Christopher Leone · Author · added about 8 years ago · 5 likes

Another review from a real kid!

I love this book! Milo made me think to myself -"What would I do in his situation?"- I loved the character descriptions, and the orb’s effect on not only the main characters, but the settting and animals themeselves. Keep writing, I would love to read MORE! -----Payton 11 yrs. old

JANA M. CORDOVA · Reader · edited about 8 years ago

My son, Payton, posting- I love this book! Milo made me think to myself -"What would I do in his situation?"- I loved the character descriptions, and the orb’s effect on not only the main characters, but the settting and animals themeselves. Keep writing, I would love to read MORE! -----Payton 11 yrs. old

Christopher Leone · Author · added about 8 years ago · 8 likes

Christopher Leone · Author · edited about 8 years ago · 6 likes

Got my first review from a real kid yesterday! It’s from 7-year-old Sam Berg, posted by his mom and fellow Inkshares writer Melissa Berg. Getting a thumbs-up from an actual kid made me extremely happy:

’I really liked the descriptions, I could imagine everything clearly. I especially liked the part when he gets trapped in the orb, that was my favorite part. During the flashback of the bullying scenes, I understood how Milo felt and I was worried for him. I wanted to get back to the orb, but I still wanted to learn about the backstory. I didn’t think the orb was creepy, just mysterious. I had some relief when the boys didn’t find Milo, but I was eager to find out how they all get in the orb together. I liked the bully aspect in chapter 2, and I liked when Milo got trapped in the orb in chapter 3. I can’t wait to read more!’

By the way, if you haven’t already picked up a copy, check out Melissa Berg’s book Prophecy of the Stars, which was one of the first books I picked up when I signed up for Inkshares. She had me at Game of Thrones meets Lord of the Rings.

Christopher Leone · Author · added about 8 years ago · 5 likes

Hi Champions!

We had a great day yesterday! For everybody who picked up a copy of CHAMPIONS OF THE THIRD PLANET, thank you so much! All the support has been mind-blowing and it’s hard to express how much I appreciate it, but I really really do.

By the way, if you’d like to hear me talk WAY too fast about my book and some of my thinking behind it -- and some talk about PARALLELS -- check me out on the Atomic Geek podcast: http://www.atomicgeekdom.com/podcasts/2016/2/16/95-christopher-leone-returns

Christopher Leone · Author · added about 8 years ago · 5 likes

Hello Champions!

I thought I’d share some inspirational images I’ve been collecting as reference for CHAMPIONS OF THE THIRD PLANET.

I’m always collecting reference images for myself to use as a director. Sometimes I’m looking for something specific, sometimes I just stumble across an image I like and tuck it away.

For the opening image of the book, I loved the idea of the clash of a perfect black sphere sitting in a natural organic environment. Something about it feels wrong, a little off-putting. So I thought I’d share some of the pictures I’ve grabbed that tap into that idea -- none of them are an exact match but all of them ring that bell for me.

This artist is Simon Stalenhag and he’s brilliant, I just ordered his book. The size of this sphere seems about right and I love seeing it with the human scale.

Presumably this is just a wrecking ball but somehow, seeing it just sitting there in the woods jumped out at me as slightly spooky.

This is the inverse of what I was thinking -- a glowing Orb in a dark forest -- but it made me wonder if the Orb might light up or create an energy field when it took off...

...which made me think of an eclipse. The light behind the moon here makes the Orb looks blacker than space, which I thought was a cool idea.

I have a bunch more reference, especially for the next chapter I put up: it’s when the kids first land on the Dead Planet.

--Chris

Christopher Leone · Author · edited about 8 years ago · 3 likes

Hi everyone, I’m doing a reddit AMA right now if you’re interested, talking about PARALLELS and THE LOST ROOM and, of course, CHAMPIONS OF THE THIRD PLANET:

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/462ywz/i_am_christopher_leone_writerdirector_of/

Christopher Leone · Author · added about 8 years ago · 5 likes

Hi everybody,

Just wanted to let you know I’ve added chapters 2 and 3! I have the feeling I might hone these chapters again before I’m done but I’m happy with them tonight and wanted to share.

I’m writing Chapter 12 now but Chapter 2 was probably the most difficult chapter for me to write so far because I was starting to toy with point of view and struggled with what my approach would be. Originally I was torn between staying strictly with Milo, and seeing his arch-enemy Dylan only from Milo’s point of view in these early chapters, or else starting to jump around in point of view and start to see things from Dylan’s side. I think in the end I did both: we’re introduced to Dylan through Milo’s eyes, but then partway through chapter 2 we make the first leap into another character’s POV.

Jumping into different point of views is strange new territory for me as a screenwriter. In screenplays you can’t really do that. You can cut to a new scene and a different character, or maybe SUGGEST a slight shift in POV during a scene. But that’s nothing compared to diving into another character’s head completely, or even jumping between characters within a single scene. I can still see a version of this story I could tell strictly from Milo’s point of view, but I think that would be limiting. I think getting to know all the characters from inside their heads is the best way to tell this story and is frankly just more fun.

The next time I post I may leap forward in the story to a later chapter -- I’m impatient to show you guys some of the crazier alien stuff that happens next.

--Chris

Christopher Leone · Author · added about 8 years ago

Thanks man! Checking out your book right now.

Ricardo Henriquez · Author · added about 8 years ago

Hi, I just took the time to catch up reading your page. I love Parallel!! I even signed a petition for Netflix to pick it up as a series :-) Good luck in the contest. Please check out my first chapter sample, I would truly appreciate the opinion of someone like you.