The Official Writing Thread

[MayorMitch100]

Super excited for this summer. I'm taking an AP English class next year and in the first semester we can do a thesis paper on a specific writer or we can write some short stories. I was one of the few allowed to write the short stories. So this summer I get to come up with stories and begin to write them.

Another thing, has anybody taken or heard any thing about these classes? Comics Experience with Andy Schmidt (http://www.comicsexperience.com/). I was thinking about taking the one that is starting in a few months. But wanted to see how good they were.

[Jef UK]

Super excited for this summer. I'm taking an AP English class next year and in the first semester we can do a thesis paper on a specific writer or we can write some short stories. I was one of the few allowed to write the short stories. So this summer I get to come up with stories and begin to write them.

Another thing, has anybody taken or heard any thing about these classes? Comics Experience with Andy Schmidt (http://www.comicsexperience.com/). I was thinking about taking the one that is starting in a few months. But wanted to see how good they were.

You should PM Nick Spencer about them. He took the first course in NYC when he first moved here.

[stevapalooza]

INTRODUCTION TO COMIC BOOK COLORING
This six-week intensive class for colorists teaches all the necessary fundamentals for coloring comics with Photoshop. You'll learn the basics of bothe the technical end--from flatting and preparing files to saving your wok in the correct form--and the artistic--color theory, drawing the reader's attention, creating a harmonious page, and much, much more!

Wok not included.

[Benel Germosen]

Is it me or is there some writers out there that are just intent of being boring. It fucking bothers me when I read the work of someone and it's just paragraph after paragraph, page after page of nothing happening. Not even badly written, just...nothing happening.

[Jef UK]

INTRODUCTION TO COMIC BOOK COLORING
This six-week intensive class for colorists teaches all the necessary fundamentals for coloring comics with Photoshop. You'll learn the basics of bothe the technical end--from flatting and preparing files to saving your wok in the correct form--and the artistic--color theory, drawing the reader's attention, creating a harmonious page, and much, much more!

Wok not included.

What is this and where is this?

[NeverWanderer]

Is it me or is there some writers out there that are just intent of being boring. It fucking bothers me when I read the work of someone and it's just paragraph after paragraph, page after page of nothing happening. Not even badly written, just...nothing happening.

Well, there are differing opinions on what "Interesting" is. Like, I love some movies/shows/comics where it's nothing but people talking, characters interacting. Shit, some of my favorite moments from one of my favorite animes is just the main character walking around the city in silence.

For me, the good writer is the person who can make all that mundane stuff interesting to read, regardless of what is (or isn't) going on. Then again, those writers are probly moving the plot forward without you even realizing it.

I dunno. For me bland writing is worse than a slow plot.

[Benel Germosen]

Well, there are differing opinions on what "Interesting" is. Like, I love some movies/shows/comics where it's nothing but people talking, characters interacting. Shit, some of my favorite moments from one of my favorite animes is just the main character walking around the city in silence.

For me, the good writer is the person who can make all that mundane stuff interesting to read, regardless of what is (or isn't) going on. Then again, those writers are probly moving the plot forward without you even realizing it.

I dunno. For me bland writing is worse than a slow plot.

Shut up and agree with me :mad:

[Curt Pires]

Hi everybody , Well I'll just star by introducing my self to all those who weren't lucky enough to view my rather ridiculous and demanding introduction thread last year. I'm working on a Graphic Novel right now with a super talented artist , from the university I attend. Were tentatively planning on releasing it next year, at the Toronto con, and maybe thinking about heady down to SDCC if we sell enough copies in Toronto. I'm about 2/3 done the story, but im struggling with finishing it because I just have been over-analyzing my dialogue, to the point of extensive re-writes.

I was just wondering who everybody would recommend for a printer, and what pointers if any , the people in this thread have?

Thanks,

Curt

[Curt Pires]

heady= heading

[NeverWanderer]

Shut up and agree with me :mad:

I, uh... I meant to say...


Yeah!

[NeverWanderer]

Hi everybody , Well I'll just star by introducing my self to all those who weren't lucky enough to view my rather ridiculous and demanding introduction thread last year. I'm working on a Graphic Novel right now with a super talented artist , from the university I attend. Were tentatively planning on releasing it next year, at the Toronto con, and maybe thinking about heady down to SDCC if we sell enough copies in Toronto. I'm about 2/3 done the story, but im struggling with finishing it because I just have been over-analyzing my dialogue, to the point of extensive re-writes.

I was just wondering who everybody would recommend for a printer, and what pointers if any , the people in this thread have?

Thanks,

Curt

I don't have much to offer by way of printing advice, but I would always advocate having one or two proof-readers that you trust look over your script to make sure it all flows well before you send it off to get drawn. Other than that, I'm in the same beginners' boat you are. :)

Good luck with your book!

[NeverWanderer]

Issue #3 of THE LINK is fucking DONE (scriptwise). It kills me that it's taken me so long to write this thing, but I do so love the thrill of hitting that save button for the last time.

Plus, I'm officially past the halfway mark on writing it! Yay! Now it's off to my proof reader, and then Matt can faint at my having finally finished another script.

[Curt Pires]

Thanks for the advice man, good luck to you too!

[Jef UK]

Hi everybody , Well I'll just star by introducing my self to all those who weren't lucky enough to view my rather ridiculous and demanding introduction thread last year. I'm working on a Graphic Novel right now with a super talented artist , from the university I attend. Were tentatively planning on releasing it next year, at the Toronto con, and maybe thinking about heady down to SDCC if we sell enough copies in Toronto. I'm about 2/3 done the story, but im struggling with finishing it because I just have been over-analyzing my dialogue, to the point of extensive re-writes.

I was just wondering who everybody would recommend for a printer, and what pointers if any , the people in this thread have?

Thanks,

Curt

Wait for the art to come in for the final dialogue pass.

I use ka-blam.com for my self published stuff.

[Fygar]

Some questions for you guys.

My friend's dream gig is adapting her favorite book into a screenplay. I'm currently in the process of reading said book, and I see it's potential. We've now talked about it a bit here and there, and want to write it together. I took it upon myself to see if it's currently in production, and it's not. The author was doing the screenplay himself, but never finished it because he committed suicide.

Would it be bad form to even attempt such a thing, because of the circumstances at hand?

Are we even allowed to do this? Would we have to obtain the rights to the project beforehand (something we're clearly not capable of)? Or do we write it to the best of our ability, attempt to sell it to a studio and they obtain the rights?

Thanks in advance, guys!

[NeverWanderer]

I'm pretty sure you have to obtain the rights before you write it, otherwise you're trying to make money off of someone else's copyright.

I would think, though, that that doesn't preclude you writing it in the meantime so that it's ready when you *do* get the rights. If it's good it might even be a selling point on *getting* you the rights... buuuut, that might only work if the author was still alive. I dunno. This all comes from the mind of a complete amateur, though, so take it with an appropriate helping of salt.

Not the first paragraph, though. I'm pretty sure that's the law.

[Jef UK]

A David Foster Wallace novel?

[MayorMitch100]

I want to write. But can never motivate myself enough to actually pen to paper (or finger to key). Not sure what to do.

[Jef UK]

I want to write. But can never motivate myself enough to actually pen to paper (or finger to key). Not sure what to do.

You either do it or you don't.

[MayorMitch100]

You either do it or you don't.

yup. I just need to find a place that is less distracting then my room.

[Fygar]

I'm pretty sure you have to obtain the rights before you write it, otherwise you're trying to make money off of someone else's copyright.

I would think, though, that that doesn't preclude you writing it in the meantime so that it's ready when you *do* get the rights. If it's good it might even be a selling point on *getting* you the rights... buuuut, that might only work if the author was still alive. I dunno. This all comes from the mind of a complete amateur, though, so take it with an appropriate helping of salt.

Not the first paragraph, though. I'm pretty sure that's the law.

That's what I figured. I'm going to have to do some digging on how this works though.


A David Foster Wallace novel?

Nope, Tristan Egolf.

[Benel Germosen]

It's nearly 1 and I haven't wrote all day.

God, I'm lazy.

[Jef UK]

That's what I figured. I'm going to have to do some digging on how this works though.



Nope, Tristan Egolf.

I remember that Lord of the Barnyard book, but I haven't read it. I didn't know the author committed suicide.

[Fygar]

I want to write. But can never motivate myself enough to actually pen to paper (or finger to key). Not sure what to do.

You never really get over that feeling. My advice is to start with something on a small scale, something you're knowledgable about and won't be impeded by writer's block that will bog you down.

Here are some Robert McKee quotes that deal with this topic. I know this is annoying but they always seem to help me when I start a new project.

Limitation is vital. The first step toward a well told story is to create a small knowable world.

The world of a story must be small enough that the mind of a single artist can surround the fictional universe it creates and come to know it in the same depth and detail that God knows the one He created.

A "small" world, however does not mean a trivial world. Art consists of separating one tiny piece from the rest of the universe and holding it up in such a way that it appears to be the most important, fascinating thing of this moment. "Small" in this case means knowable.

A limited world and restricted cast offer the possibility of knowledge in depth and breadth. The irony of setting versus story is this: The larger the world, the more diluted the knowledge of the writer, therefore the fewers his creative choices and the more cliched the story. The smaller the world, the more complete the knowledge of the writer, therefore the greater his creative choices. Result: a fully original story and victory in the war of cliche

[MayorMitch100]

You never really get over that feeling. My advice is to start with something on a small scale, something you're knowledgable about and won't be impeded by writer's block that will bog you down.

Here are some Robert McKee quotes that deal with this topic. I know this is annoying but they always seem to help me when I start a new project.

Limitation is vital. The first step toward a well told story is to create a small knowable world.

The world of a story must be small enough that the mind of a single artist can surround the fictional universe it creates and come to know it in the same depth and detail that God knows the one He created.

A "small" world, however does not mean a trivial world. Art consists of separating one tiny piece from the rest of the universe and holding it up in such a way that it appears to be the most important, fascinating thing of this moment. "Small" in this case means knowable.

A limited world and restricted cast offer the possibility of knowledge in depth and breadth. The irony of setting versus story is this: The larger the world, the more diluted the knowledge of the writer, therefore the fewers his creative choices and the more cliched the story. The smaller the world, the more complete the knowledge of the writer, therefore the greater his creative choices. Result: a fully original story and victory in the war of cliche

hmm. This is some good stuff to think about. Thanks Fygar. I'll put it to use in the morning. Just about to turn in for the night.

[Sarcoidosis]

I figured this would be a good place to ask:
Are those writing exercise threads ever coming back?

I've had some ideas for potential topics, which I know were the sticking point before, and I had a lot of fun doing the first four exercises, so I wanted to find out.

[Kyle Higgins]

Some questions for you guys.

My friend's dream gig is adapting her favorite book into a screenplay. I'm currently in the process of reading said book, and I see it's potential. We've now talked about it a bit here and there, and want to write it together. I took it upon myself to see if it's currently in production, and it's not. The author was doing the screenplay himself, but never finished it because he committed suicide.

Would it be bad form to even attempt such a thing, because of the circumstances at hand?

Are we even allowed to do this? Would we have to obtain the rights to the project beforehand (something we're clearly not capable of)? Or do we write it to the best of our ability, attempt to sell it to a studio and they obtain the rights?

Thanks in advance, guys!

