Hi, Ok, I've been poking my head in and out of this forum for some time, never quite signing up as I always question if I am, or even aim to be an author. You see I program code a little, I write non-fiction, more techy text for mags and whatnot and I illustrate. Despite creative ideas I hit a wall when musing on if I could write something from them, actually writing a complete book/story was beyond me, though short stories were more plausible. So, i'm working on some app/program and it's a big undertaking, other work is dwindling then the lockdown hit. I find myself with a little more time to develop this work and can extend my deadline a touch. Great. This didn't work out. I basically overdid it, too much time spent on it, burnt out a little and decided to ease up on the main work and spend some of the time on a less stressful creative project. I'm an overthinker, always overcooking the simplest ideas then realising it's too big for just me and shelving it so I approached with a plan. In an exercise of remarkable self restraint I took one of my rough illustrations (guy in a hazard suit&mask, where'd that come from?) and filled it out, added a story, environment and came up with themes, twists, protagonists, everything in one short hour long brainstorm. And it was quite good! My techy side has helped me with the imagery I wanted, I draw with a stylus and love to filter for a certain look, my arty side let me create the characters, surroundings and achieve the look I wanted, which just left the dormant 'short-story-author' in me. With no one else to turn to I decided to write. In short bursts, a comic/graphic novel style not in need of the extensive text that you seek in books to make a setting. It's actually come together and has me buzzing a bit. I'd love to share the ideas and thoughts behind it with any similar minded people. It's sci fi-ish, with a touch of horror (roaming creatures) but based on humanity and hope as it's set in a huge plague that suddenly swept the world. Covid-19 has little good to offer us but it's sobering impact and warnings, focussing on this story has genuinely lifted me a lot. Really, keep creative if you can. The forum Intro's on here grabbed me, really good to read through introductions written by people who wanted to do something, held back but have pushed themselves that little bit..I'm in that same boat so I hope that this project, the written side at least, may be of interest. Good to meet you all, Chris
Welcome Chris! Charlie Brooker, (who most non UK folks will know as the guy behind Black Mirror) started off by writing reviews for PC Gamer. So dont discount yourself on the basis of writing for a tech based mag And I'm a bit like you too, with the overcooking simple things into something larger. But you have to twist it around and look at it as a positive, not a negative. Is it better for a sculpture to have too much stone to chip away at, or too little? It's always easier (i find) to strip away something than to have nothing to work with in the first place. I love Scifi and darker horror themed stuff, so your posts will at least get one set of eyes clapped on them Good luck with progressing the idea along.
Thanks for the likes & replies. Good to find a similar mind Steve, I've finally honed down my technique after years of over-analysing and overdoing things. I've been back on this project a bit so I'll hopefully have some roughs at the very least to show.What's so pleasing for me is that I'm happy with the look and style of this and also the story backdrop. It's like a giant jigsaw, and there's the missing bit I've looking for.
