To Boldly Like A Story I Never Have Before

Admittedly I am a huge Star Wars fan. I first really discovered the films in my teenage years when I was introduced to the trading card game. And while the mythology and action of Star Wars had captivated my young mind, Star Trek didn't. I found it to be, well boring. It seemed far more interested, in its current carnations, to be caught up in political intrigue and other fair (sounds an awful lot like the Star Wars prequels).

Well, as of 7pm this evening, consider my heart changed. JJ Abrams and crew have pumped a new life into this classic story and left me suddenly feeling very much like a Star Trek fan. I wouldn't even mind watching some classic stuff now.

The first ten minutes of this film had me instantly locked in and I was game for wherever this ride was going to take me. The story was simple enough on its most basic of levels, but its bigger story line was quite complex and truly created a new Star Trek universe new fans could inhabit. Effectively it was a Crisis on Infinite Earths or an Onslaught Saga for the film world and we find ourselves looking at a brand new series in the making. One which I am ready and anxious to join. Check it out when you can. Even if its something you never would have liked.

"The Unknowns" Draft 2 Is Completed

Yesterday I finished up my second draft of my new graphic novel, "The Unknowns." It was really gratifying to finally print out a readable version of my script. I bound the whole thing up and set it on the coffee table, then sat back in gratification. :-) I'm tempted to dig into it and start editing it, but I'm taking a break from it to enjoy the moment and let the next piece of feedback come from my wife. She's my editor and sounding board, so I'm excited to hear her thoughts. I just wanted to take a moment to say... I'm excited!

Draft 1 is Complete

Last week I reached a penacle point. I finished the first draft of The Unknowns script. It clocked in at 63 pages in screenplay format. I sat down and read through the whole thing, and I gotta say I am pretty happy with it. It's the best thing I've written. Which may not be saying mucb really, lol. But it reads well and progresses the plot in a concise way that doesn't have much room for fat. My biggest concern is character development, but it feels like the bigger thing for this first book is introduce everyone to the story and setup the essential character elements that can be developed later. I'm planning on making this book around 6 volumes long so there's plenty of room for growth. I think I am gonna sit down and watch some early X-files episodes and other big number 1's to see how much character development was needed in those first installments.

Right now though my attention has turned to draft number two. This is pretty much all I will be doing until I have a publically readable draft that I can get feedback on, from those lucky few. There are a TON of corrections needed and a new scene I want to fit in. Anyways until the next draft... cheers!

Closing In On The End of Draft 1

Sorry for a lack of updates. Things have definitely been moving forward on The Unknowns. It seems we're getting very close to going to publishers with a proposal, so I am leaving that in the hands of my agent and taking any notes he has happily. But on things I can control to one degree or another, I am nearing the end of my first draft of "The Unknowns" book one. Working title at this time is "The Alpha." :-) I like it. We'll see if it sticks.

All things considered I've learned a great deal working on this script. Primarily the value of having a good treatment in place. I have breezed through this first draft because the treatment gave me such a good guide along the way. I simply could pull up the document and work scene from scene. All of the heavy lifting was done.

I'm gonna be putting in heavy duty hours into this project this week to try and finish the first full draft. I'm also considering combining this blog into my personal website http://www.michaeleregina.com/ I need to consolidate information. I've got too many sites I'm updating around here.

Projects Coming To A Head

Many things are quietly going on in the background here with my art. Most of my bigger projects the moment are comics and book related. I wanted to get a short round off of the goings on. All of which are on their fast track to completion.

From Death Til Now:
This is my online graphic novel project that has been running on the web for nearly two years. I recently decided to take this project off the web for awhile so I can focus on finishing up the remaining 80 pages or so in a more streamlined manner. Hoping that within a year book 1 will be done. Read it online.

The Unknowns:
Currently this project has been getting the bulk of my efforts. Still in the writing phase, I am locking up the first draft here very soon. In the coming months, I am hoping we'll land a publisher. Check out the production blog.

Kevin and the Golden Temple:
A short story project for an upcoming anthology. Not much to say about this project at the moment. Stay tuned though as details emerge on the project.

The Adventures of Benjamin Franklin:
This is a children's book project my wife wrote some time back. She's been patiently waiting on me to finish up this project for her. I want to recommit myself to this effort. Samples are available in the illustration portion of the site.

Also, portrait commission projects continue to come my way. So the question really is. Will I sleep?

New Website Launches!

Well, it only took me three years, but finally a new site is launched. I've added new galleries for my illustration and comics work. A new store section is going to be up and running real soon. I plan to use this blog section to share events and news that happen in the world of my art. I hope you all enjoy the new site and check back in from time to time to get news! Thanks for visiting.

Synposisesesesessss

A big step has pretty much concluded in the process of getting The Unknowns out there to the world. The past few weeks I have been writing and rewriting the synopsis for the book, in an attempt to get my story across in a concise way. I've had to write many things before in my life, but this sort of project is the one that just really is a challenge to me. I don't do well communicating what I mean without rambling on and on about it. Even with my stories, I tend to think I'm more Jules Verne than say H. G. Wells. Josh Ulrich likes to pick on me saying that its nearly impossible for me to tell a short story because I will create an epic from the material. So, attempting to widdle down a book series into a matter of two pages or so, was the works.

I managed to get it done though and that marked the culmination of the journey in looking for an agent. I'm happy to say I am partnering up with Brendan Deneen of FinePrint Literary to try and take this book to the masses. He's been extremely supportive of the concept for the book and helpful in aiding me into these uncharted waters (for me anyway). I really appreciate his patience with helping this project be successful.

So what to do now that we're kind of on to the next phase? Well, I plan to keep writing. I'm finding that a major part of the overall story may need some reworking. Its more of a change to when and how I give information about the characters than a ultimate change in direction. It's still pretty major though and could warrant some extensive rewrites. That's what first drafts are for!

The next few weeks I expect I'll spend some time getting some other obligations off my table. I have some websites I am redesigning for myself and businesses (my parent's restaurant haha). My personal website has not been redesigned in almost three years. That's too long. This needs a remedy.

The Unknowns production won't slow down though really. I'm still working through a ton of material and I even got the idea today for exactly how book 2 could start off. Progress is being made.