I thought this song, which I found rather quickly, fit the "big reveal" made my one of the characters in this story.
The way I have the rest of the story plotted-out, there's eight chapters left. However, it seems like nearly all my previous chapters end up multiplying into two or three scenes. So for now, let's just say there's eight more plot-points to go.
I'm still in the process of learning about my new Nikon CoolPix P530 camera. I hope to start using it by the time I start taking pictures for Chapter 16.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the latest chapter.
For this chapter's Theme Song, I chose Prepare for the End uploaded by xDarkLegacyx2. I think this tune fits the epic, space opera aspect of Star Wars, while it's steady--almost monotonous--beat, implies impending danger.
I'm now in the process of re-writing Chapter 15, which is giving me some trouble narrative pacing-wise. Once I'm satisfied this chapter is good enough to post, then it's "back to the drawing board" for the Chapters 16 onwards. That is, I'll need to snap a batch of new photos.
In the meantime, I've been looking at some webcomic hosting sites to determine which one I'd like to join in order to make a "second home" for Breakout from Bongolaan.
Since I wrote Chapters 12--14 in one fell-swoop, which took me several months to complete, the "only" thing I had to do was some editing on Chapter 13.
For this chapter's theme song, I chose two pieces of music.
The pace at where I work didn't slow down any since my last chapter posting.
Not only that, but Chapter 12 was originally much longer than it currently is. As the page length lengthened, I ended up dividing the narrative into more chapters as I found more appropriate stopping points. So this part of the story grew from Chapter 12 and 13, to Chapter 12--14, and finally to Chapter 12-15.
By the time I reached this point, I decided to quit writing additional material and work on editing and revising.
By the time I was satisfied with most of my recent work, I did some final tweaking of Chapter 12.
My "cunning plan" is to do the similar tweaks to Chapters 13 and 14 within the next couple weeks and then post them.
Which brings me to Chapter 15. I'm not currently happy with it. I feel this portion will require some major re-writing, but I'll wait until Chapter 14 is posted before I even start.
In my last webcomic update, I said I'd launch a new format for Breakout from Bongolaan by 4 January 2016.
Well, I'm afraid I have to postpone the launch date. With the little time I've had to spare, I devoted it all to getting these chapters written. I'm hoping the delay won't be more than a month. I appreciate your patience.
You might think this is an odd choice for a chapter's mood music, especially since Star Wars is and epic space opera, not a space western, like Firefly.
But I think the song fits for a few reasons. First, in this chapter Callithea expresses her desire to return to her home planet. This segways into a hint of what society on Callithea's home world, Tarsus, is like. Finally, our heroes are essentially planning for a "road trip--IN SPACE," and depending on what list you read, Home ranks anywhere from #13 in Paste Magazine to #1 on BuzzFeed.
Part of the appeal of science fiction in general, and Star Wars in particular, is the ability to roam the galaxy at ludicrous speed.
So for a Star Wars role playing game (RPG), acquiring a starship, but not necessarily "buying" one, is a critical goal for player characters (PCs) starting out on their misadventures.
If you're involved in a game which relies heavily on miniatures, representing a starship can be difficult. While two-dimensional deck plans or graph paper, while effective, loses "cinematic appeal." Models specifically made in typical "RPG Scale" (usually 15-35mm Scale) are invariably scratch-built by talented modelers, like Maker.e2oGame.
For those of us lacking talent and patience to construct our own ships, we turn to toys.
For my, now dormant, Redshift Chronicles Campaign, my friend Joe placed his Millennium Falcon Playset in my care, which was utilized on a couple of adventures.
The playset isn't exactly to scale as my Star Wars Miniatures, but I figure starships are suppose to be big anyway. Besides, there's enough room inside to get interior pictures.
(Han Solo and Chewbacca making last-minute repairs before taking off)
I've had Joe's 'Falcon for a few years now. During this time, I've made half-hearted inquires about buying my own, but have balked at the "Collector's Edition Prices."
However, two events motivated me to acquire my own 'Falcon.
Which means Star Wars merchandise has deluged the market long before the movie appears on the silver screen.
And second, Joe is now the father of two little boys.
I reached my decision point a couple weeks ago, when I stumbled across Hasbro's "Force Awakens" Millennium Falcon, while Christmas shopping with my wife. (Isn't it amazing how you manage to find gifts for yourself when shopping for others?). I was hesitant to buy it, but my wife assured me it was okay, thus salving my guilty conscience, and the Base Exchange (department stores on military installations) was knocking off $25 for purchases of $100 or more as part of their "Black Friday Weekend Sale."
