Today, Grit City Emotobooks Illustrator Zach Revale (Grit City, Swing Zone): 

 Being an illustrator for Grit City is an exhilarating experience. Illustrating Emotobooks brings about a really fun creative streak in me that I was not always aware of. Our editors do an excellent job of finding stories that work well with this unique style of illustration. Working with the creative team at Grit City makes my job as an illustrator almost easy. If I have a problem or get stuck with an illustration, there are many people who can help me out and support me within our community.

Emotobook illustrations operate in the abstract realm. Coming from a background of comic book and graphic illustration, this initially took some adjusting for me. Eventually, I began to realize that it was okay to “push” whatever emotion I was trying to display. After I figured this out I found myself becoming totally engulfed within my work, which is always good!

Illustrating emotions within a story is, at first, tasking. I want every picture to have diversity. Sometimes, I have three illustrations that produce the same type of feelings. This is where the job gets both stressful and fun. Just when I think it’s impossible to differentiate between depicted emotions, I make a line here or adjust the light there and I am back in business because I’ve just changed the mood completely.

Doing the covers of Emotobooks is especially stressful. Covers are, without a doubt, the most important aspect of an illustrator’s job. They are what everyone’s going to see first. Creating a poor cover automatically sets our authors, who work immensely hard on their stories, in a hole. So a lot of pressure builds up!

Everything comes out the way it does because of the flow between creative, hardworking people who continuously give advice and words of encouragement to help make everything look as good as possible. When it is finally time to release an Emotobook, are plenty of kind words and pats on the back because, as a team, we finally get a chance to collectively breathe a sigh of relief an accomplishment.

Today, Grit City Publications creator Ron Gavalik (Grit City):

Who would’ve thought that a small group of dedicated individuals from Pittsburgh would change the world of fiction, by creating the new medium of emotobooks?

That’s right, no one.

Just what the hell is Grit City. How about I write the short pitch here, and if you want the in depth stuff, visit the website.

Grit City is a dark and calamitous world in the throes of self destruction. The main character, Dillon Galway, is a freelance journalist and blogger. He’s our idealistic, yet hard-boiled hero that’s doing everything he can to pull the city he loves from the brink of self-destruction. He tends to rely on Alyssa Stephano (hottie with guns, as my friend called her) to help him out of jams and expose the perpetrators to their rightful demise.

Now, here’s the kicker that will piss-off the fans of detective stories, and hopefully delight the younger urban fantasy crowd. Dillon is going to come across someone special that will forever redefine his reality and at the same time, help him in his idealistic crusade of sorts.

Oh, it’s going to be great fun.

The next things I suppose I should do is define what the term emotobook means. Again, I’ll divulge the nutshell here and you can visit the website for the whole kit-and-caboodle. The term emotobook is something I came up with one day while sitting on the can and forgot to bring something in with me to read. See how quiet moments of thought can lead to great inspiration? Anyways, an emotobook is a short (about 30-pages) serialized story that uses emotional representations (illustrations) to enhance a character’s emotional state in certain key scenes of the story.

I’m fortunate to be partnered with Zak Revale for this task. He’s the illustrator I work with to create the expressionistic images. Once a month we sit down with a copy of the issue I’ve written, and the talented Rebecca Hoffman has proofed and edited. We’ll discuss which portions of the story deserve an emotional representation. Usually, we decide on four or five illustrations for each issue.

Don’t expect to buy a comic book or picture book full of drawings. Grit City is not a comic book. It’s an emotobook. You’ll see when you read a copy or visit the website.

The truth is, I really can’t take the time to rest on my laurels. Only the first leg of a long and arduous journey has been completed. What most writers tend to believe is, “Hey I’ll write a book, get someone to publish it and I’ll be a famous person that everyone wants to love and throw small pickles at, because I’m so awesome.”

Ummm, not so much, fruit loop. 

To write a short story, novel, or serial takes work. You might say, “Sure, Ron. I’ve heard that before from other writers, professors and others, but what does ‘work’ really mean?” 

