December 7: Nice Birthday Message

Thank you to everyone who posted 

Birthday Greetings on Facebook!

Basis for Characters

I get asked a lot of questions on whether I base my characters on real people. It's a mix of what I observe in real life (how an actor looks in an action film etc) and what my artists interpret my characters to look like. I basically just give my artists a description of hair color, body build, outfits, etc. and they go from there. It's just depends on the interpretation. But the point is, they have to look badass.

There are some real-life people in the comic book. Myself, for instance, as the "author" character, and my friends and their band logos. My artists asked me what I wanted some of the characters from the script to look like (example, the background characters such as vampires who fight a main character etc) and I decided to have my friend's images in the comic book, for fun, so they get to be characters in a scene, and to help promote their bands too.

Why I Chose To Self-Publish

I chose to self-publish because have more control over my work and more freedom in decision-making, and my work actually gets to reach an audience.

There is a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in creating and producing something myself. I see success as being able to do what I love.  But I also view what I do as a business, and one where I learn to wear many hats and gain more knowledge on what to do and how to do it. I get to do exactly what a traditional publisher does: marketing, press, production, promotion, sales etc., although on a much smaller scale. Being a self-publisher does not make you any less of an author, but you do have more control.

I also don't have to wait for someone to do something for me. I can get things moving right away and on my own timeline. I can add my works to as many online platforms: downloadable formats, etc., and create merchandise when I want to.

I also became a self-publisher because I’ve heard many writers complain that they can’t get noticed by an audience. I feel that as a writer, you may be more likely to be noticed if you establish a track record that you produced something, even if it’s self-published.

But there's something a lot of writers often forget: you have to think of yourself as a business and run yourself as a business, no matter what. You have to learn to balance both creativity and business. You have to show that you can provide a product as well. An audience wants to see a "result", and a product.

I see a lot of writers wait for someone to "pick them up" for publishing or someone to do things for them, or they never finish what they started, saying that "someday" they will be recognized, but with no further action. So even though you can say you are working on something, waiting to hopefully hear back from a publisher, or planning to write your novel "someday", it still takes action on your part to get to where you want to be. You are more likely to be taken seriously if you have produced something tangible.

It’s like walking up to an investor and saying “Can you invest in me, and in my product?” Potential investors will ask why, and if you just say “I just have this cool idea, it's in the works”,  people are going to wonder if you are even serious about actually having something finished. And if all you have are ideas and you never finish anything, you will likely be turned down because they don’t see a product or its potential. You’re asking an audience to “invest”, both emotionally and monetarily, in your work, but if you don’t have anything to show other than ideas or talks of plans to get a project done, you may not get the results or success you want.

So if you want an audience to see you as an author, publish something: a blog with your work, a novel through an online publishing company,  go for it.

What Inspires my Writing?

I often joke that I'm a "recovering Catholic". Since childhood, I used to be taught that instead of helping myself and finding a solution to my problems, that I should just suffer and pray and wait for something to "save" me and that something--often an angel---would solve all my problems for me.

But now,  I question a guardian angel’s "job" of protecting and helping humans, and why is it that we have to pray to something whenever we need help. I wanted to explore an alternate view that perhaps guardian angels are sick of us relying on them and that human whining and prayers just made them completely snap.

I call it "Heaven's Customer Service Hotline"  gone terribly wrong.  I wanted to create something disturbing from something supposedly protective, because we really don't know who or what it is we are praying to.

Since I was a child, I always questioned people's belief in a supernatural, supposedly higher power and why we relied on a supposedly higher supernatural power that we can’t see to save us.

And what better way to explore all this than through horror, since horror is a genre that pushes the envelope. I use it to question people’s beliefs in terms of what pop culture considers “saviors”, but in a fictional sense.

And just because I'm messing with people's  image of a guardian angel doesn't mean I'm condemning it or being disrespectful. I'm questioning it. I question why we put so much blind faith in a higher power to help us and we don't even know what it is we are summoning. That's the whole point of my books and films.

I've just taken "angel rebellion" to a more disturbing level.

Copyright Lia Scott Price

Fan Reactions

I'm surprised by the reaction from fans, who have been incredibly supportive. I'm very thankful for their support and feedback. Reactions have ranged from fascination to enthusiasm that I created a vampire that’s original, new, different, evil and brutal and still gives homage to the classic scary vampire, and that it’s refreshing to see something scary and very edgy. People understand that I'm not out to condemn any beliefs, and that I'm simply using horror to turn what's "normal" and ordinary into something creepy.

A Terrifying New Serial Killer

My goal is to create a high-quality, masterfully illustrated, underground comic book outside of the mainstream, and create and feature something original about vampires. I didn't want to follow the typical Vampire norm. I wanted to create a Vampire that was very unique, something no one has ever seen before, and one that was a serial killer as well.

My comic book series has an entirely different vampire storyline. They are new, vampires that are also holy entities: a cross breed between Guardian Angel and Vampire. But they kill very specific victims.  Their way of serial killing is limited: you have to pray to one for help for them to target you. And when they do find you, you meet your end in a very bloody way. Their purpose is to fuck with you and toy with you out of sheer hatred-- and hunger, and to shut you up because they are rebelling against their role of answering prayers and protecting humans. So they have specific motives and specific victims--and that's what makes them so fascinating.

To these serial killers, humans are just mindless, cult-like, religion-obsessed fanatics who rely on a higher power to save them and who constantly nag supernatural entities for help. These entities, the Guardian Angels, feel enslaved, and once they become Vampires, make it their mission to wipe out the human race. But they are limited and constrained on how they can do so, because they are can only target "believers". This is because human prayers act as a "beacon". It's like they want to rid themselves of the "human voices in their heads", so they start by targeting those people who were the source of the prayers. (So if you don't pray--or whine to them---you're safe---for now.)

So when you think you're calling for help to something that will help you, like your own Guardian Angel, you may just be calling for something that hates you--and will make a meal out of you. Never thought of that, did you?

And that, is what makes my Vampires so terrifying.

Copyright Lia Scott Price

Comic Book Series Artists at Comikaze 2013

Interview with Vampire Guardian Angels Comic Book Artists Andrew Setter and Chad Hammontree at Comikaze 2013

 Andrew Setter and Chad Hammontree

Writer/Creator Lia Scott Price with Artist Andrew Setter

Chad Hammontree and Andrew Setter

Lia Scott Price, Chad Hammontree, and Andrew Setter