Queen, I must protest.

Queen:
Fine. I allow it.

Alonso:
Nine is far too young and valuable to be mentored by Inquisitor Nine. She’s not developed her innate talents yet to survive this kind of a job, we ought to have learned something from the deaths of Inquisitors Five and Four.

And needless to say, Inquisitor Two isn’t exactly.
Well…
Teacher material.

Queen:
Too bad.
Are you done, Inquisitor de Frias?
Good, you are.
You heard me, Inquisitor Two will mentor Nine in her patrols for the unholy invaders. I
expect utmost performance from the both of you.
Do you understand, Inquisitor De Frias?

Alonso, with an awkward shift
Alonso:
Yes, my queen.

While Alonso looks sympathetically at Two, Nine is squeezing her Malleus Maleficarum so hard it could pop and she’s beaming with excitement and naivety:

Nine:
Inquisitor Two, ma’am?
I’d like you to know not to worry about me slowing you down. I wish to take this opportunity to inform you that I have studied all the Holy See approved books on demonology, witches and heretical dangers.
I have studied exclusively the theory of locating, uncovering and exorcising succubi and I posses the basic theory of a successful forceful confession.

Two:
You’ve kept busy.

Nine:
I’m a great student, ma’am.

Two:
…Don’t call me that.

Queen:
How lovely, my favorite girls in the world, sisters of faith, bonding. I might just burst from
joy.

————————————————————————-

SCENE 3 : Two and Nine ride, Nine’s nostalgia and they come across a forest.
————————————————————————-
3-pages.
Setting: Countryside, next to fields, close to a forest.
Characters: Two and Nine
3.

PAGE 6: Nine is disappointed that they’re not killing witches, and Two shuts her up about it.

Three weeks later:

Two and Nine are riding again, next to fields in the countryside. They are getting nearer a forest.

Nine:
Inquisitor Two, I don’t get it.

Two rides in front of her, keeping a slight distance between them.
Two:
Don’t call me that. We already went through it.

Nine:
Sorry, Two.

Umm, excuse me Two if I’m ignorant, but this isn’t really what I signed up for.
Aren’t we suppose to find and punish witches?

Two:
Yes.

Nine:
To me it looks like we’re just letting them go and after another. According to my books, we are enabling the dark lord Lucifer to take over souls of the innocent and spread his influence against the Church.

Two:
They weren’t witches, Nine. Not even close. You can rest easy, Lucifer is not taking over
the world anytime soon.

Nine:
But they were according to my books, and the teachings of the Holy See, and I happen
to know that the Queen approves of their teachings!

Two:
Nine, They weren’t witches according to me. End of discussion.

——
PAGE 7: Same setting but when Nine remembers things, she’s them with a naive-style mini-comic within the comic.

Nine, disappointed tries to awake her natural happiness and curiosity by changing the subject matter.

Nine:
Ma’m, umm sorry again – Nine.

Two:
Yes?

Nine:
We met once, before I mean, in the Monastery when I was little.

Two:
You’re still little.

Nine:
Umh, littler. I got in to trouble with a nun and she was punishing me. Remember? She told me I was bad, a bad thing and a bad girl and bad everything. Then you came, out of nowhere and stopped her hand…

And then you slapped her!

I still laugh when I think about it; I’d never seen anyone flip in their air from a punch. Still haven’t.

——
PAGE 8: Same setting but focusing on Queen, Alonso, Two and Nine.

Two:
Then what?

Two:
Don’t you remember?

Two:
I was very sleepy those days.

Nine, disappointed again.

Nine:
Oh… Nothing, that was it really. That was it.

Two:
Good story kid. You should write it down.

Nine:
Yeah…

But that wasn’t the end of the story and Nine continues to remember in her head how Two gives her a flower, a pat on the head and tells her she’s a good girl before disappearing again.

Two snaps her out of it.
Two:
Nine, we have company.

