The story takes on imagery (part 2)

This is the second part of how this project started. The original idea was fun. Then it came time to get it into words and images.

After the laughter, we sat down and jotted down in a notepad all the different animals and reasons. I had an idea of a comic strip layout initially. I looked up images online to see what fit the motif I had in mind. I copied some and put some words to them. They were lacking (to say the least). But they did give a start point.

Esther and I spent some time on the phone discussing the story, my best descriptions as I could give, and she and I laughed like Alyssa and I did. This was going to be fun. She offered to provide some rough sketches to see how I liked them. We started with the monkey. Alyssa and I continued to work on the text. It was so wonderful to work with someone who was as excited as we were and enjoyed the project. I liked the line sketches quite a lot. They were definitive imagery which showed we were on the same wavelength. I was very clear that I do not care for the digital imagery so many people use now. No knock to it… it just isn’t my thing and not what I wanted. Esther suggested a colored pencil drawing and gave a basic image. I was hooked.

Monkeys like to throw things.

My grandfather grew up with two of them. Izzy and Murphy. They threw coal at my Uncle Charlie. So tossing eggs is a given…

Naughty monkeys.

Mayhem with a group of them. NOT, efficiency.

The story was beginning to come alive. Alyssa and I were thrilled. There were many challenges to come. Much to consider regarding publishers, time to complete this around a full time job and many other issues.

The next post will be some advice for aspiring authors and experiences with the process of narrowing it all down.