The General Plot

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but the plot of Tempus is based around the concept of time travel - hence the name.

Soon after humans built their base on Tempus, a large machine was placed on the highest point on the planet (which was quite a distance away from the base) that controls the flow of time on the planet. The machine basically retracts time back to a point a certain time interval (say, two months) in the past - which means that time on the planet is reset every two months. For example, if the machine was activated on May 1st, then on July 1st time would be rolled back two months, erasing everything that had happened within that two-month interval.

What did it mean for people on the planet? Say if someone was on the planet before May 1st, and they came down with some terrible disease sometime afterward, then it wouldn't really matter because after two months they would be reverted to their original state. But if someone landed on the planet after May 1st, then they'd have to leave the planet before July 1st or their existence would be erased. Keep in mind that the scope of the time beacon's power is only the planet itself, so Earth is unaffected.

You might ask why people would bother with this seemingly utterly useless if not dangerous technology. Well, it gives one practically an infinite amount of time to do research on the planet. One can begin on May 1st, take notes on a newly discovered plant, and have the data transferred back to Earth all before July 1st - that way once time is rolled back, they can use the same two months' worth of time to research something else. It's complicated, I know. Also, maybe the entire research colony might come down with a really bad uncurable disease. As long as the time beacon doesn't break, it wouldn't matter because again, as in the example in the previous paragraph, they would be reverted to their previous, healthy state.

It's not realistic, of course, and this was kind of a struggle for me - I wanted to keep the novel somewhat realistic, but the time beacon is just so central to the plot (along with the existence of the planet itself).

Anyway, what I wanted to say was that I have the general plot written down by now. I just felt like this time stuff needed to be understood before I actually revealed the plot. As for the plot itself, I haven't actually gotten around to naming all of the characters yet, but when I do, I'll post it.

Road Block...

So in these last few days I've been working on bringing more details to my plot, but I'm feeling a lack of inspiration at the moment. I mean, I have the basic plot down, but when it comes to details I haven't made great progress yet.

I have decided that the main character's name will be Terry, which comes from Terra which means Earth. He is either studying to be a physicist, astronomer, or geologist - though no matter whichever career path I pick for him, other major characters can fill up the other "spots".

Terry doesn't have a last name, or a face, or a backstory yet. As for the planet Tempus however, I figure I'd just re-write history (in this alternative universe of course) to account for an extra planet between the Earth and Mars - e.g. NASA sends probes and rovers to Tempus instead of Mars in the 1990's and 2000's. The first humans arrive on Tempus in 2029, and the plot of Tempus takes place in 2031.

Welcome

I'm Kelvin Jin and I'm a senior attending Ithaca High School. I'm involved with a special English course called the Wise Individualized Senior Experience program, or WISE. The main difference between this and a regular English class is that instead of going through two semesters of standard English class, we have one semester of English followed by a large project spanning our entire second semester.

More info about the WISE program

For my WISE project, I am illustrating a graphic novel called Tempus. The graphic novel follows a group of college-aged students that travel to a nearby life-bearing planet called Tempus (in an alternate universe where such a planet exists) to study its ecosystem. The entire plot I haven't actually worked out at the moment, but that'll come in the next two weeks.

From my journal:

Dear reader:

Needless to say, I'm excited for this project. Drawing has always been a hobby for me. I began to draw comics in third grade, and at the time I wanted to be a comic strip artist. I wanted to be like Jim David, Bill Watterson, or Charles Schultz - all famous cartoonists.

My interests have changed since I started high school - somewhat. I still enjoy drawing, but my aspirations have changed from being a comic strip artist to a graphic novelist. Whether I'd like to pursue this as a career I'm not entirely sure, but I knew when I was presented the opportunity to take this class that this was a perfect match for a WISE project, and that WISE was a perfect match for me.

My graphic novel focuses on a group of college students that travel to a nearby, life-supporting planet in an alternate universe where such a planet exists. The planet's name is Eurasia (now Tempus, latin for "time"). The students, however, are trapped in a dangerous situation where animals begin to act out of order and raid their research facility, and a time paradox threatens to erase them from existence. The plot details I haven't worked out yet, but that's the big story.

I hope to finish this in sixteen weeks. It's a tough project because I have a lot to learn and there's plenty to do. My biggest fear is I won't be able to finish the project. But what's a project without its challenges, anyway?

Kelvin Jin

February 5, 2011

And how about a two-week plan (also from my journal):

The first two weeks do not involve the actual creation of the comic at all. It's all about writing the plot, and learning.

When I say learning it seems ambiguous. And it is. I want to learn how to draw humans, animals, buildings (to an extent), trees, plants, and pretty much everything else, and at every angle. Of course, taking place on a different planet I'm going to have to take a few creative liberties and dream up my own alien flora and fauna as well.

I also need to learn how to ink. This also seems to be an ambiguous goal. I'd have my own standards for inking, but if I don't reach those standards by the end of the two weeks it won't matter too much - after all, the inking comes after sketching. I'll have to sketch every panel first before I ink, so I can afford not to finish this in the first two weeks.

My most definite goal is to write the plot to my graphic noel. In terms of detail, I want to have all the dialogue written exactly as it will be in the graphic novel itself, but descriptions and settings may be broad because after all, I want to be creative in my project.

These two entries come from my journal, and they will be the last of their kind. From now on, I will track my progress through this blog. If you want, you can follow me.