10 Questions with Fon Davis, creator of MORAV (@Foncocreative)

This Author Spotlight features Fon Davis, creator of the graphic novel MORAV: The History of Robotic Warfare.

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Fon Davis on-set inside MORAV cockpit

Fon Davis has been working in the entertainment industry for nearly 25 years, during which time he has had a hand in more than 30 feature films, including Pearl Harbor, Starship Troopers, Galaxy Quest, Terminator III, Mission Impossible III, and the Star Wars and Matrix series.

Fon has a diverse background that includes working at the Industrial Light and Magic model shop, serving as a concept designer and model maker for Disney, and contributing to acclaimed stop motion films such as The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline.

Most recently, he served as the miniatures supervisor on The Big Miracle with Drew Barrymore, and Neill Blomkamp’s upcoming feature, Elysium, at Kerner FX.

In 2000, Fon founded his own studio, Fonco Creative Services, to run projects between features and develop his own training and science fiction content.

MORAV: The History of Robotic Warfare is his first book. The creative team behind MORAV includes the following amazingly talented people:

Creator - Fon Davis

Scripts - M. Zachary Sherman

Pencils - Budi Setiawan

Inks - James Taylor

Color - J. Brown

Letters -Sean Konot

Front Cover - Marc Gabbana

Introduction - Doug Chiang

Chapter Covers - Emmanuel Shiu - Roel Robles - Brian Matyas - Lei Jin - Greg Knight - Paul Hamblin

Additional Art - Alex Jaeger - Bagas Wicaksono - David Yee -Ken Schultz - Marc Gabbana - Mitch Thompson - Roel Robles

Grant Imahara (tertiary host of Discovery Channel's MYTHBUSTERS) works on MORAV Generation 1 robot understructure 

Tangri Capitol story board

Tangri Capitol camera-ready finished product

1. How did you get into writing?

I started writing because my head fills with ideas, characters and stories that feel real to me in some way. It is almost compulsive, like I have to get the ideas out or I’ll explode. Then I need to do something with the stories, right?

A writer friend M. Zachary Sherman liked MORAV and convinced me to create a graphic novel with him. The book took four years and a team of twenty artists to complete. We’re very proud of our achievement. The book has a story you can’t put down and it is packed with 164 pages of amazing full color art.

I’m not yet comfortable calling myself a “real writer”. I oversee so many parts of the projects I create, that I often work with the help of a dedicated script writer. Naturally I feel like they are the “real writer”. I drive the big picture and the flavor, but the writers on my team share in a really significant part of what my stories become.

2. What do you like best (or least) about writing?

I really enjoy seeing a story and characters come to life, piece by piece, becoming more real every day. I like the way it feels to live in these crazy worlds I create and of course, leave whenever I want.

3. What is your writing process? IE do you outline? Do you stick to a daily word or page count, write 7 days a week, etc?

I like to write at night after work or even after everyone goes to sleep, so I am not interrupted. The first thing I do is find a mood, create the world and then populate it with the essential characters. I try to imagine what is wrong with those characters and their world. I immerse myself until I live in the story, then I watch what happens. My stories lack structure in the beginning, but that’s because I need to feel that place before I can write in it. I eventually reach a point where I have to create an outline. It’s at that point I have to either start dedicating a lot more time to the project or work with another writer. We or I fill in the blanks, usually focusing on a scene at a time, and not always in chronological order. I have the outline with key turning points for continuity. Then I read, revise and polish again and again until the story has soul and I don’t see anything I want to change. 

4. Who are some other writers you read and admire, regardless of whether they are commercially “successful?”

I have always enjoyed William Gibson. He paints such a clear picture of the world and characters in his stories. I like to be immersed and forget I’m reading a book. Ironically, I don’t have much time to read.

5. Should the question mark in the above question be inside or outside the quotes?

I don’t know, ask my editor or wife. :-P Actually, I do know it belongs on the outside, but I feel like it should be on the inside. I’ve never liked that rule. It conflicts with the right side of my brain.

6. What’s your stance on the Oxford Comma?

I don’t use the Oxford Comma for no other reason than that is the way I was taught. The same reason I still double space after periods.

7. What is your book MORAV: The History of Robotic Warfare about and how did it come to fruition?

MORAV is a science fiction military drama about a cocky pilot and his fellow soldiers, who fight for answers and survival when their home island of Tangri becomes a corporate testing ground for giant robotic warfare.

8. What’s your current writing project?

I am juggling several writing projects, right now. It’s an unfortunate reality of our current economy. I am pitching a zombie story, a creature feature, a futuristic comedy and two sequels to MORAV. I’ll finish the one that I get paid for.

9. What book(s) are you currently reading?

Sadly I’ve been working so many hours I have not had much time to read the science fiction stories I love so much. Instead lately I’ve been studying books like The DV Rebels Guide by Stu Maschwitz and The Guerilla Film Makers Movie Blueprint by Chris Jones.

10. Who or what inspires your writing?

I feel like the constant disappointment I feel from dry and formulaic movies and television shows has been driving me. I am basically writing what I want to read or see.

Finally, is there anything you’d care to add? Please also include where people can read your published stories, buy your book, etc.

https://twitter.com/Foncocreative
https://www.facebook.com/FonHDavis
http://morav.net/
http://foncocreative.net/

Thank you, Fon. I thoroughly enjoyed MORAV and would recommend it. The book is simply gorgeous, the artwork is jaw dropping (and sometimes graphic; parents take note), and the story well developed.

Purchase a copy of MORAV on Amazon by clicking HERE.