You can go about trying to option the rights, but at the same time there's nothing keeping you from writing it on spec. You just have to realize that in terms of actually getting it made, doing it on spec means there's an extra step (a production company and/or studio would have to really like the script and also be willing to obtain the rights to the book. Depending on the company and the status of the rights, as well as whether or not the book's estate is willing to part with them, this is something that could be relatively simple, or pretty hard). Also, most likely you'll need to have an agent (if you don't already) before many production companies will give it a read.

That said, even without the rights to the book, if you do a draft of the script on spec and it's solid, you can use it as a writing sample to help GET you an agent. Whether or not you can parlay that into optioning the rights to the original book, or convincing a producer/studio to acquire the book rights based on the strength of your script, comes down to your agent, the script, and well as where the rights to the book reside at the time.

If nothing's actively happening with the book, I say go for it! Just know there are a lot of steps.

[Fygar]

I figured this would be a good place to ask:
Are those writing exercise threads ever coming back?

I've had some ideas for potential topics, which I know were the sticking point before, and I had a lot of fun doing the first four exercises, so I wanted to find out.

I was the one who started the exercise thread, and I am also the one who killed them :surrend: I just didn't think the board was enjoying them that much, so I stopped creating the threads.

Feel free to take the mantle with your ideas Sarcoidosis. Either post Writing Exercise #5 and go from there or start a brand new series.

[Fygar]

You can go about trying to option the rights, but at the same time there's nothing keeping you from writing it on spec. You just have to realize that in terms of actually getting it made, doing it on spec means there's an extra step (a production company and/or studio would have to really like the script and also be willing to obtain the rights to the book. Depending on the company and the status of the rights, as well as whether or not the book's estate is willing to part with them, this is something that could be relatively simple, or pretty hard). Also, most likely you'll need to have an agent (if you don't already) before many production companies will give it a read.

That said, even without the rights to the book, if you do a draft of the script on spec and it's solid, you can use it as a writing sample to help GET you an agent. Whether or not you can parlay that into optioning the rights to the original book, or convincing a producer/studio to acquire the book rights based on the strength of your script, comes down to your agent, the script, and well as where the rights to the book reside at the time.

If nothing's actively happening with the book, I say go for it! Just know there are a lot of steps.

Thanks Kyle, I really appreciate the insight!

[Kyle Higgins]

Thanks Kyle, I really appreciate the insight!

Definitely. It sounds like a cool project.

[Sarcoidosis]

Writing Exercise #5 (http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?t=193168) is up. Go nuts.

[Benel Germosen]

Why is it that I always get these flash of inspiration and creativity when I'm writing non-work related stuff? Like, for this Dungeons and Dragons game, I got a flood of stuff to write about. For this short story about two brothers, I'm plodding along with nothing but a plot. Why can't I seem to ever parlay that creative buzz from writing shit for fun to writing so that I can get paid.

[kon-el kent]

Have any of you guys ever read "The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics" by denny o'neil? Do you think it is worth picking up? I have already read some screenwriting books so I wasnt sure if that book would really be helpful.

[Jef UK]

Have any of you guys ever read "The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics" by denny o'neil? Do you think it is worth picking up? I have already read some screenwriting books so I wasnt sure if that book would really be helpful.

I have and yes it's helpful.

[NeverWanderer]

Why is it that I always get these flash of inspiration and creativity when I'm writing non-work related stuff? Like, for this Dungeons and Dragons game, I got a flood of stuff to write about. For this short story about two brothers, I'm plodding along with nothing but a plot. Why can't I seem to ever parlay that creative buzz from writing shit for fun to writing so that I can get paid.

That was my problem for a LONG time. I don't even really remember *how* I broke out of it. I just got this scene in my head one day, and it felt like an independent horror movie... so I started writing a low budget horror movie. No clear decision made that THIS one was going to be for me... it just happened.

[NeverWanderer]

Here's the finished CLiNT submission!

http://forums.millarworld.tv/index.php?showtopic=93141&view=findpost&p=2175688

[Benel Germosen]

I cannot take that publisher seriously with a name like that.

[NeverWanderer]

I cannot take that publisher seriously with a name like that.

I think that's the point. :p

[kon-el kent]

I have and yes it's helpful.

hey jef UK!

Thanks for replying. Are there any other books you found useful? I was thinking of picking up Peter David's Writing for Comics and Graphic Novels. I am really new to this and any help would be helpful!

[Jef UK]

hey jef UK!

Thanks for replying. Are there any other books you found useful? I was thinking of picking up Peter David's Writing for Comics and Graphic Novels. I am really new to this and any help would be helpful!

I found actual scripts most helpful, specifically: http://www.amazon.com/Powers-Script-Brian-Michael-Bendis/dp/1582402337/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276287057&sr=8-1

This is helpful too: http://www.comicbookscriptarchive.com/archive/

Hey, you're in NYC. Have we met in real life?

[THWIP!]

To help with getting the writing bug out of me I've started writing a lot of things for my blog and I'll be writing a lot more.

http://theshelfbyantonio.blogspot.com/

[NeverWanderer]

hey jef UK!

Thanks for replying. Are there any other books you found useful? I was thinking of picking up Peter David's Writing for Comics and Graphic Novels. I am really new to this and any help would be helpful!

I'm no Jef UK (few are), but I would highly recommend Alan Moore's "Writing For Comics". It's more about storytelling than about how to format a comic, but I found it an invaluable inspiration.

[NeverWanderer]

To help with getting the writing bug out of me I've started writing a lot of things for my blog and I'll be writing a lot more.

http://theshelfbyantonio.blogspot.com/

Nice! Fav'd!

[joshdahl]

hey jef UK!

Thanks for replying. Are there any other books you found useful? I was thinking of picking up Peter David's Writing for Comics and Graphic Novels. I am really new to this and any help would be helpful!

Peter David's book is actually one of the worst ones on the subject that I have read.

It is written for middle schoolers, it actually is. There are parts where he mentions "class" and "parents" and stuff like that. But worse than that, it is not actually instructive in how to write comics, but more like a bunch of writing examples from his career.

The book that every comic writer must read is "On Directing Film" by David Mamet.

Josh

[NeverWanderer]

Peter David's book is actually one of the worst ones on the subject that I have read.

It is written for middle schoolers, it actually is. There are parts where he mentions "class" and "parents" and stuff like that. But worse than that, it is not actually instructive in how to write comics, but more like a bunch of writing examples from his career.

The book that every comic writer must read is "On Directing Film" by David Mamet.

Josh

I love P.Dav, and got my copy of his Writing book signed by him at a con when I bought it, but I have to admit, I didn't find it that informative. I agree it's more for the kids than anything.

What's the deal with the Mamet book? This is the first I've heard of it.

[Criden]

Very enjoyable story, Joey!

[NeverWanderer]

Very enjoyable story, Joey!

Thanks, Max! :D

[Kyle Higgins]

You know, they don't discuss much of HOW to write comics (other then the occasional script page example, or layouts, etc), but volumes 1 and 2 of WRITERS ON COMICS SCRIPTWRITING are an awesome read. Very inspiring and insightful-- they also feature good looks at how each writer broke in.

http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Comics-Scriptwriting-Vol-1/dp/184023069X

[Benel Germosen]

I really enjoy DC Guide to Comic Writing by Denny O'Neil. I still read it from time to time and it's great.

[NeverWanderer]

Blog post sort of inspired by our conversations here.

http://fartherroom.blogspot.com/2010/06/inspiration.html

[joshdahl]

Late with the reply here.......

"On Directing Film" is a book by David Mamet which is actually the transcript of a series of lectures he gave. The subject of which is telling stories with consecutive images.

Essentially comics. He is not aware of it, but he is talking about how to tell stories with comics.

His approach is extreme and nearly impossible to apply all the time, but he will forcibly break you of the habit of simply showing "what happens next".

This book came to me by fate.....
I honestly found it on the curb in a pile of books when all the college kids were moving out at the end of a semester and I brought it home and forgot about it again for about a year. Then when my roommates and I all moved out, I found it laying alone in the middle of an empty room. This time I picked it up and read it and it changed the way I write.
Completely.

Read this book now. Before you write too much without it.

On an unrelated note....
Does anyone else twitter their writing progress?
I do at RapidCityComic (http://twitter.com/RapidCityComic) and I would like to follow YOUR progress as well. Mutual encouragement.
Also, i seem to be the only twitterer using #writingcomics if you are writing comics, you should use it as well!

And finally, I just completed and am about to post Rapid City #9.

[Jef UK]

Blog post sort of inspired by our conversations here.

http://fartherroom.blogspot.com/2010/06/inspiration.html

What's up with all the elipses?

[Sarcoidosis]

A new writing exercise will be up tomorrow. They'll be coming out every second Wednesday until I run out of ideas.

More participation is always better.

[NeverWanderer]

What's up with all the elipses?

I have an addiction to ellipses. They always seem like such a good idea when I'm writing them.

[NeverWanderer]

A new writing exercise will be up tomorrow. They'll be coming out every second Wednesday until I run out of ideas.

More participation is always better.

Sweet! I'll try to participate whenever I can.

[Benel Germosen]

I have an addiction to ellipses. They always seem like such a good idea when I'm writing them.

You don't need to excuse your love of ellipses...


Also, I've wrote a short story today. Actually, it's Twilight Fan-fiction in which Joe Pitt stabs Edward in the head and Bella shoots herself in the face. I tried to get it close to how Charlie Huston writes Joe. It's a really cool exercise, trying to write like another writer.

[Benel Germosen]

Also, I've wrote a short story today.

And now it's up here (http://benelgermosen.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-devils-workyear.html). Enjoy.

[joshdahl]

This is a quote from the Bendis/Mamet interview


Bendis: So the book I use the most when people ask me what they should read to learn how to write comics is your book, "On Directing Film."

Mamet: Oh really?

Bendis: It's the best book on how to write comics, because your theory is, "Find the angle with the camera that best tells the story and take that picture." That's a comic book artist's job, which you've now fit into this work here.

I am just geeking out on that a little bit because I was like "I KNOW!"

I wish that some jerk had been like "Shut up, Josh... that book is for idiots!" Then I could be vindicated and rub it in his face... but as it is I am just doing some strange name-dropping.

Anyway..... Point is: great book.

Josh

[NeverWanderer]

This is a quote from the Bendis/Mamet interview



I am just geeking out on that a little bit because I was like "I KNOW!"

I wish that some jerk had been like "Shut up, Josh... that book is for idiots!" Then I could be vindicated and rub it in his face... but as it is I am just doing some strange name-dropping.

Anyway..... Point is: great book.

Josh

There's a Bendis/Mamet interview???


Thanks for the info on the Mamet book, btw! I will definitely seek it out.


EDIT: Holy shit, he did interview Mamet. Well, that'll teach me for just scrolling past the stickies. :lol:

[Fygar]

So, what's everyone working on as of late? Some of you guys haven't posted in awhile (Mike Black...I'm looking at you :) )

I haven't been doing much writing, maybe once a week at best. For no real reason, other than the fact I've been more social than usual lately. I consciously made a choice to stay in tonight to get some work done, and I'm having so much fun.

[joshdahl]

I am still plugging away at my Rapid City comic project. I am on issue 10 right now. That is a pretty impressive achievement I think.

