Hey, I Actually Have Fans!

One of my first forays into writing was publishing fan fiction entertainment on the Internet. For those not in the know, that is where you take an established property and write a story about it, “publish” it for free on the Internet, and the copyright holders cannot come after for copyright infringements because you are not selling the story.
There are many fan pools out there. Star Wars, Star Trek, The X-Files, etc. But my bread and butter was Tomb Raider. So I wrote these little short stories and put them out there. The first time I got fan mail, I was giddy. I did not need fuel to keep me going as a writer. I am not saying that my success is dependant upon fans… But let’s say that it was like that octane booster that you put with a full tank of gas.
As a writer (or with any creative outlet), you never know how your work is going to be perceived. You can hope. You never want people to come back and say, “This totally sucks. You suck.”
But then when someone gives you a positive review, it is like justification. It makes me proud when people say that they like my stories. Like this blog article that my publishers emailed me today:

The Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society Miscellanea and Ephemeron

And then there is the social network that exists within the World of Warcraft. I admit I am not the most social of players. I think a lot of this stems from the same reason I don’t sit down at a poker table despite being a poker player. I am afraid of making an etiquette mistake. And there are Level 80s rolling around in Azeroth. I don’t want to be that pesky little dog jumping around the big bulldog as it stomps down the sidewalk. I have my friends and I am always friendly and helpful when I can be, but I don’t have the social connections that my other friends do.
So a good friend of mine named Luke is on the game, doing some networking and running with some new players. One of these new players mentions that he works in a comic book shop. This prompts Luke to drop my name.
Believe it or not, the guy knows me!?!
He does not know me but he knows my work because of STOLEN HEARTS. The guy is a fan. Luke is going to prompt an in-game introduction for us. How cool is that? What a small world. I’m looking forward to saying hello to the guy and talking like a couple of comic geeks. I think that is a pretty cool story…

Flexing Your Muscles as an Artist… and I am RIPPED!

As mentioned in my last entry, my first book STOLEN HEARTS: THE LOVE OF EROS & PSYCHE has been published through Campfire, which opens the door for me to talk about what I have been doing behind the scenes for the last year or so.

You can find the book at the following link:
http://www.campfire.co.in/Books.aspx?catid=3

Here a while back, I got hooked in through a comic contact with a company that would eventually become known as Campfire. They are an outfit based out of India looking to break into the educational comic market.
In the first trial run with the company, I adapted a literary classic for them that is going to be published soon. It was a feeling out period for both of us. I was a relatively unknown writer with only a few credits to my name and they were a brand new company I knew nothing about. I am sure they were afraid that I was going to stink as a writer and I was uncertain if they were going to be a fly-by-night operation that might not pay me. (They are based in India and that makes legal recourse really difficult.)
So after that first book, I think the editors realized they had something special. I say this not to brag or anything but I have been screaming inside about taking the comic book industry by storm. Writing comics is what I am supposed to be doing and Campfire has provided me with the largest outlet to do that in my career so far.
And how did I know that they liked me? Because they came back saying, “What do you want to do next?” I kind of shrugged my shoulders and said, “Mythology?” I had always been fascinated with Greek mythology and thought that could be a fairly large avenue for me to conquer. So when they came back with the thumbs up, I suddenly had to scramble to start relearning everything.
Again, time schedules and artist work can be delayed for various reasons so strangely enough, STOLEN HEARTS is my third story for Campfire but it is the first one published. Don’t worry, it just means more stories are coming and my output is going to look insane.
When I first approached my editors about the story, I had just come off a real adrenaline-fueled, hack-and-slash warrior action story with sword fights and monsters. I remember several years ago, I met comic superstar artist Michael Turner at a comic book convention. (He died a while back. Huge loss. Rest well, brother.) I was a budding artist at the time. I remember how he talked about setting a scene for a book in a place with a lot of curtains and drapes because he couldn’t draw them. At the time, I thought, “Why would you intentionally draw something for publication that you can’t draw?” But I understand it now. He wanted to flex his muscles.
My writing for all my comic projects to this point had been action and swords and monsters and magic. Guy stuff. And when I went to go speak at Osage Elementary about writing comics and Greek mythology, girls outnumbered the boys.
Granted, comic books and video games are largely a male dominated field. I think as many girls read Harry Potter as boys. But one girl asked me if there were “girl comics” and that was when I knew that this story would work.
So I flexed my muscles. I wanted to grow as a writer (and as an artist). I wanted to grow as a storyteller. So I thought, why not do a romance? Luckily, Campfire was willing to take the plunge and the result is the book STOLEN HEARTS: THE LOVE OF EROS & PSYCHE… on bookshelves now! (I know it’s a cheap pop. Sue me, my last name is Foley.)
While I am nightmarishly out of shape physically, my storytelling muscles were blasted with cardio with this story and I think I came out quite well. It is a definite departure from the norm for me but I feel it is a wonderful story.
The company did a whole one-page blurb for me in the “About the Author” section. (Personally, I think they should have split the info between the artist and me because we are a team.) But in that section, they mention the forthcoming books for Heracles, Perseus and Theseus. Which pretty much means the cat is out of the bag for those titles. Hopefully I will learn more soon about their release dates.
STOLEN HEARTS is a story that I am tremendously proud of. It is not “my” story. It is a tale over 3000 years old but I feel like I have put my own unique spin on the tale. Nothing was changed from the story. There are no time-traveling cyborgs or lightsabers in it and He-Man doesn’t make an appearance… although that would have been AWESOME! But I feel that the way I have presented the story is very unique. As strange as it sounds, this one is for all the fourteen-year-old girls out there but I certainly hope that everyone enjoys it and comes back for more.
All value-degrading autographs on the book are always complimentary.

