Villains, Sea Shanties and 12,000 words

I really enjoy creating villains and the books are full of them, there are all kinds of dastardly and nefarious gangs running amok in the streets each with their own distinct uniforms and preferred methods of combat. In the second book I've also written one song and am finishing another that ends the book, luckily I have many musician friends and I can already picture one group in particular performing the songs at a book launch. There is just so much I enjoy about these books that I'm able to take everything I loved as a child from comics to movies and mix it all up and pour it out.

I've got room for a lot of new pages and I'm currently writing the first climax of book two, feels good.

The above drawing is of one of the gangs, not giving away their name just yet but I do have a couple of Marvel Universe Juggernaut figures that I could mod pretty quickly to look like the guy above, but that will have to wait, gotta get to the end of this book first.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Modern Times, Airport Trucks and 12,000 words to go

As you can see while I was laid up with a mangled jaw I did do some small builds for the dioramas I made a bunch more of these cogs for another "Modern Times" themed diorama, this time I'd like to do a classic Clock Tower set complete with moving hands and all kinds of ropes and pulleys. The second photo is of a small fuel or baggage truck like you see at the airport.

I'm back into editing on Book Two and really enjoying chopping out the dead stuff to make room for the 12,000 more words that I need to get to in the next couple of weeks, I did get a bit stuck for awhile, obviously the break at the cottage has done me some good and I'm hacking crap out like there's no tomorrow.

As always if you have any questions about the Book Series or the diorama builds send me an email.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Lions, Tigers and Oh Wow! Monsters!

If the first book of Any How Town is like an Indiana Jones film and the second book has shades of the Goonies I'd have to say that book three is Jurassic Book and it's chock full of beasties. Yes there are beasties in book one but book three is a full on beastie overdrive. I've been waiting months, even years to get to all the beasts and transcribing/editing the third book today has given me the chance to experience the thrill of describing and encountering these beasts all over again.

If you click on the label "bestiary" you can see other photos of the beasts and see how they were made.

your monster keeper,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Book Three, backyards and trees.

The first three books of Any How Town were written in long hand in our backyard about two summers ago, I sat in this yard (above) and wrote all day and into the evening only stopping to make dinner. I was shocked at how much I was able to accomplish in just over three months, all of the notes, drawings and dreams just poured out and when I was finished and returned to painting in the studio I had a giant stack of pages, more importantly I had what was to become my first (second and third) book.

I sat under the shade of a great tree and was able to work for hours hidden from the sun, sadly that tree died by the end of the summer and there was little shade in our yard.

The night before we left for the cottage a freak storm blew through Toronto and the tree that had once shaded me, now dead, was unable to battle the wind and half of it came down in our yard.

If you look closely you can see the branch is balancing on the wire.

Now we're back and the tree branch has been cleared, I woke up early this morning, around 5:30 am with a great idea, a nice change from waking up with a pained jaw like I had been for the past two/three weeks. I pulled out my notes and rough draft pages for Any How Town Book Three, set up the lap top outside and got back to work. I thought when I returned that I'd be finishing Book Two but the idea I woke up with was so solid and realized I had to get it down on paper, typed not handwritten, and it's 9:30 and I've gotten to about the twelfth page and I couldn't be happier.

I'll be getting back into Book Two tomorrow but for now getting the through line of Book Three is taking me to some great places.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Back into Book Two and tiny pilots

It seems like it's been about three weeks since I've done anything of consequence in regards to the book series, my injury really took me out of the game for awhile there but we're back after a great week at the family cottage and I'm ready to finish Book Two and do some tiny edits in Book One.

I took the time while I was at the cottage to do some beta testing of my own with the help of my nine year old nephew, I read about thirty pages to him and am happy to report that I had his attention almost the whole time, there were just a couple of little dips that pointed me towards a couple of new edits, thanks N. you were a great help.

I forgot how much I enjoyed reading to him, if there ever is an audio book edition of Any How Town I'm the man for the job.

