Mat Twassel: Blog

February being Valentine's Day month, I plan to post a little Valentines' Day story each day through the 14th.

What do you think of illustrated stories?

I took great delight in the bedtime stories my parents read to me when I was a small child. Two of my favorites were Babar the Elephant and Scuppers the Sailor Dog. The pictures certainly contributed to the pleasures of the story. They shaped my imagination. The world of those stories would not have been so rich without them.

Growing up I had little access to comic books. Hard to imagine comic books without pictures. I had a Lone Ranger and a Superman. Both characters appealed to me, but I can't recall anything about the stories, and I remember the illustrations only in the most amorphous way.

From time to time I've encountered novels with illustrations, from works by Dickens and Trollope to mysteries by Conan Doyle, but I don't think the pictures were ever vital to those stories. Often the plates appeared out of place, pages or even chapters behind or ahead of the scene they depicted. And while the illustrations themselves were enjoyable, they didn't necessarily mesh with the pictures I'd formed of the characters.

Several years ago I read a couple of graphic novels. It struck me as I was reading the stories that I was only noticing the illustrations in a most cursory way. Essentially I flew through the text with the many pictures providing some sort of out of focus ground cover. That's not to say the pictures were useless or even a distraction or detraction. The story wouldn't have worked very well without them. It would have seemed skeletal.

It gives me pleasure to try illustrating my own stories. Whether they enhance the experience of reading the story or detract from it, I can't really say. Ideally the pictures are an important and valuable part of the story. They don't collide with the reader's concept of character or action but rather inform, and in the best case they contribute in an essential way, even to the extent that the story would not work without them.

Many of the stories I've posted to SOL were completed years before I'd done any illustrations. For those stories, the pictures might be best considered supplemental, like jacket covers or footnotes. Other times I'm inspired by something to do a picture, and the story arises in part from the picture. The other day, for example, I noticed the dried flowers in a vase sitting on the credenza in our dining room. It has been there for years, and I have to admit I've paid it scant attention. I can't say the dried flowers are especially attractive or evocative. If I were an artist back in the 18th or 19th century the thing could have been part of a still life, but alone it likely wouldn't be suitable. This thought gave me an idea. Using my cellphone camera I took a picture of the flowers, and then using the art application Snap Art I made it into a sort of painting. I know it's going to become part of an erotic story called "Petals," though what exactly that story will be or whether the "painting" will even appear is unknown to me right now. We'll see.

If you want to see my "painting" it should be available here:
https://mmtwassel.wixsite.com/stories/petals

My little chapter story "Hooping" concludes today. I had thought it might overtake "Little Cat Feet" and maybe even catch "Rhino in Room 504" for 105th place in my story rankings, but it looks like it will be lucky to stay above "Bad Sex" and "Necrophiliac," especially given the ending. Potential readers should note I've added the caution code.

Almost no one looked at the stats I'd posted earlier, so I'll just list a quick review here:

17 votes for 1.
0 votes for 2.
5 votes for 3.
2 votes for 4.
3 votes for 5.
8 votes for 6.
10 votes for 7.
10 votes for 8.
8 votes of 9.
5 votes for 10.

Chapter 1 downloads 7786
Chapter 2 downloads 3601
Chapter 3 downloads 1989
Chapter 4 downloads 888.

Good thing there are only 7 chapters. With this progression, if the story ended with chapter nine, only 1 person would be reading it.

The most interesting thing is that the number of 1 votes has declined by two. I didn't know such a thing was possible. If there were 20 chapters, maybe all the 1 votes would be gone.

My chapter story "Hooping" is coming along. Two chapters posted, with the third appearing today. So far the reader reception has been mixed (if the voting is to be trusted). Should I take heart that only about 1% of the readers have voted? Maybe when the story is complete, more readers will express an opinion. Anyway, for those interested, I have posted the stats and the story so far to my Wix page.

https://mmtwassel.wixsite.com/stories/hooping

I'll try to keep it updated as the story progresses. (Seven chapters are planned.)