What’s the fun of writing a book if you can’t turn it into a halloween costume?

A big part of my writing process (and my teaching process, for that matter) is building stuff. I used to do this all the time when I was a kid, bringing to life characters and objects from both my own imagined worlds and the ones I visited through reading. (I vividly remember building a life-size Jack Pumpkinhead from The Marvellous Land of Oz one Halloween).

It took me several years into my professional writing career to realize that these activities informed each other, and now I embrace it.

My latest book, Spell Sweeper, is coming out with HarperCollins on November 30^th, and it’s no exaggeration to say that it was inspired by stuff that I thought it would just be fun for a character to wield: brooms, potions . . . magical supplies, but with a twist.

In truth, I already had most of the important supplies (a cool spell sweeping broom that I bought long ago from Granville Island Broom Co.), potion bottles, goggles—it was just a matter of assembling it and making sure everything was appropriately weathered.

What about you? Anyone else dressing up as a literary character for Halloween?

By the way, the Spell Sweeper kit gets a detailed description in the book (there are many interceding sections in the story, places where Cara goes on a rant and provides some insight into the world of wizards).

So, here’s an excerpt, in Cara’s own words . . .

***

These are the essential items in a spell sweeper’s kit:

Broom

Most people think broom + wizard = flying. But take it from someone who actually attends wizard school—no one straddles a broom and jumps from the top of a Dragonsong tower unless they’ve drunk too much of Madame Kree’s secret-recipe Halloween punch (which apparently happened with Chloe Quill one year).

Goggles

Good for protecting your eyes from residue splatter or from the venom that an attacking creature might spray in your direction. I only use them when absolutely necessary because even wizards don’t seem to have conjured up a solution for preventing fog-up.

Sweeper scarf

These are woven from the fiber of elf’s breath (a very purple and very pretty plant), which has excellent properties for filtering out toxic fumes. We wear our scarves around our necks and pull them up around our faces when required. 

Steel-toed boots

Because when dragons stomp, they apparently don’t mess around.

Gloves

Made with special residue-repellant material. A pretty good idea, because you definitely don’t want magical gunk under your fingernails.

Utility belt

Next to my broom, this is my most important piece of equipment because it’s where I store my broom snippers and vials of stain removers and neutralizers. It also includes a collapsible containment box—in the event that we encounter small magical entities, we can unfold the box and use it for transporting the entity to a proper wizard for inspection.

(Side note: This doesn’t really make sense to me, because the sweeper code of conduct explicitly states that we should not interact with a magical entity.)

(Side note 2: It’s really hard not to interact with a magical entity when it is trying to eat you, in which case the last thing you’re thinking about is how to fit it into this tiny containment box.)

Barricade tape

You’re probably familiar with the bright yellow “caution” tape for securing the scene of an accident. When we do a purge in Bliss territory, it’s procedure to rope off the entire area to ensure no one stumbles upon any magical activity. Our tape reads: Chemical Spill Containment Site: Do Not Cross—because no Bliss would take Danger: Feral Magic at Work seriously.

Miniature dustpan

Useful in both the wizarding and the Bliss worlds.

Flashlight

Same.

***

At one point in the book, this list was much more detailed, but we cut it for sake of brevity. But, if you want to know some of the more specific details, I present them to you here, also in Cara’s voice . . .

***

Moone Brew (patent pending)

My personal mixture combining qilin powder and caladrius gland secretions. It kicks the snot out of toxic spell dust.

Stones from the River Quell

This is the equivalent of kitty litter, which Blisses use in a regular chemical spill situation. Quell stones are good for absorbing and mopping up various types of creature excretions—your basic snots, urines, feces, but also things like dragon yolk or basilisk venom.

Ash from a phoenix’s nest

The best kind comes with bits of feather, flecks of gold, and other material. It’s a good abrasive and can really take on the peskiest of stains.

Pollen from hippogriff’s heart

In case you think this is ultra-gross, let me explain! A hippogriff’s heart is a type of flower, named for its shape and color. The pollen it emits makes for another good abrasive. But do NOT mix it with the above because . . . um, boom. Like many of our plant-based cleaners, Dragonsong Academy grows hippogriff’s heart in its enclosed botanical garden (the students call it “The Poison Patch” because there are some plants in there that are so dangerous that they have their own individual cages).

