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So, most of you will remember that I had this terrible idea for a book of superhero poetry and then never managed to dismiss it. I pulled together characters and archetypes. I briefly flirted with the idea of giving them their own types of poems, but it seemed too obtuse. I purposefully want it to be simple. I want characters, but I also want ciphers that will make people feel comfortable while they consume the story in this new, scary form. I've been thinking about these characters and this foolish waste of time quite a bit, which lead to me doing some sketches in a work meeting.
That's Erinys, Warning, and an early idea about Martys that I've since abandoned. What? I totally listen better if my hands are preoccupied, which is why I continue to sketch things in meeting even though I am clearly terrible at drawing.
As you can see at the link I started chatting a bit with a Twitter friend about Erinys's look and he offered to do some actual character sketches for me while he was procrastinating on his own Nano work. So I wrote up a detailed description of one of the main female characters and sent it his way.
Guys, I was pleased as punch with what he sent me back. It pretty much made my night, and that's the night I was seeingthe five minutes of Winter Soldier footage Thor 2, so it had stiff competition.
[© Joey Silva (@joecool57h) Click the pictures to embiggen.]
He sent me four variations on the design, but I'm putting up these two because the first one there has the excellent sigil that he created and the second is the version I like best. I kind of have no words for the sigil, because it's much more complicated than anything I could create visually, but it fits in with the aesthetic and the universe really well. Like, if this stupid thing is ever published I'm going to pay him for it so I can use it with the books. And possibly put it on a mug for my own edification. I have simple needs.
Yesterday at lunch I was thinking about how Erinys is working symbol-less for the start of the book and I sketched out a possible version of Warning handing it over to her. It's not in poetic form yet--about half of this has been poetry at the start and half of it has been prose that I go back and tinker with and condense, which might be a really weird way to go about it--but it is definitely What Happened.
TL;DR - I really love this whole stupid Superheroetry universe and all of my creative friends. Please feed the artist.
That's Erinys, Warning, and an early idea about Martys that I've since abandoned. What? I totally listen better if my hands are preoccupied, which is why I continue to sketch things in meeting even though I am clearly terrible at drawing.
As you can see at the link I started chatting a bit with a Twitter friend about Erinys's look and he offered to do some actual character sketches for me while he was procrastinating on his own Nano work. So I wrote up a detailed description of one of the main female characters and sent it his way.
Guys, I was pleased as punch with what he sent me back. It pretty much made my night, and that's the night I was seeing
[© Joey Silva (@joecool57h) Click the pictures to embiggen.]
He sent me four variations on the design, but I'm putting up these two because the first one there has the excellent sigil that he created and the second is the version I like best. I kind of have no words for the sigil, because it's much more complicated than anything I could create visually, but it fits in with the aesthetic and the universe really well. Like, if this stupid thing is ever published I'm going to pay him for it so I can use it with the books. And possibly put it on a mug for my own edification. I have simple needs.
Yesterday at lunch I was thinking about how Erinys is working symbol-less for the start of the book and I sketched out a possible version of Warning handing it over to her. It's not in poetic form yet--about half of this has been poetry at the start and half of it has been prose that I go back and tinker with and condense, which might be a really weird way to go about it--but it is definitely What Happened.
She took a step back, hoping to trip some out of body rewind button they’d yet to discover. She wanted so much from Spencer. She’d wanted all of him since they first met. Since she was in tutus and crowns instead of capes and goggles. It occurred to her that she had never not worn a costume.
Here they were, Erinys in her Elise Marks costume and Spencer Callow in his Warning costume. He was offering her a legacy, one that he’d been in charge of until such a time as she could take it. He was offering her her father back when all she’d come for was Spencer himself. His eyes were clear. He was looking through and into her, the way he always did. He had never, never simply looked at her or appreciated what she was on the face of it. Perhaps he was incapable of it. Perhaps he could not see her as her own person because he’d spent so long knowing that she was her father’s daughter, even when she didn’t know herself.
She stepped back again, hoping to trigger time, hoping to have been caught in the elevator or taken by the Shadow Organization’s thugs. She would welcome bruises and bleeding that could be tended to in place of the blood now pooling under her heart, because after everything, Spencer didn’t want her. Spencer wasn’t waiting for her. He was waiting to pass responsibility to her. And he was waiting for Babel to accept him in her father’s place.
It was all wrong that the vigilante had been her father. It was all wrong, all of it. This wasn’t her life. The symbol Spencer had placed in her hands wasn’t wind or destiny, it was weight and drag. He spoke no other words, but his intent was deafening. Spencer dove backwards off the rooftop without so much as whispering a goodbye. He left her alone. They all left her alone.
TL;DR - I really love this whole stupid Superheroetry universe and all of my creative friends. Please feed the artist.
