A Writer's Love Affair

I don't know if many writers experience the problem called, Insomia?  I bet many do. I am one of them.  I have that complication whenever my hand is itching to scribble my thoughts on paper.  Yes.  ON PAPER.  I have tried to write in a PC.  My dad even gave me a laptop for Christmas because he knows I love to write.  Maybe he was thinking, "I feel sorry for my poor daughter who writes on paper even in this age..."  Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful.   But the fact of the matter is, I can not write when it's not on paper.  

Some of my written works are on the notebooks of other people.

Some of my written works are on the notebooks of other people.

My love affair with paper and pen started a long way back.  I'd love to call myself a Weaver rather than a writer because my grammar sucks and I'm proud to call myself a weaver of stories - sounds acceptable.  I never really thought I'd love writing much and never gave a damn when I was younger.  The drive to write...well, I can't even remember when it started.  Maybe...

 
 

  

One boring day, Kathryn decided her life is a waste without writing something interesting...  

I wrote several written works: novels, short stories and also poems.  I don't really know why I wrote poems.  I'm not the type to fall in love easily, but I find writing poems romantic.  It all started when I was in Highschool.  I wrote poems...THAT SUCK!  And I left the whole idea of being a writer when the journalism club denied me for the Nth time!  So I was a bitter child back in my younger days.  But then, when I graduated I began writing due to boredom.  I find it comforting and being an only child clamoring for knowledge, it's something I didn't regret.

Beautiful is what you are

Your flames flicker

Inviting me, coaxing me nearer

Do you understand how I fare?

Your warmth is calling me -

your arms outstretched...

How can I refuse?

It is a sin to long for something so lethal

when I know, in your hands

I will burn for my desires.

But what is love if not for sacrifice?

I've lived in beauty - but what is beauty

without your warmth?

And indeed, I burned for it.

I wrote this poem in a blackout.  The candle flickering in front of me and my hands commanded me to write.  This is my version of "A moth to the flame" - something that is very significant to my current state at that time.   But that's another story...

There are times when a Typewriter is tempting...

This is one of the many poems I wrote...and take note, I wrote them all on paper.  I don't know what possesses me to...and most of my works were either destroyed by water accidentally or lost or torn.  When I say paper...I mean MANY types of paper.  Scratch paper, writing paper, newspaper, old paper, parchments and the occasional tissue paper.  

So, you'd probably ask me: Have you never ever wrote using a PC?  No.  I wrote a novel in my PC.  Novels are dangerous to write on paper.  Once you lose one page, you're done for.  So I do write using a PC.  But there were times when I was writing "The Silver Prince" that I'd write the chapter on paper first before retyping them on PC.  Masochist much?  

I wrote "The Silver Prince" in an office computer when I was working in The Negros Museum as a tour guide, a secretary and more.  I put up with that job because I was surrounded by culture...literally.  Maybe it was that very influence that drove me to write...  Whatever it was, I'm thankful despite the insomia...

Among all the stories I wrote, "Rook of the Rats" was the first to be published...not as a book though...but as a graphic novel in a monthly Issue-per-Issue Graphic Magazine, Ice Cream Indie.

ROOK OF THE RATS - A page in the ISSUE 3.0 of Ice Cream Indie

So many changes were place in the Graphic Version.  I remembered writing Rook because I have a sympathy for street kids and how they are raised.  But the story is basically not a downer.  In fact, it's filled with freakish comedy about how a kid views the problems of life.  

This is how ROOK OF THE RATS started.  The first manuscripts are all written on paper along with some sketches of the story.

"The cries were to no avail as the queen of thieves used her true strength and pulled the kid away from a crying Nameless.  Rook stared at the dizzying height below - breathing hitched and nervously balancing on the tip of the cliff. "

This scene was also redrawn by my bestfriend, Jay who is the head artist of the BLOTS Team in ICI.  Despite the urge not to change the art style, an artist must face the fact that young readers nowadays prefer popular culture a.k.a. anime/manga style.  It is easier to the eyes, I admit.  The young generation nowadays love manga art and being new in the market, we need more that what we have.  In the future maybe...we'll introduce a more mature take on this story.  This story follows the life of Rook after all and no one stays YOUNG.

 

Prince Arisipides Orestes Dismas

The illustration here is one of the many sketches I did while writing the story.  I'm not much of a graphic illustrator really...  I hate my uncertain lines and adore Jay's precise with a mix of rough style.  The very notion of sketching for my own novel is audacity in my part mainly because I'm not patient with art.  I do a lot of detailing to the point that I lose interest almost immediately because my laziness in finishing the artwork overpowers my drive.  I have days when I prevail...but the uncertainty of that fact alone compels me to NEVER ILLUSTRATE my stories...  Well, at least not alone.      

Among all the written works, Rook seems to be an obsession.  Even for Jay...  The beauty of a street kid perhaps?  I have to confess, I've never once experienced begging for money...asking, yes...but BEGGING?  Begging is a very humbling experience.  Asking is a bit acceptable.  But begging is in a whole new level.  Begging is like throwing all your dignity for a penny...and THAT, my friends is a feat for most of us.  I can only imagine...  And this Imagination is one of the many drives that pushed me to write Rook of the Rats.   The very notion of scrapping the garbage for food is lunacy for me...not to say unhygienic.  But the world that Rook lived in is the very example of children that were left to fend for themselves and who's to tell them it's unhygienic?  

The other book that I wrote 6 years back...yes, it's older than Rook of the Rats is THE SILVER PRINCE.  We are planning to market it...publish it under the ICI Banner as one of the collections for the BLACK BOOK Edition.

  

First of all, it does not contain "H." Hahahhaah! Otakus know what that means.  It is rated for the fact that the story has bloody images and dark sides that I don't want younger kids to read about yet.

BLOODRIGHT is the prequel to the 30-chapter main book, THE SILVER PRINCE.  The prequel tells of "The Forging of the Silver Prince" in short, how Dierdre grew up.  Again, the story is parallel to Rook.  I often want the story to start from the very beginning of a character's life mainly because WE all are built up to be who we are now.  It's the same with stories...the characters evolve.

I don't know if the people in Bacolod would love to read this.  For the record, this is a risk that I'm willing to take.  I hope you guys didn't fall asleep reading this.   But this is my love affair...and I'm sharing it to all of those who wants to understand my daily musings...

For those who bought copies of our published works, thank you so much!  I am beyond happy about the news I heard a few days ago that people from different schools are buying them.  

Readers are the writer's strength and support.  Thank you.

Writing like a Madman,

katz :3