Finding Your Place in the World

I have been working with a few comic book companies over the last few years trying to establish myself within the industry. The goal is to turn my writing into a full time profession. And I am very close to accomplishing that goal. Amy has now officially completed her schooling at the NTC Center in Pryor. All that remains now is for her to pass the certification exam which she will take on the 28th. She took a predictor where she placed 83% in the nation and has a 98% chance of passing the exam. So I am pretty stoked. I think I can actually see the end of the tunnel now.
I am planning on cutting back my hours at work so that I can still maintain my full time status (and keep my crappy insurance) but dedicate more time to writing. As of right now, I am on deadline for my next project and I have been dedicating most of my time to that project. Of course, because of my Nondisclosure Agreement, I cannot talk about the specifics of the project.
In a completely unrelated subject, for no reason whatsoever, I found this pretty cool website called Campfire. You can check it out by clicking the link.
Back to my original course with this entry, as of right now, I am working towards a self-imposed deadline. Every day that I work on this project, I may get frustrated or fatigued but I am never unhappy or tired… if that makes sense. I have found that the brain is like a sponge and you can only wring so much creativity out of it at a time. But I have been pacing myself properly to prevent the “brain puddining.” [Regular visitors of the blog know about this effect.] And while at times, my job writing is difficult I am never dissatisfied.
And that is the key, people. You’ve got to find something that you love. I get so tremendously jazzed when I come up with cool fight sequences, funny gags, and heart wrenching moments. This is just what I am destined to do.
So I am clawing my way through a pretty intense book and I am fighting with my deadline and keeping on task while working at the 9-to-5. It’s rough but the end goal is what I am focused on. Well that and getting those mother-!@#$ !@#$ $%^^* piece of !@#% credit cards paid off.
So if it seems like my blog has not been updating at a tremendous rate, it is because I am working on my deadline and working behind the scenes. But I am still here, Foley Nation. I promise.

Happy Steak & BJ Day and Moving Ahead (Giggity) with Projects

See what I did? See what I did in the title there. Using the word “ahead” to tie the two headlines together? Look I did it again with “headlines.” Man, I am clever.
So I am on here today, March 14th to wish everyone a Happy Steak & BJ Day. This is the male twin holiday counterpart to Valentine’s Day. If you need to know more, click here. It's not an official holiday yet but dammit it could be!
Also, I am happy to announce that I am back on the horse regarding my latest comic book project. I am dedicating myself to three pages a day and taking Sundays off to give me a slight reprieve. If figure that working a full schedule and writing three pages is totally doable without my brain resorting to what I have affectionately called in the past “brain puddining.” It is that state that kids get when coming out of the ACTs or SATs. It is a state of mental exhaustion that occurs when you just try to wring too much information out of the sponge you call your brain.
I offset this with doing blog entries, watching a TV episode on DVD, doing housework, or having a quick go on a video game. Still this is a pretty big project and I am trying not to get burned out too fast. My theory is that the more I convert this into a full time job, the more water the sponge can hold and the more I can wring out of it at a single sitting. If I could write full time every day, much like building muscle, I am sure I will be able to devote to a larger page count. But, for now, I’m pretty satisfied with three pages a day. Not showing off, not falling behind.
Hopefully more official announcements for this very soon. Back to battle.

Rattling the Pillars of Academia… Again.

