Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Maps, Drawings, Sketches and more Doodles

February 2009

Fiction writers go about it in different ways. Some work up detailed outlines first, then write. Others just let it flow. I draw things. It helps me better envision the characters and surroundings of my stories. I intended Paleopeople to be a Tolkienesque project. So the first thing I did after I completed the preface was draw a map. I had Tolkien's maps from his Lord of the Rings trilogy in mind when I drew them. The world of my Paleopeople came to life. The story came to life.

Before I knew it, the map had dotted lines showing where the heroes journeyed on their quests and adventures. I had created a universe of tunnels, caves, waterfalls, forests and villages. I showed where the good guys and bad guys lived, and where battles took place. And I did it all in pencil. In pencil so that I could change things as the story went along, and change it did.

It didn't stop there. I drew pictures of their buildings and even of them. I got my artist mother in on it. She is one of the best artists in know. She even worked for Disney Studios back in the day, so she was perfect for my purposes. She helped me by drawing my characters as I saw them. I will find some and post them later.

I was becoming more and more immersed in the project. With the maps and drawings and the written words, I was getting progressively pulled into the imaginary world, to the point that I could actually feel, smell, hear, taste and see it. I was writing from inside that world and not from behind a window looking in.


I even took an oil painting I had done several years before and photoshopped it (with some help from Kieran) to make a cover for my eventual blockbuster. I will try to post it after I complete this post.

I am not sure this post qualifies as a lesson learned, but it should show how an author of fiction can become immersed in a project, and why they should. The more senses you tune into while writing, the more senses you will be able to get your readers to trigger. And the more senses you trigger, the more memorable the reading experience.

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