These are my writer notes for The Stone King chapter 2. If you haven’t read it yet stick these writer notes. You can grab it on Comixology.
Page 30 – 31
When I wrote the Stone King, I did it all at once. In the collection, these pages comes right after the big double page spread. So Tyler and I reused that splash to act as the title page.
This is also last we see of Scritch for awhile. While Ave is busy getting everyone out, Scritch is looting.
Page 32 – 37
This is the big emotional beat of this chapter. It was important to stick the landing.
Originally this scene played out a little differently. It was mostly the same until Ave notices how much Rheebee is bleeding. Then realizes Rheebee would bleed out if Ave lifted the rubble and get crushed if Ave didn’t. But then later Ave is beating herself up over Rheebee’s death when she could do anything either way.
The change to Ave leaving and then pausing to think about the money added more emotional conflict. The decision can represent the conflict what she thinks is the right thing and what her Rheebee wants her to value/can get Ave to a better life. BAM! SYMBOLISM! Rheebee teaching all the kids to value selfishness partly leads to her own death while Rheebee’s mantra “A slow thief is a dead thief” proves to be true.
Rheebee starts with berating Ave but then you know it’s real bad when she is pleading. That needs to be conveyed with dialogue since Ave and the reader can’t see here. So there’s the please that gets Ave to stop thinking about the money.
I love non-talking scenes that convey the emotions. Then the sound of the Stone King lets Ave know she doesn’t have time to properly grieve. She does keep the money though. Because she’s not entirely leaving Rheebee behind.
Page 38-40
Hey, that glowy spot wasn’t there before!
We get Phul’s second introduction and name. His eagerness to help is bigger the responsibilities he’s being given. It give Ave room to wiggle in and get them to team up.
Page 41 – 45
This is mostly some exposition to get the goal in the story will be. It does a lot of the heavy lifting for explain stuff. The expressions are really important because these long just talking scenes can get very visually boring.
Page 46 – 47
While Ave’s motive is clear at this point, we needed Phul to have a clear reason for going against orders. Giving him a moment to see all the people who are effected helps push him into helping.
Page 48 – 54
This whole chase seen is all Tyler. I told him would like the chase scene to be more built into the city but he hadn’t completely designed the city. So I told him: It’s a chase scene. At one point Ave runs into Hey You and the kids. One of the kids falls off. Phul saves the kid but puts himself in danger. Ave saves Phul. The details beyond that were up to Tyler. Then when he sent me the pages I went in and added the dialogue.