So on October 30th, I had the pleasure of being a “special guest” and giving two lectures. The last time around, when was first able to add lecturer to my resume, I discussed comic books as a form of literature to a small group of a dozen ladies all wanting to be librarians. This was an older crowd – older but not old. They were pretty close to my age when it came to my demographic. This time around was slightly different…
This time around I spoke at Osage Elementary School. I was speaking to a class room full of six graders discussing Greek mythology and my second lecture had to be moved to the cafeteria to accommodate all the fifth and sixth graders to discuss comic books as literature. I think I was more nervous regarding speaking in front of the kids. I kept telling myself, “Don’t drop any F-Bombs. No F-Bombs.” I am kidding. Actually this was a pretty cool experience.
I discussed how super hero comic books are the modern mythology of our era. When I asked “Who can tell me how Spider-Man got his powers?” everyone raised their hands. I compared the characters of Achilles and Wolverine and Hermes and the Flash.
There were lots of questions asked and everyone was well behaved. I think at that age it is a tremendous sign of interest. When one of the kids asked me what my favorite comic book was I tried not to geek out. Instead, I was fairly reserved and said, “The Avengers,” which caused a ripple through the audience.
I tried to relate by using Harry Potter and Star Wars references, which I got good responses. I made sure to wear an Iron Man shirt to show the kids I was cool and not some stuffy college type guy that would talk down to them or talk at them but instead a regular guy that would talk to them. Afterwards, I got high fives from kids. One person wanted my autograph. I was told I was awesome. Coming from a sixth grader, I guess that is a pretty cool thing to be thought of as cool.

It was a lot of fun and hopefully they will ask me back to talk next year. Of course, by that time, I will hopefully have more books out there so I can say, “Go to this website and you can buy the following books…” I’ll have to do a flyer/handout for them with the website address. Yes, shamelessly shilling and whoring out my work for sales! Mwwhahahaha! I’ve become a real writer!!! Watch you butt, Dan Brown! I’m coming for you!

When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.

Still limping along with a dial-up connection, I can honestly say I don’t rot on the Internet as much as most. Plus my work on my current script keeps me pretty focused. Still I like to surf around. Ever Googled yourself? (I know that sounds dirtier than it really is). And while I have this blog, I don’t consider myself a blogger. Mainly because this is junk about my so-called life sprinkled with a modicum of humor and the occasional nugget of wisdom.
And while I have officially entered the creative arena as a comic book reader, it is still pretty weird to see my name on a person’s blog talking about my comic work. It is almost surreal. And then when those words are singing your praises, I have to giggle just a little bit. I know, 33-year-old guys shouldn’t giggle but I do.
I think that anytime you something creative, you are really putting your soul on display. Writing is probably the most of all these as I often infuse my stories with a small piece of my soul. Some stories get more of my soul than others. But you are putting something out there and you always wonder, “Will they like it?”
As I was scripting Tales of Penance: Trial of the Century, I felt like I was really working on something special. This was a unique and original concept for a genre that can often be mired in rehashed or outright hacked ideas. As this is a murder mystery at its core, you often wonder if you are delving out the clues too soon or not enough. But at the end of the day, I want my readers to feel like they are getting their money’s worth.
Because of my current financial situations, I have been scrimping here and there and cutting back on my pull list. So if I am going to plunk down money on the counter, I want to come away satisfied. Well a blog called Awesomed by Comics has given my most recently published book a pretty damn fine review.
You can check it out by clicking here.
After reading reviews like this, I often think, “Hmmm… Maybe I do know what I am doing. Maybe I can turn this into a career after all.” Doing that would certainly make me a happier person. And by pursuing my dream, that makes me a better father, better husband, and a better person. But to do something like this, you have to put your heart and soul out there and you never really know how the public will react. I anticipated. I expected. But I didn’t really know.
And when it does happen, well, it really is one of the best feelings on earth. It’s right up there with… boobs. ;-)

My Comic Blog Interview

I know this posting is a month late but I forgot to include it earlier. Back in August, I did a blog interview for Tales of Penance: Trial of the Century. Clicking on the hyperlink will take you to the interview! Enjoy!

The Passing of a Legend

I often frequent an Internet website called The Comic Art Community where you can find all sorts of great artwork. I was there to look for images of the Invisible Woman to use as reference guides for a character going invisible in one of my scripts. And I saw an image that floored me. It was the image you see on the right.
I immediately went into a state of shock and started doing frantic Internet searches. Unfortunately, it was true. Comic book artist Michael Turner had passed away.
As I alluded to in a previous blog entry, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And Mike Turner’s art was a beauty for me to behold. I was a huge fan of his and was lucky enough to meet him at a comic book convention a few years ago. He did a sketch for me and autographed several of my Witchblade and Ballistic issues. A giant Sara Pezzini poster hangs in my comic book room and more Turner artwork adorned my bedroom for a time.
I was lucky enough to attend his drawing class at Defcon. I had already attended classes held by artist Marat Mychaels and Dan Fraga. I was surprised to turn around during the session and see Dan Fraga sitting behind me. Professionals wanted in on Turner’s secrets. He was just such a tremendous talent. Those autographed copies of mine aren’t in the best shape because I poured over them time and again to study and try to learn (i.e. copy) his drawing techniques. His artwork adorned my computer screen as much as Jim Lee. I will sorely miss his incredible artwork and from what other comic professional have said, he was a really nice guy too.
Unfortunately, I was a bit out of the loop. He passed away on June 27 after a long and heroic struggle with bone cancer. He was only 37 years old. His artwork will long outlive him and his legend will continue to grow. Of that I am sure.
Part of me considered selling my sketch of Ian Nottingham on eBay for about 1.25 milliseconds but that piece is just way too cool and too close to me. You can click on the following gallery to see a small sample of his tremendous artwork.

