This is Mo Henry Bug.
Mo is...
Novelist
Film Director (animation)
Game Designer
For as long as I can remember I have been a writer. I have a degree in creative writing (screenwriting specialisation) and a certificate in television, theatre and radio. Am currently writing novels and interested in directing cartoon films and designing and producing digital simulations of robotic games and electronic toy concepts.
I enjoy writing stories set in the filmmaking and game development industries. I write designs for games (innovative story-based adventure and interesting indie strategy.) My cartoon style is awkward patchwork, mostly pencil + image editing software (Photoshop/Gimp) But it feels very handmade. I also have a portfolio of cartoon characters.
My first novel is strictly real life from the point of view of a poet fixated on deconstruction. The microscopic observation of the artist at his weakest, ugliest, most naked. It is a story of a philosophical argument about the creative process, carried out by a despicable and seriously ill writer, dealing with clinical depression among other things. It is also an adventure with a child protagonist and the dismantling and analysis of this child’s life as he journeys towards becoming a man. And it is a story about what happens as a man is ripped from the world – from all that he knows, by a complete mental breakdown.
I'm also interested in production design for theatre and I have a background in poetry. I'm interested in attending conventions, for now as far as Australia. Perhaps farther in the future (Hong Kong, UK). Games of Interest: Warzone: Mutant Chronicles (and resurrection), Warhammer 40k, 40k Epic, 40k Blood Bowl, 40k Necromunda, Magic: the Gathering, Rage (CCG), Vampire: the masquerade, Confrontation: the Age of RagNarok, Sega Master System, SNES, Sega Megadrive (Mortal Kombat, Sonic, Another World, Skitchin, Gynoug, Gain Ground, Altered Beast, Marble Madness, Rambo 3, Ghouls and Ghosts, California Games, Earthworm Jim), PSOne (Skullmonkeys, Discworld 2, Wipeout, Destruction Derby), Indie games (Fez, Super Meat Boy, Road Redemption, Sportsfriends, Limbo, Osmos, Hacker Evolution: Untold, Solforge, Godus, Knock Knock, Among the Sleep), Classic PC gaming (The Sims, Close Combat.)
I write arthouse surrealism. I started out in film writing screenplays in the vein of It’s Such A Beautiful Day, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Naked Lunch, Trainspotting, The Fisher King, Monty Python. I wrote three feature film screenplays and a television pilot before adapting all of my stories to the novel format.
My style is a tug of war between action and argument. This kind of story finds a suitable home in the literary novel. I most love to write stories about strict school life, natural disasters and exploration, morbid humour, precisely detailed gross subjects and the mundane, psychological drama, technology and obsession, stalking, nerds and rock stars, awkward young women, emotional and mental destruction, abuse, violence mixed with intellect, business processes and studying the work done behind the scenes of a production.
My writing has been described as: “…contains some moments of brilliant and lucid insight into the writing and film making process...(His) film school sequence, with Adam as student film maker (1999) felt reminiscent of Godard's filming process with his "low budget, on-the-fly shooting style" and his anti-hero characters exploring their own "identities as makeshift masks" (she quotes from 1001 movies you must see before you die)...Adam Bennett is a character whose fight with clinical depression is possibly closely mirrored on the writer's own life experiences. Possibly? Probably. Many aspects of Adam's interior monologue feel chillingly real. The intense attention to minutia, the compulsive, obsessive behaviour and the sense of entropy and lethargy reflected in the outlook of our central character... ...Mise en scène comes to mind; the feeling of the scene "without", the properties of a set for a theatre piece. (His) writing style is constantly self-referential, non-linear and antiformulaic...his descriptive language is vivid and complex and contains morbidly precise, detailed action. He is a rebellious writer, anarchistic and defiant to the end. A very clever, erudite and acerbic writer, using his own life as a template for this philosophical discussion." (Lynda Chanwai-Earle; NZ poet and playwright).
