Let's get one thing straight. We're making a graphic novel to entertain people. When we wrote Shake The Lake, we pulled from all of our best life experience and we pulled from the most action packed period of our lives. For me personally, this was high school. Growing up in North West Montana meant that most of us were nearly independent at 16 years old. We partied on the lakes, drove our parents boats, crashed a few house parties, chased a lot of girls and were chased by a lot of cops. Even with all the excitement we were still pretty stand up guys and I think that's echoed in our characters. They're fun and wild but they're happily confined by moral boundaries. So let's start there with the Shake The Lake Graphic Novel.
What do we need for a fun "Non-Superhero Graphic Novel? 1. Sex Appeal - well most of our characters spend the majority of the story in their swim suits so there's really no need for full nudity. We've got our sex appeal on every page and yeah, we'll probably hint at a little skin but we'll keep it tasteful... maybe - Check! 2. Comic Mischief - by the truck load - Check! 3. Authority Figures Getting Their Comeuppance - Let's not give spoilers away this early but... CHECK! 4. A Spray Painted Goat - Check! 5. Young People Making Bad Decisions - we're based in reality here. These kids party. You won't see needles or pills because thank God we didn't see any of that growing up, but we knew how to kill a 30 pack and a bottle of Jack Daniels by the time we were Sophmores in High School. And you know what? We had a blast. So let's assume we'll see some schenanigans, maybe some property destruction and a few misplaced undergarments. 6. Real Talk - There's so much awesome slang in the action sports world. Most of the pro's can keep a clean dialogue and get across a well placed diss or humorous jab withour resorting to throwing a bunch of slagging "F-bombs" around. As a story teller, I've learned that in most cases, "Less Is More" and while there are a handful of "Uncle Garth" phrases in STL, they're well placed and impactful. We're going for emotional impact here, not shock value - Check! 7. Running From The Cops - do security guards and park rangers count? You bet they do. If my friends and I didn't outrun Johnny Law through the woods in the middle of the night, the party wasn't big enough. And wouldn't you know it... most of the time they had mustaches - Check!
In the next post, we'll talk about picking out the fashion and wardrobe for our characters and our continued attempt to make STL one of the best graphic novels.
Thanks for reading. Shake The Lake is the story of a group of friends, chasing the endless summer who find themselves in a new laketown attempting to save a bullied marina from snobby yacht club encroachment by staging a mammoth end-of-summer wakeboarding festival. To get more information check out the "SHAKE THE LAKE" page at www.northairentertainment.com Subscribe to our mailing list for tips at creating your own comic book, to keep up to date on our blog and to get release info on the Shake The Lake Graphic Novel. You can order volume 1 now on the website. It'll be a hot minute before we're ready to sell the full graphic novel but if you'd like to support the project in the meantime, kick us a supportive email or get yourselve some fresh steez at www.elevatedclothingco.com