The Conjurers

Part of the fun of this book is creating the “secrets” behind well known magic tricks. This sketch shows the origins of the famous “Dancing Cane” effect. There have been several methods over the years (one of the best was Copperfield’s).

But in this Novel, those methods where created to hide the truth. And that truth is that dancing canes breed in the wilds of The Conjurian. The canes choose their own masters, which is why not every magician can perform the effect. They also have an excellent sense of direction, aiding many a travelling magician in the old days.

So that’s just one of the many trick/creatures you’ll meet in the Conjurers. Oh, and I have no idea who the guy on the bottom is…yet.

…sorta. This was my first thumbnail sketch for the world of the Conjurian. I’ve been working on a revised sketch and more detailed map. This kind of image really helps in writing the book. It gives you a visual reference of the world your writing about. That in turn helps focus your vision of what’s happening and what things look like.

I’ll post the revised sketch later.

If you couldn’t tell by the title slug, I’ll be discussing the sea of “How to write the next best selling, million dollar screenplay in one afternoon” book out there. First of all, I am by no means an expert on any of this. But this I do know: I’ve become a syndicated cartoonist, written four screenplays and optioned one, and this is my first book and they all have one thing in common. They all took hard work. No magic pills, no secret formulas. No shortcuts.

Now I’m not saying that all these books are useless. There are a few gems out there and even some of the snake-oil salesman books have a couple good tidbits in them. But what’s the difference? Well it’s pretty easy to tell the gems from the fiery bags of crapola: just check the author’s credentials. Simply put, if you haven’t written a bestseller or sold a script for a million dollars, how can you teach someone else to do it? Better yet, wouldn’t you be writing bestsellers and million dollar scripts instead of wasting your time writing about doing it?

So why do so many of these books sell? Simple. It’s the magic pill you see advertised on TV. Don’t like to exercise? No problem, there’s a pill for it. Hell, there’s a pill to replace any activity that might cause you to break a sweat or make you feel uncomfortable or might just take up time. Hand over your $100 or whatever and get your magic pill.

Now before you toss me off the negativity cliff, there are a lot of useful books out there on writing. Many have to do with organizational skills or time management. The real gems are the ones written by those who have done it. And the mother of all gems for writers is “On Writing” by Stephen King. I’m sure a lot of people were excited to get their hands on this one. All the secrets behind King’s success. And I’m sure many were disappointed to learn the secret was just good ol’ hard work. It’s that kind of epiphany that keeps the aspiring novelist herd sparse.

But if you’re really dedicated to writing and you know you have it in you, the book is a treasure. You realize that your not alone in the blazing fifth circle of hell (which technically is owned by lawyers but they sub-lease it as a writers’ co-op). You learn quickly that it doesn’t always come easy to the best of the best.

To sum up I’ve altered an old cliche: Those that can do, those that can’t teach. But there are a rare few who can, and do, and choose to teach. These are the ones you must seek out and learn from. Stephen King was just nice enough to chuck it all into one book for ya.

Enough ranting for now. More artwork tomorrow.

Here’s another concept sketch from my pocket notebook. It’s one of those one minute sketches when an idea pops into your head. Hence the always present moleskine.

I’m not 100% sure what this scene is right now. I think it happens towards the end of the book but I’ll have to wait and see. That’s not to say I haven’t outlined the end of the book. So many things can change on the way there.

All I do know is that this is obviously a very tall tower. It’s at the far end of the Conjurian. Oh that? The Conjurian is the world most of the book takes place in. It’s kinda of a retirement community for magicians created by magicians (technically created by Dedi, the first known magician in Egypt), but now where veering off into the plot. Let’s just say it’s a very eclectic world and explains a lot about what you see magicians perform and why. A fantasy conspiracy theory — sort of.

Notebooks are where the ideas start for me. Moleskine notebooks to be more exact. Here’s my first posting of one of my initial sketches/concept entries.

I should also mention a little about the plot of the novel. If the title didn’t give it away, it’s about magicians. I know, I know, magicians and magic stories are under every rock these days. The difference is that for me, magic is part of my life.

In second grade I learned my first tricks from my Uncle. I’ve been performing ever since. So this book is a culmination of all those mispent years in a way. I’ve combined my passion and knowledge of magic into a fantasy about magicians.

But you won’t find any wizards or dragons in this book. My inspiration is drawn from past and present conjurers. From Thurston to Derren Brown. Without knowing it, I’ve researched this book almost my whole life.

I’ll post some more about the story later. For now back to writing. But here’s one more look behind the scenes before I go:

Before I jump into chronicling the process of writing this novel, I think it best or at least of interest to give a little background info on myself.

I am a syndicated cartoonist (www.dogeatdoug.com) and screenwriter living just outside of Boston. The comic strip launched last November, so between that and my last screenplay, I’ve been pushing back on this novel thingy. But now that I’ve got my rhythm down on the whole strip a day gig, and my screenplay is safely floating in development limbo in L.A., I thought it was the perfect time to start “The Conjurers.” Plus, what better time to start than NaNoWriMo.

So that’s a smidge of what I do. Now onto writing a novel. As you can tell, I won’t be “blogging” the actual book here. It’s more a scratch-space where I’ll run through my methods and quirks for writing. It’s always fun to see how others write. Sometimes you can even pick up some nifty tips (that’s right, I used “nifty”, and I’ll use it every damn chance I get) that you might make your own. I’ll always try something once. Worst that can happen is you don’t do it again.