Elf’s breath cotton

Our spell sweeper scarves are woven from elf’s breath because it has excellent properties for filtering out toxins. In its pure form, elf breath is a strong deodorizer, so if our scarves simply won’t cut it, we can uncork a bottle of this stuff. (Apparently, urine from certain dragon species can leave an odor that lasts for decades.) 

Qilin powder

This is ground up from the antlers that qilin shed annually and is a powerful neutralizer that can send feral magic running for the hills (not that we want it running anywhere).

Griffin tears

These are famous for their healing properties, but they can do a number on feral magic as well, soaking up all the mischievous dust and converting into a manageable slime that you can easily sweep up.

Caladrius gland secretions

The caladrius is a magical bird that can draw the illness right out of a sick person. The gland secretions are very potent, which is why it’s one of the key ingredients I use when dueling toxic spell slime.

Arachnid eggs
I don’t know what these are supposed to do, but Master Quibble says that a spell sweeper should always have a vial on the ready. Gusto refuses. Snakes really wig him out, but spiders aren’t too far behind, especially after we saw what happened in Cosimo Balthazar’s antique shop, The Two-Eyed Cyclops.

Feathers of various magical creatures

Some people (annoying non-spell-sweeping wizards like Georgia and Simone) think that feathers are for dusting, but you can’t “dust” spell dust, especially the feral or toxic kind. We use these feathers to trim into bits and to add to some of our other powders or abrasives when trying to soak up certain messes. (In case it isn’t clear yet, you need to know what you’re doing when it comes to mixing.)

Sparks from a wizard’s fire

These stay alive within their bottle and can be activated with a quick shake. They don’t clean up anything but, apparently, if we encounter a dangerous creature, these might cause a distraction that buys us a few precious before being turned into spell sweeper mulch.

Wizard’s sponge

This is basically moss that has been harvested from Dragonsong’s garden. I’m not sure how it’s different from regular moss, except that it does really good job of soaking up and neutralizing certain creature venoms, spits, and saliva.

Unicorn tears

You’re probably automatically thinking of these as being in liquid form, but unicorn tears are known for quickly solidifying into tiny crystals, usually silver and red, depending on whether they are tears of joy or tears of sadness. They are particularly good for counteracting certain explosive materials, such as dragon snot. 

Mage twigs

Yet another plant that is grown in Dragonsong’s botanical garden, these are like a wizard’s version of incense sticks. We can light them to purify a place, but I find this is more to do with providing comfort as opposed to an actual cleanse, and I’m not so keen in sticking around a spill site any longer than I have to.  

Squix egg

Definitely NOT a part of the standard spell sweeper kit. So, shh . . .

***

As I said above, I love to hear about people dressing as literary characters, so feel free to post in the comments.

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Activities for kids: Dragon egg building 101

Well, here we are, in the midst of the covid-19 crisis and my family is facing the same reality as everyone else—being stuck at home, climbing the walls, with no work or school. I work a lot at home (that’s the life of a writer), but I’ve also had many of my creative writing classes cancelled, which means all my students are stuck at home, too.

There is only so much Netflix to watch, so many books to read, so many games to play—so I want to introduce some fun hands-on activities to help keep hands and minds busy.

The first one is building dragon eggs (or, if you prefer, magical creature eggs). I’ve built tons of eggs over the years, ranging from very simple and small ones to ones that are giant and complicated. I build them as props to help me imagine key elements in my books, to help my creative writing kids to be inspired, or as for treasures to use in my family’s annual dragon egg hunt.

I’ve also helped hundreds of kids build them as part of my creative writing classes, my art therapy classes for at-risk teens, and in my writer/artist residences in Canada, Korea, and Thailand.

There are two simple approaches to making dragon eggs that you can roll out with your kids, and, in this post, I’ll introduce the first one . . .

Dragon Eggs: The Sticker Approach

This is the style that you can use with the youngest of kids. My two-year-old, Hiro, even made one of these—admittedly, I did the painting, but he did do all the sticking.

What you will need:

• Eggs (real, plastic, or cardboard)
• Black paint
• Gemstone stickers
• Metallic or glitter paint
• Paint brushes
• Mod podge

First, let’s talk about the eggs. You can use plastic ones from your local dollar store (at this time of year, they are highly available), or cardboard ones (usually found at a higher end art supply or craft store), or actual eggs.

