Current Projects Part 12

Welcome back!

    This month’s Current Update is a new milestone, as it marks the end of my first year working on this blog. I have learned a lot in the past months, and now feel much more confident in my abilities. I plan on hitting the ground running in 2016, trying to get more progress done and hopefully get a first draft ready for review by December.

My mood recently has been greatly affected by the weather. Last month, I expected we would have a normal winter, filled with cold weather and snowstorms. Instead, we have been having warmer than usual temperatures, resulting in very little snow. This will be the first time (for as long as I can remember anyway) that I will have a green Christmas, which is sad, since the holidays is the only reason I like snow in the first place. Once the Holidays are over, if Mother Nature wants to keep the snow to herself, that would be just great! On the bright side, new experiences always bring new knowledge, so my first “Green Christmas” will be stored to memory in case I ever need to write about it in the future.  

Downtown Ottawa, December 23rd, 2015.

But enough complaining about the weather, let us move on to what I have been doing this past month.

The extra time off over the holidays has given me the chance to catch up on some reading. I am now ahead by three months in my list of books to read, giving me a chance to pick and choose which to review. This will come in handy when trying to match a book to a month's particular theme. For January, I got swept up in the hype around the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie, and decided to read a novel which was inspired by the popular series. Though I have never read a book from this franchise before, Star Wars has always been one of my favorites, so I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts on this book with you.

For the first time since I started my new job, I got to use the experience as a copyright specialist while working with Missing Worlds Media. Though I cannot go into the details of the conversation due to NDA, I can say my professional opinion was asked in regards to collaborating with another company or individual on a certain project. I drafted a letter to the Composition Director, Assistant Composition Director, as well as the Project Lead, detailing my thoughts on the matter and possible options we may have in the matter. My opinion was well received and taken into account, and I am glad I could contribute my knowledge to Missing Worlds Media.

As for my own work, some more progress was made on the mechanics of magic and how it works within the world I am creating. Most of the mechanics were pulled from other sources, only changing a few key elements in order to make them work in my setting. This has helped me add finishing touches to the protagonist (Walker), as well as lay the groundwork for my antagonist (Decay) and one of my supporting characters (Vivian Winters).  

Also this past month, I decided to flesh out another supporting character, who will go by the name Carter Harris. He will be an ex-mercenary who came into contact with a strange artefact, which granted him incredible energy based abilities, but severely disfiguring him in the process. Carter will be a sleazy, self-serving, arrogant blowhard who is completely happy leeching off the generosity of others. Though he may not sound like a good guy, he will play a pivotal role. I have been having this urge recently to buy some clay and try to sculpt his face, just so I can have a 3D representation of my idea. If this ever happens, you can look forward to seeing pictures appear on my blog.

*Note: All names mentioned here should be considered works in progress and are not final. Furthermore, any similarities to other people or content is pure coincidence.

While sorting through all of these ideas, I decided to create several other files for future stories. Though I am still far from finishing my first manuscript, I keep getting ideas for different storylines and new characters, so I decided to note these down now while the ideas were coming. Hopefully this will help avoid writer's block later on.  I currently have nine outlines for stories related to the characters in my first book, with another four outlines totaly unrelated to this content. So basically what this means is I have more ideas than time to work on them!

Another year has arrived, bringing with it resolutions, fresh starts and new ideas. My family had fun during our Holiday vacation, and I hope 2016 finds you all well and ready for whatever may come. Until next time, wishing you all health, happiness and success for the new year.

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

Short Story - Cerberus Initiative

Welcome,


It is a great honor for me to share this snippet of my current work in progress. I decided to share parts of my story for each milestone I reach. The following is an extract from the backstory of a paranormal-military inspired group that will play a major role in my story. The initial incident is based on true events, then gradually has paranormal elements added in.

Backstory of the Cerberus Initiative.


Part 1: December 30th, 2015.

March 24th, 1878

While caught in a heavy snowstorm off the Isle of Wight, the HMS Eurydic capsized, causing the deaths of it’s 319 crew members. Many lost family members that day, including professor Matthieu Sylvestre, adventurer Paolo Speroni and priest Brigham Winters.

Unsatisfied with the Royal Navy’s explanation of the incident, the men decided to conduct their own investigation. Taking a craft through the English Channel, they went to the location where the Eurydice sank. To their surprise, they discovered an old hag was using strange creatures known as Kelpie, a shape-changing aquatic spirit, to sink ships and retrieve their contents.

Part 2: August 15th, 2016

Matthieu, Paolo and Brigham confronted the Witch, but were no match against her powers and Kelpie minions. The three hastily retreated to port, where they recounted the frightful events to the authorities. Their tale was met with ridicule and disbelief.

            However, a small number of townsfolk did believe them. After some careful preparations, Matthieu, Paolo and Brigham lead a group to the shores near the Isle of Wight. The troop arrived in time to interrupt the dastardly Witch from attacking another ship. Through great effort, they managed to subdue the hag and her monstrous pets, putting an end to her wicked ways.

