Except for the printing and binding, I am done with the 20-page excerpt! Here is the inside cover:
The process of completing this excerpt was unusual. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to include in Tree Girl’s tale, but I was clueless in terms of how the narrative would unfold. Because of my time constraints, I needed to find a way past my writer’s block. I decided to take the six or so empty pages that I had left to write and simply (simply?? pah!) began drawing panels and images—allowing the pictures to dictate the story rather than having a specific dialogue or narration in mind (though, again, I had a vague set of ideas in my head and some notes here and there).
From there, I began considering the words. I spread all twenty pages (some still blank) on the floor and was able to see better what the narrative as a whole looked like and where there were gaps that I needed to fill. I re-wrote and re-drew plenty—and sometimes moved certain dialogue pieces to different panels.
I ended up switching a couple of the pages around, too, to make for smoother transitions between the drawn pages and the collaged ones. Hopefully it all makes sense! I am eager to print and bind it.
To close, here is what one of the unfinished hybrid pages looks like:
Mita Mahato 