Sweetcast and Comics

Hello! You guessed it, I'm Clint with Sweetcast and this is my blog. I've been posting my creative musings here on-and-off for years. You can see my many failures and progress over time. I don't post on this blog very often, so if you want the latest and greatest with me, it's best to follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my YouTube channel, Sweetcast.

While you're here, you can sign-up for my mailing list to receive a free ebook copy of my novel ALL FOR OWEN.

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Comic Script

I wrote this a couple years ago for a comic project. Making dinosaurs and cowboys live in the same world. Yeah, pretty awesome I know. You know how life gets in the way, so this project will not be made, but rather than let it decay on my hard drive, I thought this is a good place to post it.

The story takes place in the American west. It is an American fantasy. Fictional creatures, cowboys, action, and American Indian lore. And yes, the main protagonist would ride a t-rex to get redemption. I wrote several versions of this pilot issue, but this one was my favorite.

There is no art, so put your artist cap on and imagine how you would draw this.

Enjoy!

Bo and Angus #1 Comic Script

Kickstarter

The game is finally here!

Arcade Fighter

Here's something new -- I've developed a board game!

Arcade Fighter -- Tabletop Tag-Team

This is going live on KickStarter Soon.

Here is some of the stellar artwork by Sarah Sneeboer:

Path of Least Resistance

It feels like I have so many projects in "the works" and yet I haven't had much progress with publishing. My solution is to take control and work on another project myself. But the only way I'm going to publish a comic myself is to improve my drawing. I decided that drawing better would open so many more doors for me, so I had to re frame my thinking and give it another try.

I don't want to say too much about this project, but I am working on a comic. I'm in the early development stage, but I do have something to show for it.

This is a character turnaround for one of the main characters. And there are more of these to come.

New Project

The past few weeks have felt like marathon writing. I'm please to say that I've joined forces with the amazing Austin Bachelor to create an ongoing comic series. I'm so excited about this story, and eager to show the world what we can do, but for now I'm scripting.

I can't responsibly say much about it at this point, but it involves dinosaurs, cowboys and a lot of action - and some amazing storytelling if I have anything to say about it.

What I don't have yet is a great title, but that will come soon.

Here are a couple character sketches that Austin has cooked up.





You can check out more of Austin Bachelor's artwork on his Facebook Page. 

Short Comics

I am starting to understand how it feels to spin plates on sticks.

I have several projects in the works at the moment. I don't want to say too much at this point, because I don't know where it is all going, but the reason I am able to have a finger in so many pots, is the short story... Or short comic to be more precise.

I have 4 stories that I'm actively writing in various stages. Only one is a long form comic, the others are all short stories.

This is a drastically different approach for me, but so far it seems to be paying off.

I know this is all super cryptic, but hopefully I will have something to show the world soon.

Midas

I wanted to post the entire 7-page spread that I worked on last year. I submitted this to Image Comics last year, unfortunately it will never be published, but they are cool pages anyway. Enjoy!

I'm Back

After a very, very long break -- I'm back to blogging.

Let me catch you all up on what has happened with me and writing:

An start-up production company contacted me about writing a series of video shorts for a web series. It sounded like a lot of fun, so I got working on the concept and the first episode -- I really liked where it was going, but my contact was looking for something else, so long story short, the project went belly-up. If anyone wants to make the web series "Zeet's Waffle Cart" have I got the script for you!

I like the idea of writing for video/film so I decided to try my hand at writing a screenplay. Things were going really well, but then reality set in. If I was ever going to make this movie, I would need to write it as cheaply as possible. I never thought that would be a big deal, but it really put some severe restrictions on the story, and my writing process.

The thought keeps coming back to me, that this story would work so much better as a graphic novel. So I've been working on converting the original story to a comic script -- and it is awesome! I haven't been this excited about writing in a very long time. And that is saying something.

I am now presented with another problem -- how am I going to get a decent artist to draw this book?

Well, I have an innovative scheme. I'll tell you about it in my next post --

In the meantime, take 3 minutes and review my books on Amazon -- All for Owen and The Cause
and if you haven't read them yet, they are both only .99 cents on Amazon. Spread the word, because I am going to need your help to get this thing published.

New Comic Project

I know it's ridiculous how long it's been since I've written in this blog. What have I been up to? Life.

It's not that I haven't had time for blogging, it's that I haven't had energy. I had surgery in August, and it really affected me. I can't put my finger on the reason why, but I just wasn't feeling motivated to do anything creative.

The good news is, I'm back and with a vengeance.

I've written a comic script. I'm having a lot of fun with the idea because it's so different from anything I've ever seen. I'm not sure how that will come across to readers, but I guess there is only one way to find out.

Right now I'm in the process of recruiting an artist to make the script come to life. I found a lot of interested artists, so now it is a matter of picking the best suited for the project.

Narrowing the list down to 3 was really hard. Now I'm having an even harder time committing to just 1. I see major benefits with each artist, so It's literally killing me to choose just one.

So what is the comic about?

I don't want to reveal too much right now, because my plan is to submit this comic to IMAGE COMICS for publication.

Having said that, if all goes well this week and if I can learn to make a decision, I will have some concept art to post here from my new illustrator.

Colors

Doing my own coloring wasn't something I wanted to do. In fact, coloring is my least favorite part about creating a comic book. But I love the way it looks colored, so it's worth it.

Here is the same page I posted last time, but this time it's colored and lettered. Essentially, this is the finished product.

Long Time

It's been a long time since I've last posted here. A lot has happened in the past 6 months. I started a business, wrote a script for my comic book, learned how to draw, ink, and color a comic book... And I won't even get started with my personal  and family life. (All good things, just busy)

Unfortunately, I haven't had as much time to work on my creative goals as I'd like. Here's to my renewed effort. And here is a little taste of my current venture into the world of comics.