In the case of real eggs, you need to poke a hole in both ends, blow out the yolk, rinse the insides with hot water, then bake them at 325 degrees for twenty minutes to “cure” them. Real eggs are obviously more delicate than using the plastic forms, but they will work.

Once you have eggs sorted, follow these steps . . .

Step 1: Apply the stickers

Once the egg has been given a base color, apply the gemstone stickers. The only issue here is that if you apply the stickers, then change your mind and peel them off, they won’t stick as well upon reapplication, and you may need to use white glue to keep them down.

The great thing about the sticker application is that you can do it really randomly (like my two-year-old) and still produce an interesting pattern that makes the egg feel more magical.

Step 2: Paint with mod podge

In truth, you can just paint the egg at this point with your metallic or glitter paint, but a coat of mod podge will really bind the gemstones to the egg form and ensure its durability.

Also, the mod podge works its way into all the cracks and crevices, filling them in and making the surface just a little less bumpy. Don’t worry, it will dry completely clear!

Step 3: Paint black

After a lot of experimentation, I have found this produces the best final result. By painting the eggs black, you provide a rich base and makes whatever colors you apply over top to be more vivid and vibrant.

Step 4: Paint with your chosen colours

Once the black paint is dry, apply your chosen final colors. I find that metallic paints are the best, because they really make the eggs look distinctive or interesting—in other words, magical.

I often like to dry-brush the metallic paint on rather than glop it on because, once again, it allows a vibrant and interesting finish. But there are no rules here! Some students like to leave the acrylic gemstones gleaming through.

From our recent hatchling workshop at the kitchen table, this is Hiro’s egg:

And this is mine:

I actually think Hiro’s looks better, with the dispersion of bumps and shapes!

Step 5: Seal

This step is optional, but I usually like to add another coat of mod podge, just to ensure the paint or jewels don’t chip off. You can also simply spray with a finisher (you can buy these at any art store), but I find mod lodge does the job just as well.

What’s next?

If you’re looking for something extra to add to this project, well then there is plenty of storytelling and writing you can do. In my creative writing classes, I often ask my students to write care instructions. You can download the project sheet here.

 

 

 

The Guardians of Zoone takes flight!

Planning a book launch isn’t all that different from planning a wedding—there are invitations, food to organize, giveaways, speeches . . . and all the stress to go with it.

Which is all to say how grateful I am that the launch for my latest book, The Guardians of Zoone, was such an overwhelming success. A big thank you to the Main Street Book Warehouse in Vancouver for hosting. The store was packed wall to wall and we sold out every book in the store emblazoned with the word “Zoone” on the cover!

I am blessed to have friends and family in many talented areas, who helped out with the event. My wife, Marcie, and our friend Stacey made delicious skyger cookies with melted turquoise chocolate. My friend, Jeff, took my drawing of the key to Zoone and turned it into a template to 3D print keys for prizes (by the way, that template is loaded up on my website, so that anyone can print their own key—the template is here). My friend, Jina, took all the amazing photographs you see below (you can check out her Instagram at @jinakimphotography).

I dressed as a portal pirate for the occasion (since they play a big part in the book) and had plenty of freebies to hand out—including keys and stickers. The prizes included the 3D-printed Zoone keys, and some props handmade by me: a dragon egg and a “moto” probe (a robotic spy that flies about the multiverse, gathering information on worlds to “motonize”).

A big thanks to everyone who came out! And, of course, you can check out the order links for the Book of Zoone here.

Are you a traveler? Then pack your suitcase for Zoone!

In just three weeks, my new book, The Secret of Zoone, will be hitting shelves. Typically, this is a time for an author to invest extra time in marketing, host a launch, and plan tour or bookstore events.

For me, it means something just a little extra—building props! While I am usually making props throughout my writing process, preparing for events usually means I’m thinking not so much about how to help bring my fantasy worlds to life for me, but to help promote them to the world.

The idea

Since Zoone is about the nexus of the multiverse, where travelers from many different worlds cross paths, it was a no-brainer to introduce a suitcase as a prop. In addition to being a great “set piece”, I knew a suitcase offered one other advantage: I could fill it full of MORE stuff—even display copies of my books.

