Flight of the Christmas Witch

When I was a young boy growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania, Christmas was a magical time. I know that is so cliché to say but it was true. The looks, the smells, but most importantly the feelings of love and warmth have all remained in my memories of those times. I have, unfairly, judged every Christmas of my adult life by those childhood standards and of course none could compare equally.

One of my favorite things, leading up to Christmas day, was the holiday specials that were broadcast on TV each and every year. I can still remember sitting in my mother’s big red chair searching through the TV guide to find out when each show would be on and I would look forward to it for days in advance. Luckily with the invention of video and DVD’s that is one small part of my childhood that I can still relive every Christmas. My most beloved specials were the stop motion films of Rankin and Bass. Rudolph, Santa Clause is Coming to Town, and The Little Drummer Boy was just a few of my favorites.

When I started working on the photo illustrations for my holiday book, Flight of the Christmas Witch, I used many of the techniques employed in those classic films. Then on one particular Saturday afternoon I was reviewing all the finished photographs and making the final selections for which ones to include in my book, and in that quiet time I was surprised to find that each one of the edited photographs seemed to summon up a different Christmas memory or feeling. Without intending to I managed to capture the look and feel of many of my childhood holiday memories.

This book has become very special to me in so many different ways. While writing it I was in touch with my muse like never before, the illustrations have brought back many distant memories, and the story itself is based on a wonderfully imaginative folktale that I had only recently discovered. My hope is that “Flight of the Christmas Witch” will become part of your holiday traditions and memories, or at the very lest bring a smile to your face this holiday season.

Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas!

Good luck and keep writing.

http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Christmas-Witch-Morgan-Kostival/dp/0989987442/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384663977&sr=8-1&keywords=flight+of+the+christmas+witch

The experiment part 3

OK so I have finished the book and all the photo illustrations, I have sent the book off to be edited, and this past weekend I have uploaded my book to the Kindle store. https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin  Know I am just waiting to receive conformation that my book has passed the Kindle review process, then I will be published for the third time. Although this time my book will only be available as an e-book for downloads.

What I want to share in this blog is just how easy … and hard … and frustrating this was. Kindle has made the process of becoming a self published author well within the grasp of most people that have a computer, but the amount of information I had to search through was almost enough to put me off. I was at a bit of a disadvantage because I was needing to upload my manuscript from my Mac to a none Mac supported system like Kindle. Not being a computer wizard I found some of the language unfamiliar and a bit confusing. All the information was there for me I just had to learn how to decipher it. Once I had cracked the code and I could see how my book would look, on a Kindle book, I then needed to go back and reformat my text several times so that it would look right on the device. I am very proud of what I have done. I know that I have not done a perfect job but as I continue to learn I will continue to do better, but for know Spencer the Spider and the Witch in the Wood has been a wonderful success. And while I have not had that same high as when a publisher called and said that they liked my work and wanted to publish it, this process has been far more rewarding.

I have often said that ever since I had my first book published, almost two years ago now, that it has been like being back in college. No, lets say school, because on a day-to-day basis I think I use to learn more in high school and because I knew so much less back then. Do you know what I have discovered about myself? I like to learn. Some times it frustrates the hell out of me when I don’t get something right away but I really like learning again.

Good Luck, and keep writing.

Morgan

The experiment part 2

Well I have gotten my edited manuscript back from First Editing http://www.firstediting.com/ this week. Now I need to sit myself down and go through the changes that the editor has made to see if I agree with all of them. I have learned the hard way, in the past, just because someone is a professional editor that does not mean that they do not make mistakes. After I have gone through all the track changes and accepted those that I like and rejected those that I disagree with I will then send it out to some of my friends whose opinion I trust to get more feed back. I always want my stories to be the best that they can be.

I could send my story to fifteen different people/editors and I could get back fifteen different versions. But I ultimately need to stay true to my voice, my vision, and myself. Here is a great example of what I mean. This is part of a note that I received from my editor:

“What an absolutely delightful story! I'm so glad I was chosen as your editor.

