The Dark Crystal Author Quest & Project 3!

The Jim Henson Company announced the “Author Quest” a while back – a competition where authors, new and old, compete in writing a prequel to the Dark Crystal movie. The prize? $10,000, publication, and a contract for any future novels related to the one you write. You start by submitting 7500 – 10000 words, whereupon the top five entries need to submit an outline before the community can cast votes on the best story. Sounds interesting? Yes, I think it does. Up until now I was certain I would participate, but I might just stand this one out.

Besides the movie, there are two more cannon prequel stories. The Legend of the Dark Crystal, a two-volume graphic novel published in 2010, and The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths, a three-volume graphic novel currently being published. If I am to do a good job I need to read these. The problem is that I can’t get hold of The Legend of the Dark Crystal volume two. Volume 1 is £7.50 on Amazon, which is a fair price, but Volume 2 costs over £30. Nope. Why not release a Kindle version? Or a cheap ebook?

To be fair, the Dark Crystal website holds a lot of information, and more will come. By the 1st of October, when they start accepting submission, there’s probably so much information available that you don’t have to get the graphic novels. The Jim Henson Company will also hold a “All you need to know” panel at Comic-Con on July 20th. For those who are considering competing, you should attend the panel! But for those who don’t live in the US, missing something like this could be a problem (though I am fairly certain they will upload the whole thing online).

I’ll step to the side for now. Maybe later, in late August or September, if I’m not too busy with my MA, I’ll check back and see if the website has been updated.

This also means I’ll go vacuum my apartment now and then start with Project 3! Yes – my third novel. This means I’ll go dark for a while. To maintain my creativity and not get distracted with blogging, facebook, and looking at cute kittens on Reddit, I’ll shut myself in until the first draft is ready. I’ll come back and check this site every now and again and publish monthly updates on the progress. Should you need me, you can use the Contact tab here on the site. I am usually rather quick in replying to emails.

Here’s the quick scoop on Project 3:

It’s a direct sequel to Project 2. I split the novel (Project 2) into two parts because of its length.

Before I go, I’d like to share an infograph published on Goodreads a few days ago, entitled “What makes you put down a book?”

Here it is! Enjoy, and take care! I’ll be back with an update before you know it.