The price tag on this new 'Falcon alone qualified me for the discount.
I haven't opened it yet, since we've been busy putting up Christmas decorations.
Yes, at the risk of loosing some of the collector's value, I do intend on opening the box, because I want to have the ship "ready for flight" for any future Star Wars RPG/skirmish adventures. But my "cunning plan" is to open it carefully and keep all the parts I won't utilize, in order to maintain a decent portion of any possible collector's value.
One possible point of concern is the new 'Falcon looks smaller than the older one, but I'm hoping it may be more appropriate for my Star Wars Miniatures I use.
In any case, I have a new 'Falcon, Joe gets his old one returned and he'll get to experience all the parental joys of watching his two boys fight over play with an iconic toy.
For this workshop review, I thought I'd use my webcomic trailer to Breakout from Bongolaan--as an example of what not to do when creating a book trailer.
I made my initial trailer before I attended a lecture on making book trailers. I actually like my latest trailer, which I remade when I took additional photographs for my webcomic, despite its shortcomings which I'll mention in parenthetical comments on this post.
This workshop was hosted by Rian Fiske and Steve Ahlbom of Visual Quill.
First, what is a book trailer?
--It's an advertisement for your book.
The internet has changed the way we market products and today's society is the most marketed in history.
What a book trailer is not--
--A plot reveal (mine is)
--A story summary (mine is)
--More important than your book (I'm still writing my webcomic, so I hope not)
--Boring! (I hope mine isn't)
--Unappealing (I hope mine isn't)
--Too focused to a specific person or group (okay, mine is guilty of this last one)
A good book trailer--
--Has a good script, is brief and creatively edited.
Time length:
30 Seconds = Good
60 Seconds = Okay (mine's just over a minute)
90 Seconds = Not Good
A book trailer should evoke a visceral response from a viewer, not an intellectual one, and the mood should be similar to the book.
A book trailer is an important part of book marketing because--
--It takes advantage of the explosive growth of online advertising videos.
--It's on a shareable medium.
--It fosters a deep like-know-trust connection.
--It keeps your book in a reader's mind.
--It's cost effective.
Some interesting statistics--
--Viewers are 64% more likely to buy your book.
--There's usually an 80% increase in conversion rates on your website. That is, visits turning into actual purchases.
--There's often an increase of 2 minutes per stay per viewer on your website.
--92% of mobile viewers share videos with others.
--There's a 19% to 300% increase of sales if a book trailer supplements e-mails and flyers.
--These statistics hold no matter what genre you're writing.
Elements of a good book trailer--
--Visually hint at what takes place.
--Keeps the story moving and is not too short, or too long.
--Uses a good selection of graphics and music.
Bad book trailers are everywhere.
--Most aren't trailers, but rather do-it-yourself (DIY) slide shows (like mine).
--DIY tools exist, but you still need to use them correctly.
What makes a book trailer bad--
--Low quality graphics and photos.
--Too many graphics.
--Too much explanatory text.
--Poor music.
The five elements that make a quality book trailer are:
1. It's not a plot reveal. Think of it as a pitch session.
2. Plan the entire trailer with a story board.
3. Production quality is essential. Hire a professional, if necessary.
4. Know what style you're using and make sure it all hangs together.
5. Don't confuse building your brand with selling your book.
Here are some tips if you are going to go the DIY route:
Your book trailer needs a script, so here are some things to consider--
--Start with your book's synopsis.
--Duration should be between 30-60 seconds.
--Consider this rule of thumb: 50 words = 30 seconds of video.
Utilize appropriate music for your trailer. Music sets the emotional tone and should coincide with the tone of your book.
Editing tools for your DIY book trailer--
--PC users can utilize Windows Movie Maker.
--Mac users can utilize iMovie.
--Tutorials are available on Lynda.com.
And speaking of websites, there are several doityourselfers can make use of.
On deciding whether to use voice-over or text in your book trailer, either will work if done well.
Once you've made your book trailer you'll need to distribute it. For this, you'll have to go beyond Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo.
Upload your trailer on top websites in your niche or genre, along with your personal website, your Amazon Author page, library catalogues, and distribution sites like OneLoad. Also, be sure to set up a computer to play the trailer during book signings.
If you'd rather hire a professional to create your book trailer, there's a few questions you need to keep in mind--
--How much will it cost?
--What can I expect?
