Hey all, just wanted to post a process shot of the "Modern Times" inspired diorama, you can head over to the Any How Town blog to see the build in progress, read the tutorials on how it was built and also track the progress of my book series, "Any How Town".
Here's a bit of a history of the books.
It all began about five years ago when I wanted to produce a graphic novel, I had created a cast of teenaged characters who lived in a port town who were former soldiers. The era the GN was to be set in was somewhere in the1920's -1940's but with a steam punk approach, but I don't really like all of the associations with steam punk, it's not me, so I call it "farm punk", there are no poofy blouses, these are soldiers, brawlers, farmers and sailors, they get their hands dirty.
I started writing and sketching for a good few months and posting character profiles as each player in the story was created. I wrote some short pieces and began mapping the history of the wars, the town itself and was happy with the backstory that I had created.
After a year of solid creation (while painting commissions, doing designs etc.) I was kind of stuck, I liked all the characters but I found that the tone was too dark, it was a little inaccessible, the dystopic stew was too thick. I let the stories rest for a while and went back to painting.
During this time I also began building the models that you can see at the AHT blog.
Since the vehicles and animals of AHT are different than ours I figured it would be helpful that when I had to draw the comic that I had the models to use, this was great fun and also very relaxing. I started to comb through Dollar Stores and assembling the three dimensional world of AHT.
One day while working I realized what I truly wanted to do with the series, I knew that writing, drawing and inking the books would be too large an undertaking for one guy and I would just write the books themselves.
The strongest realization came from the characters, there are many large clans and families in AHT and all the characters had younger brothers and sisters, so instead of focusing on the teens I switched to the younger citizens of AHT and a door opened in my head.
Any How Town is a crazy place full of eccentric characters and it was far more fun to introduce them through the eyes of kids - things really picked up steam for me. I started plotting the first series of four books and I got it down quick, it just poured out of me, I was beyond excited to start writing the books.
Last summer I wrote the first book and most of the second and a third of the third book. I just sat down in the backyard of our house and I wrote them, I was shocked that all the work just lined up and spilled out for me. I sat under the shade of a tree (that tree has since died, long live the tree) and just wrote straight through the day and into dinner time.
Any How Town is a fun place, it's full of adventure, non stop discovery, ancient mysteries, chases, mutated animals, you name it, we've got it here. I want the series to be devoured, I want you to feel like you did when you first saw Indiana Jones, they are adventures made for the young, they are page turners, I am sure of it. I've since plotted the fifth and sixth book which is a whole new story for our young heroes, I can't wait to get to it and see how our heroes have changed since we first meet them in Book One.
I have now finished the fourth draft of the first book and have begun searching for an agent, currently I am writing the second draft of the Second book and WILL have it finished in a third draft form by the end of February and hope to have secured an agent by that time.
I realized a few weeks ago that I am actually in the fifth year of the Five Year plan of Any How Town, it doesn't feel like it's been a long time that I've been creating the world, it feels right and that gives me great confidence.
so head on over to Any How Town and pay the folks a visit
A.Shay Hahn