Plus I am working on some reviews and things for a G.I.joe website for which I am a moderator.

Also, i may have asked this before... does anyone else in here have a "writing" twitter that they use?
You know for things like "Having trouble nailing down this piece of exposition"
or
"Yay! Just completed pg 100."

In fact... EXACTLY like this thread, but in twitter form.

Anyway, mine is RapidCityComic (http://twitter.com/RapidCityComic) .

This weekend I am working on a scene where three friends have a fight/intervention because one of them is not taking care of what he should. So far, the scenes are moving along and not getting repetitive.

What are YOU working on this weekend?

Josh

[Jef UK]

I hit page 125 of the OGN for Oni today. 30 pages left!

I'm also working on an article about Jonathan Ames for Overflow Magazine.

And I'm scripting dialogue for AM/UK #4 when I think about it.

[Benel Germosen]

Anyone ever use lines they've heard in dreams? I had a weird dream where Neil Gaimen fed me this line:

" Memories, when left unguarded, are a box sometimes "

and I'm like " Is Neil Gaimen trying to get me to use this line in something? "

[Cradleman]

alrighty, so i haven't posted in this thread before, but i want to try to get some advice and opinions. I like to write short stories, and hopefully one day will publish a book of the ones that i write. right now i'm just going to post the latest one i have written. If you read it, would you mind comment/giving constructive criticism? whether you comment in the thread or PM it to me is ok, it's up to you. it would be a big help. I'll put it in spoilers so as not to lengthen the thread too much.


THE CABIN

I woke up for the first day of vacation, my eyes bright with excitement. My family was on vacation in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, and we’d taken my best friend Nathan Jenkins on vacation with us. He and I were both 15 and excited about the week ahead. My parents had said he was there to give me someone to keep me company, but I was pretty sure it was just so that we’d leave them alone for the majority of the week. I peered out the window and took in miles on end of forest, with only the long, narrow road that led from the main highway to our cabin that broke the tree line. My reverie was broken by an excited voice behind me. “Hey, Jim!”

I turned my head to look at my best friend. “Yeah, Nate, what is it?”

“Well, I was reading that about forty years ago, a couple moved up here. They went off to live in the woods, and would occasionally come to town to pick up food and supplies. Although all the townspeople knew who they were, none of them knew where they lived. One day they mysteriously disappeared, and were never heard from again. Many of the townspeople tried to find them, but no one ever did. We should go and look for them!” In preparation for the trip, Nate had decided to read up on the stories and legends of the area that we were staying in.

“I’d love to go exploring the woods,” I replied, “but I really doubt that we’ll be able to find any trace of them or where they lived. These woods go on for about a hundred miles.”

“Don’t be such a spoilsport. According to the legend, they lived pretty close to town, so they shouldn’t have lived more than a couple miles from here. If we could find them, we’d be famous! Well, maybe not, but still. . . ” He looked up hopefully at me.

I shook my head at his statement, it was pretty preposterous. After all, if no one had found them in the last forty years, it was doubtful that there was even anything left of them. But I knew that it would be fun to explore the woods anyway, so I agreed and we excitedly headed out.

We trekked through the woods for the better part of five hours and although we had a great time, we found nothing. We were tired, sweaty, and almost ready to give up and come back another day when I spotted something off to the right. I called out to Nate and we turned to check it out. As we got closer, I could tell that it was the cabin we’d been searching for. It looked as if no one had even entered in ages, and most of the boards on the outside of the cabin were warped and cracked. The door hung at a slightly odd angle away from the frame and scraped loudly on the front porch as we slowly opened it. Cautiously we stepped inside and peered around. We were in an empty hallway that led to two different rooms

Nate took the room straight ahead, while I took a left turn and entered what turned out to be the kitchen. I took in the sights and smells with great excitement. The kitchen table was in relatively good shape compared to the rest of the cabin, with the only obvious thing marring it being some water stains due to a leak in the ceiling above it. One chair sat at the head of the table. The other chairs were no where to bee seen, and I assumed they had been moved somewhere else in the house. I realized how old the cabin was when I spied an icebox in the corner. I walked over and opened it slowly. Inside, I was expecting cobwebs and insects, but instead I found a rather sizable chunk of meat covered in salt. Strange, I thought, even with the salt preserving it, this meat should be completely rotten, but it seems rather fresh. I wonder if someone recently came out here hunting and used this cabin to hunt, but forgot their meat. I shook my head in a little bit of bewilderment and went off to catch up to Nate. I found him in the living room, inspecting a kerosene lamp and looking for someway to light it. I noticed a crack in the bottom and saw no kerosene in the holder.

“I don’t think that’s gonna work, Nate.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so either. I tried to use a match to light it but it didn’t work.” The disappointment in his voice was obvious. “I still want to bring it back with us. But first, let’s finish exploring the cabin so we can get home before dark.”

We sat the lantern down on a moth eaten couch, passed a rocking chair that had fallen over and rotted, and made our way over to the stairs. The stairwell went up the side of the living room and connected to a little walkway at the top. We took the stairs slowly, making sure that the rickety wood would support our weight. When we reached the top, we noticed that on the left side of the walkway were two bedrooms, and at the other side was a flimsy railing that was there to prevent someone from falling into the living room below. At the very end of the walkway was a small closet. Nate walked towards the closet while I walked into the first bedroom and saw a bed that was still made, though the bed sheets had a strange yellowish tint on them due to age. I decided to test out the strength of the bed and sat down on the edge. As I did so the legs gave way and I tumbled to the floor with a loud cry. As I picked myself off the floor and mentally reprimanded myself for being stupid, I heard Nate cry out in a panic.

I ran down the hallway to where he was, when my own cry quickly emerged. Nate had opened the door to the closet, and what he’d revealed caused the bile to rise in the back of my throat. Two skeletons, clearly adults, grasped each other tightly in a huddled position on the floor of the closet, as if trying to cover a third, much smaller skeleton. The skeleton of their young child lay in the lap of the one on the right, its skull shattered and spread over the floor. The adults’ faces were turned towards the door and both had one small hole in their foreheads, with a bullet imbedded in the wood of the closet behind each. No longer was the couple’s strange disappearance a mystery. The story told by their positions showed that they had attempted to hide from something terrible coming to get them, and the bullet holes in their head told of the futility of that attempt. As I lifted my eyes, I realized that there were dark brown stains on the light wood of the closet; stains that had come from the blood of this family. I was struck with the terrible thought that their last few moments of life had been spent in terror before they were brutally murdered.

Nate finally found the words to speak, and managed to squeak out “What happened to them? Who would have been so heartless to have brutally murdered these people?”

As he spoke these words we heard a scraping noise behind us. We jumped and turned, scared out of our wits. We saw a gigantic figure emerge from the bedroom that neither of us had entered. He strode toward us and growled lowly, “Forty years ago, I let those people enter to stay the night. As I slept, they tied me up, kept me in a room and fed me just enough to stay alive, while they tried to steal my house. When I finally escaped, they pleaded for their lives, but they got what they deserved. They remain where they died to serve as a warning to all others who would see them. Now you also have entered my house and disturbed my home. You will not do to me what they did. As they paid for their crime with their lives, so you will pay.”

He raised his right hand towards us, and I realized that it held a huge hunting knife. Without thinking, I barreled toward him and ducked under the knife, crashing into his chest. Although my weight did not do much, it did knock him slightly off balance. I hit the floor as he took a step backwards, and the termite-ridden wood underneath his feet buckled and cracked. He lost his balance and crashed through the railing onto the living room floor. I peered over the railing and saw that the gigantic man now lay very still on the floor, his evil face twisted in a snarl, forever frozen by a quick but painful death. Once we realized he was dead, Nate and I ran down the stairs and sprinted to the door. We didn’t stop running until we reached our own safe and peaceful cabin, where we swore to never tell anyone what we had witnessed that day.

[Jef UK]

22 pages of Odd Schnozz left! Pretty exciting.

[divinus]

Written 3 sf (I do not acknowledge the term hard sf) short stories the past month, and slaving away on my first-ever novel.

[Benel Germosen]

I should really finish Tucsons, instead of goofing off online.

[CraigInTwinCities]

I'm sure Mamet's book on writing is good, but there are a couple others I've found to be very meaningful to me:

STORY by Robert McKee

and

ON WRITING by Stephen King

Also, although it's a novel, one of the most influential books on my writing career was:

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving

And the Robin Williams movie is NO substitute...

[Akira]

About to hit 50 pages on the graphic novel. Met up with my artist a couple weeks ago and saw some of what she's been working on and I'm getting really excited about this whole thing.

[Curt Pires]

22 pages of Odd Schnozz left! Pretty exciting.

Jef if you don't mind me asking, how did you end up writing the ogn for Oni? what was the process, did you just straight pitch it to them at a con? How did this go down?

Thanks,

Curt

[joshdahl]

I just posted issue #10. (http://monolithllc.com/rapidcity/rc-scripts/)

Ten issues, in a row. I am pretty proud of that.

[Jef UK]

Jef if you don't mind me asking, how did you end up writing the ogn for Oni? what was the process, did you just straight pitch it to them at a con? How did this go down?

Thanks,

Curt

Oni is one of the few publishers who accept writing samples without art. I knew Randy Jarell, then the Managing Editor, gave him a script of what I then considered the first issue, he liked it, and told me to write an outline for a full length graphic novel along with a character bible. I did so, submitted it, it was approved by the EIC and publisher, and we started looking for artists together. Once finding an artist, we signed contracts and started making it.

Hope that helps!

[c. page]

So, what's everyone working on as of late? Some of you guys haven't posted in awhile (Mike Black...I'm looking at you :) )

I haven't been doing much writing, maybe once a week at best. For no real reason, other than the fact I've been more social than usual lately. I consciously made a choice to stay in tonight to get some work done, and I'm having so much fun.

actually working on a short story that just came to me while having a late night cigarette. we'll see how it goes, but i'm hoping to knock the full rough draft out tonight before bed.

otherwise, still doing the art thing, and hoping to finish that project up by the end of the summer.

[morlock with a day pass]

i am going to write a fantasy novel. knocked out a chapter in a week. hope the pace keeps up!

[joshdahl]

I have written a stream of 10 comic book issues in a row... with very little break in the action between stories. Those ten issues amount to about 2 weeks in character time.

It's time to break from that pace. Issue 11 will be a done-in-one superhero story.

Having it start and end like that will be a neat challenge for myself after so long of just letting things run over.

Josh

[Michael-Deery]

I'm sure Mamet's book on writing is good, but there are a couple others I've found to be very meaningful to me:

STORY by Robert McKee

and

ON WRITING by Stephen King

Also, although it's a novel, one of the most influential books on my writing career was:

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving

And the Robin Williams movie is NO substitute...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Writers-Final-Chapter/dp/184607861X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279385736&sr=8-1

Best book on writing.

[joshdahl]

As an American, I can take seriously anything Dr. Who related.

But I completely agree about On Writing and Story.

Another great one is The Writers Journey, which puts Campbell's Heroes Journey into terms of crafting a story.