I changed a few words to American English per your request. One that comes to mind is 'gob-smacked', which I know from watching BBC America, but is changed to 'flabbergasted' here in the U.S.

I hope to see more of Spencer's adventures soon!”

I really want it to say ‘gob-smacked’ so that is one change that I will be rejecting. It’s not wrong it’s just what I want. I need to get to work now.

Good luck, and keep writing!

Morgan

The experiment.

A year ago I finished a new short story called Spencer the Spider and the Witch in the Wood. Because of many other projects that I have been involved with I put Spencer on the back burner and have just recently revisited it. I have done some rewrites and a lot of editing and feel that it is now ready to go to the publishers.

I have decided to try an experiment. Spencer is a Halloween story and it is to late to try and get it published with a traditional publisher in time for the Halloween season so I am going to try and self publish this short story. I am also going to post a blog entry describing what I am doing for every step of this journey.

My first step has been to send my manuscript to an independent editor. I am using an editing firm that I have used in the past. The best way to find an editor that will meet your needs is to research them through Google or Bing. (I love Google and would be lost without it.) Editing services are not cheap so it is important to find one that is highly rated and will perform the services that you need. I will post again when I get my manuscript back in about a week.

Good luck, and keep writing!

Morgan

Inspiration.

I was thinking that you might like to see some of the creatures that I used as inspiration while creating my character of Cuddles (pictured below) in The Deep Black Pond.

First was the Angler fish. I started with the idea of its oversized mouth and translucent teeth, and its angler, or lure eventually became Cuddles one large glowing eye.

Next was the shape. Ever since I had one living under a dock on a cannel where I use to live, the Green More eel has fascinated me. So that seemed a natural choice.

stokes rx / Foter / CC BY-ND

Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stokesrx/5845117677/">stokes rx</a> / <a href="http://foter.com">Foter</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">CC BY-ND</a>

Finally there was the color, and I wanted it to be as amazing as the design was turning out. This blue metallic Coy is truly one of the most unusual colors I have ever seen in nature and the perfect choice.

So there you have it. Just three of the several hundred thoughts that went into creating Cuddles the fish in The Deep Black Pond.

Good luck and keep writing.

Morgan

It's been a while.

I some times forget why I started this blog. Then the other week I saw this graphic on writers write.

I have been in the submission process for what seems like an eternity. Every time you make a submission to a publisher it can be up to six months until you hear anything if at all. Well I recently did another round of submissions, this time to Great Britain, and I did get a rejection letter from one of the publishers which made me fell really good. It made me believe that that publisher respected my work enough to take the time to send me a letter, and it was confirmation for myself that I had accomplished something. Now that may sound strange to some people but it is nice to know that even Sylvia Plath felt that way.

Good luck and keep writing.

Morgan

A simpler time.

This weekend I watched a film about the life and times of Charlie Chaplin, from his vaudeville days to his time as a director and producer and owner of his own studio, and it got me thinking about the time in my life that I spent as a filmmaker. As much as I hate to admit it the reason I wanted to be a filmmaker more than likely started after I saw my second Star Wars film and became fascinated with the art of special effects. I would like to say that I had had more lofty inspiration than that, such as some of the greatest films of all time, but the truth is I wanted to play with space ships for the rest of my life. When I made it into film school I started to understand, and fall in love with, the art of filmmaking and it was at this time that I became acquainted with the works of Charlie Chaplin, as well as all the other legends of film, in my film history courses. As a kid I knew about Chaplin from my parents but only thought of him as an actor and comedian it was not until college that I found out that he was so much more.

In discovering and watching many silent films and I really began to understand how pictures and images could tell a compelling story without the use of words. Something that I think today’s Hollywood should try to rediscover. In the film I watched this weekend I was reminded that Chaplin held out on making talking pictures even though the technology was around and available to him for many of the years when he was producing films. One of the reasons Chaplin did not want to start making talking films was because he did not want to alienate his audiences around the world that did not speak English.

