Over the last three or four weeks I’ve been faced with a personal journey that has taught me a lot about writing, a lot about editing, and a lot about letting stuff go and being okay with changing stuff completely. This post is more personal but the lessons I learned are worth putting out there. Many, as you shall see, are point that you must have heard other authors and creators talk about.

In summary I am writing and producing my own original graphic novel entitled “Raven Nevermore”. The complications came about after completing issue #2. The Editor/Letterer I have on board, Thomas Moore of the Pop Gun anthologies and much much more, made a comment about the abrupt and unfullfilling… ness… of how it resolves the tale thus far. This comment aligned with my personal thoughts about some plot points I planned on bringing up later via flashbacks and such. I also wanted something left a mystery in case I could put a second collection together later on.

What Thomas accomplished then was something greater than just suggesting I expand issue #2 by 6 pages to fill out the ending. I was faced with coming to terms with some much more profound change to the entire production. The bonus to the difficult journey is that I get a new kick ass fight scene focusing on Dante, Corvan’s son–seeing the pages always makes the hardship worth it!

Here is a summary of the lessons learned:

Adding More  Pages

I needed to go back to issue #1 and add pages to set up earlier plot points that would be resolved through the 6-part series instead of left hanging for a possible second collected trade. The fact that I had to go back to material written a year ago became more daunting than I would have imagined. Writing NEW pages, which I thought would be fun and easy, turned out to be much harder to do because it involved thinking about all 6 issues in a complete, closed, fashion. Issue #1 and #2 will now be 28-pages long instead of 22-pages. Issues #3 to #6 will likely go to 28-pages as well now that they will just be collected into one book. Issue #4 has been expanded into issue #5 and the entire origin plot will be fully resolved in issue #6 which deals with the “big bad” that was going to carry through maybe 24 issues.

Change Plot Flow

I needed to change plot flow because I’m removing some flashbacks and executing these scenes in the present timeline which required me to deliver seeds differently, more cautiously, but still drop the seeds required for future payoff later. I had to decide what needed to get introduced faster and ensure I could deliver a payoff. I had about 24-issue summaries planned out. Parts and pieces of those 24 issue summaries are now within the SIX issues. Instead of each issue buffering main plot points between other side-stories with the main/major payoff at issue #24, plot points were all condensed, simplified, and delivered as the final complete trade  payoff.

Production Length and Cost

On the production level, I had to come to terms with the additional 30% financial investment. I committed to expanding the series to 6 issues instead of 4 issues, and make each issue a 28-page standard instead of 22-page, which causes me to re-structure the financial framework and ensure the project remains within my financial means! Seeing as I am choosing to be jobless to see much of my projects through to the end this year, this additional cash flow arrangement demanded I really look at me commitment to the project, my willingness to believe in the final product, and my determination to persevere against the odds.

Close the Series

Finally, and most importantly, I decided to tell a CLOSED story that ends at issue #6 and complete the collected trade book as a stand alone origin story… because, well, I could never know if this series WOULD continue and that wouldn’t be fair to those who supported it, nor to me for all the work done thus far. Many creators have trouble letting things go, or changing things; this too proved to be a hard lesson in self-editing.

Ultimately, the BIG PICTURE needs to be kept in mind: The final goal of the big picture needs to be greater than individual elements.

Here’s a cover preview to Raven Nevermore #2! This issue introduces a new villain for the Cog Town Nightwatcher to face off against–just a hint: He’s the kinda villain that’ll teach you to fear the silence in the dark, even if you thought you had those fears mastered. The story behind “Mute” is one that stretches well past this first arc and I’m eager to one day be able to tell it!

I hit some road blocks along the way and had to change cover artists last minute as a business choice. So two covers where done, but this one wins out in the end. It was done by Emmanuel Xerx Javier and myself as a collaboration. Emmanuel created the concept, layout, design framework and finally the art itself. I took that and did the digital work around the art. I’ve always loved collaborative processes but have lost some of my own confidence over the years. I hope to be able to do these collabs for the rest of this series.

Below is are the components that took me in this final direction. The first is Emmanuels art, with the background concepts stripped out. The second is a free texture I found online of paint splattered on a wall.

I immediately saw a raven shape–and I took that as a sign from a great power to roll with it and drop my previous concepts asap. I regret loosing the dog, but sometimes the art controls you. I spent 5 hours last night doing concepts with the dog in it that I ended up trashing… all but one. Maybe it’ll be for the trade some day .