You will be missed, Michael Turner. You were an idol for me, a talent to aspire to. My heart goes out to your family. Rest in peace.

Yes, You CAN Go Home Again…

My very first comic book writing assignment was closing the book on MVCreations’ Masters of the Universe. At the time that I was hired to write the script, the entire creative team had no idea that it would be the final issue. And then things came to a dramatically screeching halt. It would have been different if the comic had been bad or the artwork sub-par but Masters was typically one of the first books I would read out of my weekly comic book bag. I was a fan long before I was an employee.
And then that magical day came and I was granted an opportunity. I’m not going to say that I hit the ball out of the park but I like to think that I certainly stepped up to the plate. I like to think that I did the team (and the fans) proud.
This working relationship would later go on to more assignments with MVCreations that were very fulfilling and challenging as a writer but they just were not the same. I was really licking my chops and hoping for an opportunity to dig deep and carve a niche in the He-Man mythology. I had a story for Two-Badd that would have knocked peoples socks off! But then it all disintegrated away.
Because of the frickin’ lawyers.
It was a hard hit to get back up from and, at the time, I didn’t know where my next assignment would come from. So there was a lot of regret revolving around Masters of the Universe. It seemed like I had missed an opportunity that I could have done so much more with. And those always tend to gnaw at you…
And then, back in April of 2008, everything changed.
Unfortunately, because of my Non-Disclosure Agreements, this is the first time I am able to talk openly about this. But now, the cat is out of the bag. So, here goes.
Because of a good working relationship with Val Staples and the gang over at MVC, I was approached to do a He-Man revival… kind of. When a television show is produced, writers have to work a serious amount of time ahead to keep schedule with animation and the actual production of the show. So the idea was to produce a comic book based on one of the un-produced cartoon scripts. And this would be packaged in with the DVD release of the third and final volume of the Masters of the Universe cartoon series.
This was a pretty big deal for me. I should have checked it earlier, as the DVD was officially released on August 5th. However, as of 8/9/08, this DVD ranked #489 in all DVD sales at Amazon.com. And Amazon sells thousands of DVDs. Thousands. I did a quick check and top sellers were pre-orders for things like Iron Man, Indiana Jones, and TV shows like Heroes and Prison Break.
So my job was to adapt the cartoon script into a comic book that would be penciled by Emiliano Santalucia. Now, let me just take a moment here. I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What is beautiful to some may just be mediocre to others but there is certain art that I really respond to. Jim Lee, Mike Turner, Art Adams, Al Rio, Ed Benes, J. Scott Campbell, and this is just naming a few.
But Emiliano’s artwork was just perfect for the He-Man series. The two were made for each other. A guest penciller named Fabio Laguna was brought in for my issue of Masters and we have worked together on multiple projects since. I am not knocking his artwork in any way but I really wanted to see what Emiliano would do with a Ryan Foley script. To me, it would be like writing Spider-Man for Todd McFarlane or JLA for Howard Porter. Certain projects are born for certain people. And I really regretted not being able to work with Emiliano. And then the cosmic tumblers all clicked into place.
So I just got my copy of the DVD from the video department at Reasor’s. The art on the comic is fantastic and I am really looking forward to going back and revisiting all the “Snake Men” episodes of the series.
Part of me is still hoping against hope that the comic could make some sort of triumphant return but I think that is my heart talking instead of my head. Still, it was so great to back into that world… if only for one last issue.
Plus, it is pretty darn cool that a comic of mine has reached such a wide audience. I don’t know what the sales counts are on the series but if they are in the Top 500 at Amazon, sales have to be pretty good. How weird will it be to be able to walk into my local Wal-Mart and say, “Hey, a comic I had a hand in is on that shelf”? I know it is just one little comic on a little DVD but the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Maybe I will get to do an autograph signing on an animated series for The Praetorian at some point down the line. You never know…

