Tag: Writer Notes

Page 117 – 122

I jumped into the scene at the end of Elsie and Morgan’s search because we’ve seen plenty of Elsie and Morgan solo. So I wanted to get straight to when they have a newer interaction.

I wanted a close up on Morgan’s eyes when she says she is tired so I could render the bags under her eyes clearly.

This whole scene is mostly to show how Morgan and Elsie’s dynamic changes when Morgan finally speaks up and says what is wrong. I really like the line “Shut the hell up. I’m helping.” It’s very Elsie.

It could have been drawn clearer, but Elsie is kicking Morgan in the ribs in panel two of page 122.

page 123 – 126

The rock hitting Billy after it has been hitting Elsie is a hint for the solution at the end. The magic generally confuses Elsie and Billy’s blood cause they are related.

page 127 – 132

This scene I had Billy bandage his own injuries because it’s sorta cliche for the woman to bandage up and nurse her male love interest. Kinda the assumption being because they are a woman they are more nurturing. That’s not Morgan at all.

Billy and Morgan’s flirting is intentionally awkward. Also, Morgan’s doubt and distrust of Billy’s compliment I figured would say a lot about her. Stuff like that isn’t something you is getting told on a regular basis.

Also, I wanted to acknowledge that someone like Morgan would be very hard to read. That is lending to the awkwardness of their flirting. Billy is fumbling about to try to get a clear signal.

I like the end of the scene where they are about to make out but Billy’s bandage is killing the mood for Morgan.

page 133 – 136

I kinda struggled to make it clear this was the next morning. Maybe Morgan’s shirt should have been more unbuttoned or she could have been in her sleeping shorts from the last book. I maybe could have done more with the lighting. But Billy spent the night.

I thought maybe Morgan’s smirk after Elsie says “But I like to get some action once in awhile” would imply that.

This quote goes to Kimber because most of this chapter is all her and Rae and it’s all one sided. Poor Kimber.

Page 97 – 102

Rae leans in and gets in Kimber’s personal space when ever she asks Kimber for something. When Kimber asks Rae to hang out there is a brief beat. If this were from Rae’s POV we would get her putting it together that Kimber likes her. After that beat Rae starts touching Kimber more and sitting next to her. And she talks about not being interested in what boys are hot while touching Kimber in a way that could be an accident or intentional. Note that she looks at Kimber not Elsie when she says that.

Kimber’s excitement and then disappointment when she shows Rae the stone is also to contrast how both her and Elsie got excited about finding it earlier. Also to show that Rae’s smaller put downs hurt Kimber more than when Elsie or Morgan flat out insult her.

Also I tried to think about character’s home lives and how they’d show when they aren’t at home. So Elsie cleans up the pizza and dishes without being asked since her and her siblings are all used to picking up after and taking care of each other.

page 103 – 105

Rae turns up the flattery, learns into Kimber’s personal space, and tries to make a physically connection. She pulls away once she thinks she has what she wants. And while Kimber is falling for it she’s not stupid, so I made sure she gets suspicious when Rae mentions money. So Rae goes into over drive as Kimber pulls away a little. Rae’s questions are basically so she can figure out a lie that is most likely to get money from Kimber’s dad.

page 106 – 110

Kimber has a somewhere okay relationship with her dad which is why he’s the one with in this scene. If it was her mom, Kimber probably would have given Rae everything out of spite to her mom’s opinion. Rae’s last name is a reference to a famous conman who sold the Eiffel Tower. Rae getting tripped up and unprepared for someone recognizing her and her last name is what causes her to crack a little in front of Kimber. The fact that she can only save it by going from all smiles to tears probably annoys her.

When Kimber doesn’t want to surrender the credit card, I had the beat because Rae was about to push harder but then thought better of it.

page 111 – 116

I thought Kimber’s doubt through this whole chapter was important to make her sympathetic rather than seeming dumb. Also the way she talks herself out of it by putting Rae on a pedestal builds up how she sees her crush.

Rae explaining about the appearance of things is a small insight into her as a whole. Kimber notices how Rae holds the nail gun as a hint of what Rae really has planned.

Pretty gets it’s own caption to bring emphasis to it.

Once again I end a Kimber chapter with Rae leaving while Kimber looks small.

I gave this quote to Elsie’s chapter cause she is the most honest of the group. It’s unintentional honestly.

Page 77 – 80

I like writing Elsie and her little gang. They of coarse went here to see the cashier Elsie was talking about being cute in the first chapter. I gave him the same skin tone and nose as Cu to imply that Elsie has a type. Amanda starts getting money out for Elsie as soon as the cashier says Elsie is short.

