Blake Hoena's Blog, page 12

Upcoming Events

Here are a few upcoming events that I will be attending

Young Writers & Artists Conference

WHERE: Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, MN

WHEN: March 12th & 13th, all day

I’ve been presenting at this event for the past couple years, and I’ll be talking to students about creating graphic novel and comics books, from concepting characters, to developing a story and drawing storyboards.

Writers Festival and Book Fair

WHERE: Bloomington Center for the Arts, 1800 W. Old Shakopee Rd, Bloomington, MN

WHEN: March 23, 9:30 am – 5:00 pm

St. Peter Book Festival

WHERE: Saint Peter Public Library, 601 S. Washington Ave., Saint Peter, MN

WHEN: April 6, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

I will have a signing table at this event, and also hope to have copies of my newest book, Campfire Crisis, on hand.

Bleck’s Dare

Just wrapped up the third book in my new Eek and Ack chapter book series for young readers.

Is this story, the brothers are searching for a planet to conquer—an everyday occurrence for them, when their sister, Bleck, catches them in their Dad’s laser room. After a little sibling squabbling, Bleck tells the boys that she doesn’t think they could even conquer Earth, a planet that still uses flush toilets (on the planet Gloop, they use vacuum toilets just in case you miss a little). Of course, the boys take up the challenge and head to Earth for another wacky adventure.

The new Eek and Ack books will be available next spring.

 

A Bit of Silliness

I’ve had my current foster, Ty (aka Autumn) since August. It’s been six months. She’s become attached. I’m attached. And so far, there hasn’t been anyone interested in adopting her.

Overall, she’s a sweet, lovable dog who just likes to hang out with her people. She’s often curled up next to me as I’m working. Greets me with tons of affection when I come home. She is a bit obsessed with chasing after tennis balls, can’t get enough of playing tug-of-war, and gets a little barky with the mail carrier, but we all have our quirks. And her need to play often provides me with a needed break when I’m stumped at whatever I’m writing.

So, I decided to make it official and adopted her last Friday. Of course, we had to go out and celebrate.

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 Ty dressed up to celebrate her adoption.

 

The Evolution of a Cover

A few weeks back, I posted the catalog cover of my latest book, Campfire Crisis. The cover was fine, for its purpose—promoting the book before the story was even written. But now that the manuscript has been handed off to the illustrator, it’s time for the real thing.

First, the illustrator worked up some sketches of the main character’s friends: Mike (left) and Carla (middle and right)

[image error]While Mike hit the target age of the characters, Carla appears to be too old, a teen instead of a tween.

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After adjusting Carla’s age, the illustrator provided a sketch of the cover. The flames didn’t appear to be as threatening as we wanted.

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The illustrator tweaked the flames, making them more of the background than the trees. After that, it was onto coloring . . .

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I can’t say that this is the final version of the cover, but it’s getting close.

Sprechen sie Deutsch?

I recently Googled myself. If it’s something that you haven’t done before, I’d suggest giving it a try for curiosity’s sake. You might be surprised by the amount of information that’s out there about yourself, especially if you have an uncommon name like mine, or if you’ve been in the news or are a published author. Information just has a way of creeping onto the Internet.

I Google myself from time to time to see if there’s any new buzz about the children’s book I’ve written. It may seem a little self-indulgent, but every once in awhile, I come across a review that I haven’t seen. And then there are the times I find an odd surprise.

Google also captures images that are tagged to a person. So when I use my name in a search, images of my book covers, photos I’ve posted on my blog, and even pictures on websites my name is associated with appear. Below are the covers of titles in the Stone Arch Books’ DC Super Hero series that I found on my last Google search. I didn’t know any of my books had been translated into German!

 

 

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(Livewire! has been translated to Superman under High Voltage)

 

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(Under the Red Sun has been translated to Danger in Space)

Zombified

Volume Nine in the Tony Hawk’s 900 Revolution series, Zombified, is now on bookshelves.

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Once more beset by visions, Omar finds himself trapped inside one. The world he sees is vastly different than the one he left. In this post-apocalyptic vision, the Collective has defeated the Revolution. In their absence, the disbanded Revolution has been replaced by a group of tribes that skate in their honor. Omar searches for his friends, for the meaning behind this horrific vision, and for a way out!

Campfire Crisis

Here’s the initial mock up cover for my newest book, Campfire Crisis.

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Three kids go camping with their parents. When a forest fire wakes them one night, what will they do? — this is choose-your-path style book in which readers learn tips about camping and survival in the outdoors.

Young Authors Conference in Marshall, MN

Last Thursday I drove over to Marshall, MN, for the Young Authors Conference. More than 800 students came to see Jonathan Friesen, author of Aldo’s Fantastic Movie Palace, give the keynote presentation. Then it was off to the breakout sessions, which is where I talked about creating comics.

As I always tell students, they come to these events not to just sit and listen to me talk but to exercise their creative muscles. Below is a fantastic example from a student of what we work on during my presentations.

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I’ll talk through some of my steps in writing, starting with creating characters. Once that’s done, we drop our characters into a situation to see what happens.

Presentations

The beginning of the year starts another season of presentations for me. Here’s my upcoming calendar.

Young Authors Conference

WHERE: Marshall, MN

WHEN: Jan, 10th

I’ll be talking to 3rd through 5th graders about creating comics

Young Writers and Artist Conference

WHERE: Mankato, MN

WHEN: Mar 6th & 7th

More talk on creating comics. But what I love about going back in Mankato is that I’ll get to eat at one of my favorite pizza joints in Minnesota: Pagliai’s

Young Authors, Young Artist Conference

WHERE: Rochester, MN

WHEN: May 21st & 22nd

This is the conference that started it all for me. I’ve been presenting at Rochester for the last 15 years.

Amplified — review

“The first of the newest four books in the series find the youngest members of the Revolution crew working together without direct supervision. Things are going well at first: Dylan and Amy are scoping out a skate park in Minneapolis, and Joey and Omar are checking out some local caves in St. Paul, both teams hot on the heels of the magical skateboard fragment they have traced to the region. Both teams soon run into trouble, though, when members of the Collective, their evil counterparts, find the teens and attempt to claim the fragment for themselves. Of course the Revolution team obtains the fragment and gets away safely, with just a little help from their elders, but as soon as the team completes one mission, they head right to another: Venice in book 6, Mexico in book 7, and Hawaii in book 8. In each volume, new characters are introduced and old characters resurface, sometimes helping the Revolution crew and sometimes exposing their vulnerabilities. After reading books 5–8, this series seems like NCIS for ‘tween boys. With the silver-haired and unflinching director, Eldrick, followed by his loyal, talented, and street-smart team of agents, each book plays out like a new episode: a different villain, a new location, a special agent’s skill set highlighted, maybe even a little flirtation between the cast. The series is gratifying for the same reasons the favorite TV drama is gratifying: because it is familiar, part changing story and part single overarching narrative (to get all of the magic fragments of Tony Hawk’s busted skateboard). The shift to graphic novel style at the climax in each book also adds to the visual quality of the series.”

—VOYA