Brighter Side

I'm probably not the only person feeling a bit down about the state of the world. 

I was supposed to go to Disney World at the beginning of the month, but I know how minuscule that problem is compared to what the world is going through. Quarantine and social distancing does make me a little batty. I miss people! The idea of Halloween being cancelled is sad. That's like my spirit energy, my happy place. 

Anyway, the brighter side. 

I guess, acknowledging how awful the world is and will continue to be.... acknowledging the revolution the USA is going through because of the murder of George Floyd.... acknowledging that 502,387 globally have died and are continuing to die makes any of my issues potatoes shrunk to singular atoms...

I have been using my free time wisely. I've been making a ton of art. I've been working extremely hard on my writing. I made some major changes to my novel, and it's sooooo good right now. I'm super hyped for it. Man, I never thought I'd have this much free time to focus on art. It has been a deep dive. I've been really trying to avoid timesuck-type things like video games, and instead, immersing myself in art study and practice. That part has been great.

I hope to get more done before my job starts back up in August (I'm a theatrical technical director). Anyway, hope is hereafter (<- a phrase from The Unraveler, meaning hope is the dream of the future)! I am sure that things will get better. I am sure the world will grow stronger because of everything going on.

New Look, Inspiration, and a Tribute

As I hope you're able to tell, this website has undergone a few aesthetic changes. Also, the mobile version now more aligns with the browser. I'm trying some new stuff, still playing around with ideas. Yeah, and I added my crows. Blogger made some changes to how their templates work, and so my old look needed revamping pretty badly. I'm probably going to be going through the entire site and cleaning up dusty pages while I'm at it. It's 2017, right? Time for change?

Inspiration is the next thing I want to talk about now, since it's a fresh new year and all. Someone I work with told me I should be doing more, and she's right. I sometimes get down that my ambition to write and publish novels isn't immediately rewarding me. I work at a school for autistic kids, and it's rough on me. I'm constantly bruised up, hurt. I'm dead tired at the end of the day, constantly sick. I believe that I have the creative power to make money writing stories. It's just that editing a novel, for a new writer, is a lot of work. I'm not G.R.R. Martin, but what I've crafted is fairly complex. Anyway, what I'm saying is that I do believe in myself, but it's nice to have someone else say that they too believe in me. I've had that luxury a few times lately, out of nowhere. Another random friend I haven't seen in years messaged me saying that they always thought I'd do something amazing. I need to live up to that expectation. I need to make that my own.

Another thing that happened recently is the death of one of my high school English teachers. I wanted to post what I wrote on Facebook here so that I will remember her when I write. She was very important to my aspirations, you see.

Ms. Bielong inspired me to become a reader. I definitely wouldn't have gotten an English degree if it hadn't been for her. 

I hated English, as a subject. I thought reading was boring. 

Somehow, I ended up in a lit class with Ms. Bielong, and she kept putting astoundingly good book after astoundingly good book in front of me. Logan's Run, Ender's Game, The Giver, Alas Babylon, 1984, and The Good Earth are still some of my all-time favorites, ever, and I was given them all in one Appreciation Of Literature class. I tore through those books. I know I read a few of them in a night. 

I remember that she handed out copies of Pride And Prejudice for homework. I could barely stand to read it. The next day, she collected up all the copies saying something along the lines of, "I couldn't make it to page 5, so I don't expect you to." Then she handed us 1984 instead... which I destroyed. I remember reading in class, having the books she gave me at my feet during choir practice. Man, I might never have read Harry Potter if not for her sparking my interest in reading. I certainly would have never begun writing novels for myself, which is now my biggest passion. I think about her from time to time, when I'm remembering how I got to be where I am. 

So, I'm not just saying this because she passed. She really did have a profound effect on my life. She made me a reader. All that said, I should also mention that I did theatre, and she was a major part of that. I was in the audience for her last play at Belleville West. I've been reading what other classmates have said, and many others feel the same about how much of an influence she was to her students. 

Thank you, Ms. Bielong. I hope you rest well.

Writing/editing update for August

Writing/editing this novel has been the biggest challenge ever for me. I feel like I'm learning so much, though. How to use words other than "was," how to make a plot central and focused, etc.

