It Is A Circle Blog

Hello world. Tom and I are very delighted to announce that we have an agent. We are henceforth being represented by Killing the Grizzly – http://www.killingthegrizzly.com/ an outfit with some wild and lovely ideas, and some great plans about how we’re going to get Personal Demons into print, and find it a good home with a publisher of suitable size and significance. Exciting times!

And yes, I did say print. So many people have been asking, and it’s a joy to be able to say yes, we are finally heading that way. There’s a wondrous plan in the offing, which we will reveal in more detail nearer the time (later this summer, all being well).

Killing the Grizzly (look closely at the logo and you may recognise the art style!) is not just an agent. There’s also a plan afoot to build something like Zuda, (a competitive space run by D.C. comics,) only much better. Less of the competition, more of the connection, community and mutual support angle. A space in which readers and creators can share, and take projects forward. It’s great to be involved, to be part of something we think is so worthwhile, so intrinsically honourable and valuable.

There’s a school of thought out there that says hard knocks, tough systems and gutting setbacks do creators good, make them better, more realistic. While Tom and I are all in favour of constructive criticism, we are neither of us fans of the ‘it’s good to bash’ school of thought. We believe in the value of environments that nurture and communities that support. So the direction Killing the Grizzly is taking, inspires us.

There will be more news, as we have it. In the meantime, you might want to have a read of some free comic stuff here – http://www.killingthegrizzly.com/free-downloads/

Although I read plenty of comics and graphic novels, I’d never seen myself as a potential writer of said. In part because it’s such a visual form. When you see a comic, all you get is the finished piece, with little sense of what might underpin it. I’d seen some of Tom’s notes back when he was writing as well as drawing – lavish, complicated things, the descriptions poetic and as enticing for me as the images he’d create from them. I knew I couldn’t do that.

In many ways, a comics script has more in common with film and play scripts than it does with novel writing (having dabbled in all of these forms to some degree). However, with a comic, all the work of the director and actors also has to happen on the page and there are no rules about where in the process this should happen. I gather when a comic is very author led, the author can be rather prescriptive about how the pages should look. Coming into a project Tom had already started, it seemed nuts to be trying to tell him how any of it ought to look.

The biggest practical differences between comics and my usual story writing are as follows.

1) Very little narration. I throw in odd bits, but too much is clunky.

2) Like the script for a play, all the action has to be played out through the dialogue and key directions.

3) I have no control over how things look. (Other writers may, but I don’t contribute much there.)

4) Fantasy elements really come to life, which means more scope for indulging in them without getting sidetracked from the plot.

5) Writing is much quicker than drawing. I have to be patient.

I’ve also found that long speeches are a nuisance, and that ‘talking heads’ pages are bad – which I didn’t know when I started. I’d have handled some of the talking differently had I been aware of this! these days when I write conversations, I try to put them in the context of things happening, although Tom assures me that this is far more an artist issue than an author one.

For comics to make sense, there has to be a good relationship between the art and words. If the words are trying to do everything (as in a book) it doesn’t work so well. I cottoned on to that early in the process and try to leave plenty of space for Tom to bring his own ideas to what we do.

I concentrate on the voices of characters, trying to hear them as distinct individuals in my head. I offer a bare minimum of ‘stage directions’ if I need the image to convey body language, or a gesture. Most of the time, Tom’s work compliments what I’ve written. Sometimes he startles the hell out of me with an idea that makes the story as written seem entirely different from how I imagined it, and invariably improves it. He’s bolder than me, has more vision, and I’ve learned a great deal from working with him.

One of the things I was able to do whilst in America, was see the process of page creation through from almost the beginning, to the end.

What I missed was the stage where Tom sites down with the script and figures out how much of it is going on the next page and how to lay out the panels. I gather a fair few comics writists detailed descriptions to work from, but I don’t. I’m not a very visual person, and figured out a long time ago that Tom has a far better idea than I do how to lay out comics pages, and what to put on them. The scripts I give him are almost entirely dialogue, with occasional extra details where the plot calls for them. The look of the story is entirely his.