The influences specific to my first novel were Spalding Grey, William Faulkner, B. F. Skinner, Glen Duncan, Sudhir Venkatesh, Sam Beckett.
My main writing influences are Stephen King, Jim Henson, Richard Garfield, Sam Kieth, Paul Bonner, Jhonen Vasquez, David Cronenberg, Emirin, Hal Hartley, Chan-wook Park, Stephen Chiodo, S. S. Wilson, Greg Egan, Bruce Timm, Tony Wong, Casey Pugh, Don Hertzfeldt, Harmony Korine, Tim Burton, Lars Von Trier, Stephen Laws, Brendon Small, Jack Cole, Gardner Fox, Bill Finger, David Simon.
I find massive inspiration from concept art like those found at Epilogue.net, DeviantArt and Conceptart.org (highlights include Kris Costa, David Meng, Rafal Hrynkiewicz and Marina Gardner) especially with favourite music playing in the background... My big four favourite bands - Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera. Rage Against the Machine, Neil Young, Darcy Clay and Daft Punk. And I love Efterklang, Plastic By Nature, Slipknot, Sepultura, Dire Straits, Alice in Chains, Bowie, Live, Sugar Ray, AC/DC and Anthrax. Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Coal Chamber, Portishead, Korn, Citizen Cope, B52s, Trinity Roots. And I love a bit of Le Tigre, Hollie Smith, 4 non blondes, Everlast.
I was really inspired when I visited the arcade machine museum (Musee Mecanique) in San Francisco during one of my international holiday/family-reunion trips. I especially enjoyed the games from the 1920's. These machines influence my design concepts. I would love to build an arcade machine in the 1920's style.
My first novel is due in June, 2013. If you're interested in working together, check out my CV. I also have a career profile on LinkedIn.
I keep a list of my favourite movies on IMDB.
I love reading almost as much as I enjoy writing, I have a reading profile online where I try to keep on top of my reading goals.
Full Bio
I was born in Colchester, Essex, England in 1982. From 1989, I grew up all over New Zealand, in Wairoa, Turangi, Hamilton, Dunedin. I now live in the Wellington region.
A few years before high school I was introduced by a friend to Stephen King's It, (which is still my favourite novel.) Soon after arriving at high school, (1995) another friend introduced me to the trading card game, Magic: the Gathering. And while browsing at a wargaming store I discovered the rulebook for the tabletop miniature wargame, Warzone. The film that was eventually made, written by Phil Eisner (of Event Horizon fame) was based on the world of this game.
Inspired by these discoveries and very much by Paul Bonner's Nepharite Warlords in the game Warzone which is set in the Mutant Chronicles world, I wrote a 500 page manuscript about a fictional universe that represented the world as I saw it.
In high school (a strict all boys school in Hamilton) in New Zealand (1995-1999), I excelled at English, Film Critical Analysis, Video Movie-Making and Editing, Art, Photography, Mathematics, Computer Studies and Metalwork/Woodwork. However, my weaknesses were Accounting, Science, Electronics and Social History. I enjoyed electronics but while I had good attention to detail I wasn't as quick as the other students and I wasn't very good at soldering so my connections often ended up dead.
I was into three things, inventing, hiding in a corner with a book and my dream of becoming a professional wrestler. That's why I studied martial arts for many years, beginning with judo and tae kwon do, including some kung fu, wing chun, thai boxing, kick boxing and kali sticks.
I decided to leave school in my senior year, as I hated the school that I was at. When I moved south to Dunedin, I decided that my education was important and I wanted to be an artist. So when I started school again it was a smaller school and my attitude was that my education was in my hands, I would do it, but on my terms. Around that time I discovered film-making and started reading downloaded screenplays and enjoying photography. At 17 I left high school and went to study at Polytechnic.
