Back from the DEEAAADDD!!!!!
Where I’ve been and where I’m going!
Greetings, Explorers!!!
I’m back! Did you miss me in your email inbox? Are you even seeing this? Or is it shuffled away somewhere you will never see in a promotions/junk folder? Who knows!?
I’ll keep writing either way just in case the gremlins living in your email are waiting impatiently for a new update from Next Stop Unknown. ;)
First, I am trying to get back into the swing of things creatively after a long hiatus. I apologize to anyone who may have been hoping to hear more from me lately, but this year has been rough at my day job. The evenings when I normally do my creative work have been either filled with working late or decompressing from the day.
However, I am finally gearing up to start getting some real comics out to you in the coming year, so it’s time to get serious about my newsletter again!
On the flip side of that, another reason I have not been more active with this newsletter is because I was preparing for my long-time dream of travelling to Japan! That trip is finally over, and I had a great time! I will be sharing some pictures and activities in my Unknown Japan column soon if you would like to see some of the things I saw in Tokyo.
Now to some news for my NEWS-letter:
The Airship is Finally Approaching!
My one-shot comic, “The Airship”, is finally going to be making its way onto the CEX publishing schedule by the end of the year! Currently, the publisher has both covers A and B, and they are preparing the design layouts for the final comic. This summer, we will begin the soliciting process to sell the comic to retailers before the printing and distributing at the end of the year. I’ll keep you posted on what I learn from that process as it approaches.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the logo I designed for the cover! This logo is meant to reflect some of the typography and advertising aesthetics that were popular during the turn of the 20th century when the comic takes place.
I’ll reveal the cover art when the final designs are in, so keep an eye out!
Deep Dives
IF YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR MY LONG PROMISED DEEP DIVE ON THE WRITING STRUCTURE, KI-SHO-TEN-KETSU:
You may be an imaginary character who lives only in my brain.
If you are indeed a real person reading this and saying, “YES! Tell me more, senpai!”
This deep dive is still in the works! I have been researching and organizing my thoughts off-and-on over the last few months trying to make sure I get it right.
After consuming so many videos and blogs on this topic, my hope is this deep dive will finally be one that I feel gives a satisfying explanation of how this eastern structure can be used by writers and (at the very least) offer an explanation of why eastern storytelling often feels so different from western structures. There are some really smart analyses that I have seen and will share, but I have some of my own thoughts about comparing this structure to other classic story structures that I want to sort out.
This deep dive is going to end up similar to my Aristotle vs Arcane deep dive where there will be multiple parts, so get ready writers! I think it is going to be insightful.
If you would like to prepare for what I will be talking about, here are some things you can familiarize (or refamiliarize) yourself with that I will be likely referencing as I talk about it:
Kiki’s Delivery Service (Max)
Star Wars: A New Hope (Disney+)
Parasite (the Korean movie, not the anime) - (Max)
Your Name (Crunchyroll or rent on Prime)
Yojimbo (Max)
Pulp Fiction (Max)
Princess Mononoke (Max)
The first few episodes of some popular animes:
Cowboy Bebop (anime, not the Netflix live action) (Hulu)
Demon Slayer (Netflix)
Chainsaw Man (Hulu)
Attack on Titan (Hulu)
Calvin and Hobbes (if you don’t have the books, you can always them here.)
Hamlet (If you know anything about my deep dives by now, you should know I love referencing my favorite Shakespeare play.) (Several film versions in film. The Laurence Olivier version on Max is a good place to start for a classic interpretation.)
I’m not sure I will pull from all of these yet, and I may still add some others. Some of these I will be using to explain three-act and other writing structures alongside of ki-sho-ten-ketsu. Regardless, everything on that list is worth viewing or reading anyway if you haven’t seen them already.
Reviews & Recommends
If you are a gaming nerd and have somehow been living under a rock, you should definitely take a look at Fallout on Amazon Prime! If you have no idea what Fallout is, but you like good science fiction drama, this is for you, too! Seriously, this adaptation of the famous video game franchise is as top notch as it gets. Check out my review here:
Anyway, that’s the latest for now. I hope this email finds you well, my friend—humans and gremlins alike. Go out and do something you love doing!
Sterling
Sterling Martin is a writer, artist, and designer living in Chicago, IL. His background includes drawing, writing, theatre, teaching, improv & sketch comedy, and whatever else he can get his hands on to be creative. You can find him on the internet at:
Instagram: @sterfest.art (but it’s really starting to test my patience)
Website: sterlingmartin.design
Tik-tok: That’s the one you make videos, right?
Linkedin: I’m pretty sure I have one of those
Facebook: Ugh, do I have to?