Little Red Book

After I finished Hedra, I knew I wanted to do a follow up, not a literal sequel, but something of a stylistic continuation. I bought this red Moleskine that would only be used for the project. I stamped the date I bought it on the front page, March 21, 2016. The first pages are filled with Hedra-like grids and scenes of submerged cities with stylized Great Wave Off Kanagawa waters. There's a circus ship filled with clowns, giants, elephants, and an evil lion tamer. There are notes on Joseph Campbell's monomyth. There is a giant fish and scenes within the fish's belly. There's a character who carves the fish out of wood and gives them life, ancient turtles, and an anatomical man I called The Glass Eater.

But now the story has evolved. It follows a fledgling magician who steals a master magician's staff. There's almost no relation to the original ideas. I've also returned to the writing method that I've used on and off for the last five years or so. I sit down with a blank page and make it up as I go without worrying about layouts or grids. It really isn't a continuation of what I was doing in Hedra at all.

I've never kept a project confined to one single book and it's turned into an interesting (to me at least) document of my creative process.

And here's what I am:

Reading:
Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia Butler
I-Robot by Isaac Asimov
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice by Ivan Brunetti
Jinchalo by Matthew Forsythe
Further Grickle by Graham Annable
Swallow Me Whole by Nate Powell
The Girl and the Gorilla by Madéleine Flores
Map of Days by Robert Hunter
Mister Wonderful by Dan Clowes

Watching:
Veep
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The Secret Lives of Pets
RAW

Listening:
Casefile
Crimetown
Hideous Energy
Can
Chance the Rapper
Beyoncé