The two inquisitors get closer to the forest entrance. A man, old man, all scruffy and hunched sits in the center of the road blocking the entrance to the forest.
————————————————————————-

SCENE 4 : Two and Nine talk with old man and agree to enter the forest
————————————————————————-
2-pages.
Setting: Forest edge
Characters: Two, Nine and an Old man(self-claimed ranger, father of the Ares and Vetus)
3.

PAGE 9: Two and Nine talk with the old man who warns them of the witch in the forest.

Two and Nine stop with their horses in front of him. There’s an awkward silence as the old man looks asleep.

Two:
…

Nine:
Umm…Sir?

The Old Man:
Stop!

Two:
Okay.

Nine, asking Two:
Stop what?

The Old Man:
Do not enter! A dangerous witch, more ancient than the land itself lives in this forest. Who ever enters, never returns!

Nine:
A witch! A real witch this time. Malleus Maleficarum warns about satan and incubus being old. I wonder which one is it.

Nine asks the old man very seriously.

Nine:
Does this demon-woman have breasts?

The Old Man:
I… do not know. I suppose they all do, aye?

Nine:
Hmm. Difficult to say then, but it does narrow our choices. Still, it could be any manner of things…

Two:
Who are you old man?

The Old Man:
I am the forest ranger!

Two:
Then why are you outside the forest?

The Old Man, ashamed:
It is dangerous inside.

Two:
You’re not much of a forest ranger then.

The Old Man:
Listen to my story, and you will understand.

——
PAGE 10: A quest to go find the old man’s sons.

The Old Man:
My family has guarded this forest for generations and it used to be a peaceful aslong as the witch slept. But since it awoke and with her it’s minions, it has stolen two of my sons. I am about to step in the forest to rescue them myself, for I cannot bear to live without them.

Nine:
You should not! It is dangerous there! You must not – I insist!

The Old Man:
Well… Maybe you could help an old man reunite with his sons, Inquisitors?

Nine looks at Two. Enthusiastically.
Nine:
A quest!

Two sighs:
When did they disappear?

The Old Man:
A few days ago.

Two:
They are probably dead then.

Nine:
There’s still hope, Two! Please, let us attempt to rescue them! Please let me try at least! It would be great experience!

Nine pleads at Two with her puppy eyes.

Two:
Fine. Let’s take a look. Old man, stay here. What ever you do, do not follow us.

Nine with her eyes wide, hugs her book like crazy.

They enter the forest.

The old man waves at the ominously and mumbles:
The Old Man: Good luck Inquisitors.
————————————————————————-

SCENE 5 : Two and Nine in the forest
————————————————————————-
2. 2-pages.
Setting: Forest edge
Characters: Two, Nine and an Old man(self-claimed ranger, father of the Ares and Vetus)
3.

PAGE 11 : Two and Nine have entered the forest and see the mushroom-men

5.

Two and Nine riding inside the forest. The mist is up already, no signs of mushroom men.

Nine:
What is this?

Two:
A stream of Magic, a spell that protects the forest.

Nine:
Is it dangerous?

Two:
No more than playing with fire, we’ll be fine.

Nine:
Look!
Those are…
She shuffles through her book of monsters.

Nine:
It’s here somewhere…

Two:
Mushroom-men.

Nine:
I knew that.
She didn’t.

——
PAGE 12 : XXX

They are riding against a river of mushrooms, but get through them without a problem.

Nine:
They don’t seem to notice us.

Two:
We bear no ill intentions to the forest, they have no reason to take interest.

Nine:
Hmm.

Two:
Stop.

Nine:
…What is that?

The guardian walks out of the mist.

Guardian:
WELCOME… TO THE CARNIVAL…

——
PAGE 13 : XXX

Nine:
I can’t find him from my book…

Nine is skimming through her monster-reference manual

Two ignores Nine and speaks to the guardian instead.

Two:
Guardian, we seek audience with the witch of this woods.

The guardians mouth opens, the eyes appear to take a peek again, and disappear again.

Guardian:
UPSTREAM… THE LADY OF THE FOREST AWAITS..

Two:
Thank you.

Nine:
That was it? Are we not supposed to get rid of demons? That was clearly a demon.

Two:
No it wasn’t. Come on.

