Welcome back!

I know I should have written this blog post a while ago, but I’m happy to announce the graphic novel version of Calling Home. You can find it here.

This project came about after the initial run of Calling Home. Someone had commented to me that this could be easily converted into a comic because of the way it was written. When I looked at it, I noticed that they were right. After that I started the search to find someone who I could work with to help me bring the visual version of the story to life.

Through some great friends on Plurk (Hi there, CHiC!) I was introduced to Leila Del Duca and I knew I had found the right person to help me visualize this project. We started the ground work in January/February with an expected launch date in March. It ended up being toward April, but the extra time was well worth it.

Well enough about the genesis of the idea, go ahead and take a look at the comic. Also, is a review of Calling Home and an interview with Leila and myself.

When the year began and I was tangled up in finishing my MA, I had thought to myself: “I’ll post to my blog later on. Maybe take a week off.”

So then here I find myself in April and I haven’t so much as posted a word here. If anything this should be an object lesson in posting consistently. That and not dedicating all my time to Twitter.

Then again, that is the lure of microblogging services, isn’t it? Very low commitment, quick posting time, and a seemingly endless pool of forgiveness for errors. It’s no wonder a lot of bloggers find it easy to post consistently to social networks like Twitter, Plurk, FriendFeed, etc. Some have even wondered if the end of the blog itself is nigh?

I personally don’t think so, and I for one will re-commit to my blog and make sure I’ll be one of the bloggers out actually blogging.

Have your coffee and Twitter, too!

This is must have been what they had in mind when they made the Twitsig Mug:

Take your favorite Tweet and have it emblazoned onto your mug for all to see for however long the cup stays in one piece.  But I’d suggest you be careful about which Tweet you put on the mug.

Yes folks, the end of humanity is nigh. Get ‘em while they’re hot.

Thanks to Single Serve Coffee for unearthing this.

I love Social Media.  I’m on at least five different services and spend way more time than I should on them, but I enjoy it considerably and have befriended many great people.  With as much enjoyment as I get out of these services I thought it would be great if could combine together two things I feel passionately about: Social Media and Writing Fiction.

But how do you develop a story in only 140 character bite sized morsels? You could write a longer piece and serialize it, or you could even write Flash Fiction which thrives in such small spaces.  Also, how do you develop characters in serialized stories when you use one account for both posting and comments?  I felt all those approaches left much to be desired.  What I wanted to see was a story, using Social Media where one character interacts with another using separate accounts.  And what’s more, I wanted the story to be science fiction.

The big problem with writing science fiction or fantasy is you usually need quite a bit of space to build your world and have your characters explore it.  Could this be done in 140 character pieces and still be a compelling read?  My answer is yes it can.  And the way to do it is by telling the entire story in dialogue.

Dialogue is powerful.  It’s one of the best tools a writer has in their arsenal to convey emotion and feeling.  Think of the last novel or story you read.  What were the parts which moved you the most?  It was when the characters were speaking.  The author manipulated the words coming from the character into a stream of emotional strength.  You knew how the character was feeling because they told you so in their own voice.

With this in mind, the idea for Calling Home popped into my mind.  A story entirely told within the confines of a damaged ship’s system status messaging and emails.  Each character would have their own Twitter and Plurk account, and communicate with each other through those accounts only.

After some refinement of the idea, I’m proud to announce I have started posting the individual Plurks and Tweets for the story.  Here is the information you will need to follow the story on Twitter and Plurk:

Twitter
Hastag: #chh

http://twitter/ISSMontserrat

http://twitter/JFCAllen

http://twitter/JFCSandeep

http://twitter/ISS_Safeguard

Plurk

http://www.plurk.com/user/CallingHome

http://www.plurk.com/user/Allen

http://www.plurk.com/user/Sandeepz

http://www.plurk.com/user/ISS_Safeguard

If you don’t have your own Twitter or Plurk account, you can get your own Plurk account by following this link and then click on the CallingHome link on my profile.  For a Twitter account, go and register here and then follow the accounts in the list above.

Don’t want a Plurk or Twitter account?  That’s a shame to hear, but I can understand.  If you still want to read the story, you can go to Calling Home’s Archive Page on Tumblr and see the story in the way it was posted.

This story will run for at least a couple of months, so feel free to follow and see what happens to our characters in the deep reaches of space.  For the time being, there will be twice daily updates, however that could change as things progress in the story.  Read and you’ll find out why….

Lastly, if you enjoy the story please tell your friends about it and spread the word on any other Social Media services you’re on.  If you’d like to see it posted to another Social Media service then email me and I’ll look into it.

Enjoy the story!