--What will the pro do for me?
Prices range from $400 to $4,000, with $1,200 being the average. The more material and input you provide, the less it will be in price.
As to the last two questions, you'll have to discuss the details of the services a professional offers to provide.
With all this information, hopefully you'll be able to say "Lights! Camera! Action!" soon.
Later this month, I plan to start working on Chapter 11.
I'm still exploring options on a new, webcomic-based format for this story. But I think I'll wait until I reach, or surpass 365 pages. Once I accomplish this, I'll have a year's worth of daily material to introduce Breakout from Bongolaan to a new audience.
In the meantime, I'd like to thank the "old audience" for your patience and support.
Chapter 10 is the initial fight scene in the Star Wars RPG (Role Playing Game) adventure this story was based on. Since it took place in the Presidential Palace's Ballroom, I thought a fitting theme song for this chapter would be--what else?--The Ballroom Blitz by Sweet.
While looking for a suitable Soundtrack Interlude for this chapter, I stumbled across the impressive music from Two Steps from Hell.
I felt their song Juggernaut best expresses the relentless advance of the battle droids.
As I start my work on Chapter 10, I'll be exploring new format options for this webcomic. I've been getting the feeling that using a blog format for this webcomic is becoming unwieldy, if it isn't already.
Normally, webcomics are formatted like Christopher Mills and Gene Gonzales' Perils on Planet X, with the most recent page displayed and an archive section, along with a cast of characters and other interesting side-sections.
I'd like to reformat Breakout from Bongolaan in this way, but I want to do it right--and only once. So for now, I'll be researching webcomic set-ups and templates.
Webcomic writers usually post 1-3 new pages per week. Due to the nature of my job, with its rotating shift, I won't be able to duplicate this kind of schedule. I'd rather continue my updates in chapter-sized chunks.
Your patience is appreciated and I hope you enjoy the story.
For the past several weeks I've been working on Chapter 9 of my webcomic Breakout from Bongolaan, which I hope to post within the next couple of weeks.
During this time I also took a look at Breakout from Bongolaan's "book trailer," and decided some renovation was in order.
After spending more time tweaking it than I originally planned to, I posted it on my YouTube Channel.
While I like Blogspot/Blogger, I think this template is becoming too unwieldy for a "space opera-sized" story of 242 pages--and counting.
At this point I'm in the Research Phase, because I want any changes I make to be long lasting.
In the meantime, I'm making some minor improvements, like replacing the old title page with a better picture and font. Since I have a stock of better pictures, another improvement I'm working on is revamping Breakout from Bongolaan's webcomic trailer.
These adjustments are being made while I continue working on the story itself. Right now I'm in the process of arranging photos for Chapter 9.
More improvements and content to follow, so stay tuned!
In this chapter, Bunda Akhtar launches the second stage of his coup: Hunter-Killer Assault Vehicles (HKAVs), like the one pictured above, attack key facilities in Bongolaan's capital, Ratankiri, represented by the map found in Traveller Double Adventure 6: Night of Conquest/Divine Intervention.
I've been using the Star Wars Miniatures throughout this webcomic to represent individual characters. Now it's time to take a more epic view to illustrate how these events influence the characters' decisions and actions.
For this I used my micro-scale (6mm, 1/285 or 1/300) collection modern and sci-fi armored fighting vehicles. The modern vehicles are made by GHQ, while the sci-fi ones came from a US distributor of Ground Zero Games.
For this chapter's soundtrack, I chose Lux Aeterna--Requiem for a Dream, which is apparently a popular song used in computer games. I just listened to this in it's entirety and I feel it provides a dramatic musical representation of the end of the Galactic Alliance's last planetary government.
The Soundtrack Interlude for this subplot of intrigue and possible betrayal is, Whiskey in the Jar by the heavy metal band Metallica.
I hear this song regularly at one of the gyms I go to and am always intrigued by the lyrics. Through a bit of on-line research, I discovered Whiskey in the Jar a lot older than metal music. It's is an Irish folk song about 17th Century Highwayman betrayed by a woman. After listening to several versions--from the traditional, sung by the Dubliners; to classic rock by Thin Lizzy and the Grateful Dead--I still like Metallica's the best.
Which is an odd departure for me, because I'm not a heavy metal fan. Maybe it has something to do with trying to find a style of music that may fit Sei'do Avari's shady nature and conjuring up a possible back story?
And speaking of back story: Neela, the Farghul pictured above was never part of the Star Wars Role Playing adventure this story is based on. A couple things inspired me to concoct this subplot.