The guardian, and most of the mushrooms pass them.

——
PAGE 14 : XXX

Two and Nine can move freely upstream while a new wave of creatures appear. Flower-children, small humans with large bushes of flowers in their head. They wobble forward clumsily.

Nine:
Look. I understand that we’re living during curious times and there is a certain amount of unfair, uneducated witch-burnings. But in this specific case you can’t possibly argue that your actions were not against the will of our Queen and her holy orders.

The passing flower children stop and reach out to give Two two flowers they pluck from their heads. Two reaches down to take it.

Two:
I can.

Nine:
But that must’ve been a wicked demon! By protocol, we should turn around and kill it.

Two gives one of the flowers to Nine.

Two:
We’re all wicked in one way or another.

Nine:
This is different. This is against the rules.

Two:
Today, I am the rules.

Nine takes the flower from Two.

Nine:
…By protocol, I will have to report you.

——
PAGE 15 : XXX

Nine is suddenly startled by a giant leg stomping next to her.

Two:
Don’t look up.

Nine:
Why? What’s there?

Nine looks up.

Two:
Giants don’t wear underwear.

Nine blushes. Face painted red.

Two:
We are closer to the Lady of the Woods.

Nine:
Why do you even bother? You obviously won’t touch her, no matter what your job is.

Two:
It is our job to investigate first, judge second.

Nine, few steps behind Two narrows her eyes at her. Her disapproval should be super obvious.

——
PAGE 16 : XXX

Two and Nine have to squeeze through the narrowing Carnival. The creatures, ranging from walking mushrooms to flying bunny heads, giant legs, giant butterfly caterpillars, acorn-boys, fauns and centaurs – are like a tight obstacle course that Two and Nine have to crawl and guide their horses through.

It should be a magical moment where we can see the smallest funniest creatures of the forest to the weirdest ones, but at the same time have the same feeling of not knowing of what to expect as the first chapters cave section had. It is a carnival, so the creatures are in a sort of a trance, totally ignoring Two and Nine who stumble past them.

During the walk through the narrow carnival, Two and Nine discuss:

Nine:
I bet you think you’re cool like that. Like you never have to care for orders, as if no one’s authority can waver you. Yeah, you’re too good for rulebooks for sure, after all – you’re the only female echo that hasn’t died in service.

And because you’re the only one, you think you don’t anyone’s help anymore. Well, you know what Two, I’m alive and I’m catching up, but unlike you – I have friends to help me. I have books of knowledge, I have scholars and professors and most importantly, I have the Queen.

——
PAGE 17 : XXX

Nine:
I don’t think you’re cool at all, I just think you’re arrogant.

Two just looks at Nine. There’s a silence and a wind that blows tree-leaves from the ground. As the wind passes, Two turns around, deciding to ignore Nine.

Two:
Come. We’re out of the carnival.

Nine has no words to reply with.

Once they finally pass through the tightest spot to the eye of the storm, they have room to breathe again.

——
PAGE 18 : XXX

6.

We see a clearing, the carnival splits around it as if it’s holy ground.

The Witch of the Woods is a beautiful flower in a clearing, empty of other creatures.

A fresh soil with broken tree branches surround it, as if they pushed down to make room for the flower.

And in the soil there are two faces – the faces of the two brothers from the beginning. They are asleep, under the witches spell, slowly being eaten.

Nine:
What is that?

Two:
It is the witch of the woods, the spirit of this forest. The lady.

Nine:
No, it’s a flower.

Two:
Flowers can be witches too.

Nine:
It doesn’t say so in this book. Hey, where are you going? Wait up?

Nine:
Are these the sons of the forest keeper? We should dig them out.

Two thinks for a while in quiet and with a hint of self-doubt unlike her usual manner, she says:
Two:
No, they were bad people. Let’s go.

Nine:
What do you mean no? Who’s now quick to judge? We just came here and it’s our
sacred duty to help them.!

Two:
They must have wronged the forest. They are fully responsible of their own deaths.
Come, let’s leave. We’re not involved here.