I've written books before this one, but they were practice and I don't plan on releasing them, but The Unraveler is the first I want to actually turn a profit on. The history of this book is long. I remember telling my friends about the idea of it while camping, many years ago. I didn’t have the skill to write it, then. What it turned into is crazy weird and fun. It’s basically if the Halloween season got blended into a novel. BTW, the attached picture is a creature from my novel (which I drew).

Each full edit feels like I've turned it into a whole new book. Just this last edit has had me cut 10,000 words and adding a new chapter. I plan on having a new draft done by my birthday, and I hope to be completely finished editing it by Christmas. So many people have helped me with feedback. Friends, one complete stranger I met online (she writes fantastic novels, btw). I’m so thankful. It’s weird to think about, but the first person to ever read my novel died a year ago.

I'm also working on other writing projects. I’m working on other novels, mostly in planning/experimental stages. A book about an anonymous Internet threat, a book about a famous punk rock band with supernatural elements (titled: Pixelic), and then the sequels to The Unraveler. I’ll likely be focused on sequels until the series is done, but my plans for other novels need the time to simmer, anyway.

I’ve done some short story writing, too. I had been thinking about Batman’s waterfall that he drives into to park the Batmobile. In modern times, there’d be no way for Batman to escape surveillance. So, I’m working on a story about how fly-over imaging tech would catch superheroes. I also wrotethis Harry Potter fan fic. I felt a little lame writing fan fiction, but the idea screamed at me to write it. I thought about the idea for months and months, and I couldn’t ignore it. It’s set before the Prisoner of Azkaban, and I’m pretty proud of how it turned out! It’s got a ton of views from Reddit. I also recently posted a poem that I wrote a few years back. It’s about the feeling of being so emotionally dumbfounded that you can barely stand up. I should also mention that I’ve been writing monthly posts on four different blogs. Oxyborb.com is about nerd culture, Harrisonaye.com is about writing.

Art is life, man.

Shimmer Vertigollo, a poem by Harrison Aye

.

Shimmer vertigollo,

wavestaking vibrato,

pulsing tan texture paint

like a drop, dripping pool

refract, loosen.

A man who sees the rattlebreaks and expandifuls

reach into the wall and

shimmer

.

I remember the police officers parked in the cornfield nearby. The lights flashed on and I thought I never thought out the way in which this would end. I just wanted to stop and look out—connect the speckles above the country road. The city never turned off to allow shows like these, and the moon could never be full during the threeseason rain. I was told to go but I kept you anyway and the night only got dimmer.

.

g.g.glisten now,

hear the sombr.ro dusting

kicked around, circuline dancers

str.tch the allmatter,

a curling fingervine.

Makes me tremble, boggle

collapse or t.mble.

Gets me out, makes me

sav.ry makes me

shimmer

.

I remember morning moaning and meandering calltalks. I got put off for everything I didn’t want anymore anyway in any stretch of this slippery string of thought. I just wanted to be normal; I wanted the glass teardrop eyeliner streaks down the sides of your faces. I wanted to see your cheeks wet with glass sadness. I wanted you to shatter.

.

I see now

wheedle carrymores.

High stakes.and frost on flakes,

barrels fall.ng d.wn the hill

tr.pw.re casanova

Shatters against the iron walls of indifference.

breaks .gainst th. heritic lyric

toenail cracks on the

shimmer

.

I remember the parsed way you told me about love. How four letters shrunk to three: L. U. V. Like popsicle sticks in the craftiverse, towering planets and plants, and the folding arms that made me shiver. All the lip I can bite but nothing does. The whispering man hears me alone and his smile makes me flutter, makes me quiver.

.

.tav. off t.. bow,

.u.cl.ng .o.al.n..

.k.pt.cal, tact.cal

l.k. a block, blown to b.t.

fo..at.on. .ad.al, t.u.t

.. now

t.u.t.ng .ow

T.t....d to you. f..t and

b.auty boundca.t .ak.. ..

......

.

I remember the feeling of not knowing not caring. I couldn’t move for width or word whichever way I went I did. I lost my balance, and with it my perspective. I touched the wall at nights and felt the high gloss tan apartment paint and pushed through it so hard so very hard. I felt the marble benches and told her what I had read. I walked through the springtime rain and walked through the sounding paths against the scaly rails. I watched the water watched the speckled night and hoped someday they’d shimmer.

.

...all this time...