I’m not going to get into a long winded explanation of the writing process or the post-publishing marketing approach a writer has to take, but I will say that AWARENESS is your friend. If no one knows about your story, how can you possibly convince someone to read it? It’s impossible. Suffice to say that a comprehensive marketing approach is needed. I’ll try to find some time in the future to discuss some of the smarter tactics to use. As a professional who’s worked as a communications manager and technical writer, this kind of stuff is my background. 

With all of that said, Grit City has simply been born into the world. It now needs fed, clothed, doctors, dentists, and not just a little tender loving care. And like most parents, it’s the job of the creative team to show it off to every single person in the world. 

No problem. We’ll have it done by lunch, right?. (Chuckles.)

Writing Grit City Emotobooks is an ongoing labor of love. Enjoy it.

Thanks, Ron, for stopping by my blog today!

Ron’s extensive background and education in fiction and nonfiction writing led him to innovate the revolutionary medium of Emotobooks. Grit City is GCP’s maiden EmotoSerial. When not writing, he runs GCP for others to find publishing success and uses his free time to read fantastic stories or dole out writing advice. When weather permits, you can find Ron biking, hiking, of fishing in the outdoors of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Ron blogs here.

Today, Grit City Emotobooks content editor Rebecca Hoffman (Lily Dair, Suburbians):

From a young age, it became clear that editing would be my passion. As early as first grade, I was bored with my spelling tests and my teacher let me create my own lists with harder words. Hey, when everyone else is still learning how to spell “cat” and “pen”, being advanced enough to be learning “alligator” is quite an accomplishment! As time went on, I could always be found with a book in my hand. As my family watched television at night, I would have my nose in a novel and learned to drown out all the background noise, much to my mother’s annoyance at times.

Once I entered middle school, I gained a passion for writing poetry and short stories. In high school, as I started to consider what I wanted to study in college, I didn’t even have to think about it; I knew my future was in English and writing. During my time at the university, I found that I gained a greater feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction from editing the work of my peers than I did in writing my own works. I put more focus into learning the details of proofreading and editing and set my sights on becoming an editor with a publishing company.

Now, six months after graduation, I have spent five months editing for Grit City Publications. As soon as I heard about their revolutionary approach to writing, I knew I had to be a part of it. By combining the best genre fiction (or popular fiction, if you like) with emotionally-packed abstract art, Grit City’s emotobooks present a sensory experience that heightens emotions and helps the reader create a more solid connection with the story unfolding before them. These past few months have been extraordinary, for many reasons.

The best part of working with Grit City is that the editing work presents a challenge. It is certainly a challenge that can be overcome, but it also strengthens my skills as a result. Not only do I have to worry about such physical things as punctuation, spelling, and grammar, but it is important to identify places where the emotions need to be heightened and absorbing. These five or six places in each emotobook have to be built upon in order to support the illustrations that will be created to fit the piece. It is my job to help the author anticipate these insertions and provide the best possible set-up to ensure that the illustrations and writing work together.

Another challenge in creating emotobooks is the specific formatting that must be done before a novel or short story can be considered ready for the public eye. After all of the writing details are nailed down and the perfect illustrations are created, I have to put them together and change the formatting to fit the requirements of each company, from Amazon to Barnes & Noble to Apple. This is a lot to juggle, especially when it gets closer to the deadline (each company publishes on a quarterly schedule), but it reminds me how important it is to multitask.

Overall, editing for Grit City Publications and supporting the emotobooks revolution has been a far different experience than I ever imagined when I decided to become an editor. However, I wouldn’t trade a single moment, because I know it has made me a better professional and has shown me how to work with multiple genres. The unique approach to eBooks that Grit City offers has allowed me to grow as an editor and, for that, I will be forever grateful.

 Thank you, Rebecca, for taking the time to stop by my blog! 

A huge fan of spelling, grammar, and sentence structure since she was old enough to write, Rebecca Hoffman was destined for an editing career. Always open to adventure, she jumped at the chance to work with Grit City Publications. Rebecca graduated from Slippery Rock University in PA with a B.A. in English/Creative Writing. When not attached to her red pen, she enjoys walking, listening to songs from musicals, and dancing her butt off! Find her blog here.