It's great to feel positive again about the work and I'm ready to get the second book finished in third draft form before the end of August, get an agent or begin submitting directly to publishing houses. Still not 100% sold on ebook self published formats, when I picture kids reading the books, I see the physical book in their hands so we'll keep that on the back burner for now.

expect more posts and progress to come. Also excited about these eight pilots showing up at my house sometime soon, just because the dioramas are on hold doesn't mean I can't still pick up some folks to populate them when I get back to them in January.

all the best,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Character Sketches MG series, Sweet Relief and Concentration

I've started to label each post here on the blog, if you're looking for pictures of the characters go to the "Character Sketches" label on the right, for my thoughts on writing a book series and trying to get published etc. go to "process notes". Diorama and building stuff is labelled under "Diorama", "Vehicles", "Bestiary" and "Tutorials" where you can see how things are built.

I can't remember the name of the character in the top photo, I have notes on him, his family etc, but his name escapes me right now, he's the son of a famous Sputter Jack racer and also the first person Oliver and Eaglet meet from the Capital City, so his outlook and world view are very different from theirs, his appearance also opens up the possibility of O and E travelling to the Capitol city further down the line.

The second drawing is of the fourth member of the band of soldiers that the books were originally about, he's a fun character to write who walks the edge between being totally out of control and the life of the party, the wild card, there' usually one in every group of friends.

I'm getting so damn tired of not being able to write, I can't focus so well on the words and editing with this pain in my jaw, I can draw, sketch, etc. but writing is just too hard, so I can't wait to get to the dentist today and start getting this sorted out.

As always you can email me any questions you have about the books, characters, diorama building or whatever you like,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 



Painkillers And Pencils Day Three

The first figure is a character who is mentioned in the first book but doesn't appear until the fifth book, I've designed two looks for her, the above is the more flashy "Hollywood" version and the other is more of a pilgrim or preacher look, I like them both equally and hope that she'll use both looks in the Book 5.

Really disappointed in screwing up the expression on the Gomez, he's one of my favourite characters that I've designed for the series, his back story and circumstances are great fun and his speech patterns are fun to write, his design  is of course based on ultimate bad ass Danny Trejo I'll have to draw his head again sometime.

Still not 100% happy with these drawings, I tend to work too fast on certain aspects of the drawings and I have to slow down and really flesh out the tough spots in pencil before inking or colouring anything.
Gotta go there's a good MG chat starting on twitter

Monday can't come soon enough,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com 

More Characters MG vs YA and pain

Way back when I began this project my main character was the fella you see at the top Brinker Ellis, he lived (well still does) in a shack behind the most popular bar in the city, one of his best friends Denny "Deaths Head" Stinson is pictured below he's one of the older brothers of the main character Oliver Stinson. These guys were soldiers, the books take place three years after the was has ended.

 

The switch to Oliver and Eaglet being the main characters is explained in one of the posts below, but I wouldn't be against writing a book about the four teenaged friends who the stories were originally going to be based around, it was some thick dystopia for sure, there were characters with PTSD, drinking problems, rage issues you name it, but it was also a lot of fun.

 

Expect more drawings to show up over the next while, I am in a huge amount of pain right now, going into the Dentist Monday and will probably have to get a root canal or two, the right side of my jaw feels like I've been kicked in the face with a combat boot, and yes I do know what that feels like. Drawing seems to be the only thing that helps take my mind off the pain, that and taking pills, and also getting ready to have six people over for dinner in about three hours.

wish me luck,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Character sketches and process

I realized that for the next little while I should just focus on sketches of characters who will appear in the first book of the AHT series. The top drawing is Sinawa Rainland, who is Eaglet's Mother, she is seen wearing the standard poncho and facial markings of the Sinawa people who live in the Green Points forest.

The second drawing is the town engineer Janvia Magetal, the first female engineer the town has ever had. I really like the Yankee pinstripe style of her coverall and it's become a motif for city workers in AHT, it's also very similar to the uniforms worn by the convicts at Lance Head Prison - maybe this is a coincidence maybe not, you'll have to read the books when they come out.

It's always a challenge with these posts about revealing too much, there are some aspects of the series that seem like the books are aimed at a younger audience than the MG level of reading, but as more information and characters cross paths with Oliver and Eaglet the more sinister elements and themes of AHT start to show themselves.