Truly, I’ve been extremely busy since April, and even more so since August. But, what was consuming my time finally ended, and my life has freed up dramatically.

It’s weird to have free time. So weird that I am determined to fill it. I

recently met up with a friend about a new artistic project. I want to make videos or start a podcast or something. Art that I can do regularly, quickly, and socially.

Writing a novel can be very lonely work, and my long-term vision is not rewarding in the short-term. I mean to publish a book (by whatever means, is to be determined), but what that equates to is that I cannot show my book to the world to consume. I don’t have people reading and telling me what they think of my book (besides my beta-readers, but that’s different). 

For artists, engagement with an audience is a reward, and it’s one I haven’t been feeling since my focus has been on writing novels that I have to keep mostly secret. A long time ago,

I used to write songs and I was the lead singer of a band. I could play a show or write a new song and feel the reward of engagement with people. It doesn’t take months to pick up a guitar and play as it does to write a novel.

So, that’s where I’m making plans. I’m beginning a project that will allow me to create art that is quicker to produce, gets me socially active, and is easy to send out for people to engage with. It’ll probably be on YouTube or in a podcast form.

My novel, meanwhile, is still going really well. I’ve been working to make it perfect, and as a teacher, the notion of Christmas break excites me.

Thanks for keeping up with me! You can find me @Oxyborb on Twitter.

More Kudanites and Master-of-None

My last blog post was partially about kudanites. These are creatures of my own invention, which came from inspiring pictures of seahorses I took. After drawing them last month and also editing chapters in which they are in, I felt so inspired to try my hand at sculpting one out of clay.

Here is the result:

It was modeled after these drawings (which I drew).








Here it is from the front and back. Weirdly flat.







The leg/tentacles were fun to do. The paint is mixed with metallic silver.







I tried to make a creature unlike anything I've seen in lit before.






The stand is a mint-container, loaded with rocks.






 

I have always excelled at art. I love painting, sculpting, writing, song composition... etc. But when I decided to become a writer, I knew I'd need to focus to actually master it. I didn't want to be the doer-of-all, master-of-none. So, I quit most of the other types of art I made. When I get the itch, I try to scratch it within the realm of my writing projects. This was that. I needed to sculpt, so I did something for my book.

Kudanites and an update

I did some sketches of creatures that appears in my novel:

kudanites

I had to share them because they turned out so well! 

So, work is still ongoing on my novel. I wrote something very complex, and I have spent much of my time making the cogs fit. My world is giant, so I'm being very careful with its development. I want this world to maintain more than just one book, one story... I want to create a playground that I can return to again and again. I want sound logic in how the weird stuff works.

Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario and many Nintendo games once said, “A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever.” 

I vowed from the beginning to take all the time I'd need. I thought I'd be done by the end of June. I now hope to be done by the end of the year. I guess the biggest non-writing setback I had was an unexpected promotion at my job. I took on more responsibilities, so I was forced to give up much of my non-work time to get work done. That promotion got easier recently, so my burdens are less. 

I have done something well: every day I've set a timer and completed a certain amount of time editing. So, it's moving.

The last thing I want to mention is that my friend passed away. We went through college together, and often talked books and writing. This is relevant to my novel because he was one of the first people to read over my rough draft and give me feedback, and his input was invaluable. It's gotten me down, but I read over the notes he sent me and it felt like he was speaking to me, alive again. I suppose he does live in my novel, at least a little.

Have a good 4th of July, everyone.

Something all writers need to watch sometimes...

Project Update - #Unraveler #Pixelic and more

Today I completed another major round of editing on my primary writing project, The Unraveler. I’m telling you, it feels good, man. My original goal for having my novel sending-out-to-agents-ready was my birthday (September 25th), but I think I’m going to push that back until spring. 

halloween nears!

For those who haven’t studied the business of writing/selling fiction books, the basics (for an unpublished writer like me) are like this:

1. Write the book
2. Edit the book to absolute perfection
3. Write a query letter that shows how awesome/marketable your book is
4. Send said query letter to an agent
5-. If the agent rejects you, move on to the next
5+. If the accepts you, then the agent will attempt to sell your book to the various publishers
6. If the publisher accepts, then woo-hoo, you’re going to be published

Step 7 and on is marketing and etc, etc. It might even be the biggest/most complicated part of the whole thing, but that’s not what this blog post is about.