——
PAGE 19: XXX

Nine:
No! We have to help them! No matter how bad, humans are always more important than flowers.

Nine starts digging them out with her hands, she’s slow.

Two:
Nine, you will follow my orders and leave them alone. We don’t want to anger this flower.

Nine:
I know how to break rules too, Inquisitor Two. I can take this flower any day.

Two sighs. She walks away leaving Nine to dig.

Nine:
As a loyal servant to our Queen, Isabella the Fair, I will rescue you, brave souls.
Don’t you worry a thing. She will hear of your bravery and reward you with honors. Soon, you will be white knights in the holy army, pushing away the falling darkness.

Two walks near a branch, she finds a log, heavy and tall. She drags it with her behind Nine who is still digging.

Nine:
Came back, didn’t you? I knew you… I knew you were still decent. No matter what they say, I knew I can save you. Help me dig, sister. :´)

Two lifts the log, and hits Nine in to the back of her head. She falls unconscious on the soil.

Two looks at the flower.

Two:
She will be alright.
She’s tougher than she looks.
Thank you for forgiving her.

——
PAGE 20: XXX

Two hears sounds behind her:

The Old Man:
“You little Inquisitor bitch!”

Two wonders who the hell that was. She looks behind her and sees the Forest Keeper, the old man, father to the men in the soil. He has his sword drawn out.

The old man:
Ya’ didn’t even lift yer finger to help them,I will kill you a thousand times!

Two:
You don’t want to do that, ranger.
Accept your loss, and just walk away. The forest is in a forgiving mood. You might even make it.

The old man:
Raaaaah!

The old man rushes toward Two who doesn’t even move, he’s ready to strike his sword at Two, until – suddenly, a root appears from the soil like tentacle, grabs hold of him and pulls him deep into the ground. Only his twitching hand is left over ground.

Two looks at the flower.

Two:
Try not to make a habit of this, okay?

We see Two leaving with Nine on her shoulder like a sack, walking back to their horses. There are two faces sleeping in the soil, the sons and now their father’s hand as well.

——
PAGE 21: XXX

A whole page illustration, where we see that the flower is only a small part of the actual witch, who lies beneath the ground like a giant monster. It’s roots like hair extend to the surface and one of them is the flower.

——
PAGE 22: XXX

7.

Two and Nine are riding again. They’re riding on the same horse and pulling the other one with them. Nine is riding in Two’s arms. She wakes up.

Nine:
What happened…? My head hurts. I can’t remember.

Two:
You fell.

Nine:
Falling shouldn’t hurt this much?

Two:
It was a long fall.

Nine:
Two, what was number Fourteen like?

Two:
Why bring that up?

Nine:
He was my brother too.

——
PAGE 23: XXX

Two:
He was a baby, not much to it.

Nine:
Then why all the fuss? Even I heard about it.

Two:
There hasn’t been a single male echo since One. That must mean something, to someone.

Nine:
You don’t know more?

Two:
No, I know nothing.

Nine, accepting defeat:
Well… Where are we heading next? More witches this time? I hope there’s real witches this time.

Two:
No, Nine. We’re done, we’re going back to Madrid.

Nine:
Madrid? Why? Did I do badly? I can do better, I promise. Just give me a chance!

Two:
It means you survived and you will work alone on your own now from now on. Congratulations Nine.

Nine:
…Thanks.

——
PAGE 24: XXX

8.

Nine is back in the Queen chamber.

Queen: Welcome back dear, dear Inquisitor Nine, you cannot fathom how I waited for your return. I believe you had no trouble over this mission.

Nine:
Thank you, my Queen. There was no trouble.

Queen:
So…?

Nine:
My Queen?

Queen:
Don’t play daft, dear girl and spill it out!

Nine:
My Queen…

Queen:
Just answer me.

Nine:
…The rumors were true, my Queen.

Queen, with a smile of success:
Go on.

Nine:
…Two proved… Inquisitor Two proved to be rebellious, illogical and a supporter of heretical thinking. She did not approve the teachings of Malleus Maleficarum or your orders.