First, was coming up with a plausible explanation for Sei'do, the party's scoundrel, to go along with the group's actions as the story unfolds. The second source of inspiration came from this photo by Tice Lerner:
This picture is one of many from the Masquerade in the Mansion, held at Roberson Center in my hometown of Binghamton, NY on New Year's Eve. In my over-active imagination, the above image of New York City model Sarah Tilyou and photographer Dillon Utter, has "conspiracy" written all over it. Not to mention filling in as the Galactic New Year's Eve party in Bongolaan's Presidential Palace. The real-life images also covers for my lack of non-combatant figures.
Finally, Sarah's cat mask then led me to choose the Breela figure from my Star Wars Miniatures collection as Sei'do's former associate.
It's said that change is the only constant in the universe. This certainly applies to any creative endeavors. The published authors I know often talk about how their writing style improves over the course of their careers.
My career in writing my Star Wars webcomic, Breakout from Bongolaan, is just over a year old and I hope my writing has improved during this time. Although after doing a complete review of the Chapters 1 through 6, I've already spotted one typo! And I'm sure there's more...
...anyway, a comic is more than just words. It's also a visual medium and I continually look for ways to improve on this aspect of it too. Since I'm no good at drawing, I've relied on taking photographs of my miniatures and model terrain to tell my story. (I'm not all that great at painting my figures, but that's another issue). Thanks to a graphic novel workshop during a PNWA (Pacific Northwest Writers Association) Conference a few years ago, I learned this technique is a valid art form known as Fumetti.
But valid or not, there's definitely room for improvement on my part. Despite having figures and terrain on-hand I eventually realized I needed some background to give readers a sense of place. The picture above is my initial depiction of the Bongolaanian Presidential Palace, as seen in my YouTube book trailer.
A couple months ago, I stumbled across the site Wallpaper Up and I'm now in the throes of shooting new & improved images, like this...
One of the programs I've been using is Paint.Net, described as a "poor man's Photoshop," to add various special effects to each photo. However, while I enjoy taking pictures, and I know photography is an art form in and of itself, I feel my images aren't...well..."artsy" enough.
Also, despite the size of my Star Wars Miniatures collection, I don't have the variety of models and figures needed to create all the necessary scenes. So I've turned to real-life photography to fill in these gaps. But in order to make these images "blend in" with the ones of miniatures, I've used the Oil Painting Function under Paint.Net's artistic effects. The result is somewhat "Impressionistic", like this image here...
And speaking of stark images: It seems like the imperfections in every picture I've used jump out at me. Maybe because I'm the director's chair, so to speak; or maybe I'm a not-so-closeted perfectionist. Either way, since I want to create the best possible content for my readers, I've been playing around with the oil painting function a bit more.
This softens the image and helps hide the imperfections, as in this Oil Painting version of the Presidential Palace...
...but I also think it blurs the areas I want to draw the readers attention to. Which is why I haven't used this function on any scenes involving miniatures.
Then, just a few days ago while compiling images for Chapter 7, I found myself idly playing around with Paint.Net's Ink Sketch function. I applied it to the Presidential Palace photo and...
...WOW!
I don't know about you folks, but I really like this style. It hides the imperfections I'm worried concerned about, and yet the "ink" brings all the objects into a sharp focus. I just have to fiddle with the black-to-color ratios for the best result.
Best of all: It makes it look like I actually drew this stuff.
Part of me wanted to hold-off using this technique until I begin work on Book Two of the Redshift Chronicles, but I'm too excited about this to wait any longer.
So starting with this upcoming Chapter 7, Breakout from Bongolaan, along with the subsequent Redshift Chronicles books, will have a whole new look.
However, earlier this week I started working on new backdrops for my webcomic, Breakout from Bongolaan, when I discovered I needed more space to do such project. At first I used the dining room table, but I was constantly worried I'd stain it, or scratch it--like I did to my old kitchen table.
After completing the first three backdrops, I brought up one of my small banquet/gaming tables from the shed.
It's the cleanest of the two.
This arrangement worked well for the past couple days as I assembled several more backdrops.
The process involved:
Taking downloaded images to the local printshop and having copies made.
Pasting the copies to foam white boards and trimming as necessary.
Once that project was done and out of the way, I planned on shooting some pictures, but realized this arrangement wouldn't work. I needed to place the table next to a wall somewhere in order to prop-up backdrops and build scenes for each photo shoot.