In some ways I have a similar philosophy about my children’s books. The words in my books can be translated into any language, in fact both of my current books (The Deep Black Pond and The Gray Garden) are available all around the world, but it is the photo illustrations that I hope will inspire children of all ages and of any nationality to want to read those words. I still love films and filmmaking, and I use many the techniques that I have learned when producing my illustrations, but I have gotten more satisfaction out of creating my books than I ever felt even on the biggest film or stage productions that I have worked on in the past. I think that could be because of the way that I work now is similar to the way of the early days of filmmaking. It is simpler and less complicated and a little more pure. I use just a camera, a stage, and a few lights to make my magic and I hope that, like the films of Charlie Chaplin, will appeal to a wider audience.

Good luck and keep writing.

Morgan

A week of heroes.

After the events of this past week I am forced to recall a thought I have often had. That thought being that our civilization still works mainly because people are basically good at heart and on the whole, honest. Even though there are some people, such as the Boston marathon bombers, who would like to see harm done to others they are a very small minority when you take into account the total world population. I know that will be of little comfort to those people who were hurt or to the families and friends of those who were killed.

In my children’s books I use the themes of friendship, the cooperation with others, and the kindness to strangers as vehicles to tell my stories of fantasy and fiction. This week the people in Boston proved that friendship, cooperation, and the helping of strangers are not just concepts for stories of fantasy but real human qualities that are alive and well and existing in us all.

It is my profound hope that the kindnesses and heroism that occurred in Boston will continue and thrive in our everyday life and not just manifest itself in times of extreme crisis, and above all that going forward we do not give into the fear caused by two extremists.

My muse is cheating on me.

Some times I feel as though my muse is cheating on me. I have always been blessed with creativity and imaginative thinking and numerous times through out my life I have had, what I thought, were brilliant ideas or inspiration only to find someone else had the same inspiration and produced their version of the idea faster or better than I could afford to.

The latest example of this is that I spent part of last year, along with my partner, creating a new children’s book based on the classic tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. We finished our project several months before the end of the year and we began shopping the manuscript around. Now if you pay attention to current films you will know that in the beginning of March there was a new film released called Jack the Giant Killer. My hart sank a little.

We, however, are not giving up on our project because it is intended for a much different audience. If we had not finished our project we may have abandoned it when we saw the news, but it does go to show that a good idea will always find its way into the light no matter who had the idea first. So my lesson out of this is, as always, you have to believe in what you are doing because if you don’t no one else will and that you need to act on your inspirations because someone else may have had the same inspiration.

Good luck and keep writing.

Less can be more.

A few weeks ago, after the holidays were over with I started the daunting task of taking down all my Christmas decorations. Because I love the holidays so much, each year I completely transform my home into a holiday showpiece. I remove almost all of my everyday nick knacks, pack them away, and replace them with the holiday treasures I have accumulated over the years. When I strip that all away my house looks like I am moving out, it is so empty. Each year this gives me the opportunity, when restyling my home, to edit those things that I have acquired over the past year and stream line the focus of the over all design. Part of this comes from my experience as a visual display artist and some of it is a need to keep from being burred under clutter.

When I was going through this process this year I realized that this is very much the same way that I edit my photo illustrations. When I begin a new project I start with the design of the puppets, or characters, then I move onto the set designs. I almost always fill my sets with so much detail that it would be impossible to show it all in one photograph. So when I am setting up the framing of a particular shot I have to decide on what is the most important aspect of that shot and what that plate will need to convey to the reader. I still find myself trying to capture as much detail as I can but that is where the editing process comes into play.

After the photos have been finished I sit down with all the frames and going through them one by one I select those that best enhance the story and will engage the readers imagination. Those photographs are not always the best technically, but they are the best for moving the story along. Sometimes all the detail and attention that I put into a set is lost to the readers eye but I feel that the essence remains and comes through the illustration as an atmosphere and translates into a feeling. So I guess that what I am saying is that sometimes it is not important to focus on something just because you did it (or have it) but to keep your eye on what is important to the story telling process. As the old saying goes, “Sometimes less is more.”

Good luck and keep writing.

Morgan