The problem

We actually have quite a few vintage suitcases in our house, but most of them are quite big, and many are a little tired. In other words, they’re not that sturdy anymore. My suitcase would have to be small enough to take as carry-on for a flight and be durable enough to survive lugging around to schools, libraries, bookstores, and conferences.

Scouring websites wasn’t that helpful. You can buy vintage suitcases online, but I knew I’d need to see the item in order to know if it would work. So, that meant scouring local antique stores. Which I did! At one point, I was even picking my way through the overflow storage of a shop, sussing out what they had squirreled away.

The chosen one

I eventually found a case at a store called Baker Dozen’s Antiques on Main Street in Vancouver. They had a good selection of suitcases, and I decided to go for this little fella:

It was a little beat up (no problem!), but it was the right size. I took it home, began cleaning it up . . . and that’s when I decided that I needed to give it a retrofit.

The project

It wasn’t long before I decided I needed to “Zooneify” the suitcase. Especially the inside, which, on closer inspection, turned out to be pretty gross. It had cloth lining, some of it stained, and emitting that sort of pervasive stench that sticks with cloth and felt after eons untold.

So, Step One was to gut the interior.

I put so much “knuckle-grease” into this project, that I didn’t even realize that I had bashed up my hand, tugging and yanking on the lining. It looked like I had gotten into a fight:

When I was done gutting the suitcase (and bashing up my hand), I was left with rough, exposed wood that showed staples and nails. I’d have to make my own new, lining. But before I got into that, I decided to turn my attention to the outside of the case.

Painting the case

My original plan had been to cover the suitcase with these vintage-style travel stickers I had created to go along with my book. But prop building is always the same for me: In for a penny, in for a pound. I now decided that the color of the suitcase wasn’t ideal, and that I would paint it.

Zoone Station is described in the book as being turquoise, so that’s the color I chose. I had never painted a suitcase before, or this type of material, so I did some research on finding the best kind of paint and ended up going with some premium satin acrylic paint that I could buy at the local craft store.

Then I began painting . . .

All the extras

As I said above, in for a penny, in for a pound. I decided I wanted to add some metal embellishments to the case: hinges (it didn’t have any), corners, and a steampunk-style gear on the front. I collected these places from all over the place: the craft store, the hardware store, and the Internet.

Unfortunately, they were all different colors, including the locking mechanism that was already on the case.

That meant, painting all the bits so that they at least looked close. I ended up painting the bits with black enamel model paint, then brushing over with another type of metallic acrylic paint to give everything a vintage coppery feel.

For the gear, I decided this would be the wizardly version of a combination lock. I found a brad with a “Z” embellishment, which I used to attach the gear to the case. Yes, the gear actually spins.

What’s inside counts

The entire time I was painting and working on the exterior, I was strategizing what to do with the inside. I knew I could make a simple lining using illustration board, but I didn’t want to just paint it a plain color. I decided it needed a bit more flare.

I tried finding samples of wallpaper, but this turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. Most stores don’t carry it in quantity and buying online was a challenge because I couldn’t actually see the scale of the pattern. Shelf liners would have been a good option, but it seems that most of the ones in stock around the city are either clear or fake wood.

I finally ended up using scrapbooking paper, spray gluing it to the illustration board, then adding a veneer of mod-podge to protect it and stiffen it up.

I agonized over some of the patterns and options, but finally ended up going with something that had a subtle polkadot design. After all, I knew I would be filling the case full of wizardry items, and didn’t want the pattern itself to be too distracting.

The final touches

Once the outside was painted and the inside lined, I could add all the accoutrements, inside and out. That meant affixing the metal embellishments. Then I added my vintage travel stickers and started figuring out what sort of things would go inside the case.

My idea is that this case would belong to a wizard on his way to the Convention of Wizardry that is taking place at Zoone during the events of the book. That means a bunch of whimsical items to suggest and hint at his character.

Most of the props I fashioned myself, such as the miniature bestiary book, the dragon egg, the dragon scale, and the fox-box full of charms. I will probably add a few more things as we go along.

This will also serve as a great inspiration for classroom visits; students can imagine the character who owns this case and write a profile and story about him.

And, of course, it will make a great display the next time I’m at a book store or conference and displaying my books!

