A Grym Death

Hello and good morning, Max.  As anyone can see, it's been quite some time since our last post and the reasons for this are plentiful...However, the only one that warrants discussion is the progress I've made on my current book project Mary Morgan's Journal (MMJ).  I'm happy to say I've rounded the last turn and am well on my way down the homestretch.  The actual story is complete, but drawings are still progressing. 

As most will recall, MMJ is a fully illustrated novel which I hesitate to consider a "graphic novel" because of its unusual format (not drawn in "panels" that most are known for).  I won't say more on that matter until all is actually finalized, but I am so far quite pleased with my scriboodling efforts and hope that in the end, readers will say the same.  (If you absolutely must know more, please scroll down to my last post in which I yak it up about my "Next Big Thing.")

As for our meeting here at Ponderous Things...I would like to proclaim this to be the beginning of a short break in our time together, hence the tarot card.  ("Death" signifies change, or the end of one way and the beginning of another.)  As much as I love chattering on about my Buggy Crenshaw books, or Magpie & Dilly, or, of course, Mary Morgan's Journal, I feel the need to focus solely on the latter in order to complete it in a more timely manner (and also not to share too much prematurely).  However...

In the interim, I will not be idle in my blogging efforts.

As most are aware (due to my ginormous website, primarily), I am an absolute nut for odd and interesting bits of trivia, bizarre facts, or even conspiracy theories, providing they're peculiar enough, and for that reason, I will be launching a new blog which will feature such inspirational content.  There is so much out there in the world that beckons us to investigate that I cannot (and never have, really) ignore it.  These are the things that spark the imagination, that push us to wonder what would happen if...?  And where would we be if we did not at least make an attempt to satisfy that wonderment?

And so, it is not nearly a fond farewell that I bid you now, but more like a "Woohoooo! Wait till you see what happens next!"  I can hardly wait to see what odd but tasty things my new blog will inspire in us all.  Please keep your eyes open for updates as to when the launch will be.  I will no doubt blab all about it on Facebook and Twitter, along with my website. 

Until we meet again, I implore you to dream as big as you can possibly imagine!

P.S. This blog will remain until my new one is ready for your attention.  Please feel free to contact me in the meantime.

Enigmatically Yours

Hello, Max, and welcome back to our ponderous place where we yak it up about that magical world which is the setting not only for my Buggy Crenshaw series of books, but also for my most recent young adult novel Magpie & Dilly along with my current...wait...

"What?! What's this?" you might be wondering (as did I when I first set eyes upon this lovely blog badge).

Well, wonder no more, my friends!  This is what's known as The Next Big Thing Blog Hop!  

"What the D'Evil is that?" you're probably now wondering (as did I upon first hearing of such a thing).  "And where the heck did it come from?"

By all means, allow me to enlighten you...

I have been tagged by my friend and fellow writer M. G. Edwards to warn the world of “The Next Big Thing” I’m working on and to answer ten very probative inquiries pertaining to my project.  Afterward, I am to pass this honor along to five more authors and ask them to fulfill these same requirements.  If you'd like to know more about this matter and its history, please follow the link below to visit M. G.'s blog where he does a wonderful job of passing along this information.

Moving on, I’d first like to offer a very heartfelt thank you to M. G. for bestowing upon me this eagerly accepted opportunity to blab on and on about the often non-sensical things I’ve gotten myself into.  As many of you know, M. G. writes fiction in the mystery, thriller, and science fiction/fantasy genres as well as travel nonfiction.  His most recent works include the travel adventure Kilimanjaro:One Man’s Quest to Go Over the Hill  and Alexander the Salamander, a children’s e-book he penned along with his son Alex.  M. G. and his family currently reside in Bangkok, Thailand, and travel extensively, often sharing amazing and much appreciated photos of their journeys on Facebook and Twitter.  For more about M. G. and his work, please visit his blog or his website, and by all means, drop him a note to let him know you were there.  (By the way, all these links are live and will take you lickety-split to M. G.'s online hangouts, so please do make good use of them and follow him everywhere!)

As for my response to this prestigious honor, I would first like to confess that I have a number of projects in the works, but will only be sharing a single one of them here.  (Vague and rambling details of my other projects can be found on my website www.rmwilburn.com or, if you dare, you may contact me via this blog, Facebook, or Twitter where we can really yak it up!) 

And so:  following are the questions an innocent inquisitor (not the mean burn her at the stake sort, of course, or else I’d never answer, preferring as always to remain enigmatic) might ask of me without fear the consequences:

1.             What is the working title of your next book?

Mary Morgan’s Journal:  Time and Time Again

2.       What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

In the post-apocalyptic year 2047, 16-year-old Mary Morgan lives a privileged life in the elitist city of New London until the night her family is murdered by an arsonist whom everyone believes is Mary.