BOOTCAMP LESSON 9: Suspending Disbelief.

Welcome back!

    There is a lot going on at this time of year. Family reunions, friendly gatherings, office parties, gift exchanges, etc. It seems the older you get, the more Christmas becomes a social exercise rather than the magical phenomenon we saw when we were children. When exactly did this happen? Where is the point between believing and no longer believing? These questions lead us into today’s writing game!

Lesson 9: Suspending Disbelief

As writers of fiction, it is our job to make people believe what we are telling them is not only possible, but an established fact. This can be particularly difficult when dealing with a subject that is known to be fictitious. Writers must then find a way to explain these elements and make them sound plausible. This is a technique called hand waving.

    A Hand Wave is referred to as any clarification which is noteworthy for its lack of detail or coherence. By using minimal or even sketchy information, this plot device hopes to suspend the reader's disbelief long enough to continue past this point of the story without interrupting its momentum.

    In the spirit of the holiday season, the goal of today’s writing game will be to take the statements or situations mentioned below, and find a plausible explanation for them. Please keep your explanations to two or three paragraphs long, these are “hand waves”, not theses n how to scientifically explain these phenomenon.

So, here are today's guidelines!

1. Below are five "phenomenons" to work with.
2. Following each phenomenon, write two or three paragraphs plausibly explaining said situation.

Phenomenons:

Phenomenon 1: Flight.

Explain how Santa Claus achieves flight using eight reindeer pulling a sleigh.

Phenomenon 2: Fitting in small spaces.

Explain how Santa Claus, a man of considerable girth, succeeds in fitting his physical form down a small constricted space such as a chimney.

Phenomenon 3: Overcapacity.

Explain how Santa Claus can carry a large amount of merchandise, notably toys, to the entire children population of the globe.

Phenomenon 4: Private information.

Explain how Santa Claus has knowledge of every child on earth, most notably who has been naughty and who has been nice.

Phenomenon 5: Lack of evidence.

Explain how Santa Claus has avoided being discovered after so many years.

For those who aren’t afraid to share their entries, feel free to share them as a reply to this post, or send them to me privately. I may create a page for submissions in the future for those who are interested.

Hope you have fun giving this exercise a try. Until next time, and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

Inspiration Part 8 - Christmas decorations

Welcome back!

    With Christmas vacation just around the corner, this month’s inspiration post on will focus on the holiday season!

Fun in the snow!

    There are many different aspects to the holidays and not everyone celebrates this time of the year the same way. As I mentioned before, I am working with limited number of photographs after having lost most of them due to my laptop crashing. So instead of trying to cover every aspect of Christmas I could think of, I decided to focus on a few areas.

    To begin, I want to cover one of the tastier holiday traditions: gingerbread houses. This is a somewhat new custom for me, as I had never made any gingerbread anything before meeting my wife and her children (Linda would say this was due to my severely lacking cooking skills). Granted, we buy some of those ready-made gingerbread house sets where you only need to assemble the pieces, but this has become a yearly bonding exercise at our house that we greatly enjoy (not to mention the houses never survive till Christmas, LOL).

    As you can see, my family tends to not hold back with the frosting. Another thing we like to do is use whatever is leftover from Halloween candy to use as decoration supplies. The end result is usually a diabetics worst nightmare.

Each family member has their own decorating styles; Linda is more traditional, making her house actually look like something out of a magazine. Kayla is heavy on the decorations, trying to cover every square inch with candy. Shawn will go all “Walking Dead” on his house, breaking down doors, adding red bits of candy everywhere and placing zombified gummy bears. As for me, I usually end up with a sloppy looking house, adding a ton of frosting in a vain attempt to prevent the house from falling apart.  

Next is what can be considered a key element in many households that celebrate Christmas: a Tannenbaum. I remember spending entire evenings as a child just staring at the family Christmas tree, both in amazement and excitement.

    There is something I have learned in the recent years, and that is to simply stand back and let Linda decorate the tree (HAHAHA!). My wife has a very specific manner of putting on the decorations, which border on military style precision. Some ornaments go in the front, others go in the back, and there is only enough lights once the tree is visible from space.

    One thing that might not be obvious by simply looking at these pictures, is how much of a symbol the tree has become in our household. It represents family, both from my side of the family and Linda’s, as the tree holds baubles and doodads from holidays past, uniting them all into one giant center piece.

    The final holiday tradition I want to cover is one that was made famous by “National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation”. Of course I’m talking about Christmas lights. My family hasn’t set up lights (mostly to save on hydro bills), but every year we like to drive around the neighborhood and look at other people’s set-ups. One block in particular likes to have competitions, seeing who can out do the rest.

