Reindeer Moss and that is all

Picked up some Reindeer Moss today at a Dollar Tree, it's less tightly packed than that combat coloured thick ropey fake moss that is usually sold at Dollar Stores, should come in handy filling in well, grassy spots I suppose.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Marvel Girl, Mods and such

Once I get myself a little further ahead than I am now with my paintings for the November show at the Cameron House (see "mad craft shoppe" blog, sidebar) I may attempt to do some modding. I picked up this Marvel Girl figure at a Toy'r'Us and I figure that she'll be perfect for the experiments in painting, application and sculpting that I want to try. I won't be doing anything to crazy I just want to take this figure and make it look like 1) it's clothed 2) it doesn't have a mask on 3) cover up those ridiculous boob marbles.

The ending of Book Two (which I'm on a short break from) is really coming together, I even surprised myself with a couple of new revelations in the story, which felt great.

cheers,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Canvas Supports, Wood Kits and Rest

Got a great chunk of Book Two transcribed yesterday so I'm taking the day to do some drawing for my annual show at the Cameron House in November (mark your calendars now) and maybe this evening I'll get around to do some building. The top photo are the canvas supports that come with the prestretched canvases you can buy at most art supply stores, these things are awesome for your diorama builds, I use them to make wheelbarrows, crates, stair treads you name it.

The second photo is one of the wood kits that I posted yesterday, just look at those circles! Circles punch outs are great for adding detail to wheels, so if you see a kit with circles I suggest you snap them up.

Alright down to the studio to cause some chaos, head over to the mad craft shoppe blog (see links, right side bar) to check out my paintings.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Wood Kits, Pellet Guns and Edits

Back from a great weekend out of town, hikes in the woods, digging through abandoned Mika (how do you spell Mika?) pits, shooting pool,buying Wasabi Horseradish and all the while doing edits on Book Two and finding some small holes that have to be plugged in Book One and Two.

I thought I was really and truly finished with Book One but I have to go in and make some changes, the first chapter has to change, it moves, but just a little too slowly for my liking compared to the rest of the book, I did say that set ups are set ups, but I found a more fun way into the book. Here's a tip don't start with your character waking up, that's a start for you, not for the reader, so kill it and find something better.

The Book Two adds are going to be great, look forward to getting them in there, as long as it may take  I might hold off on pursuing agents until I'm finished the third book, not sure about this yet, but maybe that's the way to go, it's going to be killer on my pocket book but I want these books to sell and be loved, as much as I have loved working on them.

Picked up these great wood kits just outside of Ottawa, I've never come across these ones before (Canadian Made!) they will make fine additions to the models.

On a sad note I came home to hear that James Gray has left us, he was an incredible musician, a great keyboardist, accordion player and one of a kind curmudgeon. The stages across Canada will miss you James, I'll miss hearing your music in the many darkened bars I frequent.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 



Query Letters, Climaxes and the Editing Dog

First off, I wrote a great chunk (22 pages) of the end of Book Two yesterday, sure it's barely legible and covered in notes and scribbles, but it's a huge leap forward. I've mostly been editing in the second book, clearing out stuff that was either slowing down the pacing or just sounded awkward, but I hadn't written the ending yet. I had notes that told me where I was going, the last chapter was pretty firm but I had to get my characters there in a way that was fun, action packed and clear, and I did it, very, very happy.

 

Secondly, I hate my query letter, when I first wrote it and revised, it was very concise, very clear about the first book in the series, but it wasn't any fun, it really didn't reach out and grab you, this was a huge mistake on my part as I've sent it out to 25 agents,  this is a big set back, in hindsight I shouldn't have starting contacting agents without spending more time with the letter, I am doing some revisions on it and making it more unique. In fact the word "unique" was only one of the mistakes I made writing the letter, of course it's unique, I have to tell them why.

 

I've also stopped drinking coffee, one in the morning, and then switching to non caffeinated tea, I was guzzling the stuff while editing and all it did was upset my stomach and reduce my patience, so that also was a mistake.

 

I don't always know when to take a break and walk away to collect my thoughts, luckily my dog Double tells me when it's time to go on his walk. First he waits patiently for the right time, then we discuss the matter and then he puts the full weight of his tiny head on my arm and stops the writing before I put something down that I might have to change later, it seems to be working.

have a great day,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 



Tragedy, WorldBuilding, Big Questions

Does a character have to have a personal tragedy in their lives to be the catalyst and motivator in their quest?

I wrestled with this a lot during the early days of writing the first book (as yet unpublished) of the series. Did Oliver need something to happen to him that helped propel him forward - when writing query letters is it important to include this information? Oliver's family has suffered tragedy, his brothers have been injured in the war, both in ways that have changed them, would it be too much to add another dead brother to the mix?

 

Should I start off a book with a nightmare about a dead brother?

 I thought and wrote about it a lot in my notes - it felt moribund to me and played out in books - "Oh look he's got a dead brother, he's an orphan etc. etc.

Death is not that romantic to me.

 

I wanted these books to be about a young kid who grows up on his adventures, he brings villains to justice, he exposes ugly truths, why should he be crippled emotionally too ? If we was, it may have made him weak, unable to find the reserves that he needed to complete the journey that he's on, he's a young kid, if he was already fragile and something upset him wouldn't he just run home to his Mother ? What would his parents be like if they too were getting over a tragedy ? The book would begin with such a heavy pall over it I wouldn't want to read past the fifth page.

Why do some authors insist on beating the crap out of their characters so they can find just a little bit more courage inside them? It reads like total bullshit to me.

 

I want my books to be entertaining, I want a kid to have fun, yes fun, reading my story.

I want this series to fool the reader, not in a malicious way, it begins as one story and gradually as things are discovered a larger picture is revealed that changes the main character and everyone around him. I think a middle grade reader wants to identify first with the characters, they want to see themselves and if the world I have built presents itself as sunny first, so be it, because by the time we get to the end of the quest that world is a very different place, darker, and more dangerous.

 

Here's a link to literary agent Gemma Cooper's blog entry on world building, there some good stuff here and some great shots of the Harry Potter Studio Tour, she makes good points about time, how long does it take for a character to get from one place to the other? This was a major issue for me when writing my series and I had FUN, yes fun figuring out all kinds of methods that I could use to move my main characters around in good time.
http://jennybent.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/world-building-with-harry-potter-studio.html

 

I have received two rejections in the past two days, one from what I would call a "Longshot Agent" one that I submitted to but who wasn't quite looking for my type of project, close  but not quite a match and the second was someone I would have liked to work with. It's tough I guess I've set up a couple of challenges for myself that would be better explained in a conversation but if your query/writing sample doesn't give enough or hook them immediately, just move on.
I don't mind the rejections, I've received 11 so far of about 25 queries that I've sent out, it's a competitive time in publishing especially for MG and YA fiction.

 

No pictures for you this morning, maybe later on.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com