Quantum Storytelling

Hollywood does it. Video games do it. So why not novelists?

Why aren’t we using concept artists? While many aspiring authors aren’t exactly rolling in the dough, doesn’t that mean they have day jobs? Surely some of us could afford to have a few concepts banged out by a graphics whiz?

The other day I discovered ConceptArt.org. I asked our resident concept artist at work if he had heard of it. Turns out he’s been hanging out there for years.

So now you know where all the hot talent is hanging out. Maybe poke around there and see what you can find out?

If you know of any other sites, or have anything to report on this come back here and comment!

Within the writing blog circles on various occasions I’ve heard mention of people picking actors to use as a model for characters, even using their pictures to inspire them. While I have done a little of this, I thought I might ask if anyone has done this for their settings?

I’m a voracious collector of futuristic architecture photographs. Not just because my story takes place in the future, but because I also just find futurism in all aspects, fascinating. Especially when you consider the types of buildings and communities we might see a hundred or two hundred years from now.

Do you collect location reference images?

The other crazy idea I had, was since I work in the video game industry and I’m already familiar with tools of the trade like Maya and 3D Studio MAX, I could very easily build prototypes of my environments and render images out of them. It would require a bit of time investment, but I think it is worthwhile in the same way that movies find it worthwhile to have someone storyboard the scenes. In other words, I could certainly do some 3D storyboarding if I wanted.

Has anyone else done this? How much of your story do you visualize? And what tools or resources do you use to aid in that visualization?

I was in Barnes & Noble over the weekend, and I noticed even more books about writing on the shelf than I have in past visits. Is it just me, or is the Books On Writing section in your local bookstore exploding? I flipped through a few, although most of them seem to cover all the same material ad nauseum. Every one seems to have a chapter on plotting, one on characters, one on doing outlines, etc.

For me writing theory is alot like my other pet subjects: quantum physics, networked complexity (Six Degrees, etc.), branding. Once you’ve read 3-5 books on the subject, it gets harder and harder to find more books that have a perspective you haven’t encountered, or any new information. As you can tell from my own Books On Writing section, I’ve already plowed through a decent list of them.

Like my other pet topics though, it’s hard for me to just walk away from the subject. I still love to read about it, and the quest to find new information on the topic is fun in itself.

I noticed Nienke mentioned First Draft In 30 Days over on her site last week. I didn’t see that one in the bookstore or I would have flipped through it. It does remind me a lot of Chris Baty’s book “No Plot, No Problem: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days” - which I didn’t feel the need to read because I’ve already participated in NaNo and I know what that’s all about, and could probably tell you that Baty’s book is an advertisement for NaNoWriMo without having read it. ;-)

One that I have seen mentioned in the blog circles a bit is Novelists Boot Camp, which after flipping through at the bookstore seemed to have a few trickles of alternative techniques and information.

I’ve encountered quite a few writers who don’t ‘believe in writing books’ — I’m not sure what there is or isn’t to ‘believe,’ it’s not exactly a religion? Although, I think if you are interested enough in a subject to spend a lot of time on it, wanting to read a book about it is only natural. I do it to learn new tricks or techniques to make the hair-pulling a little less, and life a little easier.

Do you read books on writing? Why or why not? And does it seem like there has been a flood more recently? Any good recommendations?