Challenging Yourself for Improvement

Years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting comic book artist Michael Turner at one of the comic book conventions down in Tulsa. Mike Turner is a tremendously talented artist who, at the time, was tearing it up with Witchblade and did a mini-series that I loved called Ballistic. I remember that he said something that was very curious to me from a creative standpoint. In one of his panel discussions, he talked about how he was not good at drawing certain things. One of the things he mentioned was a curtain. So he draped material around his station where he worked and filled his book with all sorts of curtains. And I remember thinking to myself at the time, why would he fill his books with art that he is not good at drawing?
And the answer is so you can stretch your wings and get better as an artist.
I have experienced such a wing-spreading experience lately.
Again, years ago, when my comic and writing career was stagnant and going nowhere, for a time, I considered “selling out” and writing one of those steamy romance novels that are always in the grocery stores by the checkout line. It is cheesy, I know, but that is a frickin’ huge chunk of the market… and I was going to use a pen name.
So I tried to write this story but with no tights, flights, super powers or gun battles, I couldn’t keep myself in front of the computer typing. And it might have had something to do with the fact that the story was terrible…
The majority of my projects thus far have been a lot of adrenaline-fueled action stories filled with valiant heroes and big, buff warriors. But after speaking at a college about comic books (to an all women audience), I realized that comics are predominantly a male field but there are female readers as well. Where are their books? What about their market?
So I decided to adapt one of histories greatest romances into a comic book.
I know. Me? Writing a romance? My personal belief is that you should write who you are. And I would not consider my life to be in the romantic comedy movie genre. That is not to say that I don’t wine-and-dine my wife every now and then. What I am saying that my life is not exactly permeated with romance, so it is not the type of story that I would be inclined to write. (My life is not filled with combat with aliens or fights in gladiator arenas either but that stuff is cool.)
When I first pitched my idea to my publisher, I was nervous. Could I write a romance? Would it enthrall me? Would it keep me at the keyboard? But now that I have finished my first draft of my first romance comic, I am proud to state that I could not be happier with the end result. I think the comic is going to be fantastic and I can’t wait to share more about it as publishing time comes closer.
I believe that the story has allowed me to grow as an artist and become a better writer. Could there be a better goal?
More soon.

My Deadly Battle With The Brain Slugs

I have often talked about how I would rather be physically exhausted than mentally exhausted. I remember years ago coming out of the ACT test and then going to Arby’s with the majority of my class for lunch. We all sat around like zombies because of the mentally taxing nature of the test.
Funny Story: Being from a small town, the majority of the Adair kids got lumped together at the school in the big metropolis of Pryor and the test was proctored by a teacher from Adair. As we were all settling in, a random teacher came in asking if anyone was left-handed. (I am.) So instead of being taking the test in a right-handed desk with no support for my arm, I was taken to the cafeteria to sit at long tables for a more comfortable environment.
My friends, being the jackals that they are, immediately pounced on me. “Of course, Ryan made a good score. He got to take ‘the left-hander’ test. Anyone can score high on the ‘left-hander’ test.” It is a joke that makes me laugh even to this day.
Well, over the last couple days, I have been close to that point of mental exhaustion typically reserved for ACT testers or those attempting to figure out why everyone loves The Office so much. (I just don’t get it! I would much rather watch My Name is Earl.)
Thank goodness for experience.
Right now, I am at a point where I am under a deadline for a comic book assignment. It is not a tremendously stressful deadline and most of the pressure is coming from me to just get this bad boy done.
I rewarded myself by sneaking out on Tuesday evening to watch The Incredible Hulk with some friends. (Fantastic movie by the way. Totally washed away the failures of the first movie but more on that next blog.)
From there, I had two days off from my 9-to-5 craptacular job and I wanted to try to get ahead with some pages to give me some deadline cushion considering that the 4th of July is right around the corner and that is the busiest week of the year for us.
So it was time for a literary butt kicking.
Even with the kids home and Amy away at clinicals, I have managed to finish 28 pages of an 80-page script. That’s a nice chunk of writing. I’m over 3/10ths of the way finished. Wait. Is my math right on that? Close enough. I’m exhausted. Granted, it is a rough draft and I’m sure it will need some polishing but still, that’s not a bad two days.
Still, there were times where I actually had to push myself away from the computer because I could feel the effect coming on I call “brain-puddining.” (And I own the copyright on that term, freeloaders. You cannot use it without my expressed written consent.) It is that moment of mental devolving due to overuse, like trying to wring too much water out of a sponge.
Thank goodness I know the cure. A little Grand Theft Auto IV on my XBOX 360 and DVRed episodes of Malcolm in the Middle and The Colbert Report.
Still, these are the moments when I am happiest. The creative energy is flowing. The stories are all coming together. I’m developing all sorts of interesting scenes and challenges for the artist. And I am challenging myself too because after my last heroic sword fighting, adrenaline fueled monster hunting, grrrrr epic, I am now writing a romantic story specifically targeting the young teenage girl demographic.
Crazy, huh? More soon.