3.       What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Since the story involves time travel, I would say A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle and possibly The Time Machine by H. G. Wells.  It might also be compared to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins for the fact that it is set in a dystopian environment.  Some of the…er…characters (creatures) are more along what you might see in Star Wars, though.  Also, since there’s a great deal of illustration, I would have to add The Spiderwick Chronicles (by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi) to the mix, along with the Ologies book series published by Candlewick Press.  There!  That about sums it up (in a very bloated and cumbersome nutshell).

4.       Where did the idea come from for the book?

Do you mean, aside from my Super-Secret Story Maker-Upper?

Just kidding...sort of...(Be sure to click on this image to make it bigger so you can see the details of this fine and futuristic mechanism:  an absolute must for writers!)

Back to business:  The book is based on Mary Morgan, a supporting character from my book Buggy Crenshaw and the Bungler’sParadox.  As I continue to write the Buggy Crenshaw series of books (In Search of the Nexus), I find that I am eternally curious about the histories and mysteries of the lesser known characters.  Being a huge fan of the underdog, I have no choice but to wonder:  Who are they?  Where are they from?  What were they doing before I called upon them to make a (sometimes very brief) appearance in my project?  This is how my second series of books A Nexus Series Tangent (beginning with Magpie & Dilly) came about.

5.       Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I’ve recently grown obsessed with graphics software such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, along with some 3D art programs that have allowed me a better voice to relate what goes on in my head.  I’m a very visual person and ridiculously detail-oriented, and have found that by way of digital art, I can pass on the myriad details of my stories without bogging down the original notion.  With illustrations on every page, I am quite literally showing the story and not just telling it.  With this visual stimulus as well as so many wonderfully favorable responses to my blog and website where I post many of my drawings, I’ve been especially motivated to proceed.

6.       What genre does your book fall under?

I suppose it fits best in the science fiction/fantasy category and is probably most suitable for middle graders and young adults.  Also, I’ll add that with all the graphics, and the fact that it truly is a novel, I suspect it could be called a graphic novel…just without the usual panels that one sees in the comic book style.  Mine is more of a scrapbook-y, journal-ish…thing.  (I’m sure that’s about to become a genre all its own, as well it should!)

7.       What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

This is an easy one:  none!  Clearly, I’m a fan of illustration and the crazier, the better.  By a large margin, I prefer animated movies over traditional, so obviously, I’d love to see my project come to life in the same vein as Despicable Me, The Adventures of Tintin, or (my most recent favorite) Hotel Transylvania!  Woohooo! Wouldn’t that be a hoot?!

8.       Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I’ll be looking for an agent.

9.       How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

Beings that this project is so heavily illustrated, I got off easy on the writing (est. 32K words).  Overall, the draft took me only a matter of weeks since I was mostly just setting up the major plot points.  The illustrations are where the details lie.  As I complete the drawings, I modify the words to better fit the visual and, for this reason, the smaller portions of the story itself are constantly evolving.

10.       What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

Mary Morgan’s Journal is the first illustrated project I’ve attempted, but hopefully will not be the last.  There are clues throughout the book that not only hint at where Mary has been, but also at where she might go in possible future installments.  And, of course, beings that time travel is a given, the settings for these upcoming adventures hold some interesting (and admittedly quite bizarre) possibilities. 

Now, having said all that, I would like to offer as my choices of recipients of The Next Big Thing Blog Hop, the following fine writers:

Martha Bourke, author of The Jaguar Sun Series of books, http://www.marthabourke.com/blog

Rhiann Wynn-Nolet, YA author and blogger, http://rhiannwynnnolet.com 

E. Van Lowe, author of The Fallen Angels Saga, http://vanlowe.blogspot.com/

Kevin Rau, author of the H.E.R.O. novels, http://www.kevinrau.com/blog.asp

C. R. Hiatt, author of YA action-mysteries featuring teens McSwain & Beck, http://mcswainandbeck.com/

Once more, I'd like to thank M. G. Edwards for this fine opportunity to share my (so-called) work with the world.  If anyone would like to know more, please feel free to visit the archives here at Ponderous Things, or by all means, drop me a line.

Until next time, please do your very best to dream big! 

The Futsmlr-Flux Connection

Hello, hello, and happy new year, Max!  Also, the same goes to our many friends and followers who enjoy stopping by on occasion to investigate what exactly we're up to around here.  As many are aware, I have been absolutely obsessed in my efforts to uncover the multitude of mysteries surrounding the Sorceress Mary Morgan, that adventurous soul who made her first (and so far, only) appearance in my book Buggy Crenshaw and the Bungler's Paradox.  In that particular tale, Mary Morgan was indeed an important character, but her role was quite short-lived.  