Jewelry, wands, and masks: creating characters through costume

I spent the last few weeks as an artist-in-residence at a school for particularly awesome teens. It’s a specialized school with only fifty students and, since this is my third or fourth stint there, I’ve had the opportunity to really get to know the kids.

For this term, I decided to embrace the Halloween season and have the students imagine character through intensive costume and prop-building. As an instructor, this is a challenge because no one is doing the same thing. That means there’s not a lot of demonstrations on my part, but a whole lot of problem-solving.

This means finding the right type of material for each student’s individual project and then helping them build what’s in their imaginations.

The Theme

We loosely chose the theme of superheroes, though many students decided to lean towards a fantasy or steampunk design.

Over the last few weeks, they drew, painted, sculpted, and built!  Here’s some photos of some of the many projects they created.

Jewelry Design

One of the main projects I introduced was jewelry design and creation. Using glass cabochons and fingernail paint, the students came up with different designs. These make fantastic accoutrements for superheroes, wizards, magical thieves .  .  . you name it.

I think they are all beautiful, but I will admit I’m partial to the ones that look like dragon eyes!

Masks and Goggles

Every good superhero needs a mask, right? Many of the students chose to build masks or decorate goggles to help bring their characters to life.

Enchanted Bottles

I brought so many containers of supplies to the school that I wasn’t even sure what I had there half the time. But one of my students found the “bottle box” and from then on many of them became obsessed with building enchanted bottles. Using colored sand, acrylic gems, beads, moss, feathers, and other material, they created a veritable wizard’s den!

Wands and other magical props

Many of my students chose to build props that you can hold and carry.

One of my friends showed up at my house one day with a box of sticks that he had pruned from some trees on Vancouver Island. “I figure these will make great wands,” he said. (I guess I have a reputation as a prop-builder.)

I decided to share the sticks with my students, and many of them made some cool items with them.

Drawing, painting and multimedia

A significant part of the project was drawing, designing, and conceptualizing characters.

Many of my students combined these drawings and brainstorming notes with their props to submit final “character design” projects.

Wrapping up and saying good-bye

It’s always a bittersweet moment for me to wrap up a term at this school. These kids are so FABULOUS. They come to class each week, often thinking of themselves as less-than, and all I ever think is how I wish more people were like THEM: introspective, caring, creative, and community-minded.

We built a lot of amazing props over the course of the last nine weeks, but we hopefully we also built a lot more.

Propping up our stories: creating characters with prop-building

I’ve been doing a lot of prop-building lately—for example, crafting dragon eggs. Since prop-building is such an important part of my writing process, it’s something I like to bring to my students as well.

Getting away from the screen

One of the great things about prop-building is that it allows me to work on my book without staring at the screen. Let’s face it: Writing is hard and often exhausting. Sometimes, I feel like I have no words left in my brain, but I still have the desire to playin my world.

I’ve found that prop-building is a way to accomplish that. Working with tangible objects, working with my hands, has helped me to sort out plot problems. It’s kind of like doing the dishes and being suddenly struck by a eureka moment. Of course, when you wash dishes, all you get is clean dishes. When you build a prop, you get a tangible item from an imaginary world.

Nightmare Bottles

I’ve been working with a group of tween and teen writers this spring and one of the things I’ve tried to do is bring in the prop-building angle.

One of our first projects was to build “nightmare bottles.” This involves creating a character and metaphorically putting their fears in a bottle. Of course, this could provide fuel for a story in its own right, but the main purpose here was just to coax the kids into some brainstorming time.

Here’s some of their creations . . .

 

Character Kits

The main prop-building project I introduced this term was to create a personal kit for each character. This could also be metaphorical or could actually appear in the students’ stories. I’m big on inventing interesting “tools” for my characters and, especially if you are writing a fantasy book, I think you have a lot of opportunities to add extra sizzle to your story.

For this project, the students get to decorate and paint the kits themselves, then fill them with a variety of mini-props that fit their specific characters’ journeys.

This project has also tasked my students with a different approach to creativity. I’ve been trying to make sure they solve some of the problems they face.For example, one of my students wanted to build a spy kit with a gun. I looked around for toy guns and felt the creativity being sapped right out of me. I decided we could do something more original and unique. So, instead of buying a pre-made toy pistol, I bought tiny water guns and told the student to use it as a base for building something more unique.

