Mythica: A Quest for Heroes: OFFICIAL MOVIE NOVELIZATION
Created by Future House Publishing
The original film starring Kevin Sorbo and Melanie Stone is now a novel with new and extended scenes to enhance the film experience.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
What Kind of Stretch Goals Would You Like?
over 9 years ago
– Fri, Nov 11, 2016 at 02:57:17 PM
Hello Wonderful Backers!
92% funded with over 2 weeks to go! All thanks to you! Hooray! That means we're getting very close to our goal, and so are brainstorming Stretch Goals.
Some of you have made suggestions for stretch goals in the comments on previous updates -- thank you. We've taken a look at those and priced them out to see what would make sense. Here are a few ideas that could work:
Mythica Bookmarks for all print orders
Character illustrations inside the book
An illustrated map (probably Black and White) inside the book
A bonus Fantasy Anthology (PDF) featuring 12 authors short stories
Some of you have suggested making the book a hardback, which I think would be really cool. However, when you do print runs in hardback, you usually need to have a much higher volume. That stretch goal would have to be much higher.
What stretch goals would you like to see? Tell us in the comments.
And as always, thanks for sharing. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1820327466/mythica-a-quest-for-heroes-official-movie-noveliza
-Adam
Kevin Is Just The Coolest
over 9 years ago
– Wed, Nov 09, 2016 at 08:52:11 PM
Hey, everyone!
I’m sure Kevin wouldn’t tell you this (he’s the humblest), but his book Storms, the second book in the Sharani series, just received a Utah Book Award in the YA category!
If you haven’t already gotten ahold of one of Kevin’s other books, be sure to get those in your rewards! Now’s no better time!
Love,
Zac and Adam
Author Update #3 - The Snag
over 9 years ago
– Mon, Nov 07, 2016 at 10:13:59 PM
Hello all you wonderful Kickstarter Backers!
We're moving along well. We're only a little more than $1100 away from the initial funding goal. Once we hit that, Future House Publishing will announce stretch goals. Many of you have been asking about those, so stay tuned.
We're also just 26 backers away from the 275 we need for me to post an excerpt from the novel. Grab a friend and get them to back the project. We're close.
For now, though, since you've all been so awesome, I'll give you a couple sentences from the novel of which I am quite fond. Part of what I wanted to accomplish with this adaptation is give each of the main characters at least one Point-of-View (POV) scene. Here's a small taste of a Thane scene from the novel (for those of you familiar with the movie, you'll recognize the scene - if you're not familiar with the movie ***SPOILERS AHEAD***)
“Hold.” Despite his drunken state, Thane felt a little rush of pride that his voice, while not loud, was both steady and firm. It still bore the weight of command, though that mantle had not been his in years.
Peregus and his henchmen stopped, and Peregus turned back with an upraised hand. When he spoke, his voice dripped with the oil all politicians bathed in daily.
“My slave, she ran away, but I caught her.” He waved the upraised hand dismissively and turned his back on Thane.
Thane felt a flush of irritation push through his befuddled senses. What was it with people assuming arrogance was the same as authority?
And there's more where that came from. :) 26 more backers and you'll get a larger snippet from the book.
On to the continuation of the last author update then.
The Snag
As soon as I started writing the opening scene (I'm calling it a prologue) I realized I simply didn’t know enough about the history of the order of Ana-Sett, the geography and history of the world, or a handle on Caeryn (since we don’t see her very much in the movie) to make the scene work effectively in written form.
Movies and novels have two very different means of pulling the reader into the moment and grounding them in a scene, moment to moment. Movies have the ability to show a lot of visual queues which immediately drawn the audience into an intimate, visceral experience. The audience gets to live through a movie because they see it right there in front of them. Novels have to take a different approach. To get that same sort of visceral, intimate experience, novels have to ground the reader in the moment by tying them into the details of the scene, the emotions of the characters, and the backstory of each person (especially the main character) as shown through the characters’ actions. This is where the true challenge of novelizations comes into play. The author has to add in these details, thoughts, emotions, and motivations, WITHOUT breaking movie canon.
To get that infromation (or started in the right direction, at least), I needed to talk to the original script writers or someone who was more familiar with all the little details that go into the crafting of a movie, but don't actually make it into the film.
Thankfully, that was possible. I contacted Arrowstorm Entertainment and after a series of email exchanges and an in-person meeting that I'm sure Jason Faller and Kynan Griffen felt were more an interrogation than anything else, I had what I needed.
I came away with the solid grounding and details necessary to tell the story properly. Not only that, I came out with a storyline for what Gojun Pye was up to during Marek's misadventures, the seed of an idea for some extended and new scenes, and a very solid grasp of the overall storyline of the series. I was also able to get a link to watch the yet-to-be-released Godslayer movie so I could get an overall picture of the entire story arch. Huzzah for Arrowstorm Entertainment.