The Best Job In The World

I’ve had some crappy jobs in the past and now that I am growing closer to writing full time, I consider my 9-to-5 as my job and writing is now my legitimate career.
When people talk about finding their dream jobs, most are often heard to comment that their job is the best job in the world. To each his own I imagine but I believe that I have empirical evidence that I have the best job in the world. Attached is a slightly edited version of an email that I sent out to my fellow writers for the company that I am working for (the stable of writers if you will):

Hello My Fellow Writers!
My name is Ryan Foley and I am working as a writer just like yourselves. I am in a bit of a pickle.
I am writing a scene in which my hero if fighting a massive and ill-tempered boar. For a visual reference for my future artist, I recommended watching the movie Hannibal with Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore. But I have come to an impassible roadblock when it comes to writing for the letterer regarding the boar's SOUND EFFECTS.
I live on a farm. I have been around pigs in the past. I'm walking around my house making pig noises but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to translate that into written word. I cannot write out the sound of what a rampaging boar would sound like.
All these pages of story and dialogue and characters and pacing and violence/action levels and the appropriateness of blood... and I'm snarled on the sound a pig makes. (Is there a better job in the world?)

So, in what will arguably come down to one of the strangest email requests you have ever received, could you make a pig noise and send me advice on how you would write that out?
Someone, anyone, please, help a fellow writer out!

Your best friend forever if you can help me,

Ryan Foley

Yes sir. The hardest part of my job yesterday was trying to write out phonetically what a rampaging boar might sound like. What did you do today at your job? I bet it wasn’t as crazy or as entertaining as that. And for the record, the answer to the question was written in the script as thus:
SFX (wild boar): GGGROWARRKK

God, I love my job…

Slaying Dragons and Spraying on Girl Repellant

So back when I was approximately fifteen years old (around 1989), I was exposed to the role playing game Dungeons & Dragons. For those unfamiliar with the game, do a Google search. It is a role-playing game where you fight as a character of fantasy. Think Lord of the Rings or the highly popular RPG video games but played with pencil, paper, polyhedral dice, and good old fashion imagination. Or if you need a further explanation, click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons
I have to admit, D&D was a big part of my life growing up. Granted it probably didn’t help me with the ladies but I like to think that our group was one of those cool groups that played D&D as opposed to the nerds with the pocket protectors and such.
So amongst our group, I was probably the Dungeon Master the most often and players often said that my adventures played more like a story than a more fluid seat-of-the-pants game. I guess in retrospect that is not that shocking given my current career path.
My parents didn’t understand the obsession with the game. After returning home from a weekend of gaming, my mom would often ask me, “Did you win?” You don’t really “win” when you play the game. Or she would ask me why I had to go over and stay the night when I couldn’t just go over and play for a few hours. “But Mom, I’m the party’s only cleric. Who is going to turn undead and heal?”
Parents. Man, the Fresh Prince was right. They just don’t understand. (For all you kids these days, you only know the Fresh Prince as Will Smith.)
Anyway, there is a part of me that wishes I could still play Dungeons & Dragons. Granted the carefree days of not having jobs and significant others made it considerably less difficult to plan marathon sessions that would start Friday after school and run deep into Saturday morning.
It was a time where Mountain Dew and cheese dip was consumed by the gallon. Oreos were considered a food group. I look back on D&D as a tremendous creative experience that taught me more about theatrics and pacing and villains more than any college course could. But I also miss the camaraderie of gathering around the living room with a collection of my closest friends.
And while typing at a computer screen certainly doesn’t come close to replicating those friendships, I believe I am close to replicating the excitement of D&D with a brand new writing project.
And while I can’t say anything officially yet, what I can say is that there is a wealth of opportunity out there on the horizon for me and I am grabbing it by the haunches and humping it into submission. (That little visual nugget is for you, Aaron M.)
Things are really looking up for RMF Enterprises and my writing career. Trust me when I say, I’ll let you know as soon as I can make an official announcement….

A Look into the Creative Process…

“Writer’s are, let’s face facts, a small, sometimes sickly, bunch who do their work in the dark surrounded by Simpsons action figures and only the occasional hours of Wii and Guitar Hero for any kind of break…”
Jon Stewart
The Daily Show
January 7th 2008

So I have discovered something quite strange recently regarding the creative process. J. Michael Straczynski once said (and I’m paraphrasing here) that once you decide to become a writer, you are screwed. And the reason why is because you will see a great movie and think, “Will I ever write something this good?” And you will see bad movies and think, “This is getting made but my stuff sits on a shelf?”
And in my time spent as a full time father, I discovered that in a job such as that, there is never a day off. You are constantly on the clock.
I have recently discovered that with my writing, the wheels are always turning. I think about it during my 9-to-5 job. I think about it while driving in the car. It seems like I am always on the clock, turning over scenes, generating dialogue and thinking about my next project.
But to quote another old adage, you can’t squeeze blood from a stone. A few weeks ago, I was under a deadline that I was terrified of. I was always telling myself, “Let’s write one more page” or “Let’s do one more panel.” And to make sure that I stayed on track, I denied myself a lot of distracting elements. The most notable of this was unplugging my XBOX 360. (Damn Lara Croft and her adventures into ancient crypts!)
But then I discovered something. Writing is not like working a 9-to-5 job. I attempted it on one of my days off from my regular job and after six hours, my brain turned into pudding. I felt like I had just taken the ACTs.
As it turns out, those turns at the XBOX or watching an episode of My Name is Earl is important. You have to take breaks. I think this why progressive and artistic companies like PIXAR have paper airplane flying contests or some companies have pool tables and video game machines in their break rooms.
When it comes to creative jobs, you need stuff like that.
The difference is my XBOX is not a distraction. It recharges my batteries. But this is also why I will be writing at six in the morning and at nine o’clock at night. The pull of that keyboard is way too strong.
Reading a good comic or a book only makes me want to write. It makes we want to do what they are doing. So half an hour spent playing Assassin’s Creed actually brings me back to the computer better and stronger.
And even if that means being on the clock seven days, strangely, I don’t seem to mind.
I guess that is the truest sign of having a job that you love…

A NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER

I know my blog has been lacking lately but believe me when I tell you that it has been for an outstanding reason! Now, I am not revealing a lot here because of certain confidentiality agreements but I have been hired by an overseas company to adapt a literary classic into a graphic novel. [Graphic novel is the fancy term for a bound comic book.]
I was given a mid-December deadline and I have finished the first draft of that assignment on the last day of November. That’s sixty-four comic pages in about 14 days. I think that is pretty darn impressive considering I am still working my full-time job as well. The money on the project is very good (from my point of view) and it has been a great opportunity for me to expand my base and my contacts. Hopefully, my Arcana Studio mates might even get some work out of this project through freelance coloring and lettering. It could very well be a win/win for everyone involved.
After chewing through the rough draft and completing my page structure and such, I have sat back and relaxed for a few days. I celebrated by hooking my XBOX 360 back up. I passed the script over to my editor to catch all of my spelling and grammar mistakes. I might go back and play with the finer points to really make this a Ryan Foley book. But I was so jazzed after I finished the assignment.
I think that writers—good writers—are always writing. It is in their bloodstream. Over these last few weeks, I have found myself getting up at 5:00 a.m. to write before going to work. I would write on my coffee and lunch breaks at work. I would write when I came home from work. I was writing all the time, telling myself, “Self, let’s just get this one more page done.”
Part of me was doing this because I was terrified of my deadline. (FIFTEEN DAYS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE!!!) This is why my blog has been suffering from a lack of updates!
Now I was writing during the Thanksgiving rush (a pretty busy time for a grocery store) and I went for a pretty long stretch without a day off. And when I finally got my day off, I made a startling discovery. I told myself that I was going to treat it like my normal job and write for eight hours straight and treat it like a 40-hour a week job.
That’s when I discovered that if you do that your brain into pudding in your skull. After that day, I felt like I had just come off the ACTs. And I would rather be physically tired than mentally tired, any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
I think you have to off-set your work with a relaxing break. So I found that unhooking the XBOX was a mistake and I function better if I write for a few hours, take a break by watching an episode of My Name Is Earl or playing a level on Tomb Raider Anniversary.
Of course, it is after that break that I find myself drifting back to the computer to work and when you put all that time together, it probably equals out to a forty-hour-a-week job but you do it over the course of eighty hours.
Still, this is the job I would love to do full time. I wish I could write for a few hours, take a break to clean house and do dishes, write a little more, fold clothes, and then write a little more… I just need to start having steady paychecks coming in.

We’ll see how it unfolds. More news soon.

ROUND 2… Ding. Ding.

The assault begins.
Thanks to certain key elements falling into place and a little financial backing/contribution from my dad, I have finally begun a second full-fledged assault on Marvel Comics. Thanks to the return of Marvel Comics Presents and with certain maturations in my writing with all my various comic book work thus far, I think I am extremely prepared for a second run at Marvel.

Here recently, I added a new poster to my Spider-Man bathroom. (Yes I have a bathroom totally decorated in Spider-Man. Come by and use it. Admission is free but it costs $5.00 to get out.) With my most recent submission, I’ve used one of the characters that you see here. One down. All the rest of the characters left to go…

A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

There is that old saying about God not closing a door without opening a window. I know it is cliché but in this case, it counts. Thanks to my publisher Sean O’Reilly, I was introduced to a tremendously talented artist named Giampaolo Frizzi that is based in Lucca, Italy.
We were originally scheduled to work together on a commissioned series. After seeing his samples, I was hollering at Sean saying how much I wanted to work with him. In fact I sent along an email saying how much I wanted Giampaolo to work on a future licensing project. I was crushed when I found out that the money behind the commissioned series wanted to use a different artist.
Such is the nature of the industry and sometimes artists are chosen for different reasons. I saw this as a blessing because it introduced me to a second, incredibly talented penciler that I have had the pleasure of working with. (More on this later.)
Still, Giampaolo and I wanted to work together and Sean asked me to come up with a series for us to develop together. So when Giampaolo sent me a sketch of a Roman gladiator for a painting he was doing, this giant light bulb came on over my head.
I sent a script for a gladiator-themed storyline I had been developing since 2004 and the rest, as they say, is history. It is this storyline that I have started to receive artwork on.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. And so on. Artwork is kind of a funny thing. You can look at it and say either, “I like that” or “I don’t like that.”
I look at the art of comic superstars like Jim Lee, Ed Benes, Mike Turner, Al Rio, Emiliano Santalucia, Frank Cho, and Brett Booth and I say, “Wow, I wish I could draw like that.” Giampaolo draws like that. I could not be happier that someone with an art style that I love is working on one of my stories. We have been working on cover designs, discussing novels, and influences. Literally, it is a dream come true. This is what I was put on this earth to do. No doubt.