Once there’s a plan, the panels go onto the comic board, followed by some fairly basic outlines to get positioning clear. There may be research at this stage, to find objects, or details of interiors, building and landscape to add interest to the page. Tom is careful to make sure there’s plenty to look at. I’ve helped with the research stage from afar before now, and we’ve drawn on the landscapes of my childhood as well as Maine to create the look of the place.

I’d rather imagined a drawing process where you start with the first panel and work through, but Tom doesn’t do it that way. He’ll move about between panels, sometimes because he needs to reference the backgrounds between them, but often for reasons that I can’t fathom. Basic shapes become details, faces emerge, and then finally the detailed shading happens – a curious process in which graphite is applied, smeared, rubbed out and otherwise kicked into the shape of his choosing. All of the original artwork is done in graphite, which is why the pages take a while to create. Typically half a page a day, if there are no distractions.

Watching Tom figure out perspective is like seeing a magician performing arcane ritual. As a non-artist, I don’t understand it in the slightest, but the results are amazing, and seeing them emerge is quite some experience.

Once the artwork is done, Tom scans the page, and adds colour using a wacom tablet, and does the speech marks on the computer as well. (Having seen his handwriting, this is a decidedly good thing). This part of the process is a lot quicker. Then the computer tech stage happens, and the new page is released into the world.

Feel free to ask if you want more details about any of the above.

I’ve had a fair few names along the way. My birth name, chosen name, one married name… and now I’m poised for a new identity.

For practical reasons, I want to keep the work I do with Tom separate from the erotica I write. For personal, emotional reasons, I want to be sharing his surname. All being well we get to do that in a legal sense this summer. So legally, I’m going to be Brynneth Nimue Brown some time soon, and very much looking forward to it.

But, what to do with the names? Bryn Colvin has a modest reputation as a smut writer, and I don’t want to mess with that. Bryn Brown, and Brynneth Brown are not really names that work at all. Not for book covers. Very comfortable with being that for every day, but the alliteration makes it a touch odd as an author name, and B.B is already in use.

After some consideration and talking and whatnot, I’m going to start using the name Nimue Brown for work I do with Tom – on the webcomic, here, and potentially other things. Wherever that makes sense. I’m not yet sure who I’m going to be when writing pagan things – Brynneth Nimue is a distinct possibility. Hopefully it will help keep the strands separate without confusing anyone (especially me) too much.

Names are important things. They are words of power. In some traditions, to be able to truly name a thing, is to be able to control it. To change a name is to change a destiny. I don’t really know who Nimue Brown is, yet. I get the impression she’s lighter of heart, more playful and fey than Bryn Colvin. She laughs easily, and at the moment she exists almost exclusively in relation to Tom, although she sneaks out to play without him sometimes. She exists because of him, and for him. I suspect her of being obsessed. Her writing is different from Bryn’s – lighter, faster, more in your face, less angsty.

I realise I’ve just written my first Nimue post in third person. Hey ho. I’m sleep deprived and my relationship with reality is… a bit creative just now.

I came to spend a week with Tom, and then a volcano happened. A matter of hours before I was due to travel back. So, I am very likely here until next Friday – who knows? It’s knocked us about a lot, which is why there’s been no Hopeless Vendetta lately – although I have a plan that should make some narrative sense of the situation, from a Hopeless perspective.

We’ll be back to normal soon. Webcomic pages are still going up at the usual pace, and the visa application is in (keep your fingers crossed for us, please!)

I’m very aware that most folks stranded by the volcano are having a far harder time of it than me, with family disruption, the uncertainty and fear as well. I am lucky, I have a secure, affordable place to be, my child is well cared for, and as a self employed person, I can weather the work issues. But for many people, forced to buy new tickets, pay for hotel accomodation, find places to stay in cities crowded with trapped tourists… its all kinds of hell. For most people, it’s not extra holiday, its a total nightmare. So this is a general appeal to be gentle with stranded folk. Most people I’ve had contact with are being brilliant about it, and are clearly able to imagine what it would be like for them stuck in the same mess. But one or two… aren’t. To all of those who are being part of the solution, I am grateful, beyond words.