Anyway, with that in mind, I was able to go back to the annotated script and the movie and start writing up the first draft.
It was still a slow process, with multiple re-watches of the film or repetitions of the same scene multiple times in a row, but I was able to get back on pace to have that first manuscript turned in on time.
Another Random Trivia Moment:
Even with access to the script, for some reason I always spelled Deira (the name of the kingdom in which the story takes place) wrong the first time, every time. Thank heavens for "find & replace" in Word. :)
Author Update #2 - Progress and Process
over 9 years ago
– Wed, Nov 02, 2016 at 07:18:48 PM
Good morning/afternoon/evening, amazing Kickstarter backers! Today’s update will come in two parts. First, a progress update, and second, a process update where I’ll tell you a little bit about my process in converting the movie into a novel.
Right then, progress update
(**rubs hands together and then flexes fingers**). We’re at (basically) 84% of the funding goal! I’m elated, ecstatic, and amazed by the love and support. We are so close to that funding goal!!! As soon as we hit that $10,000 mark, Future House Publishing will announce stretch goals. Trust me, you’ll want to see them.
Projects like these live and die on how well and how far the word gets spread. With social media, spreading the word is much easier than it used to be. The more it gets shared, the more people see it, and the more traction it gets. I’ve provided a couple links below that you can use to share about the Kickstarter on your social media. Just click on one of the names below.
When I set about to start the actual writing of the novel, I’d only seen the movie once. I recalled bits and pieces of peripheral details – the main heart of the story – and most of the characters’ names, but that was about it. I decided to watch the movie again and take some notes on places I knew would be tricky. I’d requested a copy of the script, but hadn’t received it yet. So I watched the movie again.
I didn’t take any notes.
I realized it was ALL going to be tricky.
I needed the script.
(***FAIR WARNING – MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD***)
The script arrived a day or two later, so I printed it out, read through it, and discovered that the movie was different from the script, sometimes by a very wide margin. So I decided to watch the film while comparing it to the script and take notes (in red pen, of course) of the differences between the two on a scene by scene basis. As you can see in the images, it was a lot of notes sometimes.
What followed was a solid week of watching a scene, pausing, taking notes, rewinding the scene, and doing it all over again to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. I also took notes on what I saw on character’s faces, their emotional state, and the overall feel of each scene.
This was a 9pm-2am process every day for a solid week.
Some of the script pages ended up so entirely covered in red ink I wondered if I’d bled on them. Not really, but the visual on that is cool. Authors like to season things with a little hyperbole every now and then.
After that grueling week, I had everything I thought I needed. I was excited to start the actual writing process, especially because I was on a serious time constraint at the time. I felt accomplished and ready to take on the world. I sat down to write.
I hit a snag on the very first sentence…(to be continued)
I’ll post the rest of the story in a later update. On a side note, I’ve been asked how many times I watched the movie, start to finish, while working on this project. The answer?
37
37 times start to finish…
Author Update #1 - The Setting
over 9 years ago
– Mon, Oct 31, 2016 at 05:48:41 PM
Hey Everyone! Kevin here.
The project is really rolling along! I’m ecstatic at the progress and interaction it’s getting from everyone here. You guys are the best!
When we get to 275 backers, I’ll share an excerpt from the novel, so keep sharing with your friends or anyone you know who’d enjoy this project.
As part of the Kickstarter, I wanted to take a minute every couple days and give you all a sneak peek into the behind the scenes process of the making of the project and expand a little on the world of Mythica. The films are amazing, but they’re limited in what information they can pass along simply due to the nature of them being films. I started with the setting. Those familiar with the film will know already, but even then, here’s a little bit more on where this story takes place.
Deira
Deira, the principal setting for Mythica, is an outlying kingdom in the vast Vitalion Empire inhabited by a motley assortment of humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, ogres, dark elves and every fantasy creature imagined.
At the onset of our story, Deira is firmly under Vitalion control – patrolled by her soldiers and ruled by her magistrates – but remains a corrupt backwater on the edge of the Outlands – the vast wilderness of ruined civilizations, fearsome creatures, and untold treasure.
Marek, our heroine, lives in a small hamlet on the very borders of this wilderness near the capitol (Merren) which supports a branch of the Thieves Guild, a crooked Magistrate, and several public houses – the most notorious being Hammerhead’s Inn, a hub for adventurers, fortune seekers, outlaws and anyone seeking to escape the oppression of Vitalion rule.
It is into this wild land that Marek escapes, set on finding fortune and glory, and carving out her own place in a dangerous world.