Queen:
I see. Well done, Inquisitor Nine
I believe you understand what this will mean?

——
PAGE 25: XXX

Nine:
Yes, my Queen. I… I understand.

Queen:
Good. You will wait for further instruction, do not act on it alone. Do you understand?

Nine:
Yes, my Queen. I understand.

Queen:
Good. Good.

Nine looks miserably sad, as if she’d betrayed Two somehow.

Queen:
Oh, come over here my dear child, this must’ve been extremely burdening on you, I cannot imagine anything harder than spying on your elder sister. Oh Come here.

Nine goes to the Queen. Head bowed. The Queen grabs her into her arms, into a hug.

Queen:
It’s alright, it’s alright Nine.

Nine, teary eyed, starts crying full blown.

Queen:
Who’s a good girl? Who’s my little good girl? My perfect god-gifted wonderfully good girl?

Nine crying and broken down, her eyes waterfalls, snot out of her nose crying, not mumbling but cry-shouting:

Nine:
I’m a good girl.

 

end of chapter 7

 

Let’s us know how you liked it over twitter, facebook or email, for we’re always happy to hear from you! :)

Love,
Silver

First you suck, and then you’re kind of bad at it.

4 Comments on First you suck, and then you’re kind of bad at it.

I just want to throw this out there. Ira Glass is a wonderful storyteller, and beyond that, he has a great understanding what goes on in the creative mind.

Not only in the content producing way, but about the inner struggle one can go through in effort to become better at their craft or interest. I suggest you find all the interviews with him on youtube and learn and get inspired.

I think that the toughest thing in starting our personal projects is the fear that it’s going to be crap. That we’re going to spend hours on something that will only embarrass and shame us. That fear makes us feel like we have no right to even try and we’d be better off spending that time procrastinating, watching re-runs of House. The fear and pain is then multiplied by the utter lack of knowledge how long would it even take to become reasonably decent. If only there was a program that would track my progress and tell me when I’ve leveled up or how many more hours I have to go until the next epiphany.

But there isn’t.

Some say it takes ten thousand hours to master a skill, about seven to five years and I agree more or less. But what’s important is that it takes a lot less time to be bad at something.

Being bad at something, only requires that you start it.

And once you’re bad at something, you can pinpoint those faults and attack them one by one, and get kind of bad at it. Until one day you’ll be okay or maybe even, dare I say, decent?

Starting to blog was really tough for me.

It’s not just writing something down. It’s writing something down that should be interesting and about my life and thoughts, and even worse, I have to share it with everyone. It’s a lot of pressure. Trust me, there were all kinds of feelings from fear to dread involved, and there still is, but if I hadn’t forced myself to do it, I would had never gotten better at it. I wouldn’t have written something that I feel particularly proud of, like this little piece.

And even more, If I wasn’t sharing my likes, dislikes and thoughts, then I wouldn’t have had the chance to talk to some of our readers about them; there’s really nothing better than that feeling of a connection, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I’m still not where I’d like to be with blogging and I’m constantly struggling in justifying the act. And to make things harder, we’ve been thinking of starting Vlogging, and that’s going to be another challenge that I have to start afresh. But I have a feeling, that after a few years, I’ll be kind of good at it too. And if not, at least I can say that I tried.

So, on that note. Let’s all suck together, until we’re awesome.

Love,
Silver

 

Give me a Twittericious shout out @runfreakrun and check out RFR ebook!

The blank page

2 Comments on The blank page
Dinosaur drawing, because dinosaurs.

Even sketch-t-rex fears it.

There’s this discussion I constantly get into with my friends and peers. It’s this discussion that everyone I work with can relate to, be they artists, directors or writers. I have it with old time veterans as well with new out of the school beginners. It’s this discussion that no matter how many times I have it, I never get tired of it, for I think its somehow rooted to the very core of what makes us human; It’s an insecurity that rears its ugly, shit-stained, throat grabbing head again and again no matter how you push it down. And even if you beat it, it’ll always be there in the back of your mind, waiting to strike its fangs again.

It’s the fear of the blank paper.