He took one look at the brightly colored water guns and scoffed. I couldn’t convince him what a little paint a few cannibalized odds and ends could do. There was nothing I could do to change his mind, so I went home and built my own gun.

Admittedly, my gadget turned out part steampunk, part alien ray gun, but I hope I’ve made my point! And, now, I have something more unique and interesting that I can use—yep, I decided this can belong to a character who’s currently running around causing havoc in one of my own stories.

That’s the power of prop-building!

A new addition to the dragon’s nest

I have been building dragon eggs for a couple of years now, but I recently took on the challenge of crafting a giant one. I originally wanted to build an egg so that I could use it as reference in a book I’m working on (not the MAIN book I’m working on, but a side project).

I realized that my eggs were all too small—I wanted a model that would be the exact same size as the one my characters would have to deal with in the book.

So, I hunkered down over spring break and set to work . . . Here’s all the stages, starting with the raw materials: a giant plastic Easter egg shell, acrylic jewels, and plaster.

I started by plastering. This is the same type of material that doctors use for casts, but you can buy it at most art stores. I cut the plaster sheets into manageable strips then begin forming designs on the shell.

The plaster dries quickly, but can snap off if you’re not careful. A coat of mod-podge does wonders to keep it intact.

Once I was done with the plastering, I began the bejeweling phase, using a variety of different sizes and colors—the color variation doesn’t actually matter, because everything gets painted over at the end.

I like to start with a black coat of paint, then build up color afterwards.

I chose metallic greens for the final color, so started dry-brushing over the black undercoat.

Here’s the final product, sitting in my studio and shown next to an average hen’s egg, to show scale!

And here’s four of my dragon eggs, showing the different sizes, colors, and patterns.

 

The nightmare escapes: a writing prompt at our creativity camp

My wife and I our currently in Korea, teaching a creativity camp for tweens and teens. We’re combing writing, art, prop building, and acting to provide the students with a week of intensive creativity!

One of our opening activities was based around the idea of bottling dreams. Students brainstormed characters, focusing on their fears and nightmares. The students then “built” the nightmares by imagining that they had been bottled.

Students could be as literal or symbolic as they wished. I brought a lot of general supplies such as black sand, hair, cotton, and feathers, all of which could be trimmed or stretched to represent the negative qualities of nightmares. There were also some more “on-the-nose” objects, such as plastic bugs and snakes!

For story purposes, those bottles get accidentally opened, unleashing story inspiration!

Here are some photos of the students’ bottles and brainstorming . . .

The Unexpected Mummy: combining creative writing with art history

I’m continuing to lead a series of workshops through CWC called Picture Perfect: Exploring Creative Writing through the Lens of Art History.

We started with prehistoric cave art and moved on to ancient Egyptian art. The students built miniature mummies out of clay. Then, after letting them dry for a week, they “embalmed” them with plaster and decorated them with paint and jewels.

These props inspired the students to write short stories about characters who die unexpectedly and go through the mummification process. The hitch was that they had to write the story from the first person point of view, which meant describing what it feels like to die and enter the Egyptian afterlife.

Here are the final version of their props. In addition to many human mummies, we ended up with a falcon and a couple of cats. Some students chose to do mummies with luxurious decoration, while others took a more humble approach. It all depended on the character situation in the individual story.

The dragon hatchery expands

I’m continuing my work as an artist-in-residence with a group of teens at a local specialized learning center. A key goal of the residency is to provide a safe and fun place where the participants can create and do some art therapy.

In the first few weeks, we worked on building and sculpting dragon scales. This quickly migrated into the creation of dragon eggs—a far more ambitious project, and one that requires a great deal of patience.

The students have shown that patience and have enjoyed coming up with the styles, textures, and shapes to go with their eggs. There are many different approaches to this project, as is shown in the photos below . . .

Many of the students have ambitious ideas and plans for their eggs, so there has been a lot of problem-solving required. Depending on the student’s plan, I’ve had to go and fetch very specific materials or tools to help them achieve their vision. As part of this process, we’ve decided that we should now build “nests” for these eggs. That’s going to be tricky, since I’m sure everyone is going to have a completely different plan . . . but oh, well! That’s what I’m here for.