[MaxTraster]

One of the things that has helped me grow as a writer is actually DVD commentary/special features. Not every one mind you, but the writers, actors, and directors that are serious about communicating the fundamentals of how they craft and communicate story and drama have opened my eyes to a lot. Especially the early Simpsons DVDs.
They talk a lot about making the joke work, which is akin to making the story work. They talk about the re-write process and how you can kill something good by overexposure. Or how you keep the best things because they survive. But mainly, and this is dead on for comics, is economy of language. 22-24 min episode, 22 page comic book.
I just finished a real rough draft of a project I've been busting ass on for a while, but I can say one of the things that helped me keep my head up was the insight on how focused and ruthless you have to be with your own work.

[NeverWanderer]

One of the things that has helped me grow as a writer is actually DVD commentary/special features. Not every one mind you, but the writers, actors, and directors that are serious about communicating the fundamentals of how they craft and communicate story and drama have opened my eyes to a lot. Especially the early Simpsons DVDs.
They talk a lot about making the joke work, which is akin to making the story work. They talk about the re-write process and how you can kill something good by overexposure. Or how you keep the best things because they survive. But mainly, and this is dead on for comics, is economy of language. 22-24 min episode, 22 page comic book.
I just finished a real rough draft of a project I've been busting ass on for a while, but I can say one of the things that helped me keep my head up was the insight on how focused and ruthless you have to be with your own work.

I'd definitely get behind this. I find some of my greatest lessons about storytelling in DVD special features and commentaries.

[sabirpirzada]

I'd definitely get behind this. I find some of my greatest lessons about storytelling in DVD special features and commentaries.

agreed. Definitely learned a lot of writing techniques from the LOST commentaries.

If you have the firefly dvds, Joss Whedon's commentary on the last episode is also interesting (though I cannot guarantee you'll learn anything PRACTICAL from it).

[NeverWanderer]

agreed. Definitely learned a lot of writing techniques from the LOST commentaries.

If you have the firefly dvds, Joss Whedon's commentary on the last episode is also interesting (though I cannot guarantee you'll learn anything PRACTICAL from it).

Whedon and his writers/cast members always make for great commentaries, regardless of their educational content. :) But, yeah, that last one on Firefly is a great exploration of thematic storytelling.

[MaxTraster]

I'll have to check that out.
You aren't going to believe me but Bruckheimer (sp?) taught me something super important: You have a contract with the "consumer" the reader/watcher/etc. They a have set of basic expectations (not the least of which is to be entertained) that you as a provider of entertainment are expected to meet.

Sound like comics at all?

It's not give the audience what they "want" it's give the audience what they "WANT" on a deep and emotional level. identify the emotional connecting points of the story and deliver those elements.

Then there's Ridley Scott on character development (paraphrased): "The guy on Air Force One was boring. He had nowhere to go as a character, he was perfect. I wasn't going to make a guy like the Guy From Air Force One because that's boring"

[NeverWanderer]

Michael Mann's Heat commentary, Ridley Scott's commentary on the Alien director's cut, and James Cameron's commentary on the Aliens director's cut all have fantastic little gems in them. Half the time I can even find inspiration in their discussion of props and set-building... all of it. It's all storytelling, and can be applied to just about any medium if you give it enough thought.

[Akira]

I totally agree that DVD commentaries did a lot to teach me the fundamentals of storytelling, character building, etc.

And speaking of movies, I just finished up two different scripts for a short horror film contest my friend is entering. It was a nice break from my comic, but I gotta get back onto that horse. Still have 77 more pages to go in this volume.

[Sarcoidosis]

Writing Exercise #7 (http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?t=194526) is up!

Go be creative and whatnot!

[joshdahl]

Just posted this on my blog (http://monolithllc.com/rapidcity/).


I just wrote a scene where some drug dealers talk to eachother about how to handle a problem they are having.

Most people do not have experience with this sort of thing. Consequently, when writing it they have to rely on pre-existing cliches or extrapolate their best guess from what they DO have experience with.

Fortunately, I work with drug dealers every day, Monday through Friday. I know what they sound like when they are talking amongst themselves. The down side, though, is that their natural language sounds REALLY cliche.

I am joking a little bit, but it is an issue. The actual problem is that they way they actually talk would be, for the most part, unintelligible and unbelievable. What I end up doing is writing the dialogue “straight” and then peppering in a few slang constructions to give it a “realistic” feel.

In this case, clarity trumps accuracy. Plus, the characters in my comics live in a fictional city…..so who can say what “accuracy” even means there.

[Jef UK]

Bumping this thread so I'll get off the board and do what I need to be doing, which is:

Scripting AM/UK #4; still have the last 20 pages of Odd Schnozz and the Odd Squad to write (artist Dennis Culver has inked up to p 56!); MBM pitch; gotta start my My Cuba review for the Graphic NYC blog. And hey, my Jonathan Ames interview comes out soon!

[joshdahl]

I just set up a "professional" facebook page for my Rapid City project.

Does anyone else have one of these?

How else are you guys exploiting social networks?

[Jef UK]

Scripting AM/UK #4

Fin!

[Benel Germosen]

Like I said in the horror thread, Married and Buried is done and making the rounds. Anyone want to give it a read thorough?

[NeverWanderer]

Heads-up, fellow pen-slingers!

Novel Endeavors ( http://www.novelendeavors.com/index.php ) is having a short fiction contest that offers a $1,000 prize!

[UltimateFactor]

Heads-up, fellow pen-slingers!

Novel Endeavors ( http://www.novelendeavors.com/index.php ) is having a short fiction contest that offers a $1,000 prize!

Thanks for the heads up. I'm all over that.

[Raphael J]

Working on a second draft of a pitch I'm trying to get ready for NYCC. It's at the point where I'm picking dialogue apart so much that I'm wondering if any of it is worth a damn.

Ah, writing, how I've missed you.

[Jef UK]

Hey, I wrote this: http://www.nycgraphicnovelists.com/2010/09/words-jef-burandt-cuba-my-revolution-is.html

[MayorMitch100]

I am pretty much in charge of the Writing Club at my school this year. pretty awesome.

Bad thing is everybody wants to write poetry. I think I might be the only one interested in prose.

[Jef UK]

I am pretty much in charge of the Writing Club at my school this year. pretty awesome.

Bad thing is everybody wants to write poetry. I think I might be the only one interested in prose.

Good man. Poetry is laaaaaame!

[Fygar]

So I haven't been writing much lately. I've just been too busy with life. I moved to Pittsburgh in the beginning of August. I met a girl this summer and we decided to pursue a relationship at the end of August so it's just been hectic times. The little bit of writing that I have done I've been proud of I just need to get back on a consistent schedule.

A friend recently revealed to me that he really enjoyed the graphic novel I let him read months ago. It was weird because he didn't really mention it much when he did read it. He gave a general 'I liked it' and left it at that. So I always assumed he was just being nice. This time around though he was gushing and asked if I'd mind if he gave it to some of his professors to critique. I said that was fine but let me do another edit. I wrote this at the end of 2008 and I've wanted to fix some things and clean it up for awhile now. This gave me a good excuse.

To cut to the chase, I finished that edit a few minutes ago and I'm still really proud of this story. I was wondering if anyone here on the Benbo would give it a read. It's quite the favor, because it clocks in at 90 pages. I can't offer much, maybe 5 bucks over Paypal and a credit in the book if it ever sees the light of day. I would really appreciate it, because I just want opinions from people that aren't family and friends. I need to hear new voices.

[MayorMitch100]

Good man. Poetry is laaaaaame!

yup. I am going to try and make a comic book form of a poem. Still trying to figure out how it could work. but it seems really easy.

[Fygar]

So I haven't been writing much lately. I've just been too busy with life. I moved to Pittsburgh in the beginning of August. I met a girl this summer and we decided to pursue a relationship at the end of August so it's just been hectic times. The little bit of writing that I have done I've been proud of I just need to get back on a consistent schedule.

A friend recently revealed to me that he really enjoyed the graphic novel I let him read months ago. It was weird because he didn't really mention it much when he did read it. He gave a general 'I liked it' and left it at that. So I always assumed he was just being nice. This time around though he was gushing and asked if I'd mind if he gave it to some of his professors to critique. I said that was fine but let me do another edit. I wrote this at the end of 2008 and I've wanted to fix some things and clean it up for awhile now. This gave me a good excuse.

To cut to the chase, I finished that edit a few minutes ago and I'm still really proud of this story. I was wondering if anyone here on the Benbo would give it a read. It's quite the favor, because it clocks in at 90 pages. I can't offer much, maybe 5 bucks over Paypal and a credit in the book if it ever sees the light of day. I would really appreciate it, because I just want opinions from people that aren't family and friends. I need to hear new voices.

Anyone!?! Please, I am practically begging at this point :)

I'll throw in some comics along with the five bucks :)

[Cradleman]

Anyone!?! Please, I am practically begging at this point :)

I'll throw in some comics along with the five bucks :)

I wouldn't mind reading it and giving my thoughts. PM me if you want me to.

[Kedd]

Anyone!?! Please, I am practically begging at this point :)

I'll throw in some comics along with the five bucks :)

I'll read it for you. Pm me and I'll send you my email addy.

[joshdahl]

I just can't reliably commit to something of that size.

If you had a few particular pages... I could do that.

Believe me, my heart goes out to you. I would love for people to read my scripts, but I realize that the more I write, the less likely that becomes.

[NeverWanderer]

Anyone!?! Please, I am practically begging at this point :)

I'll throw in some comics along with the five bucks :)

Woohoo, COMICS!


I'm kiddin'. :) I'll give it a read if you're still in the market (don't hate me if it takes a week, though).

I'm neverwanderer at gmail.

[NeverWanderer]

Ever since the move, I've been going hard and heavy on my writing projects (for lack of other gainful employment).

I'm currently...
- Writing the fourth issue of THE LINK.
- Still massaging the Link pitch (if anyone's interested in giving me their opinion on it, I'd appreciate some feedback from someone who knows good pitchin') (hi, Keith P).
- Continuing to write How-To articles for Demand Studios (my only paying work at this point).
- Building up a backlog of blog posts so I can post reliably once I come off hiatus.
- Writing a new short comic for Matt (The Link artist) to draw -- we're thinking of self-publishing a one-shot collection of our short stories, sort of as a portfolio/resume/audition/pitch piece. We've already got a horror story and a post-apocalyptic war story. The one I'm writing right now is a romantic comedy. I'm hoping to touch on as many genres as possible, and then throw in a preview of THE LINK at the end to whet people's appetites. It'll be something we can hand to editors and store owners and convention goers and say "Hey, look, we made a comic! Wanna see what we'll do next?" That's the plan anyway. Still at least a year away from having it in-hand.
- Aaaannnnd I'm editing and chopping the fuck out of one of my short stories to submit to that Novel Endeavors contest. I've gone from a high-9,000s word count to 8,311. The word limit is 8,000, so I've still got ONE MORE PAGE to cut! We'll see if I can do it.


And that's the state of my writing right now!

[Cradleman]

well since everyone else is updating about what they are writing.

I'm currently at work with a friend of mine writing a mystery novel. I've developed the basic plot, but as I mainly write short stories, i am letting my friend do the first draft of the novel, because he's really good at fleshing out plot points and making things interesting. Once he's done with draft one, i'll be taking over and editing away, rewriting some things, and improving on his work. We are still well away from even getting it finished, much less submitted somewhere for publication, but i think if it comes out as well as it can, I think it'll be pretty good.