Or vacansopapurosophobia, as some people call it. I don’t, but I thought you might. It’s cool if you don’t either.

I fear the blank paper too, I’m petrified by it most times. I’ve come to learn how to beat it sufficiently enough as a professional concept artist; the turn-around rate is so fast in my line of work that you sometimes have to face the blank page multiple times a day. Now as a writer, that’s where things get tricky for me, but I’m trying to face it the same way I approach concept art; get the point down fast, worry how good it is later and try not to stress about it.

I’m still working on that stress part.

I’ve done enough projects, paintings and story drafts by now to know how daunting it can be to get caught in the web of self-doubt. You know the feeling, the “I have no clue what I’m doing, and I don’t think that I ever will”-feeling. And most times you don’t know what you’re doing, I don’t think anyone does. I believe the key to defeating that is pretending that you do.

There’s a saying that fear is a mind killer; It takes over you with stress, downbeat thoughts and frustration. In reality, there’s nothing to be afraid, especially if your fear is something so silly as being bad at art or not knowing how to write one interesting sentence. No one will come and beat you up for it, you won’t go to jail and you won’t get neutered. What’s the worst that can happen? You spend a few hours drawing badly and if you repeat, you’ll do it a little less worse, until one day you’ll do it alright, and then maybe, if you’ve failed enough, you’ll do it good.

There’s this illustrator and a concept artist called Bobby Chiu, in one of his lectures he once said that if it’s easy, then you’re not really learning anymore. I mostly agree with him. I believe we learn from our mistakes, and not only in creative fields but in all aspects of life.

Just think of those moments when you’ve messed up so badly and so embarrassingly, and you’ve wished you could just turn back the time and undo it. I bet you don’t repeat those mistakes again. Ever. Seek professional help if you do.

This whole learning thing is hard, it takes a lot of guts, and arrogance and especially focus to get it right. You need guts to have that stamina when you’d rather just sleep and give up. With guts, you will never give up no matter how you’ve lost your confidence. You need arrogance to blindly believe that all this work will matter some day and that you’ll make it somehow while the rest of the world disagrees. Well screw them, you don’t need them anyways. Instead, what you need is focus, because no matter how many hours you put into it, if you concentrate on the wrong things or do it half-heartedly, then you’re just learning the wrong things.

I could argue that having the right focus will take you a long way, but I believe that having arrogance is the most important factor of ever making it whilst still learning.

They say that the best artists are the most humble ones, but I think that it’s a bullshit phrase that someone once invented to masturbate with their own mediocrity. Take Picasso, Rembrandt or Warhol. Those were very arrogant people, and they changed the world with it.

Sure, there’s humble great masters too, but they’re humble because they can afford to be humble. No one becomes great by being humble, you get humble after becoming great. These humble masters have already done all the hard work; they’ve climbed all necessary steps while getting slowly better, and now that they’ve done it, they’ve reached the point where they can only learn more by teaching to others. It’s really selfishness disguised as humility.

So, what I’m trying to say is, that I’m advocating and encouraging you to be selfish, workaholic and passionate artists, in case you want to be really good. It will sometimes be lonely, there’s not many people who are understanding of a life this hardcore. Sometimes you will be criticized for not playing along or for not being more considerate of others. Fuck them, remember arrogance. And most importantly, you will never know how much longer your journey will last, only that it will be long. And sometimes you won’t even make it.

 

With lots of love and plenty of arrogance,
Silver

What is the first creative moment you remember?

2 Comments on What is the first creative moment you remember?
One of the weirdest and most entertaining Christmas presents I've ever gotten. I'm loving it!

One of the weirdest and most entertaining Christmas presents I’ve ever gotten. I’m loving it!

So, it’s almost Christmas for everyone else, but we’ve already had our celebrations with friends, we bought our Christmas tree about two weeks ago and we’ve torn through every last one of our presents. Spreading the festivities over a dozen days, ending with some more Christmas food on the 24th, has been a nice ending to the year.