All for now,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 



A Slow Start A Strong Backbone

 

Yesterday was absolute crap in the writing game and before heading to sleep I received another rejection from an agent that I submitted to, nothing like trying to catch 40 winks with a head full of doubts. I even considered just taking today to start outlining a new book, a stand alone, separate from the Any How Town series. A ghost story or a heist story, but my initial ideas were too dark and violent, so I cleaned the bathroom instead and will soon clean the treads of the stairs, the negative energy has to go somewhere, may as well put it to good use.

I suppose I'm just talking to myself right now, trying to get my spirits back up so I can work on these books with the attention and care that the characters deserve. I've been an independent artist for a long time, as a painter I'm used to working long hours before achieving something. I always know that my imagination will save me no matter what I come up against, I've got a thick skin but yesterday I felt pretty damn sensitive. I am so very grateful for my wife and my dog and the home that we have together, a home that is getting cleaner and cleaner by the day.

The above drawings are of Katherine Orrow, who I posted about yesterday, she's riding a giant turtle named Chesterfield, this was my first attempt at drawing a turtle, funny how these things come up, I've drawn and painted chickens, cows, horses, cats but this is my first turtle - a giant turtle covered in horns to boot.

The second sketch is of one of the most powerful characters in Any How Town and one of the key players in the mystery of the first four books, I'm not going to say anything about him, don't want to give too much away.

As always if anyone has any questions for me, send me an email to the address below, it would be great to hear from you.

enjoy the sun today Toronto

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Avoiding the Moribund and Character Design

What a terrible day it's been at the keyboard, messed up all over the place, just didn't have it today. I think I have to move forward and work on the end of the book, I'm going over it in sections and just got nowhere. Terrible feeling, on the other hand our kitchen is cleaner than it's been in weeks (we made fresh jam this weekend and pasta, so things got pretty messy in there) and our backyard now has solar powered lights running through the ivy so that will be nice to look at this eve as the moon comes up over the backyard.

Above are a couple of designs of characters who appear later in the series, actually the figure at the top doesn't show up until after the first four books are finished, he's in Book Five and Six which is a two part story. The character is named "the Clam Pot Man" and he's my rip on Boba Fett. There was no cooler moment in the Empire Strikes Back than the pan up to the Bounty Hunters and I wanted something similar to open the fifth book of the series and believe me, the Bounty Hunters in Any How Town are some of the weirdest and scariest dudes you've ever seen.

This was my second attempt at designing him, he is supposed to look like an old wood fire stove and a suit of armour crossed together. Why? You'll have to wait and find out.

The second drawing is Assembly Woman White Street and she makes her first appearance in Book Three and is a major part of Book Four, I've written a bunch of rough pages with her in them and she's a hoot to write as a character. I love subverting tropes, taking moribund settings and pumping them up, the first book is set in a mine and at first I wanted to avoid a setting like that but then realized it's what I do with it that makes it new, and I believe I accomplished that in Book One, same with the Assembly Woman, if you judged her by her appearance above, you will have made a grave error, when it comes to warriors there are none more feared than the Assembly Woman.

Writing about these characters actually cheered me up.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Scattered Notes, Character, Loss of Innocence

I've had several thoughts pass through my head this weekend about my main and supporting characters, some trivial and some very worthwhile. When I started writing the first book I changed the age of my characters by two years, I realized that they would be far too young to handle the quest that I was sending them on and not only because of the physical trials I put them through in the books but also by the end of the 4rth book I knew that the root of the story was about the loss of innocence.

The conspiracy that the two discover is large and has a statewide effect on all those around them, they had to be more mature to handle and assemble what they find, what they find changes them, they change with every book in the series.

 I also realized that I kept them at about ages ten and eleven because I wanted to avoid romance, there are romances in the story, they just happen to people close to them. From reading twitter and other sources I know that romances are very popular, almost necessary in these kinds of books, but O and E endure tests of their friendship, and that to me is the heart of the book, this is a story of a boy and girl who are friends and their friendship helps them endure the journey.

Always apologies for how awkward these paragraphs are, I'm mostly leaving notes and reminders for myself about why I've taken on this project.

All for now,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com