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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

January 10, '09

I'm drawing again. I figured out a couple of things to make the next few pages smoother, but mostly I just got back into a comicking mindset. I was in a physical crafts cycle; I did some crocheting, some sculpey-molding, sewing, painting, baking and of course lots of present-wrapping. I'm still working on my Steampunk projects, especially my goggles, but I think other than that the cycle has ended. I also got all the necessary trappings for an oil painting studio, but I think I'm going to put it away until I go into another physical crafts stage - or until I can think of something to paint. Whichever.

My need to switch media was definitely compounded by the conflicts in the script. Mostly it comes down to the issues I've been grappling with the whole time. I want to make every page interesting, and I try, but often I just need to give up and convey the next step in the story however I can. I'm realizing that that becomes more crucial as I get farther into the story. I've noticed comics hook people with their first comics if they're interesting, but once people are hooked they just want to know what happens next. If you give them some interesting side note at the wrong time they will only be annoyed. So I'm working on changing my attitude about the content of each individual page.

I thought I was having trouble working on the flashback thing because the scripts weren't interesting enough. I didn't realize how much of my problem was that my pacing had started to change, but my expectations for each page had not. The section neeeds to be slower than I would have let myself be in the beginning. Or maybe it isn't even slower, but I have higher expectations for myself now that I have some idea what I'm doing.

The next section also had both types of problems: real ones, and ones I set up in my head. My favorite thing about writing is coming up with awesome new material. Section four of chapter three has a problem in that it's ancient material. It's one of the few scenes that had actual dialogue in the actual original book. For all I know it's riveting, but I'm kind of bored of it. Or it might be more accurate to say that I've taken it for granted as a cornerstone of the plot, and now that I've taken it out and looked at it with all this new context it just doesn't live up to my new expectations.

Anyway, I fixed it. I came up with some new dialogue that fits better with the new feel of the story, and I've come to a mental place where I can see the scene having a subtler part in the overall plot, but still retaining most of its impact in the long term.

I'm quite happy with the amount of material I've come up with for the later chapters. I thought I would be able to expand the story a lot as I went on, but in the beginning I had very little idea how to do that with the later parts. Now that my store of scripts for chapter four has expanded again, I'm quite confident that I'll be able to do the same for the rest of the story. Maybe I can even make the climax make sense.

Minor spoilers follow.

I was especially worried about Chapter Four in terms of expansion. It's a common problem I've discussed with other writer friends - when characters are traveling, how do you give the impression that time is passing, while keeping it interesting? I already had a few ideas, but just a couple of days ago I came up with a whole new incident that in retrospect proves obvious as an addition to this story. I've only written a couple of lines of notes, but now the story would seem lacking without it. I'm glad I thought of it.

The whole pacing thing is strange. I'm not writing for my web followers in terms of pacing. Even so, I think I gave the first few chapters too much room. For the web audience it's ridiculous. I started posting in February '08 and my characters don't leave on their quest until an estimated April '09. The problem is, I really can't see the structure of the story properly until I've already written it. Looking back on the first two and a half chapters, they're pretty bloated. But if I hadn't done so many comics, I wouldn't know nearly as much now that I'm getting to the important stuff.

(That's right, everybody. The story doesn't really get going until April. But I promise, by then things will actually start to happen. Really this time.)

It's just nice to get back to work. Yes, I have some uninspiring stuff to get through, but I feel much better about its quality, and much more up to the task of slogging through it.