I'm also working on editing a couple of my original short stories for submission to the Novel Endeavors contest. both are already written, and are easily within the limit (one is about 1500 words, the other about 3000), but i want to do some small edits on them and make them the best they can be.

[Fygar]

I just can't reliably commit to something of that size.

If you had a few particular pages... I could do that.

Believe me, my heart goes out to you. I would love for people to read my scripts, but I realize that the more I write, the less likely that becomes.

Oh I completely understand. I can't believe four people have gotten a hold of me now to read this now. I am very thankful for that, because I know I'm asking a lot. I still haven't even gotten a friend to read the script I wrote during the bulk of last year. It's not the most exciting thing in the world to do. I'd totally send a scene or two over to you Josh, but I'm looking more for how the story flows as a whole.


Woohoo, COMICS!


I'm kiddin'. :) I'll give it a read if you're still in the market (don't hate me if it takes a week, though).

I'm neverwanderer at gmail.

Thanks man! Script has been sent. And take your time. I don't care if it takes you months!

[Benel Germosen]

Alright, since everyone's giving a recap:

I finished Tuscon first draft and Married and Buried is making the rounds. The latter really came out well. I took a lot of Joey's advice and made it funnier. I like how the humor isn't so obvious. It's very sly and just under the surface and there's some scary parts and good bits of dialog. Trying to decide on what I should work on next. The Hanged Man is still there and I feel like that's really a novel that I have to write when it's winter. I dunno. I can't write it during the summer. Feels wrong. I'm thinking of doing a zombie/vampire apocalypse one with my first female lead. Is it the bad sign that the first thing I want to do is answer the question about how feminine hygene works with found materials? Probably not helping my feminist credibility right now. Also debating whether or not to do a sapphic relationship or not. Or even get close. Once again. In the air.

I got another story that might leap-frog it though. Uh...and a few comic ideas I want to write. I'm going to a job interview on monday and if I land it, I might start putting money away to get an artist.


All up in the air.

I love this, by the way. Being in the creative in-between is so invigorating.

[joshdahl]

I finished writing issue 12 of Rapid City last night.

I edited and posted it this afternoon.

That feels really good.

If you want to take a look, it is over here (http://monolithllc.com/rapidcity/rc-scripts/read-and-discuss-rapid-city-12/)

Any feedback is appreciated, even if you only want to read a few pages.

Thanks.

Also, it is really great to see so many people doing so much writing.

[MayorMitch100]

My high school's literary magazine that I edited won first place this year. Pretty awesome news.

I also found out I'm an editor for the school newspaper and can write a story whenever I want.

senior year is going to be a good year.

[Benel Germosen]

My high school's literary magazine that I edited won first place this year. Pretty awesome news.

I also found out I'm an editor for the school newspaper and can write a story whenever I want.

senior year is going to be a good year.

You peaked early. It's all downhill from here

[Zulithe]

Anyone in for National Novel Writing Month (http://www.nanowrimo.org/) this year? Starts November 1st.

Scrivener 2.0 (easily the best creative writing software on Mac. fact! :p) is coming at the end of Oct. The developer already promised it in time for this year's NaNoWriMo. If you're on a Mac... do yourself a favor and look into it. I am in love with this software.

http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html

blog about 2.0: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/?p=133

If you buy 1.x now, you get a free upgrade to 2.0.

Disclosure: I am not affiliated with them in any way :o

[NeverWanderer]

So, I glanced at Fygar's script around 10 o'clock, and suddenly it was 1:30 and I was finishing the story.

Holy shit, dude!

Critique sent!

[Fygar]

So, I glanced at Fygar's script around 10 o'clock, and suddenly it was 1:30 and I was finishing the story.

Holy shit, dude!

Critique sent!

Thanks again for doing this! If anyone wants a great/ honest critique and Neverwanderer is willing, hit him up. He sent me a very insightful email, that pretty much made my day. It was encouraging and informed me of my flaws without the slightest bit of arrogance. He knows his shit! It lit a fire under me to get back to work!

[MayorMitch100]

You peaked early. It's all downhill from here

I sure as hell hope not.

[Jef UK]

Updates:

My Jonathan Ames interview hit the streets in Overflow Magazine.

AM/UK #4 is available for free download: http://literatemachine.com/node/5405

Odd Schnozz artist Dennis Culver is up to page 80 for our GN! I still haven't scripted the ending. Just an outline. I'm on page 130 of 156 still.

I want to wrap up at least one of two short stories soon. And I'm working on a couple of new pitches too.

[Fygar]

I have been grinning from ear to ear the last two hours. Today was the day I had to map out the final act of the story I've been writing. I wasn't dreading it, but not really looking forward to it either. I always give myself leeway when it comes to the climax of a story, but this felt too loose. It felt like I could hit a stumbling block or two.

The exact opposite happened. I made several revelations in a row. I came up with not one or two great ideas, but six or seven that propelled my story from good to excellent. All the puzzle pieces came together and I'm so fucking happy. I love this feeling. This is why I write. I'm proud of the story sitting before me. 99 times out of a 100 I'm satisfied with my abilities as a writer but this is that one time where I feel like a genius :)

Today I am Muhammad Ali.
Tomorrow I'll go back to being Buster Douglas :)

[joshdahl]

I have been grinning from ear to ear the last two hours. Today was the day I had to map out the final act of the story I've been writing. I wasn't dreading it, but not really looking forward to it either. I always give myself leeway when it comes to the climax of a story, but this felt too loose. It felt like I could hit a stumbling block or two.

The exact opposite happened. I made several revelations in a row. I came up with not one or two great ideas, but six or seven that propelled my story from good to excellent. All the puzzle pieces came together and I'm so fucking happy. I love this feeling. This is why I write. I'm proud of the story sitting before me. 99 times out of a 100 I'm satisfied with my abilities as a writer but this is that one time where I feel like a genius :)

Today I am Muhammad Ali.
Tomorrow I'll go back to being Buster Douglas :)

I love that feeling..... when it comes together for you in the same way that it will come together for the reader.
Where things that you included just because they seemed like they should be in there suddenly come back in to play.
Congratulations.

Me, I put up issue 13 two days late, took a short break, and have begun to chip away at issue 14.

Josh

[Jef UK]

I submitted my 156 page script to Oni last night. Hooray for finishing things!

[Benel Germosen]

I submitted my 156 page script to Oni last night. Hooray for finishing things!

Congratulations, you productive motherfucker.

[Gryphon]

Ive been working on a short story for a while. Ive had to put it on hold due to essays for school but I hope to go back to it in a couple of weeks.

[Jef UK]

Congratulations, you productive motherfucker.

Thanks!

[joshdahl]

Apologies for the double posting.

But let me use this edit to say that you all sure do look terrific!

[joshdahl]

(from my blog)

my writing process

Of course it's different every time, but this is roughly how I write comics.

An idea comes from somewhere. With the Rapid City project, it is usually something that I have faced in my own life. Let's say, for example, I notice how addiction can affect lives.

Then I start thinking about how that idea can be dramatized within the framework of my story. Because it is a superhero story, this usually means a fight. I have to think of ways that this idea can be presented as two different values in opposition. Off the top of my head, it could be something like an enemy turns out to be a former good guy who has gone astray due to an overwhelming addiction.

Now I start to think about how this will work in the comic. Most of my stories are about the character, Kinetic, learning how to be a hero, so this one will likely follow that model. So, what is the lesson he will learn from this encounter? Most likely, I would go with something a little more personal, but for the sake of this exercise I will say the lesson will be "drugs are trouble".

Now I start thinking about how I will lead Kinetic, and my audience, to that lesson. Usually, I work backwards. I think of the scene at the end that I want to get to. In this case it is Kinetic realizing that the man he is fighting used to be a respected hero, but an addiction has changed him.

The next step is plotting in broad strokes. What are the basic things that need to happen to get that scene to happen. I have to introduce Kinetic and his respect for the other hero. Then I have to show that Kinetic does not take this addiction seriously. To keep it in the superhero realm, I am going to say that it is an addiction to some kind of power-enhancement. So, he thinks that the "drug" is not that serious a problem because it has not affected some hero he respects, then he battles some guy, and that guy turns out to be that hero. Lesson learned!

Usually I write all of that in some kind of text document. Either an actual notebook or the text feature of a Celtx (http://www.celtx.com) project. Very often I will run through this step many times with trouble shooting and making sure it all works.

Once it basically makes sense, I start the tight plotting. I use Celtx's "index cards" for this. For each thing that I know needs to happen, I make a note card. It doesn't really matter what order they are in at this point, as I can move them around. Once I have my tent-poles in place, I start thinking about what I need for each of them. If I know that Kinetic must come into contact with teh positive effects of this drug, then I must put him in a believable (by superhero standards) situation where this could happen. So, what do I need to show to lead up to that? What does the reader need to know in order for each scene to make sense.

In this case I need to show the reader what this stuff is, what it does, and establish Kinetic's opinion of it. Again, using conflict to express ideas works well is superhero comics. In this case I will have a fellow hero invite Kinetic along on a "raid" of some kind to bust people who are making this drug. Kinetic does not participate as the drug only affects those who use it voluntarily. Then a mention of "besides So-and-so uses it, and he's fine."

Still working with the index cards, I make sure that each tent-pole has all of the information and story momentum it needs to stay standing. Usually this is a process of filling in gaps by asking "why?" or what then?". There is a bunch of juggling and rewriting at this stage.

Because it is so focused on events, rather than ideas, this is where the story can run astray. Some really cool thing might logically happen next, but if it does not fit my "effects of addiction" theme, then I scrap it. Or find a way to make it fit. Or put aside for a later date. Reviewing my scenes with the thematic lens often reveals new ways to strengthen the theme and can help to further plug gaps.

About now I have the index cards that will be all of the scenes of my story. Not every card is a whole scene, and not every scene will even make it into the final script. This is my "raw footage" of what must happen.

In the same Celtx project in which I created the note cards, I open another comic book script file, this one I call "scratch pad". This is where I start writing my dialogue. I will usually start with some piece of exposition or conflict that I know needs to get done for the story to move on. With no thought to what is going on around them, I open up the characters and let them talk to eachother. "I think THIS." and "Yeah, well I think THIS!". I leave in all of the "umms" and repetitions and try hard to let the speaker's find their voices.

Once I have the spoken part of the scene so that it leads where I need it to lead, I cut and paste it from the scratch pad over to the issue script where I created the index cards. Celtx automatically turns the index card headings into page headings, so it is easy to drop the dialogue in the right place.

Now in the actual script, I start breaking the rambling conversations into discernible panels. The dialogue gets trimmed and tucked here. If a picture can say it instead, then it gets cut. The action and situation of the scene might suggest other changes as well.

And then it is working it through again and again from top to bottom.

Does the theme make sense?
Do the main events express the theme?
Are the main events made clear by the individual scenes?
What would this character do?
How would this other character react?
Does it all express and support the theme?

Then there is line editing for clarity, and it's done.

[Jef UK]

Here's that interview with Jonathan Ames I wrote. It's not very exciting, ah well: http://www.overflowmagazine.com/

[kon-el kent]

Hey all,

I have been working on a few small projects lately and I would love to find a writing buddy or someone to help critque my work. I know it is a lot to ask of people's time but I think hearing what someone else thinks of my work would really help me grow as a writer.

If anyone would be willing to give me some constructive critisim I would really appreciate it.

Thanks!

