Like all good geeks, I have made a mix tape soundtrack for my story. You know, the Dicebox thing I do. I've actually made three so far and will end up with five or so by the time I'm done.

( For those of you who are in to such things, read on. )

First off, that is exactly what I based my design for the Dicebox homepage on, the frontispiece of a book. Here are some examples from books from the 1600s:

Ovid's Metamorphosis	The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

(Click images for larger views.)

Note the pillars in each example; this is a reference to an architectural frontispiece which "constitutes the elements that frame and decorate the main, or front, door to a building; especially when the main entrance is the chief face of the building, rather than being kept behind columns or a portico." (definition courtesy of Wikipedia)Also note the pair of framing figures in iconic clothing surrounded by all sorts of symbolism.

Since Dicebox was started as a way for me to process stories throughout my life and since the earliest way I remembered getting stories that meant something to me was through books, this was a natural choice for the story's homepage. I will be creating a new frontispiece for each book which will then take up their traditional place in the printed collections.

( More beneath the cut )

Military Rank: the Corps and Bureau equivalents

In answer to the response to the revelation of Griffen's old rank in this week's page --and for my own easy reference-- I present the military rank of the only military in the Dicebox 'verse, the Corporalty or Corps, and its offshoot/companion of intelligence work, the Bureau.

( A table of ranks )

I know some folks have noticed that the lettering on various background elements tends not to be the Latin alphabet, but a made up alphabet which I call ALS:



( more )

Photo reference part 2: environments

I don't really reference actual buildings or interiors in Dicebox. I'm inspired by some in books and real life, but I tend to alter or adapt what I find, though occasionally a conceptual building from a book does make it into the odd back ground.

I do take lots of random reference photos of buildings and cityscapes that appeal to me, but I collect these more to use as reference for a particular sense of environment then for any particular architecture style.

( Examples how I use reference photos to create building-scapes and interiors )

I always took umbrage at that saying "Write what you know" because that seemed so wrong and discounted so much, well, truth.

I much prefer and believe in the variant "Know what you write," which I first heard from me husband, Kip. And he just told me that he formulated it himself--with the caveat that others have probably said as much before.

Still, I think I married well.

I ruminated a while back in an entry on my main journal that if I realize that a panel of a yet to be posted page doesn't do it's storytelling duty, I am feel obliged to hold up production and fix it post haste. If that means delaying updating, so be it.

Well, that just happened to me this past page. Thankfully I was a bit ahead for once and so it didn't postpone the update.

( I'm about to think aloud to myself, with pictures: )