School Visits = Confluence

The schoolchildren of Omaha, Nebraska have been warned. I can now sleep well, knowing the many evil plans of the many sinister cows of Nebraska will fail. The children of elementary schools Ackerman, Manchester, and Reagan listened as I described the many dangers of Aerwiar, showed them the maps, read chapters from On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness and North! Or Be Eaten, and answered many questions about Gnag the Nameless, Peet the Sock Man, cave blats, and, yes, toothy cows (woe!).These school visits are not only delightful to me, they're necessary to insure the protection of the world's children from the terrors of Glipwood Forest, the Black Carriage, General Khrak, and--You get the idea.There are a lot of reasons I love to do this. I love the interaction with these wide-eyed students. I love how seriously they take stories. I love the way they gasp at certain pictures and giggle at others. I love the pictures they draw of their favorite parts of the Wingfeather Saga. But this time around, the thing I'm most thankful for is the reminder that there's an audience for these stories. It's easy to forget. When I'm writing I'm usually in a coffeeshop, huddled in the corner with my headphones on, listening to some movie soundtrack (this time around it's James Newton Howard's score to The Village). The characters move and breathe first in my imagination and then on the page. We go on this adventure together, the characters and I, and when it's all finished I send the story off to the publisher to turn it into a book. Then I wait. And wait. The book releases and is shipped across the country, and still I wait, because it takes a little while to read a book.Then, through the miracle of imagination and the written word, my characters are no longer living just in my own mind. They've taken up residence in the minds of all these readers. When I visit a school and interact with the kids the circle is complete. I have sent the story out and the story has come back to me. I remember that art is not just for the artist, but for the recipient too. The blessing comes when stories intersect. Confluence.Next week I'll be in that same coffee house with my headphones on, but I'll be writing with the memory of this weekend fresh in my mind, eager not just to write the story but to share it with someone. One 4th grade girl asked, with concern etched on her face, "Will the Igibys be okay in the end?"I hope so. I can't wait to tell her all about it.AP

A Sketch

I've been avoiding this for weeks, but the rubber has just met the road. The time for games is over. The race is on.  I've put it off by writing a lot of backstory, sorting out the Wingfeather family tree (this actually became pretty important in order to be sure I had my facts straight on some things), and having a long conversation about the book with my brother, who's a fellow story nerd.And finally today I made progress on chapter one of The Monster in the Hollows (a title I'll probably change six times by the time it's all written). By the end of the day I wrote about 1500 words, which didn't meet my goal but ain't too shabby, either. I'd have written even more if I hadn't decided to scrap 1300 words and start over.I'm going to try and sketch a picture for each chapter, the day I write the chapter, in the hopes that by the time the book is finished not only will I have illustrations I can use for the book but my drawing skills will have improved. (My ulterior motive is that I'll improve enough to realize my high school dream of penciling Batman for DC Comics someday. Not really.)So here's my sketch for chapter one. Oh, and just to clarify: it's not a tornado on the horizon. It's smoke. To further clarify for you Lost followers, it's not sentient smoke. It's just plain old smoke.

A New Creature: Tree Crab

We just got back from the film How to Train Your Dragon, to which the five Petersons gave ten thumbs up, and the first thing Aedan (11) did when we got home was break out his sketchbook. Art begets art. Here's a little sketch he did tonight of a creature he calls the tree crab, a native of the Jungles of Plontst, which lies in the southeastern corner of the Dark Sea of Darkness. I hope the Igibys don't run into one of these. But they probably will.

Another Wingfeather Song: "Barefoot and Beggarly"

I just got this email today from a fella named Daniel:Hey! I was just reading through some of my favorite parts of Dark Sea of Darkness and was reminded of what a fan I am of Armulyn the Bard! I hear all sorts of whimsical, dorian-mode whistleharp tunes in my head when I read about him. Here's one that I tried recording. Unfortunately I don't own a whistleharp, so I had to just use a regular harp and a piccolo, but you'll get the general idea of what I was going for. Just for fun I also made a little sketch of what I imagine Armulyn's instrument to look like. More strings and slightly bigger than Leeli's. Anyways, thanks for doing what you do! Hope that third book is coming along well![audio m4a="http://wingfeathersaga.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Barefoot-and-Beggarly1.m4a"][/audio]Thanks, Daniel. I love the drawing of the whistleharp, too. As for working on book three, I've been in music world for the last few weeks, wrapping up production on Counting Stars, a new album due out in July. Tomorrow morning, with fear and trembling, I plan to open a Word document and write the following words:CHAPTER ONE.(I may not make it far past that, but those two words are the second hardest to write in a book. First place goes to "THE END".)APP.S. I started this post a few days ago, and am happy to report that I managed to start the book yesterday. After about four hours of procrastination.

N.D. Wilson: Killing Dragons

Greetings, dearest readers.I just posted a review and recommendation of N.D. Wilson's 100 Cupboards at the Rabbit Room. If you haven't read the series, it'll be something to tide you over until the next Wingfeather book releases. Pick up a copy (and support the Rabbit Room) here.In other news, I'm finishing up my new album Counting Stars this weekend! It's set to release on July 27th, so between now and then we'll be finishing up artwork, doing a photo shoot (ugh), and releasing a single (I think).While all that's happening I'm going to find out what happens to Janner, Kalmar, and Leeli when they arrive in the Green Hollows. I've been in music world for the last few months, and transitioning back to writing mode means priming the creative juices. I bought a handsome little Moleskine sketchbook this week and doodled a sea dragon yesterday, greatly influenced by James A. Owen's Here, There Be Dragons cover. The best way for me to enter story mode is to remember what it was like to be a little kid, and one of the straightest avenues to that for me is drawing.More to come.AP

A Wingfeather Song

So there I was, checking email late one night. I got one with a song attached, which isn't out of the ordinary. The sender made a disclaimer, saying her friend heard this little song she wrote and told her she should email it to me. It's not a finished song or anything, she said. Just something funny and dreamy she came up with on the fly after reading On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness.And at that moment I crossed a literary threshold. I thought immediately of Leonard Nimoy singing about Bilbo Baggins, and how it heralded the invasion of Tolkien's story into the culture at large. Caitlin Nethery of the band Carousel Rogues may not be Spock, and the Wingfeather Saga is a far cry from The Hobbit, but it heralds, well--Okay, so maybe all it did was thrill me that my story fired up someone's imagination a little, and out came this odd, pretty little song. The coolest part of this story? I emailed the song to Ben Shive and Andy Gullahorn (the Captains Courageous), and Andy did a little research on this Caitlin Nethery with the intriguing voice and unusual musical sensibility. Turns out she's in a band called Carousel Rogues, and their music is pretty great.So Ben Shive contacted them. One thing led to another, and it looks like he's producing their first record. I sat down and had coffee with the Rogues a few weeks ago, and was able to personally thank them for the delightfully geeky gift of this song. Hope you enjoy it.[audio mp3="http://wingfeathersaga.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dragon-fest1.mp3"][/audio]AP

"AHH!": New Art by Readers

Well, in this case the art is by listeners. My sister is an elementary school teacher in Jonesboro, Georgia (yes, the one from Gone with the Wind) and read On the Edge to her students last year. She let them draw while she read the chapter "The Catacombs Below", about Janner and Tink's foolhardy adventure to--and beneath--Anklejelly Manor. Visit the Art by YOU section to see the students' handiwork.I have quite a few more pictures by young readers. I'll post them as soon as I can.Thanks for the window into your imagination, O Students of Jonesboro.

The stories are true.