On a few occasions now, I’ve got into conversations with people about the relationship between The Hopeless Vendetta and It Is A Circle.

We started the Vendetta last year, partly as a warm up exercise, before the webcomic was ready to launch. It’s set in the same place as the webcomic, but what may not be obvious is that it’s also in the same time frame.

Which doesn’t logically speaking, work at all.

Time moves slowly in the webcomic. It can take weeks to show the actions of a few minutes. Time in the Vendetta moves at real time, and week in the Vendetta is a week in the real world. I find if I think about this too much, it makes my head ache. However, with the webcomic, there’s a lot of things we don’t see. Whole days could, theoretically, pass unremarked between the pages.

What happens, is that major events in the comic sometimes get reflected in the Vendetta – as with the recent O’Stoat business, for example. I continue the two in parallel in the hopes that if I just keep pedalling and smiling that the ‘bendy time’ phenomena will somehow work. So far so good.

Many of the characters who crop up in the Vendetta will also show up in the webcomic. Annamarie features in both, and we’ve just introduced the Reverend Davies in the comic. Frampton himself also makes an appearance in the not too dim and distant future.

I’m not at all sure what happens between comics – we have a lot of script in the offing, and narrative lines hop forward a couple of years in the gaps. As the saying goes ‘we shall burn that bridge when we come to it!’

An update then, because we promised we would.

 Things are always slower with paperwork than I want them to be, and dealing with bureaucracy is always a headache… We decided this week that rather than imagining we are dealing with the faceless, nameless, rather inhuman feeling notion of borders control people, that we would instead call him Kevin. (Inspired by a friend who was told that if she gave the nameless evil in her cellar a name, it would no longer be a nameless evil. Good logic).

Kevin holds the hoops for us to jump through, but we have to guess where they are, and exactly how to jump. Does Kevin wish to see impressive dives and wild gymnastics? Or will just stepping through the hoop in a quiet, understated sort of way suffice? We don’t know. All we can do is be honest, and hope for the best.

It is, quite frankly, terrifying, knowing that our futures lie in the hands of random officials. At least for a while. I remind myself that border control people are not there to keep us apart, they are there to dot Is, cross Ts and maintain standards in box ticking.  All we have to do is stick with it, and eventually, we should get things sorted. But right now, it’s all a bit intimidating, to say the least. It probably doesn’t help that we are two bohemian people with odd circumstances.

The subtext is there in older posts and more explicitly other places online. I’m inclined to be clear. I said before that having spent a week together, we need to be working at the same table. It is more than that. Much, much more. The creative work is not merely something Tom and I do – it’s an essential part of who we are. Without inspiration, we neither of us get much done. Together… we can do all sorts. Shared creativity is much more powerful, because of how we relate to each other.

What started many years ago, with me getting drawn into an idea for a webcomic, is a love affair that has turned my life upside-down in the most amazing ways. Tom is my life, my world, my inspiration. As soon as we can get this all sorted, we will marry.

Tom: Is there anything about dead voles you would like to share with our readers?

Bryn: *Hides face in hands* well, there’s two things with dead voles. My cat used to reliably bring them as birthday presents, and for a while, I used deceased rodents (voles and others) to try and gain the favour of a lad I was after. As chat up lines ‘I’ve got a dead vole, want to come back to my house’ is… um… probably unique.

Tom: To be fair and balanced, I should mention that I once had a first date that involved a non living seal.

Bryn: Hmm, I think you’re going to have to explain about the seal…

Tom: The date was for a seal rescue operation… turned out to be more of a murder investigation, dreadfully romantic. Accent on the dreadful. Also used to have a mafia-cat who would line up the bird heads…sobering sight first thing in the morning. Ok we have established that we both have history with and fondness for cats, regarding the other important members of the animal kingdom, Bats or cephalopods, you must choose one! (pressure!)

