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Hello.
My name is Shanon Mary McNeil and I am the creator of Weather Bound. What does that mean exactly?
Well I conceptualize the story, its characters, settings, plots, visuals, etc.. Taking those concepts I then write drafts, final drafts, scripts, draw thumbnails, ink, color and do lighting and final touches on pages.
But the work doesn't end when the page is done. I also format and self publish my books, then need to engage in marketing the series. I run the social media accounts for the series and create this website you're reading from right now!
That's not even all of it! This project is a lot of work, so why do I do it?
Storms. Art. Story.
Growing up in the Phoenix valley of Arizona instilled in me a love and fascination of storms and extreme weather. The monsoon seasons were an event we looked forward to, and with it some impressive lightning displays.
Another contributing factor to the growth of this project was how much I loved to draw as a kid. In my teens I began taking art and animation more seriously.
Storytelling was the final important ingredient to create this mixture of a work. My dad had a side interest in writing for a while, something I picked up later when I started to explore the online world of fandoms. Embarrassing and awkward fanfictions were written, then I tried creating my own original stories. They too were ashamedly poor quality.
Mix ingredients.
In high school I needed to create an art portfolio and pick a common theme. I combined my interests and ended up creating 12 character illustrations that each embodied an element of earth.
I started dreaming up a story that combined all of the characters, reworked and reworked it many times, until I finally showed my parents a piece of it. My dad said it was terrible, and that was the best thing he could have told me at the time.
The story was, in fact, terrible. So I set out on a long journey of scouring the internet for information on how proper storytelling works. I watched hundreds of video essays, read books like Save The Cat by Blake Snyder, and I took detailed notes on all of it and continuously applied my new knowledge.
Finding meaning.
Some artists or authors start out with a core value or meaning behind their work and then create the work based on that. Others, like myself, started meaninglessly and slowly chiseled away at the rock until we discovered the form of the statue within.
To me, Weather Bound is about how to build your life. It is both a mirror and a guide map, reflecting the stages I have gone through and serving as a way to learn life lessons before I ever encounter them in reality.
Within the story itself the "meaning" behind it is a bit more straightforward, but I cannot write of it yet because it could vastly change the way a reader would look at it. It needs to be revealed at the proper time.
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