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Email the author at qwanderer7+lgc@gmail.com

The Elves of LleuGarnock is Copyright Irene Pitcairn<2008-2009. The Elves of LleuGarnock is hosted on ComicGenesis, a free webhosting and site automation service for webcomics.

LleuGarnock HOME Archive     --- CHAPTERS & Sections     --- Chapter 1: Amaranta's Grandchildren 1-1: The Berry Incident 1-2: Destiny & Mr. Cat 1-3: By Garnock River 1-4: Pursuit of Fruit Chapter 2: Gemini Alone 2-1: The Dangers of Thinking 2-2: Healing 2-3: Destiny or Somesuch 2-4: Humans in Town Chapter 3: Laws and Secrets 3-1: Comforts of Home 3-2: Colliding Worlds 3-3: Living History 3-4: Gifts Chapter 4: Calindell Roads 4-1: Blue Girl 4-2: Toad's Story 4-3: Getting Along 4-4: Arledge Chapter 5: Under the Full Moon 5-1: Black Cat Inn 5-2: Corn Cat 5-3: Helpless 5-4: Story of the Opals Chapter 6: Prisoners of the Earth 6-1: Bitter Words 6-2: Kings and Constraints 6-3: The Shape of a Prison 6-4: Lightless Chapter 7: Bonds of Hardship 7-1: Differences of Opinion 7-2: Truitt's Tale 7-3: Strange Magic 7-4: The Black-Haired Man 7-5: The Evil-Hearted Monk Chapter 8: Shedding Light 8-1: Curses on Verses 8-2: Who Needs Keys? 8-3: The Sacrifice 8-4: Prayers Chapter 9: An Unequal Fight 9-1: Drawing the Curtains 9-2: Power of the Staff 9-3: To the Ends of the Earth 9-4: And Back Home

August 14, '08

I got my tie-dyes! I'm going to start dyeing stuff today. It's the real kind where you pre-wash the shirts in special detergent, soak them in soda ash, mix dyes from powder form, combining with urea and water, then dye, let them soak for a few hours, and then wash in special detergent again. They should be colorful for a long time.

I'm just going to use standard fabric "puffy paints" and a sponge to stencil on the logo, but if it works out well I might buy some better paints and stencil brushes. It should be fun, but the whole project is going to take a lot of time. I only spent about four dollars on supplies per shirt, and if I start producing in larger volumes it will cost even less. I would like to be able to price them at ten dollars. My brain argues that I am undervaluing my time. I argue back that it is great fun and it would be even more fun if I actually sold some. That's six dollars of profit for something I prob'ly would have done anyway! After all, the original plan was to order a smaller dyeing kit and make random shirts for myself.

I'm still trying to close in on the end of Chapter Two. Page 90 is being bothersome. I had an actual joke in one of the later drafts of the book, and that is where it would go, but I find that in its new context, a) it sort of breaks the flow and b) it isn't as funny. I hated to leave it out, though, so I'm sort of de-emphasizing it in a way that works it back into the flow. I hope.

As you may have noticed I got some painful criticism the other day. It was lovely. I think it absolutely true. I know I've talked before about the troubles I've had working my way from a draft of a novel to the really, truly visual fusion that is a great comic. Critics may say that this really isn't the way to go about writing a comic, but from here inside my brain there doesn't seem to be a better way.

This is the story I want to be writing. I'm quite attached to it. There are two other major works of mine that I'm similarly attached to. One of those would really not work in comic form. The other certainly would, and sometimes I imagine, someday in the future, that I'll draw it. I haven't the skill to do it justice. I don't have quite enough idea yet on the specifics of the plot. It's a collaborative work with a friend and if I was to draw it I would want more control over it than I have now. Also, I'm writing LleuGarnock now, and I really want to finish what I've started, this time.

LleuGarnock, especially in the beginning, depends a lot on the thoughts going through Gemini's head. When I started, I had some idea that this would be problematic, but I didn't realize the extent. I couldn't have, until I had tried to piece it together in comic form. Now that I look at what I've got in the first two chapters, I see the problems more clearly, and I begin to see ways to avoid similar problems in the future.

Perhaps someday I'll go back and redo these chapters right. I'd like to learn even more before I do, and I'd like to forge ahead and make progress telling the story that I very much want to tell.

The plot of LleuGarnock (or at that time simply "The Sun Elves") was built on a core of a moment or two of strong visual imagery. It was always meant to be illustrated, and so as the book was written, that was developed a little. Still, the way that I built the plot, it didn't produce many more such moments. For one, I was working under time constraints. I wasn't focusing on real craftsmanship, but rather on utilitarian writing, as one does in school. For another, I had no real idea how. At that point I was struggling with building any kind of plot.

I've never felt the desire to be a cinematographer. When I found that I wanted to be part of a craft which combined my love for writing with my talent for drawing, that is to say comics, I had reason to regret this. While I'm an artist, I have never had an instinct for framing an image or choosing an interesting angle. I don't think in movie scenes, the way my collaborator does. My thoughts are rooted quite solidly in words.

I'm thinking on the keyboard here. I'm pondering Adam's words about my scripting skill, and what they mean to me, and where they lead me. He says that I ought to pay more attention to my scripts, make them more brief and to the point. While that is quite correct in the short term, in order for it to work in my story in the long term I have to focus on images. I have to start thinking of my story in terms of a series of beautiful or dramatic images, rather than a series of events shaped by words.

This hasn't occurred to me before, possibly because it was something I would have found quite difficult. I still don't know if I can do it well, but I'm going to start trying. Such inspiring images don't come to me on command, and certainly not in such a way that they will fit perfectly into the project I'm working on. Then again, the same used to be true for humor. It's still going to be a rocky road for both skills to travel, but all I can do is walk it.

In any case, there is a lot more visual storytelling built into later chapters already, and some images have come to me while I've shaped the story in my head in preparation for its translation into comic form. I have confidence that later segments of the comic will be more satisfying to Adam's comic-reading sensibilities.

This rant has been quite a ride. I thank Adam for the comments that began this train of thought. I've certainly gained something from the experience, and I hope it will help my comic to improve. I think that it will. So if anyone else has something they'd like to tell me about how I could make LleuGarnock a better comic, bring it on.