Bryn: The obsession with bats is older. Goes back to being ten (ish) Batman obsessed, fascinated by them. I did some bat conservation in my teens. Baby bats are the cutest things imaginable, and seeing a bat colony fly out at night is an awesome experience.

Tom: Have never seen an entire colony, only a few at dusk.

Bryn: Rare experience that… whole colony, was incredible. What do you suppose the wallpaper in Hell looks like?

Tom: One theory is that it may be orange, I suspect though that it is most likely gingham, with adverts. (Also there is no such thing)

Bryn: Hell? Not in a Christian understanding. But it’s a good metaphor. It is what we do to ourselves, and to each other.

Tom: Yes. Have a saying about that. Wallpaper exists though, I’ve seen it! Ok…some lovely person has decided to bring you breakfast. We assume this person is not only lovely but telepathic as well. What’s on the tray?

Bryn: Coffee, orange juice, grapes. Hot buttered crumpets. Actually I’m quite easy to please, so long as there is coffee, the thought of anything on a tray is delightful. What matters most is the presence of said lovely person. Why are you the death of cheese?

 Tom: Well it has to do with Cheese…and the death of it…and…umm…my name. Which is the death of the cheese… and if I become more specific, the whole sense of vague threat (to..cheese) goes right into the toilet. Also… it was all of the words I knew in French at the time. I can now say suitcase and cat!

Tom and Bryn

Hello people, (and others).

There’s a lot of my personal life that doesn’t find its way onto social networking sites, or blogs. I’m quite a private sort of creature, and so is Tom. But, there are changes coming that are going to have some very visible effects on the webcomic, for a start, and other places too. So, explanations seemed to be in order.

We’re going down to one page a week with the webcomic. This is not a creative issue. It’s not loss of inspiration or energy, just that there are other parts of our lives that need some time and attention for the next couple of months. We ask you to bear with us, while we get things sorted.

Those of you who know us personally are aware that Tom and I have been collaborating across the Atlantic for quite a few years now.  Thanks to the internet, that works fairly well. But nothing like as well as sitting at the same table. Having spent a week together, it became very apparent that we need to be together in an ongoing sort of way. Moving Tom across the Atlantic is going to require some time and effort (there’s the wings to build for a start).

The webcomic will come out every Monday, with a Christmas special on Friday the 25^th. The Hopeless Vendetta will continue on Fridays, with guest artists joining in, and hopefully guest authors next year as well. Tom will be crossing the ocean early in 2010. We’ll keep you posted.

 Hugs to everyone

 Bryn and Tom.

This isn’t a collaberation, in the usual sense, but it would be fair to say that without Tom, there would be no Servant of the Forest – a fantasy/erotica novella, now available from www.loveyoudivine.com

Back last summer, Tom and I discovered skype. Having been working together for about four years, we’d not at that point talked, or met in person. Hearing each other’s voices brought us closer, allowing us to share and create in new ways. Tom assures me that he does not have an accent at all. I sound a bit like any stereotypes of English farmers that you might have, with a touch of pirate. Arrr.

Through the summer, I spent a lot of time with his voice in my ear, his companionship at a distance, and my life changed as a consequence. I wanted to write about it, but not in a way that was about what we were doing. So, I turned to a fantasy setting – one I’ve used before, a prisoner of war facing torture and death, reaching out with magic in desperation. She makes contact with someone, able to hear his voice, but little more. The voice in her ear keeps her sane, and alive. From there the story took off in its own way, with action, strange magic, and a passionate love affair.

Servant of the Forest is dark fantasy erotica. (And before you ask, it was written BEFORE we met, do not read this as autobiograpy! There are things I am not going to share.) I often write with an audience in mind- usually one person I want to offer the story to. It helps me focus. Copper Age material has always been written very much for Tom, and is different from what I do the rest of the time. I thought it would be an interesting experiment to see how writing in other genres and settings for him worked. The answer would be, very well. Writing for him makes the whole process flow, and takes me to all kinds of interesting places. Sharing the process of creativity is great, and so encouraging. I shall be doing that again.

The cover and title both came from my good friend Sarah Morton. Many thanks to her.