[Fygar]

Hey all,

I have been working on a few small projects lately and I would love to find a writing buddy or someone to help critque my work. I know it is a lot to ask of people's time but I think hearing what someone else thinks of my work would really help me grow as a writer.

If anyone would be willing to give me some constructive critisim I would really appreciate it.

Thanks!

I'd be willing, if you'd do the same for myself.

[NeverWanderer]

Hey all,

I have been working on a few small projects lately and I would love to find a writing buddy or someone to help critque my work. I know it is a lot to ask of people's time but I think hearing what someone else thinks of my work would really help me grow as a writer.

If anyone would be willing to give me some constructive critisim I would really appreciate it.

Thanks!

I'd be glad to read and critique if you're still looking!

[kon-el kent]

I'd be willing, if you'd do the same for myself.

I'm up for an exchange. how do you want to exchange works?

[Fygar]

And I've officially met my writing goals for 2010.

I think this might be my most productive year yet!

- I'm finished five chapters (out of nine) of a massive graphic novel I'm working on. 318 pages in the can (before a major edit of course) with four chapters to go! So proud of this piece. I hope it sees the light of day because it's some of my best work.

- I did an extensive rewrite of a graphic novel I wrote a few years back. I love where it's at now, and got awesome advice from Neverwanderer. Whatever happened to other people reading this one :) I kid, I know we're all busy with our own shit.

- I've read 8-10 stories from friends and family throughout the year, and felt like I really helped with their work. I really enjoy doing this. I'm sure I come off as a dick, but sometimes it's necessary to be a harsh critic. It's what I would want.

- Got accepted to be a part of The Gathering Volume 5. My first published work! I pretty much have my two page script finished, but want to tweak it before I send it off to Andrew.

All in all a great writing year, especially considering I had some depression issues the first few months, looked for a job, moved to Pittsburgh, started a new relationship and got a job near the end of the year.

How about you guys? Good year? Bad year? Somewhere in between?

[Cradleman]

And I've officially met my writing goals for 2010.

I think this might be my most productive year yet!

- I'm finished five chapters (out of nine) of a massive graphic novel I'm working on. 318 pages in the can (before a major edit of course) with four chapters to go! So proud of this piece. I hope it sees the light of day because it's some of my best work.

- I did an extensive rewrite of a graphic novel I wrote a few years back. I love where it's at now, and got awesome advice from Neverwanderer. Whatever happened to other people reading this one :) I kid, I know we're all busy with our own shit.

- I've read 8-10 stories from friends and family throughout the year, and felt like I really helped with their work. I really enjoy doing this. I'm sure I come off as a dick, but sometimes it's necessary to be a harsh critic. It's what I would want.

- Got accepted to be a part of The Gathering Volume 5. My first published work! I pretty much have my two page script finished, but want to tweak it before I send it off to Andrew.

All in all a great writing year, especially considering I had some depression issues the first few months, looked for a job, moved to Pittsburgh, started a new relationship and got a job near the end of the year.

How about you guys? Good year? Bad year? Somewhere in between?
dammit, i knew i was forgetting to do something. I finally have time to read it and couldn't remember what it was i was supposed to read, lol. I'll get it on it soon, i should have something to you by new years.

[Fygar]

dammit, i knew i was forgetting to do something. I finally have time to read it and couldn't remember what it was i was supposed to read, lol. I'll get it on it soon, i should have something to you by new years.

Dude, it's all good. This is such a busy time of year in already busy world we live in. I totally understand. The script takes about 3 hours to read apparently, and who am I to ask that kind of commitment from someone? No rush...

[Fygar]

I have to say that I love what this thread's done for me. You wouldn't know it by the thread itself, but it seems like every other day I'm sending a script to someone or reading their work. It gives me something to look forward when I get home and get on the Internet. I enjoy the back and forth between a couple of writers much more than watching a random youtube video.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I really feel like we can all benefit each other in this thread (or behind the scenes through PMs and email) and keeping the communication open makes us better.

[Jef UK]

I've begun to wake up at 5 am so as to write every morning before going to work. It's great!

[stevapalooza]

I've begun to wake up at 5 am so as to write every morning before going to work. It's great!

I do the same thing, only with masturbation

[Jef UK]

I do the same thing, only with masturbation

Masturbators masturbate, Steve. You have to masturbate every day. Find somebody who you trust, and who won't just tell you how great you are, and get some good critique on your masturbation.

[Fygar]

Turned in my Gathering script a couple weeks ago. Proud of that one in all its two page glory.

Finished the first draft of my "Life After the So Called Space Age" script last week, and have really warmed up to it. Sent it to some friends and they all really enjoyed it. Will probably tweak it a few more times before sending it off to those involved with the site.

And a few minutes ago I finished plotting the sixth chapter of my graphic novel. I had a basic outline in my head and I'm stunned I was able to create nearly all my scenes in just two sittings. This might be the most gut wrenching story I've ever written. If I can pull this one off, it'll be a doozy.

[stevapalooza]

Masturbators masturbate, Steve. You have to masturbate every day. Find somebody who you trust, and who won't just tell you how great you are, and get some good critique on your masturbation.

And masturbate what you know.

[joshdahl]

As I have mentioned, I am doing a complete script every month. Last weekend, I published issue #16.
That means this week I begin working on teh first issue of 2011.
Though I continue learning with every issue, I feel like I have gotten pretty good at writing in my own "Rapid City" style. So, this year I have decided that in each issue I will find some thing that i do not usually do.
With this next issue I am trying to do non-linear story telling.

Doing it this way is quite a switch from what I am used to.... and it is pretty hard. But, that is the point.

Anyone who has written non-linear stories.... got any pointers?

[Fygar]

Anyone who has written non-linear stories.... got any pointers?

- Have a good reason for the fractured narrative. Don't just do it to do it (not implying that's what you're doing). Many years ago I used to write this complex super hero story in my free time. I had a four issue arc with a fractured narrative that was the bane of my existence. I tweaked and tweaked those issues over and over and they still didn't feel right. In the end I think I was being showy instead of a good story teller.

- Have a thorough and concrete time line before you start scripting. Make sure the different aspects all come together naturally.

- If you're using captions, make sure they're explicitly clear and short in their description. And stick with the same wording. Don't switch from minutes to hours to days over and over, because you'll lose your audience. If you're really ballsy and try to go without them, make sure you're establishing/ ending shots to each scene is well thought out and sets the tone.

- Think in colors (if the book has color). Ex: The first scenes have a green tint to them, middle scenes orange, final scenes blue. Little touches like this will help the audience keep everything straight without having to think back to the captions.

Hope that helps at all!

[Jef UK]

The whole getting up early to write before going to work is the best thing in the world. I've never been so productive.

I'm currently working on 5 pitches with 5 different artists, outlining AM/UK #5, and co-writing the final story for this collection:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o301/buraj/AMUKCoverFinalBsmall.jpg

Collaborative writing is fun! Anybody ever do it?

[Fygar]

The whole getting up early to write before going to work is the best thing in the world. I've never been so productive.

I'm currently working on 5 pitches with 5 different artists, outlining AM/UK #5, and co-writing the final story for this collection:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o301/buraj/AMUKCoverFinalBsmall.jpg

Collaborative writing is fun! Anybody ever do it?

I've always wanted to, but nothing ever comes to fruition. I've had friends who've wanted to write screenplays with me, but I think they're intimidated once I start talking about all the planning. They see it as a casual thing, but I never take a project lightly.

Glad to hear things are going well with your new early morning writing Jeff! I wish I could do it, but I'm a late night writer for sure. I can barely shower myself in the morning let alone write a coherent script :)

[Benel Germosen]

Guess who's straight edge and wrote a short story about bar-hopping!?

Yay, inadequate gaps in my knowledge!

[Jef UK]

Glad to hear things are going well with your new early morning writing Jeff! I wish I could do it, but I'm a late night writer for sure. I can barely shower myself in the morning let alone write a coherent script :)

Hey, I thought I was the same way, but my morning brain is so much more productive and less distracted.

As to the collab writing, I'm also in a unique position with self publishing some of my work that I can tap a friend on the shoulder, give him an idea, get that person to write something short using that idea, and then take it from there and re-draft, so ultimately it relies on me to finish.

Basically, I get to super edit: take what I think works, trim the fat, and add my own voice. I've only done it a couple times and with the same person. Keeping things short seems the way to go so far.

It's not too unlike co-writing a song with a musician. Empowering yourself with final say is pretty helpful too. Don't be afraid to be the boss, but make it clear from the beginning of the project.

[Jef UK]

And a few minutes ago I finished plotting the sixth chapter of my graphic novel. I had a basic outline in my head and I'm stunned I was able to create nearly all my scenes in just two sittings. This might be the most gut wrenching story I've ever written. If I can pull this one off, it'll be a doozy.

How do you decide that you're going to write a graphic novel instead of prose story? It's hard for me to imagine writing so much without knowing if I can get an artist on board, and since self-publishing Americans UK, I don't forsee working on another comic past the pitch stage without publisher support.

But also, Oni accepts writer-only pitches, just so you know, and they like to be able to read as much as they can if you gain their interest.

[Fygar]

How do you decide that you're going to write a graphic novel instead of prose story? It's hard for me to imagine writing so much without knowing if I can get an artist on board, and since self-publishing Americans UK, I don't forsee working on another comic past the pitch stage without publisher support.

But also, Oni accepts writer-only pitches, just so you know.

Sadly, it's all I know. When I come up with a story idea, I immediately think in terms of panels and layouts. It's just the way I visualize a story. At this point I have so many unpublished scripts, that it doesn't even phase me. I mainly do it to stay productive and hone my craft. I know I've written stories that could and should be published but have been too lazy on the business side of things to get cracking on it.

EDIT - But I must say the positive words that I've received from you guys in my email box has really lit a fire under me. I did not expect my work to get such praise, and it's made me realize that I should start pounding the pavement so to speak.

I did not know that about Oni though...hmmm. Thanks for the tip.

[Jef UK]

Word. I don't intend to be discouraging in any way. Just wondering.

[Fygar]

Word. I don't intend to be discouraging in any way. Just wondering.

Oh I didn't take it as such. I know it's silly to write long form scripts for years of your life with no indication they'll ever see the light of day :)

[Michael-Deery]

I was wondering if anyone would have a look and critique something I wrote. Now it was written 3 1/2 years ago but it's the only thing I have online at the minute. I now it's rushed at the end, that's because it was a writing assignment with a page limit. There's also too many spelling and grammar mistakes.

If anyone would have a look I'd look over their work.

http://www.scriptbuddy.com/community/?p=4291532371&t=&pg=21

[Fygar]

So I think I know what I'm going to work on after I finish my current graphic novel.

I want to do a graphic novel on Shigeru Miyamoto. Not a straight up bio piece but a story that centers on the creation of Super Mario Bros/ meeting his wife while Nintendo gets ready to launch the Famicom in Japan.

Big question before I start my research and preproduction process, am I allowed to tell this story? Most of it's going to be fictionalized because Nintendo is extremely secretive and I obviously have no idea what's said behind closed doors or how Miyamoto courted his wife. Obviously I can do whatever I want on my own terms, but what if I shopped this around to publishers down the line. How does that work?

Weirdly enough, I always struggle with titles, but I already figured out what I'd call this (despite not having a single word to paper yet).