I’m on step 2 & 3, and I’ve been there for a while. I’ve been polishing my book to an insane degree, and I’ve spent more time on the editing than I did on writing the book.

The reason is that you cannot send a query letter about the same book to the same agent twice. So, if my book is littered with problems and grammatical errors, then my ship has sunk if I mail out my query letter too early.

So, I’ve been editing, editing, editing…

long past the point where my friends & family who have read it have told me that they think it’s already perfect. Honestly, it wasn’t and isn’t, but I can now say that it’s getting close. I might do a few more read-throughs before feeling OK to send it out, but all the major issues my book had have been fixed. I’ve spent years cutting out the fatty, boring parts and enhancing the awesome. I’ve spent so much time just considering plot loopholes and character perspective and all that jazz, but it’s nearly there.

and the rest of my projects

But I want to have a career in writing; not just be a one-book-wonder. So, while I’m editing The Unraveler, I’ve also created a potential series plan, wrote the first 3 chapters of book 2, and I’m ramping up a second book series called Pixelicand planning out a one-off novel (codenamed  Project HIM). I’m also writing a bunch of short stories and poems that I wish to submit to magazines soon. But that’s not all.

I’m working on a marketing plan for myself (so when I do talk to agents/publishers, I won’t feel completely ignorant), a synopsis of my book, a career path (so I can see the direction I want to take), reading books on book selling/writing as an industry, and I’m creating the foundations for a successful social media world. That, and I’m still working on making my query letter explain in so few words why I believe my book will sell. 

It’s a lot of work. 

Oh, yeah, and I have a fulltime job. lol

I haven’t made much time for friends lately, and for that I’m sorry. I’m basically in a mad drive to get my book completed, at this point. Deadlines are insanely important to me, and I don’t want to be working on The Unraveler forever (but I also won’t quit until it’s truly perfect).

In unrelated news, 

I’ve started reading The Unwanteds: Island of Legends and also I’ve begun Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. Something light and fun and something deep and adult. They are a surprisingly good combination of books to read at once. Oh well, that’s my update.

Thank you to everyone who has and continues to support me in my crazed ambitions. I hope I make it all worthwhile, someday.

Climactic Moment/The Payoff

I used to play in garage bands back when I was in high school. There was this guy, a kid who seemed to know everyone in the local scene, and he taught me a valuable lesson about art that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.

You need a climax, a moment of extreme payoff, a part of the art that rises above all the rest and makes the whole progression through it slam into one pivotal revelation. 

a Game of Thrones sigil I drew when I was bored one day

I had been writing songs, then. I was the singer in all the bands I’ve been in, and that position usually also made me the songwriter. My friend, Julius, had just taken me into one of his bands. I was adding a slower song to it. Something mellow and unlike anything I had written before.

Julius told me that he liked the song, but that it needed a climactic moment. That, being that the entire song was mellow, the verses and choruses didn’t seem to be building to anything. My tune was good, my guitar riffs were sound, but I wasn’t providing that key moment that would make the listener’s climb to the end of the song worthwhile.

I envisioned the song. I cut the drums and bass out of the beginning. I started it with just my voice and guitar. Harmonizing came on the second verse. Bass came in on the second chorus. A vamp, a musical interlude with different styling, fit in next. Finally, the lead chorus came again, only I added hard-hitting drums and made the instruments fly. Instead of mellow singing, then, I had loud, passionate singing.

It made a decent song into a great song.

I’ve been editing my novel lately, also thinking about other books I’ve read. Payoff is such an integral need in a longer work. When a person reads 300+ pages, they are going to go through sections that are work as well as play. The end must have a climax. It must have payoff. It must have that pivotal revelation.

During this edit, I’ve been thinking about how all the best books have their plots and subplots all unravel into one great climax. The payoff hits and hits and hits, right at the end. I’ve been working on that, and the build up. It’s a challenge to do it right, in a way that weaves all the smaller aspects of the story into a meaningful web. If you look at works like Cloud Atlas (the movie, never read the book) or A Storm of Swords, you peer into the lives of many different characters with different desires, goals, and situations, but they weave together. When the payoff comes at the end, you see that. You understand.

I just want to be that kind of artist. I want my books to have payoff. Just my thoughts today. Hope you’re having a good one!