Since then, however, I've done a great deal of investigating and have discovered some rather profound and intriguing secrets pertaining to the Sorceress and the magical world in which she resides.  Particularly, I have studied her journals, many of which could more accurately be called scrapbooks, beings that they bulge at the seams with an overabundance of incredibly interesting tidbits and trinkets from Mary Morgan's adventurous life.  Currently, I am piecing together some of the information I've come across in order to offer a never-before-seen glimpse of the Sorceress's early adventures. 

Today, I would like to share a drawing I found tucked away inside one of Mary Morgan's journals.  It appears to be a plan from the engineering team that designed the aquaship I shared here previously (and whose placard is displayed above):

Now, admittedly, I've not yet had this drawing authenticated by anyone in the know, but I suspect it is truly an actual blueprint of the underwater vessel I've read so much about in Mary Morgan's journals.  Although I don't dare share much more information than that with you for the time being, I will allow this:  the biomechanical engineers (Futsmlr & Flux) who masterminded this oddity seem to have been major players in the goings-on in the magical world.  From what I've gathered so far, it seems their ideas and inventions are both countless and just a touch crazy.  

To learn more about this matter and much more pertaining to the Sorceress Mary Morgan, please do come back often and, by all means, bring a friend.  As always, I will keep you apprised of the progess on my current project, the illustrated Mary Morgan's Journal.  In the meantime, please feel free to visit my website or consider my Buggy Crenshaw series of books, or my most recent Magpie & Dilly (all of which are set in the same magical world as Mary Morgan's Journal).

Until our next meeting, please do your very best to dream big!

And to All A Good Write!

Hello, Max, and welcome back, one and all!  Sorry for such a long delay between postings, but as you may imagine, it's been rather hectic around here for quite some time.  Not only is it the holiday season, but pouring over the details in Mary Morgan's many voluminous journals has indeed consumed me.  In light of the holidays fast-approaching, however, I will again keep my offering short and sweet:

Best wishes for a happy and safe holiday season. 
Dream big!

Dastardly Gott

Good morning, Max, and happy December, 2012! I would like to offer all our visitors the same greeting along with a very gracious thank you for taking the time to stop by our ponderous place during this busy time of year.  With that, let's get right down to it... 

I have a great deal more information to share with you which I discovered amongst the many journals I have belonging to the Sorceress Mary Morgan.  Generally, the details of her encounters with others comes to me in bits and pieces, and this time is no different.  Today, I offer you all the information I have so far found on a fellow named Dastardly Gott:

Clearly, Mr. Gott was not a favored friend to someone who saw fit to annotate this old newspaper.  My intuition tells me, however, that it was not our Mary Morgan who did such, but rather someone a tad more...vicious, we'll say.  (From what I've been able to surmise so far, Mary Morgan appears to be---if she is truly still alive, of course---quite level-headed and far more discreet than this angry, red-pen-wielding individual.)

If one were to actually read the articles of this newspaper, it would be clear to them that Dastardly Gott and that evil Magistrate Weevil Scumly (see archived posts) were indeed close friends and that the former was actually awarded a lovely residence for his loyalty, the blueprint for which you can see in the image below:

And finally, the last bit of evidence I came across to testify on Mr. Dastardly Gott's behalf is this shredded photo:

As for who shredded this photo and why, it is anyone's guess for the time being.  However, let us all be thankful for the wonders of magic and, of course, Photoshop...(ahem!)...for lo' and behold, I was able to recover enough of the original snapshot that rendering the rest was merely a matter of patience.  The following is what I came up with for a very plausible likeness of the villain Dastardly Gott.  (Note that he appears to be standing before the actual house depicted in the blueprints above despite the fact that the newspaper article claims he refused this magnanimous gift from the Magistrate!)

So, who, pray-tell, is this Dastardly Gott fellow, you may wonder...The answer to this and many more intriguing mysteries will be found in my upcoming illustrated work (tentatively) titled Mary Morgan's Journal.  

In the meantime, if you would like to know more about this world in which Mary Morgan resides, please feel free to visit the archives here at Ponderous Things, or my website.  And, of course, for even greater enlightenment, you would be wise to invest in my earlier novels (all set in the same world) featuring Buggy Crenshaw and my latest Magpie & Dilly.

As previously mentioned, this is indeed a busy time of year for us all, but I will do my very best to keep you apprised of the goings on here by endeavoring to post next week.  Until then, by all means, do your very best to dream big!