We can see how all of this could be useful for authors working on stories taking place during the Christmas holidays. These images can be used to help describe everything from the setting (food, decorations, etc.), to characters (family, friends, etc.), to motivations (traditions, celebration, etc.).

    Writing this makes me realise just how far I’ve come over the recent years. I hope it has served as inspiration to some of you as well.

    Until next time. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

    Cheers,

    Patrick Osborne.

By the Book: Invincible Compendium

Welcome back!

    As I mentioned earlier this month, this “By the Book” installment will be very different from any of the other book reviews I have done so far. It will be based on a graphic novel rather than a standard novel. It was a gift I got during the holidays last year (and the closest to a Christmas theme I could do under the circumstances). The book in question is entitled Invincible, a story about a teenager and his slow ascent into super-hero-hood. These two books are anthologies, collecting the first 96 issues of the series.

    Those who know me are aware of my long existing fondness for The Walking Dead series (both printed and televised) from Robert Kirkman. I have been following the series from the very beginning, having fallen for Kirkman’s merciless and unforgiving storytelling style. This is when I discovered Kirkman had other series in the works, such as the superhero tale Invincible.

The plotline and characters is what got my attention. The story revolves around Mark Grayson, a normal teenager who discovers at a young age that his father is a world famous super hero. Mark spent most of his life waiting (and hoping) for the day his own super powers would kick in. The series starts at the very moment Mark gets his powers, and becomes a virtual rollercoaster from that point on. Kirkman takes Mark through every possible bad situation you can think of, and then drags his protagonist through the mud for good measure. Mark has to deal with a seemingly endless laundry list of problems; from everyday teenage angst to world conquering alien invasions. The action and drama rarely slow down and just when Mark thinks he can catch his breath, Kirkman tosses him a curveball! Either [SPOILER] dies a gruesome death or [SPOILER] turns traitor! Furthermore, Kirkman hasn’t forgotten the gore fans from the Walking Dead, since some character always seem to find themselves torn to pieces in some violent manner every other issue.

Back of the book 1:

“Collects issues 0-47 of the Eisner award nominated series

plus the Invincible story from the image comics summer special

Mark Grayson is just like most everyone else his age.

He’s a senior at a normal American High school. He has a crappy part time job after school and on weekends. He likes girls quite a bit, but doesn’t quite understand them. He enjoys hanging out with his friends and sleeping late on Saturdays (at least until the good cartoons come on). The only difference between Mark and everyone else his age is that his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet, and as of late, he seems to be inheriting his father's powers.

But that’s only the beginning of his problems…”

Back of the book 2:

Collects issues 48-96 of the Eisner award nominated series

plus the Invincible Returns 1 & Astounding Wolf-Man 11  

The Best Superhero Comic Book in the Universe!

Ever since Mark Grayson got superpowers, life has never been the same. As Invincible, he’s fought the universe’s most dangerous villains, graduated high school, got a girlfriend (two of them!)... and his father, the world’s greatest superhero Omni-Man, revealed himself to be an alien conqueror bent on taking over Earth. Since then, Invincible’s been working for the Global Defense Agency, fighting their fights and saving the world in their name. Until now.

Invincible can no longer follow their orders unquestioned. Now he finds himself up against the very organization he’s been working for! And war looms on the horizon…”

What I learned:

• Knowing when to pull the plug: One thing that Robert Kirkman is not afraid of, is killing off characters. He has a talent for writing characters the audience love, and for knowing when and how to write them off for the most dramatic impact. Not getting emotionally attached to one's work is a lesson all writers need to learn; be it to kill off a character, rewrite a draft or make major changes to a story.  
• Mix matching: Not entirely sure this point was A) intentional on Robert’s part B) just his Walking Dead style bleeding into this series or C) me imagining things. The point is, this series is one of the few occasions I’ve seen superhero stories mixed with gore (an element usually used in horror stories). This fact may just stick out to me since I plan on doing something similar with my book. So having the opportunity of seeing someone else do it well was really interesting.
• Subtle parody: Invincible may touch some serious issues within its storyline, but Kirkman isn’t afraid to include the occasional Easter Egg or jab at other properties. Without revealing too much (for those interested in reading this series), one example is the character “the Elephant”, an obvious parody of Spider-man’s popular villain, “the Rhino”.

    Invincible is hands down my current favorite in terms of superhero fiction. I am patiently waiting for the next Compedium to come out sometime in 2017. While I wait, I keep myself busy reading other works from Robert Kirkman, most notably the Walker Dead and Guardians of the Globe. Other titles I’m looking forward to reading as well are Haunt and Wolfman. Visit the links below if you are interested in learning more about:

Author Robert Kirkman; https://imagecomics.com/creators/view/robert-kirkman

Invincible series: https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/invincible-universe

I consider this series to be one of my guilty pleasures, and I'm glad for having had the opportunity to read it. Always looking forward to reading more of Robert Kirkman’s work in the future.

Until next time!

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne