The English assignment we received was to conceive an idea for a story that could be adapted into a flash fiction, graphic novel, and later a film or flash animation. The restrictions of the assignment were to limit the setting to one location, introduce no more than three characters, and to have the story take place within 24 hours.

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graphic novel

Smith of Clocks

With a loving wife and healthy son, there wasn’t much else Smith could possibly want out of life. Always, he had once viewed his world in a grey standstill, counting down the hours until it became a reasonable time to dream. His inner pendulum never really began to swing until he met Cathy. She made his heart beat to a rhythm of its own, ringing in his ears louder than a lone clock in a silent room.

He grew to love her and her, him. Their moments together were invaluable. Smith gradually fell in love with that time. Wedding bells eventually tolled when they married. And even later, the beeps of an ECG in a hospital room echoed alongside the wails of a newborn boy. Everything in Smith’s life was beginning to seem like clockwork.

Almost two decades later, the gears that made his life turn for the better were rusting away. His beloved Cathy was diagnosed with cancer. He spent many nights staring at hands. He somberly shook the ones that offered their condolences. In other instances, the hands would move the slightest fraction, followed by the sharp, haughty cackle of a tick. Calloused hands would clutch his aching head as he was reminded of how powerless he truly felt. He had a revelation that started a revolution within him; there couldn’t ever be a replacement part for Cathy in his life.
The telephone was constantly ringing on a dreary day, resonating in his empty study. He let a dry, weary laugh escape his lips when he answered the call from the doctor. Cathy’s time was up. The hands had finally struck midnight to end his fanciful dream.

His son was convinced that his father was too far buried in sand to be dug back up. Smith, at that point, encased himself in glass and allowed no one to enter his domain. A continuous stream of bitter sand fell upon him, drowning him further, as he engrossed himself in fixing clocks. One clock he didn’t dare tinker with, was Cathy’s. Oddly enough, her watch stopped ceased to function that very same day.

For a man who was fond of time, he ironically forgot where his time should have been. He made himself estranged. His attention revolved around his broken clocks. Cobwebs formed between the wheels in his heart that once propelled him forward. Every little mechanism that pushed him corroded. And he never noticed.

On his 48th birthday, a small dial turned in his head and the sun shone through his self-induced torture. A hand was lent to him in his hour of need, belonging to a boy—no, a man—of twenty years of age. That very man who believed his own father would never rise from the dust that collected about him. The fragility of the glass Smith shrouded himself in shattered. The sands that trapped him with its heavy grip finally relinquished their hold on the poor man.
“… I’m sorry. Maybe you’re right. Maybe some things just can’t be fixed.” He admitted to his remaining family member. They smiled, awkward and bashful, as they left Smith’s study to celebrate the birth of a man who lost track of time.

Midnight struck to mark a new beginning, and her watch ticked again.

Coming up with the plot itself wasn't too difficult on my part, rather it just came to me as I was performing my daily lather, rinse, and repeat routine. What was difficult was working with the time and pacing of the story itself in both the graphic novel and flash fiction. With the graphic novel, what was most challenging was drawing what I thought would be most efficient in driving the plot forward. In the flash fiction, it was challenging being able to stick to the maximum word count and writing in a way that really gave depth to the character and plot. When I compare the two side by side, I noticed the graphic novel develops the actions and moves the plot forward in an external way. In the flash fiction, the words, thoughts, and actions are all explained and delve into why everything happens internally through the father's thoughts. Nothing is external, but still continues to move forward as the father's thoughts progress.