Outside the Mushroom Kingdom.

[MaxTraster]

Check on what qualifies as fair use for people as far as parody goes because what you're talking about most easily fits under that heading.
A fake/speculative unauthorized bio is parody, regardless of serious intent and content. You just have to make sure that you pitch it as pure fiction as well depending on what you find out about fair use. We went over this is a class I had last quarter but can't remember. You have to watch out for stuff like libel and defamation of character etc on top of all of that too. It is an awesome idea by the way.

-Hey UK, I've dug what I've read of your stuff so far. Good sharp tongue, cool premise, there's a lot to like.

So I was thinking about the whole "what is it" question. Is it a book, a comic etc. I think you have to decide as a writer, as a story teller what the best vehicle is to tell that story. If you think in panels, write panels...

and then when you do find an artist and discover how few words you can fit before you ruin their art, spend hours of you day trying to figure out page layouts in your heard to write to then somehow how to describe them, then realize you still have both too many words and too many panels and don't want to admit that maybe Mort was right and maybe you do need to go for fewer characters per panel than the average twitter post, then realize you have 2 page 8s and monologues don't work unless you're a 5 foot tall bald Jew who can get away with dropping words and still have his work sound natural, then decide you need to re-write everything, spend hours trying to figure out your character design without words like make him look like Bruce Wayne only blond and douchy but not too douchy no that's not quite right no I can't sketch at all all I can do is write, then check your email and get those first complete character mock ups and literally crap your pants with joy it will all be worth it...

well, except for the pooping part...

I guess what I'm saying is stick with it. I have something I'll be sharing soon, something that has regardless of where it goes, validated so much simply by making it this far. Its your story, and if you need to tell it, want to tell it, would like to tell it, thought about telling it, just go for it.
You own it, you get to make it into what you want it to be. Do your thing. It is way easier to talk yourself out of anything than into anything, but doing it is even easier once you start.
At least that's my experience.

[joshdahl]

Recently I used a reverse auction to find artists who will work very cheaply.
I was nervous that I would get only trash... but that did not happen. Instead, I connected with a great artist.

Yesterday, I got my first two pages form him.....
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae184/joshuadahl/Kinetic11pg1.jpg?t=1297421720
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae184/joshuadahl/Kinetic11pg2.jpg?t=1297421787

And thee are more on the way.
I am am extremely excited about this.

[Fygar]

Check on what qualifies as fair use for people as far as parody goes because what you're talking about most easily fits under that heading.
A fake/speculative unauthorized bio is parody, regardless of serious intent and content. You just have to make sure that you pitch it as pure fiction as well depending on what you find out about fair use. We went over this is a class I had last quarter but can't remember. You have to watch out for stuff like libel and defamation of character etc on top of all of that too. It is an awesome idea by the way.

Thanks man! Much appreciated. I'll look into this stuff and I'm glad you dig the very simple premise I laid out.


-Hey UK, I've dug what I've read of your stuff so far. Good sharp tongue, cool premise, there's a lot to like.

So I was thinking about the whole "what is it" question. Is it a book, a comic etc. I think you have to decide as a writer, as a story teller what the best vehicle is to tell that story. If you think in panels, write panels...

and then when you do find an artist and discover how few words you can fit before you ruin their art, spend hours of you day trying to figure out page layouts in your heard to write to then somehow how to describe them, then realize you still have both too many words and too many panels and don't want to admit that maybe Mort was right and maybe you do need to go for fewer characters per panel than the average twitter post, then realize you have 2 page 8s and monologues don't work unless you're a 5 foot tall bald Jew who can get away with dropping words and still have his work sound natural, then decide you need to re-write everything, spend hours trying to figure out your character design without words like make him look like Bruce Wayne only blond and douchy but not too douchy no that's not quite right no I can't sketch at all all I can do is write, then check your email and get those first complete character mock ups and literally crap your pants with joy it will all be worth it...

well, except for the pooping part...

I guess what I'm saying is stick with it. I have something I'll be sharing soon, something that has regardless of where it goes, validated so much simply by making it this far. Its your story, and if you need to tell it, want to tell it, would like to tell it, thought about telling it, just go for it.
You own it, you get to make it into what you want it to be. Do your thing. It is way easier to talk yourself out of anything than into anything, but doing it is even easier once you start.
At least that's my experience.

Great post! Can't wait to see what you have cooking.

[Fygar]

Recently I used a reverse auction to find artists who will work very cheaply.
I was nervous that I would get only trash... but that did not happen. Instead, I connected with a great artist.

Yesterday, I got my first two pages form him.....
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae184/joshuadahl/Kinetic11pg1.jpg?t=1297421720
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae184/joshuadahl/Kinetic11pg2.jpg?t=1297421787

And thee are more on the way.
I am am extremely excited about this.

That looks awesome Josh! I'm confused though, what's this reverse auction you speak of and how did it work?

[Fygar]

Do you guys ever look back and think how weird inspiration is? That your ideas come at the most random times?

I created a fully realized graphic novel from watching Burn After Reading on opening night, wondering what people would think of it if the Coen Bros. released it twenty years after they died.

Your standard post game interview with Sydney Crosby got me to write a sports story that I'm proud of.

I imagined myself being mugged while walking home from work years ago and an entire crime story came out of it.

The glut of apocalypse and post apocalypse stories made me question our obsession with death and wondered why there aren't any pre-apocalypse stories, isn't what we do with limited time more interesting?

The Miyamoto story I plan to write was birthed out of this article
http://kotaku.com/#!5749652/before-mario-was-a-game-it-had-to-exist-on-paper/gallery/1
Something as simple as visiting a video game blog has sparked numerous ideas.

So what has inspired you guys lately? What weird occurrence pulled a full fledged story out of you?

[ever_seeking]

Simple words, heard at random can be enough to inspire an entire poem for me.

Likewise, for story ideas.

And the three nanowrimos that I have done, the ideas came to me just days before each. Didn't have the time to think of them for long and for nanowrimo, that is best.

[michealdark]

Perhaps I should have picked one of my better articles, perhaps no one will care about this at all, but this is my newest article

So this is part 1 of my series "Soothing the Pagan Soul", where we explore various things in pop culture that I think will apeal to pagans. We're starting with modern mythologies. Let's face it, myth isn't something in the past. For many of us, both pagans and monotheists, myth is a part of our lives on the deepest level. The gods speak to us and speak through us. It's also been a source for great art over the years, to the point some people have come up with their own takes. :)

1) Blashyrk-Most black metal bands take their love for their local (usually Norse) mythology and just sing about it outright. For Immortal, they decided to do something different and create their own world, where honorable kings rule from the Raven Throne and noble warriors battle vicious giants and demons against the backdrop of frostbitten mountains and desolate forests.

2) Middle Earth-Tolkein took the best of Norse and Anglo-Saxon myth, medieval heroic poetry, Finnish folk songs and myth, and Judeo-Christian theology to create his masterwork.

3) House of Night-There are dozens of books about boarding schools. There's hundreds of vampire romance novels and series. What this one has above them all is a strong basis in Wiccan ritual structure and mythology, and the reintroduction of the primordial Greek Goddess of the Night, Nyx, into the modern mainstream consciousness.

4) Everworld-KA Applegate's series of a group of teenagers drawn into a world where the ancient gods have taken to dwelling and saving it from attack by and alien god and his horde was one of my first introduction to Norse and Celtic myth and something that I think is a must read not just for pagans but fantasy fans.

5) Superheroes! For a greater explination and examination check out "Our Gods Wore Spandex", which is a briliant examination of how myth and legend have been incorporated into superhero comics.

6) The Ring Cycle-Wagner went back, way back, to create his epic opera cycle, to the Norse Volsungasaga and to its Christianized German variation, the Nibelungenlied, but...modified...it enough to make it something truly his own.

7) The Sword-The Luna Brother's epic story of revenge follows the travels of a disabled teen girl who inherits a mystical sword as she tracks down and murders a pack of gods that brutally murdered her family while searching for said sword.

8 ) The works of Francesca Lia Block-This woman has created too many mythologies to list! But the Weetzie Bat saga remains my favorite!

9) The Endless-Neil Gaiman's very personal pantheon has become a staple of modern pop culture. While most mythologies examine the powers of nature, Gaiman goes deeper into the forces that drive those phenomenon: Death, Destruction, Happiness (Delerium, formerly Delight), Dispair, Destiny, Dreams, and Desire. What he ends up with is the most basic elemental forces one can work with. Death has brought a lot of comfort to my life by easing my fears.

10) The Great Old Ones-I personally do not advocate working with Lovecraft's alien gods. They're primal, dangerous, and either incredibly indifferent to men or actively hostile to them. But people still try, and Donald Tyson has even created a full religious structure for their worship.

[joshdahl]

That looks awesome Josh! I'm confused though, what's this reverse auction you speak of and how did it work?

I found an auction site which specializes in bidding for industrial suppliers. The kind where the lowest bidder wins.
I offered my pages to the artist who would bod the lowest for the opportunity to draw them.

You can see the results above!

[NeverWanderer]

So, I was in Things From Another World in Portland on Friday, and what should I come across on the shelf in their indy section?

Americans UK #4
http://literatemachine.com/files/imagecache/Thumbnail/AMUK04_litcvr.jpg

I was all "Aww, I know that guy!"

Of course, I didn't buy it because I don't read comics by people in bands. :shifty:

(or, y'know, cuz I'm poor)

[MaxTraster]

That is awesome!!!!

Way to go JeffUK!!!!

There's hope for all of us!

[Fygar]

And a few minutes ago I finished plotting the sixth chapter of my graphic novel. I had a basic outline in my head and I'm stunned I was able to create nearly all my scenes in just two sittings. This might be the most gut wrenching story I've ever written. If I can pull this one off, it'll be a doozy.

A month later and the first draft is finished. 56 pages in its current form. Not bad. I'm proud of it, but I know where it needs work and what problems it has.

[Fygar]

So what's everyone working on? How are things?

I've been ticking away at the "horror" chapter of my pre-apocalypse GN. There were some rough patches, but things have been solid the last week and a half or so. I hope to finish it later this week.

Anyone have anything they want me to read? I'm going to have a decent chunk of free time this week and next. Hit me up. I love dishing out advice.

[joshdahl]

My ALMOST completed issue is featured at Champion City Comics. (http://www.championcitycomics.com/)

There is a link to the script for that issue in my sig!

In each new issue I write in 2011, I am trying a new style or technique. I did non-linear story telling, I am doing comedy right now, and next month I am going to do a silent issue. Let me tell you... comedy is SO hard to write.... but it is a great learning experience.

Also, I joined the writing workshop at Andy Schmidt's ComicsExperience. It is the best, most constructive, professional, and effective workshop environment I have ever been in.

[Jef UK]

Oh wow, several things:

First, I came in to say that I read Josh's illustrated comic, and it was so nice to see your script realized with art! Well done. Looks good all around.

Second, re: AM/UK vs. TFAW: hey, super cool! Yeah, Things From Another World has been super supportive of us. Huzzah!! That's so cool! You should have bought one!!! :)

Third: was it really issue #4? Cuz I don't remember selling any to them yet.

[Jef UK]

So this is part 1 of my series "Soothing the Pagan Soul", where we explore various things in pop culture that I think will apeal to pagans.

