Saturday, November 24, 2012

My Book INK SPOTS is now out.


This is not so much a blog post as it is an announcement that my new book Ink Spots is now available at Amazon on Kindle and paperback.  Ink Spots is a collection of my blog posts from over the years.  Many of you may have read them, but I’m hoping that some of you may want them conveniently on your Kindle or Nook.  Or you might want an actual physical book to pop on the shelf to refer to from time to time.  Or you may want to give a book to someone as a gift. ‘Tis the season.  I’m just sayin’…

Last year I had the pleasure of working with legendary animator, and very cool person, Glen Keane and he was nice enough to provide a very nice foreword for the book.

Glen Keane and I at the pharmacy after he drove me to the dentist. Even while I was in pain the man was a joy to work with.


“Brian McDonald is an exceedingly rare combination of talent and heart.
He not only is a remarkable teacher he is also a gifted storyteller.
This makes what he has to share that much more valuable. He speaks with passion and experience.”  -- Glen Keane excerpted from his foreword to Ink Spots

Other equally cool folks had nice things to say about the book.  Here are just a few:

"Brian is that friend in movie storytelling that everyone deserves. He writes in clear, readily usable ways to improve your screenwriting. Like time-release story capsules they ignite and helped me over many movies and countless story bends. Give him a read, take a couple and repeat as needed." -- Ronnie del Carmen, story supervisor on UP and Finding Nemo, director and writer at Pixar Animation Studios.

"Brian's book is filled with insightful and useful gems for writers of any experience level.  The only reason you'll want to put it down is to go start writing yourself." -- J. Elvis Weinstein  writer/producer "Freak and Geeks", "Mystery Science Theater 3000", "Cinematic Titanic"

"Brian's books and website are succinct, insightful resources for understanding not only the mechanics, but the purpose, of storytelling. I've recommended them so many times you'd think I was getting a piece of the action." — Chris Warner, Senior Editor Dark Horse Comics/Books

Others were nice enough to lend their comments as well and they are in the book.  I want to thank everyone for their support of the book.

I also want to thank those who have been reading this blog over the years. You kept me going.  When I started I didn’t know if anyone would read it, or care.  But it turns out people did read it and got something useful from it.  Thank you sincerely for your readership. You guys have been great.

Soon I will post a real blog. I promise. But, I did recently do a guest blog for Elise Stephens at http://www.elisestephens.com/

P.S. My apologies. In a mad dash to get this book out before the holidays it looks like the wrong cover file was sent to the printer – the word “forward” should be “foreword”. What this means is that after the holidays the book will be unavailable while this correction is made. Maybe this means the first version will be worth money one of these days like an upside down stamp or buffalo nickel. Or not.





8 comments:

f said...

Finally! Ordering now.

Quentin Lebegue said...

Yay ! Loved the first books, can't wait to own this one too !

Brian McD said...

Thanks, guys.

Njordy said...

And no iBookStore again...

Christine said...

BRIAN! ;o) Just finished Ink Spots, and just wanted to thank you for putting together such a compendium of wisdom for us! I'd read one or two chapters before bed every night and was sad when I finished it. Always a joy to read these golden nuggets of knowledge! Thank you for sharing!

Brian McD said...

Thank you, Christine! Always nice to her from you and the rest of the former students. Hope things are good.

luke said...

Hello Brian! Long time fan, first time commenting!... I've just finished Ink Spots, great stuff, thank you... Definitely as 'must read and re-read' as the equally awesome Invisible Ink.

I am an illustrator, but find so many parallels, universal tenets for creativity in your writing that are as applicable to picture making as they are to word making.

You mention that you are learning magic, and how it has illuminated storytelling further for you. May I recommend a FANTASTIC (nonfiction) book called 'Sleights of Mind'? A husband and wife (PHDs in psychology / neurology) see a stage magic show and realise that magicians, painters, animators, actors and pickpockets take advantage of the cognitive, psychological 'wiring' of people that they study 'in the lab'. They decide to learn to be magicians, and in the process they record what the tricks are, but WHY and how they work. It's fabulous, it'll blow your mind. Keep up the awesomeness!
Very best regards,
Luke Newell
http://lukenool.wordpress.com/#

Brian McD said...

Hello Luke,

Thanks for reading the blog and books. Happy to know you enjoy them.

Yeah, I have many animators and illustrators that follow my work for some reason. My first film jobs were in animation and motion graphics and a huge number of my friends are visual artists. I have spent years talking with them about storytelling so maybe that comes through in my writing.

As for Slight of Mind I actually have a link to it on one of my posts: http://invisibleinkblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/isolation-of-interest-more-thoughts-on.html

The post is reprinted in Ink Spots, but, of course, the links are not there. And you're right, how magic works in mind blowing.

Thanks, Luke, for following my work and for being kind enough to write and let me know how much you like it.

-- Brian