Follow me @Oxyborb and check out my website at http://www.harrisonaye.com Thanks for reading!

Charting Your Novel's Stars, a world-building activity

My book, The Unraveler, tells a story from a world that I've been building for many years. I like to go beyond the words on the page and explore the lore and history that surrounds my stories. As such, I know things that might not ever make it into the prose of my novels, such as all of the year's holidays, who the top 10 musicians are, and who runs the local businesses.

One exploration I've been working on recently is constellations. My novel is set on normal Earth, but in a society that no longer remembers what we today might think of as constellations. They see their own. For example, instead of the Big Dipper, they see Mobion's Horn.

If my mind was wiped of all the old constellations, what would I see painted in the stars? What would the people within my book see?

These questions I wondered, so I went outside and looked. What I saw was mostly blackness, though. I live in a populated area, and the night sky is too polluted with light to see many stars.

So, instead I Googled star charts, and I found this one. It was created by Mads Holgersen, who runs this awesome website: www.annalsofarda.dk. I got his permission to show an edited version of his star map on my blog. In this new version, I deleted all of his old constellations and made a blank chart, then filled it in with my own:

The Unraveler's Star Chart

It's not completed, by any means, but it shows what I'm getting at. Since ancient times, people have looked to the stars and wondered what shapes they make. They looked for signs, for prophesies. In a way, the culture of society shapes the way people form constellations. Every society could see something different, depending on what is relevant to them. It was a fun writing exercise, anyway. It made me think about what my book's culture would deem important enough to find in the stars.

What do you see?





btw, this is my 50th post! Woot-woot!

#amwriting Pixelic

So, I’m setting aside The Unraveler for a few weeks. I just completed a major draft, and I need some time to get away from it all and refresh before delving back into the editing process. I have a few people reading it, so hopefully I’ll get some new feedback, too!

But I have other things to work on. Now, I #amwriting a few separate things:

First, I’ve been working on the first 3 chapters of the sequel book to The Unraveler. I am not planning on writing that entire book until I’ve sold the first, but I wanted to have the first few chapters done so that way I can add a preview chapter if my publisher desires it, and also so that way I know what direction I’m headed in if a sequel is greenlit. The Unraveler stands alone as a book, but I’d love to continue writing in that world if I can find an audience for it.

That said, I’ve been working on a series plan (in the case that sales allow me to continue it into a series) and a marketing plan with all of my specific ideas for how to move books. I’ve been doing a ton of research trying to figure out my market. I also have created a few unique and cheap strategies that I hope will set me apart. I’ve heard that agents often ask for marketing plans when taking on new clients, so I want to be prepared. I aim to impress!

The other awesome thing I’m working on is a new, new book. The title is…

(just a quick logo I cooked up for fun)

Pixelic is going to be about a superfamous all-girl rockband that is constantly running (touring) away from a spinster with the face of death and wooden hands. Well, one day, the guitarist for Pixelic quits, and they are forced to throw an unlikely fanboy named Wrobel (just a dude with a guitar that works at a crappy café) onto stage. His world changes forever as he learns the secrets to why Pixelic can do things with their music and lightshow that no other band has done before and why the tour never stops…
Pixelic 
I just wrote that blurb in the last five minutes, so it’s not refined and glossy-perfect yet… but I wanted to say what I’m working on anyway. Pixelic is a book I’m excited to do because I used to play in local bands. I love using poetry and insane visuals, and that is what my new book is at its core. Also, the monster I’ve created for it is one of the best I’ve ever dreamed up. No joke.

I’ve also accidentally been writing short stories and poetry. Not because I set out to, but because ideas have popped into my head and screamed at me to write them. I really should try and submit some to online magazines or something. I’m not huge into short stories, personally. I enjoy reading big thick books more than shorts. I’ve thought about writing an Unraveler prequel story to post to my blog and draw interest… but I feel like I’d never be able to write a prequel that would be as good as the actual full-length book. I don’t know.

Anyway, that’s it for what I #amwriting (which is an awesome tag to use on twitter, btw). Thanks for keeping up with me! Hit me up on twitter! @Oxyborb

Moral Complexity in the Lord of the Rings

just something I drew

I was talking with my reading friend about having morally complex characters in YA lit, and I gave the example that, in Tolkien’s book, orcs are all evil and wear black and Gandalf is good and wears white. You know who is good and who is evil.

