Another fantastic piece by Paul Davey:

Poguri's Awakening

The chapter corresponding to this illustration can be read here:

Poguri’s Awakening
http://www.poguri.com/awakening/

For those of you who follow the progress on this project at all, you’ve probably read Maddie’s nightmare sequence several times as it has gone through countless revisions and new incarnations.  Well now you’re in for a treat.  The first illustration by artist Paul Davey is a scene from Maddie’s nightmare, and he has more than lived up to my expectations.  Leave a comment, let me know what you think.

Maddie's Nightmare

Sometimes real life is the biggest obstacle to fantasy – writing it, anyway. It’s been months since I’ve done any serious work on the story, and I wish I could say it was because I’m juggling work and school or some similar excuse, but the truth is that I just haven’t been inspired.

On some level I think that maybe I’m not cut out to be the writer of this story. While I believe the concept to be sound, I am not certain I have the know-how to flesh it out fully into prose. Every book that I read for inspiration actually seems to have the opposite effect, that is making me painfully aware of how I am lacking as a writer.

Pony Ride

But there is hope. One of the things that usually always stirs my inspiration is new artwork. I’ve recently started a collaboration with an artist named Paul Davey, whose style coincides with a new desire to take the illustrations into a more “realistic” direction.  On top of that, his work also blurs the line between fantasy and reality, which is one of the main themes in Poguri and the Land of Nou.

Now tell me, did you notice the  two giant bears in the background?  If not, look again.

That I found Mr. Davey at all was nothing short of what Carl Jung would refer to as synchronicity, but that cynics might consider a mere coincidence.  Either way, I foresee a very fruitful partnership, and hope that I can draw some inspiration from his work and put it towards finishing the novel.

Greetings all…

A whole slew of new concept art has been posted to the illustrations section, including the second full-scale illustration, which shows the bogeys attacking Daywatch and the effects of the Blight. The contrast between this image and the “Fun in Daywatch” image sets the tone for the novel.

In other news, I am working on the first Tale from the Land of Nou, tentatively titled Poguri and the Great Freeze, which I hope to have complete by October 15th, in time for a writer’s event being hosted by Philadelphia Stories, as well as another meeting of Jabberwocky – a small writers’ critique group.

Based on the feedback I receive from these two events, I hope to be able to put Poguri on the [not-so] fast-track towards publication. For the few of you out there actually following this thing, you may be happy to know that Poguri and the Great Freeze will be posted on the website once it is complete. The Tales are not intended to generate any kind of profit for me, but to help me flesh out the Poguri universe and to familiarize all of you out there with the characters and setting. So I’ll be looking forward to your feedback as well. Well, that’s all for now. Stay tuned for the next Pogress Report and other information from the Land of Nou…

The “Pogress Reports” [sic] will be semi-regular updates on the progress being made in writing the novel. As of now I have committed to write an average of 2 pages per day in order to finish the book by the end of the year. I think it’s a pretty modest, if not underachieving goal, because some days I’ll be able to write 5 pages and some days I won’t be able to write anything.

So far I’ve done pretty well and I’d say that the book is 40-50% complete, which is not taking into consideration the extensive edits I’ll have to make once that first draft is at 100%. This is where the goal of finishing by year’s end becomes more daunting, but I am sticking to it.

Also worth noting is the promotional artwork being done by Angga Satriohadi, which not only allows all you folks out there to visualize what’s in my head, but really helps to motivate me to write. As of right now he’s already fully completed the first of three that I’ve hired him for, which is available for viewing in the illustrations section, and he’s 95% finished with the second, which I’ll be sure to post once it’s complete.

So that’s it for the first “Pogress Report”. I hope you’ll all stick with me…