One of my Christmas presents from Silver was Twyla Tharp’s book “The creative habit: Learn it and use it for life”. I’m reading it now and I’m enjoying it immensely. It’s my kind of a book. Not only it portrays a creative person’s worldview, but it also involves self exploration and breaking down and evaluating her habits and tendencies. I love that she isn’t giving a 1, 2, 3-guidelines to being creative. Anything you can boil down to couple of bullet points is bound to be simplistic. Instead, she takes a more philosophical approach to a multitude of aspects of creativity that she has found important. The ideas she’s put forward so far (I’m not even halfway through the book) are interesting and a great jumpboard for further thought and interpretation.

 

In the name of taking the time to understand your own “creative DNA”, as she calls it, Twyla Tharp came up with 33 questions that could help in unearthing some answers. I tend to not think much of questionnaires, but she had earned my respect by then, so I gave it a go. The very first one gave me an interesting conclusion: “What is the first creative moment you remember?” I had to pause for a moment to sift through my brain, but I did come up with an answer. I must have been around four years old. I remember sitting at a corner table in kindergarten. In front of me is a messy pile of drawings, next to me sits an older kindergarten teacher. I always thought of her as the grandma of the teachers and I liked her a lot. She was calm and unobtrusive. (The overly lively ones always made me a little uncomfortable.) We sat at that corner table together, in silence and drew or did some crafty stuff for hours.

 

So that’s the first memory I can recall, but what struck me as surprising was that I can’t remember what I was doing, apart from the vague notion of it including a pen and a paper. The drawing didn’t seem to be very important. The strongest element of that memory was the total feeling of calm. Calm from solitude, calm from concentration – calm from just being allowed to be in my head. It’s the same feeling I have now when I draw or write and it’s the same feeling I had as a kid while drawing.

 

From as early as I remember I was encouraged to draw, and was left to myself while doing so. Not only was this an acceptable kind of antisocial behavior and consequently a lifesaver back then, but what I take out of this is that drawing was, and is just the means to an end. It provides a place where I can tune out the outside world and tune in all the stories I want to be able to tell, put feelings into words and break down experiences. The actual process of putting down a line is not as mesmerising to me as taking my thoughts and getting them out of my head and feel them materialize in front of me. Whether it’s drawing or writing or something else in the future, it shouldn’t matter that much. Or, I hope it won’t.

What is the first creative moment you remember?


Smiles,

Kaija

Writing your dreams down

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White notebook for a dream journal. For some reason it seems fitting.

White notebook for a dream journal. For some reason it seems fitting.

When I told Silver a weird dream I had, he made a connection to some weird short stories I’ve been writing from time to time. They have a very similar vibe.

This made me pause for a second to think it through. If my brain works similarly during the day as during the night, I’m letting a big chunk of possibly interesting stories slip through my fingers.

Couple of days later, armed with a new notebook and determination to remember all my dreams, I start a new obsession: a dream journal.

I actually tend not to remember my dreams. For some reason this fact didn’t enter my mind when I started. I’m guessing that the prospect of catching my brain during it’s most vulnerable time of making up stories on it’s own, was too exciting to remember the possibility of failing and hearing crickets for weeks on end before I remember a single dream.

Compulsory doodling on the first page.

Compulsory doodling on the first page.

The goal of writing the dreams down helped retain many bits and pieces. I’ve noticed that in the morning during the hypnogogic state, the state of being half awake while the dream is still going on, I’m already making an effort to memorize as much as possible. The result is, that I’ve only missed one night out of nine. Sure, sometimes it’s only couple of sentences, but other times it’s a full page of surreal stories.

I’m thinking, if ever a really good one comes along I can make a short comic out of it. Maybe in ten years I’ll have a bookful of them piled up. Other than that, they’re there for my own amusement.

Our dreams tend not to mean anything to other people. It can actually be annoying having to sit through somebody else’s story that has no significance in the real world and most probably makes no sense to the dreamer either. But I find it fascinating having my own dreams permanently attached to a notebook.

Some text from day 2 and short entries on days 3-6.

Some text from day 2 and short entries on days 3-6.

 

Smiles,

Kaija