She retorted that Gollum/Smeagol is a morally complex character because of the both good and evil intent, and I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t think he is. Gollum is evil, and Smeagol is good. It’s not really complex, because when one personality takes over then it goes from one extreme end of the moral grayscale to the other. Black or white. Either Smeagol is good Smeagol, help good hobbitsis OR Gollum *gol’lum* hates filthy fat hobbit and they stole its from us.

To really be complex, characters need to exist within that gray area. Smeagol/Gollum is always one extreme or the other. I think a morally complex character needs to make decisions where the reader doesn’t know if they would agree with the choice or not.

What do you think? Leave a comment and tell me!

Also, twitter with me! @Oxyborb

April showers, bring many days to sit inside and write.

I’ve been feeling really good lately. I just finished my fourth “draft.” I use the word with quotes because I’m a new writer and I’m perhaps using it differently from the industry standard. My drafts are the points at which it feels like my work has leveled up. Usually, I say it’s a new draft when I’ve completed working through the book of notes I’ve taken for my upcoming edits.

Anyway, I flew through editing. I mean, I spent hundreds of hours, but they were hundreds of hours of pure fun. I love this stuff.

Next week is spring break in the schools, and, as a teacher, I am lucky enough to get the week off. I’m planning on spending my vacation from work working on my new book, the one I’m not editing. I’m really excited to work on it more, as I’ve also put down about 15k words on it. My finished novel is soaring at the 100,000-word mark. I’d love to cut that down to 95k, but every time I cut out something, I find something else to add. That’s probably a bad practice, haha.

But, that’s my life. Teaching and writing. I’m very happy about where I’m at.

Well, that’s all I really wanted to say. I haven’t blogged as much because I’ve been spending every ounce of my free time writing and editing. Anyway, keep it up! Stay positive and rock on!

Editing Wind

I have been working really, really hard on my novel.

The past few months have been all about world building. Figuring out how society works in my work. Ironing out ancient history. I challenged myself to name all of the year’s holidays in my world. I listed what musical instruments there are. Who the top famous 5 living and top 5 dead musicians are. I knitted my giant family tree together. For each of the major cities in my world, I created an emblem like the ones showing on this post.

turning of the tide

But that was all the last two months, this month has been about working the prose. I’ve been line editing. Fat cutting. Rewording. Man, it feels good to know how much my book has progressed. I think I’ve been supercharged creatively because I’m about to start a new job. It makes me feel awesome to know that I have my money-needs covered now, and I can start rocking my writing without feeling the need to spend most of my day looking for work.

Then the other day I got feedback, and it gave my already high-paced wind an extra boost. Feedback is a writer’s Christmas. The best thing you can give a writer, truly. Feedback makes you feel like your endeavors aren’t completely lonely ones. It makes you think about your own work in new ways. It’s exciting. Useful beyond measure.

old copy

The one weird thing about feedback with a novel-length work, especially for an insane worker like me, is that you often have created several new drafts before any feedback is returned to you. I really don’t want to annoy my friends by sending them new drafts all the time. I don’t want to be pushy, because reading a draft of a book is a lot harder than reading a final product. Looking through notes on an old draft can really make you embarrassed. So many more mistakes, many ones you’ve already corrected. Plot holes you’ve already filled in. Questions the reader has, already answered in the new draft. The book I have now is so much better than the one I first put an ending to.

That said, feedback is so incredibly invaluable, but I also completely understand that work goes into reading, too. My friends who have sent me feedback are so incredibly kind for doing so. Thank you times a thousand. To my friends who haven’t sent me feedback, no worries, you’re still awesome too (but if anyone happens to want to read my novel, email me to get the latest draft!). Honestly, just to allow me to vent to others about writing is so good for me and helps me in other ways than editing. My friends are awesome.

Looking ahead

I feel like I have about 2-3 more read-throughs before I will claim that it is ready to submit to agents, but I’m so excited. Allow me to daydream a bit: Wouldn’t it be great to get published? Not only that, but to be able to claim that writing is my profession? I would put out a new book every year if I had all the time in the world to write. I know I would, and they’d be awesome books, too. I have so many awesome ideas. The Unravel is just one (which has true series potential).