Show me a piano falling down a mineshaft and I'll show you A-flat minor.

So I have been lucky enough to sell not just one but two original comic book mini-series to my publisher Arcana Studios. After scrambling through the summer season at my 9-to-5 job, I have been pushing hard to get the series actually written. I had one of the six issues written [think of it like a pilot TV episode] and then had to actually write the other five issues once my editor okayed the series.
Since I am still fairly new to the comic industry, I wanted my series to be really tight and concise with no plotholes. This meant writing the majority of the series before we started the art. (As of this writing, I have about 75% of Issue #6 of the six-issue series completed and artwork on Issue #1 has started.)
Now, I have said many times that one of my favorite parts of the comic book process is getting those first batch of emails with artwork on them to see how the artist has translated my word into pictures.
Up until now, all my work has been commissions where I get a script and my editors (bosses) say, “Write about this.”
However, for the first time, I am seeing my vision transformed into pictures. My artist has sent me the first page of artwork. It is only five panels but I cannot express my feelings. It is just such an awesome sensation when I look at the art. I actually get giddy. Giddy!
For the first time, this is my story, my characters, my locations. So if this bad boy is terrible, it is all on me. But I have tremendous high hopes for the series. I can’t wait to share this story with my friends and family. (I’m no where near big enough yet to actually have fans.)

The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.

Ah, lazy Sundays… Ppshhaw! Lazy is the last way I would describe it. Okay, so I worked my shift at the store. After having the first Sunday in over a month that wasn’t soaked out by rain, I guess people didn’t want to spend the day shopping for groceries. It worked out for me because I got to leave early.
So I came home and submitted four comic book issues and two series overview files to my publisher and artist. That’s right kids, I’ve got my original series flying along big time.
And while I am working on these original projects, my previous commission is being developed by an artist named Gian Fernando who is a tremendous talent from the Phillipeens. This stage of the comic book game is the one that I like the best. It is the stage where the artist is sending in work and I get to see how my writing translated to the page.
Many times the artist pulls off really cool stuff or angles that just perfectly capture what you have in your head. It is probably why I love the comic industry so much because it is a collaborative, team effort but it is a relatively small team so very little is lost in translation.
As I am coming to the end of my two original project, I could not be happier regarding their outcome. Again, I wish I could disclose more details but I’m not certain what I can get away with legally. Give me a little more time and hopefully I will be able to share more details.
So with fighting the holiday madness and trying to get through two original projects has been pretty taxing. Still, I think I have amply stepped up to the plate and delivered a big home run.
Honest to goodness, I’ve spent time on my lunch hours choreographing fight scenes between a vampire and a vampire hunter and writing out descriptions of a fantasy arena for gladiators to fight in. Could I have a better job? Well except maybe an employee at the porn star bra and panties fitting salon but one step at a time.
While I was proofreading, people in the break room and were astonished to look at a fifty-page script and said, “You wrote all that?” One girl complimented me, saying it was amazing that my brain works the way it does—which I take as a huge compliment.
While it is not full time (yet), I thank goodness that I am finally working in an industry that is perfect for me.

More information soon.

RMF Enterprises Bares Fangs

Writer to release 5-issue original mini-series through Arcana Studios.

For several years I have been pursuing a career in writing… It has been a long slog. I’ve fought. I’ve clawed. Joe Quesada at Marvel has rejected me more times than I care to count. Top Cow and Wildstorm said “No.” And then there were the dark times where I received no rejection, just flat out no response at all.

I’ve received letters of praise from people like Wildstorm Editor Drew Bittner and artist Tim Seely that kept me motivated. I turned a major corner when I was hired to write my first issue of Masters of the Universe. And while I have been working on several projects since my first publication, I have just turned a major corner.

I have sold my first original mini-series.

While details are still being kept confidential, I can confirm that Arcana Studios has purchased my 5-issue original mini-series entitled Midnight to Daylight, a short series revolving around the mysterious and romantic world of the vampire.

For this particular series, I will be working with two artists that have yet to be hired but the contributions will result in a tremendously fast release schedule.

More information will be available as I learn it. Right now I have too much work to do. But this event is the biggest event in comics to happen to me since getting my first assignment.

More soon…