In 2000 I graduated with a National Certificate in Television, Theatre and Radio from Aoraki Polytechnic in Dunedin. I was Editor and Camera Operator at Kids TV for student work. I edited the magazine show for television and worked with the stationary camera at the TV studio, as well as working in the sound booth. Wrote, storyboarded, directed and edited three short movies on video. Some of these movies I re-edited in 2012. I also co-wrote, co-produced and co-starred in a children's play called Kids Love Mince which toured primary schools.
In 2003 I wrote a number of short stories and that's when I had the idea to put together a script for a television pilot, which I sent to the national TV station (TVNZ) and they called me up saying they liked it, that it was quirky. In the end it was decided that the script would cost too much to produce. This script eventually became one of my feature screenplays that I wrote at Whitireia.
In 2004, I experimented with writing for games and got some experience on amateur game development teams. Unfortunately, none of the projects made it to completion, but I learned a lot and contributed some interesting concepts. I was Assistant Producer on a video game that was not completed and I helped the writers come up with some interesting plots, characters and design features. I had some poetry published as well as received positive audience response when performing my poetry live. And I helped motivate and direct the writing team on an entry in the 48hr filmmaking competition.
In 2008 I enrolled at Whitireia Polytechnic. I studied poetry, which I had been passionate about since I was thirteen. I also wrote some short fiction assignments and some interesting non fiction projects. Then I wrote a short play called "Dystopia", which ended up as part of my novel. I also studied writing for film, which I already had learned a lot about.
In 2009 I studied under the late Graham Tetley who was a huge influence on my early writing (the course was supposed to be screenwriting, but even as I moved more in the direction of writing novels, I didn't want to leave his tutelage and he didn't think it necessary that I leave to be taught by someone else - who might not understand my writing.) and motivated me to return to writing large manuscripts.
Between 2009 and graduation I wrote my three feature film screenplays. The last one we agreed would be presented as notes on a film, this was also the title at the time (it has changed many times since) and became the basis for my first novel.
From 2011-2013 I studied illustration at The Learning Connexion in Lower Hutt, with a focus on digital illustration and designing images for animation.
- Animatronics
- Scary/Sexy/Trashy Horror Movies
- Stephen King
- Cartoons
- Board Games, Card Games, Wargames
- Writing
- Video Games from 1981-1992
Most recently I have completed a Diploma in Art and Creativity (level 5) at The Learning Connexion in Taita, Lower Hutt, New Zealand. During my studies I learned to better my skills at constructing realistic faces and character creation from sketches to digital painting and digital drawing in a collage style in Photoshop.
I have a Bachelor of Applied Arts Degree with a major in Creative Writing and a specialisation in Screenwriting. Which I completed through Whitireia Polytechnic in Wellington, New Zealand.
I have completed a National Certificate in Television, Theatre and Radio from Aoraki Polytechnic in Dunedin, New Zealand. During this course I learned to use tech for radio and television stations. I also wrote, produce and acted in short movies for video. And I co-wrote and co-starred in a children's play which toured primary schools.
My first avatar started out as a doodle of a two-headed alien and ended up as a monster with two heads. But I found his neck really interesting, which was much like a bird's. The two faces were taken from reference and then I really toyed with altering and masking the composition of each face. Then I redrew them and in photoshop began to paint them digitally. The result was, while not particularly sophisticated, interesting and humorous.
My second avatar was created much the same way. After that I decided to really examine my skills and my weaknesses and what I really wanted to achieve. That's when I decided to put in the time with learning drawing, while my themes are mostly concerned with thinking about play and interactivity.
I begin by communicating the setting, which describes the action. I know what my character/s are thinking, so I know how they are likely to react in any given situation. I drag out the scene until my objective - what the scene is about, has been reached. Dialogue spills out based on what they're thinking and what's going on at the time. The dialogue gives me new hints about the personalities that I'm working with. And new actions are created. Then it's back to the setting and the situation again. For me this is a very organic process, but I think of the dimensions - dialogue, setting, action/reaction, thought. And the two silent beasts - situation and personality.