The Home Stretch

I just received back the edited manuscript of Titan 2: City Under Siege. Thank You Greg Langham! Your detail here is fantastic and will hopefully make this book better than it was. I will be busily at work making all the minor adjustments over the next few weeks. I always find that these editing stages can go very fast with very little time needed. I also had a friend, Andrew Roberts, read a version and he found some very constructive things for me to work on as well that I think will actually make the book much stronger over all.

It's funny sometimes a line or two can have such an impact on the overall meaning of a book. Really, that's all I think some of these changes will take so they have the proper effect and give the right balance to the story and characters.

Titan 3 Chapter List

Here is the initial chapter list of Titan 3: Shadow Games:
Chapter 1: The Ice Queen
Chapter 2: Break Out
Chapter 3: Jealous Guy
Chapter 4: Chief Ross
Chapter 5: Runaround
Chapter 6: Mezmorrozo
Chapter 7: Shockwave
Chapter 8:  Myst
Chapter 9: Nighthawk
Chapter 10:T.R.I.
Chapter 11: Azure
Chapter 12: Shadow Games
Chapter 13: Dave's Fate
Chapter 14: Working Together

As with Titan 2, there will likely be some minor adjustments to the chapter list as I go through the process of writing the manuscript, but this is the template that I am starting with.

Titan 3: Shadow Games, 1st Draft

I have now started the first draft of Titan 3: Shadow Games. I can't wait to get to some points that will become key moments in Titan's world. Titan 2 really focuses on the characters that were introduced in the first book as well as some major villain action. Almost everyone has some key development in Titan 2. In Titan 3 however there is not only more of the main cast but there is also some new major characters that will be introduced. Some will be heroes some will be villains (OK maybe more tan some, there are plenty of each), many of which I have posted about already. There will also be some new characters in Michael's East End neighbourhood. All this to say, Titan's little world is about to explode with a big over arcing cast of characters, and I can't wait to get them all into play.

Titan 2 is about to enter the last stage of edits and I am still hopin to get it out this summer, idealy July.

Titan 2 Release and Marketing

I have no firm release date yet for Titan 2: City Under Siege, but it should be early summer '13. I am busy preparing for the marketing and release of the new book. I feel with this being the second time around I am much more knowledgeable than I was when "The Midnight Hour" was released last year. last time I just put the book out and then fumbled along with any marketing and promotion as I was learning as I went. I already have a solid plan for getting Titan 2 in some stores, schools, libraries. I am also going to try getting some more promotion online via Facebook, Good Reads, and more. there will definitely be book giveaways through Good Reads. As well I will be trying to get some press releases in newspapers, starting in BC and then seeing where it goes from there. I also want to try and have some merchandising available like posters, T-shirts, and colouring book and maybe even stickers. There will be more to come in the coming weeks in regards to the upcoming Titan 2 release so stay tuned... 

Titan Universe Character Guidebook

Aside from the seven books of the Titan series I also want to add a character guide. This will depict every single character in the Titan universe and how they are tied to Titan/Michael. As I have stated in previous posts, I have even found myself having to comb through back pages to remind myself who was who and how tyey relate exactly, especially as certain characters have undergone minor changes over the development stages. I just remember being really into Spawn when I was younger and the "Spawn Bible" came out that was a single issue fully illustrated and each main character described. By the time the third book comes out there will be quite a few characters to discuss. So, really it may become two books that will fully details and explain all characters in this universe for people. In the end I just think it will be a nice volume to have even if it only ever sits on my shelf.

The Weakness of a Weakness

One typical comic book superhero trait that I did not give Titan was to have a weakness such as Kryptonite or the colour yellow. To me, this always seemed like such a lame plot tool. "OK, we need our hero to have some insurmountable physical challenge. I know, fire, he loses his power with Fire!" It just seems like something that makes you lazy and you start to rely on it. This is definitely more of a golden age and early silver age thing, but its still there just like masks, capes, and a sidekick. Kryptonite has been the most enduring of these of course and I will say they have used it in some very creative ways over the years, but it has also been used to death and  almost ruined it as well over the decades.

I think with a hero like Titan it comes down more to inexperience, limited powers, and the people he cares for that are his great weaknesses. If there are any other weaknesses they will be much ,ore subtle than 'look out, water, your one true weakness that can drain you of all your power!'

I will likely tackle the subject throughout the series or even in a mini serial about not extensively. To me, this is a superhero weakness in and of itself.

Titan, an Illustrated Novel

The Titan series went through many forms before it was finally released. I had been planning and developing the series for five years. I always knew that the cover art would be important to the tone of the series as an homage to the superhero monthly comics I grew up with, but it was the idea of what to put inside that I couldn't decide on. I knew I wanted interior artwork somehow, but how should it be laid out?

At one point I thought I wanted each chapter to have its own cover art. Since each chapter was to essentially represent a single issue of the Titan series as though it were a monthly comic. I also thought of having images run throughout the written pages, and really play with that as a style. Or, just have some kind of illustration for each chapter, sort of a representation of that chapter.

While I was working with my agent, Johanna Bates, I quickly came to realize that even getting the cover design I wanted would be unlikely if I went with traditional publishing. That meant, of course, that interior artwork was virtually out of the question. I found out quite a bit about how the publishing world really works. Costs and profit margins aligned to tell me that to get the book I wanted I would need to become an indie author. Only the could I maintain the creative freedom top put out the book as I actually envisioned.

At this point I could only get what art I could afford to get from freelance artists out there. Megan Furesz came in at the very end of the cycle and did a great job on short notice. her cover for Titan exceeded my expectations.  Now, I'm well into Titan 2, and Jena Stillwell is handling the artwork for this book. She has already done a fantastic cover that you can see several times throughout this blog.  I'm still paying everything out of my pocket, so it may not lead to my full artistic dream but it will be as close as I can get it. I hope to have double the amount of art pages in Titan 2, and time will only tell where things go from here. (Depicted below is art from Megan, Dan who was set to do the art of book one before he got tapped to work in video games, and Jena.)