ROW80 Update - An Early End

Happy Watergate Day!  (Break in to a luxury hotel near you!  But don't tape the door locks in such a way that people can see that they're taped.  And if the security guard finds the tape and removes it ... really, seriously, don't put it back!) 

A Round of Words in 80 Days update:



Wednesday Day 73 - Deadline Day.  Even though I don't normally write on Deadline Day (I just edit and do art), I was going to try to get some writing done to make up for yesterday's poor performance.  I did not succeed at that.

However, when I sat down to do it, I ended up figuring out how to hook this episode into the next.  I needed to introduce, if only in the lightest way, Freddy and Basil.

Thursday Day 74 - 381 words.  Oh, day job is turning out to be much much more busy than expected for summer semester.  And it's going to be even busier in the fall, which means I need to make the very best use of summer that I can.

Friday Day 75 - Approx. 700 words.  I spent more time working on fussy stuff. I have roughed another 5-6 episodes -- or at least done the major scenes/exchanges from them.  I also did a bunch of artwork this evening.  Not specific to the serial, but rather I worked on silhouette figures inspired by illustrations of the period.  Working on hair and hats and waistlines and such to get the look right, and also a feel for different characters.  Most of what I did today was a little too realistic -- but I'm also playing with cartoonifying it.

The other thing I did... I rewrote Episode One.  I didn't change what happens, but I did remove Lily Beeton's intro and narration.  That was the first and last we see of it in the story, and I think it made the story more awkward than necessary. I was able to introduce Alex and Flavia better  because I had more space for it.

Part of the problem is that I'm just not comfortable with Lily's voice yet.  But I also think that she probably isn't such a great narrator.  I probably won't let her narrate even her own stories yet.  (But I might give her a blog later -- because I think she would take to actual blogging.  That is, reporting and explaining and telling anecdotes perhaps a little outside the regular plotline.)


Saturday Day 76 - 1399 words.  So close to the goal today!  But I did a lot of art, and some editing, and also probably 2500s on something that will likely become several blog posts. 

So there it is.

The early end of Round 2 for ROW80 2012 for me.  I have to start up for the Clarion Write-a-Thon next weekend, which will overlap with Round 3 of ROW80 in July and August, so I'm going to need a break.  This seems like the best place to take it.

Over the break, I will work on art, and try to get as many of these rough episodes done and scheduled to post as possible.  I will post an update on Wednesday.

See you in the funny papers.