So, I came up with this:
I had to move one of my foot lockers, but had enough room under the table to keep the second one, especially since I don't plan on doing much sitting at the table.
This arrangement may not be in tune with Feng shui, but it is functional. I can replace the floor lamp with one of my studio lights, or at least remove the shade to provide better illumination.
Now that the "stage is set" so to speak, I'm ready to resume my photo work, which I plan to start next week.
After a considerable delay, which I posted about here, Breakout from Bongolaan's Chapter 4, starting on page 85, has been posted.
This chapter is longer than the previous ones, because it introduces three characters simultaneously. The story is based on my first Star Wars Role Playing Game (RPG) session and the trio seen in the above photo were run by the players. For this reason, I felt extra time and space was needed to delve into the circumstances that force these characters together.
The soundtrack interlude to this chapter is: When the Levee Breaks, by the ladies of Zepparella. I thought this tune evoke the sense of danger and despair in the face of an approaching storm.
Regarding the blogs themselves, I've made two major changes to the way I'll be posting my graphic novels.
First, I've included the title page and chapter pages into the page count. This way, the page numbers in the normal viewing mode coincide with the page numbers in slideshow mode.
Last month, I took my girlfriend on her first visit to Half Price Books, near the Tacoma Mall. Our timing couldn't be better, as we got there on the last day of the Memorial Day Sale. Everything in the store was 10% off.
So when I saw this copy of Star Wars Star Warriors for $50. Even though the sticker said "as is," I grabbed the game without hesitating. When I got home and opened it, I was relieved to see that, besides the box's dinged-up corners, the only thing missing was the 6 x 6-sided (d6) dice. (Whew!).
Last year, I downloaded and printed the counters listed under the Boardgame Geek's Files Section. The original counters are larger and include asteroids and turbo-laser turrets, but the downloaded version has a more variety of color backgrounds for the fighters and even includes a couple of Corellian Corvettes.
I don't know if I'll play this game per se, but I plan on using the counters for fighter combat in my Redshift Chronicles campaign. The game itself, has received a decent rating on Boardgame Geek, so either way, I'm definitely happy with my purchase.
Several months ago, I purchased some playing pieces to Risk, the Star Wars and Clone Wars Editions, through The Miniatures Page Marketplace. I figured these pieces were close enough to 6mm and asked my friend Adrian to paint them.
I told Adrian to separate the pieces into a couple of factions and give them a basic paint job. Here's a sample of the final results:
The vehicles are mounted on pennies, to provide some weight and stability, which were then flocked with sand.
The "before" photo was taken using playing pieces from my own copy of Risk Clone Wars Edition. I don't have a copy of the classic Star Wars Edition, so I don't have a comparative photo to show off Adrian's craftsmanship on these figures:
The snowspeeders on the left, were mounted on pennies, while the AT-STs were mounted on thick cardstock, previously used for terrain boundaries. These figures appear to be closest to 6mm, so they should blend in with my other sci-fi miniatures. I still plan on using the figures shown in the middle photos, but will use counters to represent any supporting infantry.
I'm very happy with Adrian's work and will be utilizing these figures for major battles in my Redshift Chronicles campaign.
When I started this story, my intent was to post one chapter every month. Unfortunately, I had some technical difficulties which caused all the pictures to be deleted when exported them from the Comic Life program to computer's C-Drive. I'm sure this was due to operator error. In any case, I didn't have time to recreate Chapter 3 before travelling back east to visit my family.
Despite being a month behind, Chapter 3 has now been added to Breakout from Bongolaan, which consists of pages 48 through 77 (54 through 84 using the slideshow) and is also posted on my Redshift Chronicles site.
The Soundtrack Interlude for this chapter is: I Know There's Something Going On by Frida. I always thought this song evoked a sense of mysterious foreboding.
One of my friends told me he couldn't find the second chapter. I realized that clicking on a picture initiates a slide show, so the reader may not see any of the narrative on the blog's page.
In response to this, I created title pages for each chapter. Here are the titles for the previous chapters:
I used images that weren't already incorporated into the body of the story. Since only a fraction of the photos I've taken get put into the story, finding a suitable pictures for titles has been easy--so far.
Pages 30-47 have been added to Breakout from Bongolaan, which can also be found under the Studio Pages tab.
Along with the new pages, I've added a new feature: Soundtrack Interludes.
I collect soundtracks to the movies I love. While writing this story, I often daydream about the type of music that might fit each scene, as if it were a movie.
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