  

My realistic goal is to have issue 1 complete by the end of the summer.

Checking In

It's been a while since I've posted here last, but I have a legitimate excuse, really!

We had our second child on December 13th. She is so cute, and she cries an awful lot.

Besides not sleeping, what have I been up to?

I finally got the courage/motivation/tenacity to do something I've wanted to do for years -- write a graphic novel.

Because sales of All For Owen have been lack-luster, I didn't want to put all my effort into writing a sequel when there just isn't enough readership. However, fans of All For Owen shouldn't fret. I still plan on writing a sequel. It's just going to take a little more time.

My current project is a historical fiction set in 1924. It's titled IMBECILE. I'm working on getting artists on board. Right now nothing is final, but I can promise it will be published in 4 - 5 comic books. The plan is to publish the individual issues in electronic format only. Once the entire story is finished, I will publish a print version that includes all issues.

I have several other graphic novels in the planning stage right now. If everything goes well, I'm going to expand into simultaneous releases of several titles.

This project has a lot of potential. All I need is to prove that I can do it once.
 

A Glowing Review

I thought I'd take a little break from the insane craziness of November to share a review with you all.

Read it here

Pretty awesome right? I'm always happy to see good reviews coming in, especially when the reviewer is someone I don't know. 

Read it, make a comment on her blog, maybe even write a review yourself. In the meantime, I'm going to get back to writing.

NaNoWriMo

I'm going to try something crazy this month.

I have a nearly complete outline for the second book in the All for Owen series. Its the first day of November and you know what that means? National Novel Writing Month.

For those of you who aren't familiar with NaNoWriMo, it's that time a year when writers become gluttons for punishment by attempting to write an entire novel in one month. This is the first year I've had the will (idiocy?) to try it.

Wish me good luck. Hopefully in December I will have good news.

And because I hate referring to a work in progress as book two, I'll give you the title.

"Much Like Midas"

I hope you like it.

Here.

We.

Go.

The Great Unknown

This is a scary time for me. I just released a new book and it's too early to tell how the public at large is receiving it. I have a basic outline for the next novel, but I'm not going to start writing -- not yet.

Since I've been reflecting on where to go next with my writing, I've realized that I need more published stories. I need to expand my readership and I think it's going to take a departure from Dystopia to do that. And yes, this means I'll need to work on multiple writing projects at a time, including the next book in the All for Owen series.

So here are some ideas I've been playing with. Let me know which you would be interested in reading about.

1. A modern-day story about the recession in 2008. An unemployed graphic designer and a billionaire meet  by chance and decide to start a business just for fun. it isn't about making money, its about blowing money. I have some fun ideas for this, but I don't want to say too much, because it would ruin the story before it's even written.

2. A pre-depression era story about a young engineer who is working with a famous inventor in Paris. When the inventor dies, the young engineer is forced to move back to the U.S. to find a lowly job at a newspaper. He learns to manipulate the small town by throwing in some of his own news stories here and there. Again, I don't want to say too much.

3. I've also been playing around with the idea of writing a comedy about a group of ghost hunters who are forced to make up ghost encounters in order to get finding to continue their paranormal investigations. But I will need to work on being funny, so this project scares me a little. 

What do you think?

Reviews

Reviews on Amazon.com are a huge commodity in the world of publishing. Reviews are the difference between a perspective reader buying one book or moving on to another. Many readers make a decision to buy a book in a split second and those decisions are heavily based on the reviews - both the quality and quantity of reviews make a big impression.

There are two major indicators of a book doing well.

First, when a reader is looking around Amazon for a new book, one of the first things they will do is look at how many stars the book has.

Secondly and more importantly, a browsing reader will look at how many reviews the book has. This is the most important indicator of a good book because, let's face it, every book in existence has a bad reviews. I'll bet Harry Potter has it's fair share of terrible reviews. But the fact that so many people have read it and taken the time to review it, means that the book is worth reading.The controversy of reviews is actually a good thing. If the book was terrible, you wouldn't see very many reviews.

(I looked into my claims about Harry Potter and it turns out that I was right. Here is a scathing review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

So far, All for Owen has 3 reviews on Amazon.com. They are great reviews, but I need more. (I'm greedy like that.)

If you haven't reviews All for Owen yet, read it and review it. Give me your honest to goodness opinion.

What did you like about the story?
What did you hate?
What is it missing?
What do you want to see in the next book?
What characters did you like?
What characters did you hate?

There are all good topics to base a review on.

Free Day

As promised, All for Owen is available FREE to download on Amazon.com

Tomorrow, it will cost $1.99 -- still a great deal, but why not get it for free?

For you print lovers, you can purchase the paperback for $9.99

Tell your mom! Tell your neighbor! Tell that Facebook friend that you've never actually met!

It's Alive!

Self-publishing makes it difficult have have a precise release date. Amazon has a lot of bells and whistles that take time to get working. I compensate for this, by publishing sooner and hopefully, by the release date, I'll have everything squared away.

For those of you who follow my blog, and want to be the first to read All for Owen, I have a little secret... It's live.

Be the first to read and review it, and I'll love you forever. 

You can download the ebook here
Or, get your hands on the paperback here
 

Goodreads

Publication time is approaching. Don't believe me? Here is proof:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18662597-all-for-owen?from_search=true

This is the link to the All for Owen profile in Goodreads. I highly suggest adding it to your list of books to read in Goodreads.

I will post the link to the Amazon.com page as soon as I get it.