Lin shoplifted some candy while Elsie was shouting. Elsie is probably a great distraction. I always like drawing Elsie posing and trying to look cool. Like that her over the shoulder head turn. Her disgust at her friends talking about her brothers is also fun to draw. And I like those silent beat panels like at the end of page 80. For the record, Billy is 17, Elsie is 15, Bobby is

page 81 – 83

Cu has figured out that Elsie is the easiest for him to get to do stuff. It’s why he appears to her when she’s not with the other girls. Even though Elsie is an easy target for Cu, I did want to show that Rae’s coldness to everyone is getting picked up by Elsie. I probably could have pushed the acting as Elsie tries to find a pen. Make it clear visually she isn’t paying attention. But I like that Elsie complains no one tells her what is going on when she missed a good chunk of exposition due to not paying attention.

page 84 – 91

Elsie banging on the door continuously until Kimber answers the door seemed very much like a her thing to do. That contrasted with how Rae appears later, which is to call Kimber to tell her she is outside.

I wanted Kimber’s game room to be impressive and clearly expensive but not over the top. I remembered a kid I went to college with’s video game collection. So Elsie’s reaction is also partly because she’s not allowed to have video games. She probably plays them at Lin or Amanda’s house.

Like Rae and her dad ended up getting cut, I never found a way to show Elsie’s home. I figured her room is about the same size as Morgans only she is sharing it with 2 of her sisters. Everything would be very cramped. Billy and all her brothers share a room. Then her older sisters share a room which also has a crib for her nephew. So it’s not just the stuff that is impressing Elsie but the space.

They never dye Kimber’s hair cause Elsie sure as hell can’t follow instructions.

Page 92 – 96

Elsie’s “back then” comment is mostly cause while watching Game of Thrones my mom saying “I didn’t know they knew how to whistle back then” and just people in general confusing fantasy with history.

I know most King Arthur things have Merlin in a cave, but there are others where he is trapped in a tree. So I to bring up that version so people could maybe put together why the tree is important.

Elsie pushing Kimber to talk about boys is her default mode. So it goes over her head how uncomfortable. Someone could interpret that as her being younger than Elsie but when it’s back to back with her excitement when Rae calls, I thought that would point to someone more toward she doesn’t like boys. Even if Elsie misses it.

Page 59 – 63

I wanted to keep Morgan’s dreams a topic all through out the book so they aren’t forgot when book 3 rolls around.

I got a lot of siblings and we used to get into fights about who’s turn it was with the playstation so I figured with 9 kids the fight would get even worse. Also this is a good way to draw attention to Billy’s missing tooth. It’s a detail that could be easy to miss.

Page 64 – 69

So here’s Morgan and Billy’s sorta date. I wanted to build up their relationship in a way that wasn’t super romantic but you could understand Morgan fooling around with Billy later. Especially since she isn’t getting much attention or affection from anyone.

Morgan’s conversation with Billy, I wanted to make it clear how depressed she is. And as a teenager she knows shit is bad but doesn’t have the power to control or change it. It also vaguely mirrors the conversation Kimber and Elsie had. But this time the pessimist side is more grim rather than bored and the positive side is more proactive rather than content.

I wanted to imply Billy is getting dreams like Morgans but nicer.

I made sure Morgan smiles at the end of the talk though. So despite their disagreement she is enjoying her time with him. This time she lets him help her up.

Page 70 – 72

This kinda playful flirt rough housing was hard to draw. I needed to make it clear they weren’t actually hurting each other.

page 73 – 76

I love drawing Elsie being disgusted with people thinking her brother is hot.

Even though Morgan and Billy are starting to like each other I tried to keep them slightly apart whenever Elsie is around. Elsie always has shot gun in the car. That distance between them story wise will be important in the end. I wanted to subtly reinforce that visually.

So this quote is definitely because Rae is the type of person who always thinks she is right.

Page 41 – 42

I wanted to slowly build up to what eventually makes Rae crack. She gets really bothered by not being the smartest. She really gets tripped up by Morgan knowing something she doesn’t.

Page 43 – 49

Rae getting water from her ring is to show that she has played with/experimented with her powers more. This scene where she gets the ground wet is sorta a fine line between making it obvious to the reader what she is doing but not so obvious that someone is like “is Morgan blind for not noticing?”

I also wanted to make it clear that Morgan is having none of Rae’s shit and they don’t have any alone scenes until the end of the series because of this.

Rae is also literally looking down at Morgan this fight. I wanted to subtly reenforce Rae’s pov of view on the other girls with that staging.

Page 50 – 53

Rae seeing Morgan not take her word on the barrier was a big part of Rae staying away from Morgan the rest of the series. So her plan to team up with Morgan because of Morgan’s apathy backfires.

Page 54 – 58

Here I wanted to show Rae’s home life a little and that Morgan knowing something she doesn’t bothers Rae.

Briefly I thought about doing a flash back for each girl to show what they were like when they were younger. Rae’s was gonna be her and her dad getting money for his fake charity and showing that she learned it’s okay to screw people over if they are stupider than you from her dad. I ended up scratching all those scened because it was ultimately unnecessary.

I figured her just being cold to her mom for being dumb enough to believe their dad and then the explanation of where he is later would be enough.