Who is "we?"

[Jef UK]

That is awesome!!!!

Way to go JeffUK!!!!

There's hope for all of us!

Ha! Thanks!

[Benel Germosen]

So what's everyone working on? How are things?.

Unpublished yarn here (http://benelgermosen.blogspot.com/)

I'm a contributor here (http://musictastic.wordpress.com/)

[Jef UK]

Check on what qualifies as fair use for people as far as parody goes because what you're talking about most easily fits under that heading.
A fake/speculative unauthorized bio is parody, regardless of serious intent and content. You just have to make sure that you pitch it as pure fiction as well depending on what you find out about fair use. We went over this is a class I had last quarter but can't remember. You have to watch out for stuff like libel and defamation of character etc on top of all of that too. It is an awesome idea by the way.

-Hey UK, I've dug what I've read of your stuff so far. Good sharp tongue, cool premise, there's a lot to like.

So I was thinking about the whole "what is it" question. Is it a book, a comic etc. I think you have to decide as a writer, as a story teller what the best vehicle is to tell that story. If you think in panels, write panels...

and then when you do find an artist and discover how few words you can fit before you ruin their art, spend hours of you day trying to figure out page layouts in your heard to write to then somehow how to describe them, then realize you still have both too many words and too many panels and don't want to admit that maybe Mort was right and maybe you do need to go for fewer characters per panel than the average twitter post, then realize you have 2 page 8s and monologues don't work unless you're a 5 foot tall bald Jew who can get away with dropping words and still have his work sound natural, then decide you need to re-write everything, spend hours trying to figure out your character design without words like make him look like Bruce Wayne only blond and douchy but not too douchy no that's not quite right no I can't sketch at all all I can do is write, then check your email and get those first complete character mock ups and literally crap your pants with joy it will all be worth it...

well, except for the pooping part...

I guess what I'm saying is stick with it. I have something I'll be sharing soon, something that has regardless of where it goes, validated so much simply by making it this far. Its your story, and if you need to tell it, want to tell it, would like to tell it, thought about telling it, just go for it.
You own it, you get to make it into what you want it to be. Do your thing. It is way easier to talk yourself out of anything than into anything, but doing it is even easier once you start.
At least that's my experience.

Hey, thanks for the kind words and thoughful response, Max. I missed this post when you first posted it.

[Kedd]

Another short script done. pushing money to the side to try and produce them soon.

[Gryphon]

After not writing for a bit, I feel motivated to write more since I finaly got published for the first time.

My problem is I am not sure what to write. The only thing that pops into my head is a vampire detective.

[Kedd]

After not writing for a bit, I feel motivated to write more since I finaly got published for the first time.

My problem is I am not sure what to write. The only thing that pops into my head is a vampire detective.
Have you read the Joe Pitt Casebooks?

[Gryphon]

Have you read the Joe Pitt Casebooks?

No I have not.

[Kedd]

No I have not.
It's a vampire detective/fix-it-man series. 5 books. Set in New York and written by Charlie Huston.

[Gryphon]

It's a vampire detective/fix-it-man series. 5 books. Set in New York and written by Charlie Huston.

I will check it out.

The thing is. This vampire character would be based almost completely off folklore. I would write him as true to folklore as possible. ( with some variations of course)

[Udiguhgudibuh]

I don't think we have one of these but if we do I apologize. Before I tell you what I'd like to see out of this thread, let me tell you what it is not. This is not a place to try and find an artist. We have one of those already. You can find it here:
http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?t=176249

I want this to be a place for the writers of the board (anyone from an established professional to the unpublished like myself) to talk shop.

This would be the place to share an excerpt from your work. The place to ask 'Does this dialogue sound natural to you?'. If you had a productive day, come here and tell us about it. If writer's block is driving you crazy, post about in this thread to get it off your chest.

If you need to know the name of a real coffee shop in Boston, (1) what type of fur a Viking would wear, what sound effect a belly flop would make, or if someone in the 1930's would use the phrase 'get out of here' all in an effort to make your work authentic then come in here and ask it.

Writing can be a frustrating experience and maybe if we devote a thread to the trials and tribulations we can soften the blow a bit.

(1) I believe it was Faulkner who asked the studio head what the dialogue should sound like when writing The Egyptian, the studio said that nobody knew or cared "a hoot in hell" about what it should sound like, because the ancient Egyptians are all dead (i.e., just make it up).

(2) Because wolf fur is the only fur that the humidity in exhaled breath doesn't accumulate and crust over with ice, the Vikings would probably put wolf fur around the faces of their parkas. Elsewhere, nobody knows or cares. (Even around the face, the audience doesn't care what fur they used!)

CONCLUSION:
Any fact that makes it past the audience is fair game. The screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr. said that in Three Days Of the Condor, the mysterious numerical code written around a duplicated key (a main plot point in the movie) DOES NOT EXIST. Semple's point? Any fake fact that makes it past the audience is fair game.

In the same script, Semple said he spent two days pacing and slapping his forehead to figure out where the secret "McGuffin" was hidden in the CIA office-- where even the bad guys couldn't find it, after they killed everyone there. Solution: It was a page jammed in the Xerox machine-- previously set up by letting the audience know that the Xerox machine sometimes jammed.

CONCLUDING CONCLUSION:
Anything that is (1) interesting and (2) makes it past the audience is fair game. Did the characters in the historic city of Deadwood speak in the Deadwood video series' mix of Shakespeare/Victorian baroque English and a mix of modern filthy fucking vulgarity? No! The disparity of the mixture, however, was endlessly fascinating and expressive.

As Duke Ellington said, "There are only two kinds of music: good music, and the other kind." So it is with writing.

The End.

[stevapalooza]

The benefit of research isn't accuracy, it's originality. When you rely on your own imagination what you're really relying on is cliches. The ideas of other writers. And too many small cliches can add up to an unoriginal story. Does anyone give a shit what Vikings really wore? Probably not. But if you actually take the time to investigate the question you might just be rewarded with an answer that hasn't already been seen in every other Viking story. An answer that will give your story that much more originality. That's why I say research everything, even if you're writing total fantasy.

[Gryphon]

Can someone recomend some books on writing short stories? I seem to be having difficulties writing them latley.

[Udiguhgudibuh]

Can someone recomend some books on writing short stories? I seem to be having difficulties writing them latley.

"Story" by Robert McKee seems to get universal praise. I haven't read it, but attended his two-day writing seminar (and took 26 pages of notes). He's very highly respected.

[MaxTraster]

I finally have something to share with you all.
Distortion is finally off the ground and running. Check out our blog at distortioncomics.blogspot.com or at distortioncomics.com (which is just a link to the blog right now).
Hope you guys pay us a visit and I'll let you all know when there's an update.

[joshdahl]

I finally have something to share with you all.
Distortion is finally off the ground and running. Check out our blog at distortioncomics.blogspot.com or at distortioncomics.com (which is just a link to the blog right now).
Hope you guys pay us a visit and I'll let you all know when there's an update.

That's terrific/ The book looks good. Keep it coming.

[Corrina]

"Story" by Robert McKee seems to get universal praise. I haven't read it, but attended his two-day writing seminar (and took 26 pages of notes). He's very highly respected.

"Story" makes my head hurt.

I've heard better things about Blake Snyder's Save the Cat and I always recommend Stephen King's "On Writing" and Annie Lamott's "Bird by Bird."

[Benel Germosen]

So "Have Heart" is done with first draft and I need eyes to go over the story-points and give me some notes. Anyone want to take me up? PM me with the email address and I'll send you the draft.

[Fygar]

I have my ninth and final chapter fully plotted (two thirds scripted). I hope to have a solid draft of everything edited together in the next few months. I don't expect this project to be in human hands for many years, but I'm so proud of this accomplishment. I wish you guys knew what I had here, I honestly think it's something special.

Do you guys give yourselves deadlines even when you don't actually have to? Since I just do this in my free time to hone my skills, tell good stories and have them ready when and if I break into this industry I don't need to be strict, but I am. Every time I start a new project I have an end date in mind and stick to it. My current goal is to have this ninth chapter fully scripted by July 27 (moving on the 28th and don't want that break in the action so to speak).

Last topic. Do you write your story ideas down? I forget to everyone once in awhile but lately I've been pretty good. Just wrote three down earlier tonight. I seriously have 18 solid ideas that I'd love to write someday. I honestly wonder sometimes if that's my strongest attribute, simply coming up with ideas. I'm pleased with my scripts (as much as any writer can be) but often wonder if I'm doing the idea any justice. It breaks my heart every time I read an unoriginal book/ comic or see a trailer for another derivative film when I could easily pass an idea or two along.

Okay that's my self indulgent post for the month. How's everyone else doing?

[joshdahl]

Fygar, I give myself a very strict deadline for every script I write. The next one is always due on the 15th.

Also, for those interested in writing comic books, I have started a series of interviews with comic book writers about writing comics.
The first is with Champion City Comics writer and publisher Tony Doug Wright. (http://monolithllc.com/rapidcity/2011/07/rapid-city-interview-series-tony-doug-wright/)
Also, which small press, or medium press, writers would you like to see interviewed like this?

Thanks.

[Fygar]

This is going to be even more self congratulatory than the last post :) But hey every once in awhile you have to give yourself a pat on the back and boost your ego a bit right?

My shift at work today was exhausting. I work in a used book store and a church came by with over 30 boxes of books that didn't sell at their annual sale. I had to lug them all in (with the help of a dolly of course) sort through a large portion of them (with the help of my co-workers) and then lug 75% of them back out of the store because they were either too moldy or too damaged to sell. This two to three hour piece of my eight hour shift really took a toll on my feet (standing in one place analyzing the value of books) and back (lifting many boxes onto the counter). My shift ended at 10:30, I then went grocery shopping at 24 hour store, and finally came home and packed since I'm moving in a few days.

To my utter astonishment, I then wrote...and not just a little bit. I wrote fifteen comic pages in one 3 hour sitting. And not just fifteen pages of fluff, fifteen pages of the best damn action sequence I've ever committed to paper in the eight years I've considered this a serious hobby. Fifteen pages that end the ninth and final chapter of a graphic novel I've worked on for 19 months (and counting).

I still have to type this final chapter, re-read, scrutinize, edit and find a cohesive through-line for this massive en-devour but all 9 chapters are scripted and that feels un-fucking-believable. There are many days that I procrastinate, resort to films/video games/ Internet but today it poured out of me and actually relieved the stress of a hard day. Writing is an amazingly theraputic thing. I wish more than anything that I wouldn't have to bust my ass for a meager pay check and could live off the stories I take so seriously, but for now I'm just proud of what I'm able to accomplish with only the reward of self gratification waiting for me at the finish line.

[Fygar]

Do you guys ever look back and think how weird inspiration is? That your ideas come at the most random times?

I created a fully realized graphic novel from watching Burn After Reading on opening night, wondering what people would think of it if the Coen Bros. released it twenty years after they died.

Your standard post game interview with Sydney Crosby got me to write a sports story that I'm proud of.

I imagined myself being mugged while walking home from work years ago and an entire crime story came out of it.

The glut of apocalypse and post apocalypse stories made me question our obsession with death and wondered why there aren't any pre-apocalypse stories, isn't what we do with limited time more interesting?

The Miyamoto story I plan to write was birthed out of this article
http://kotaku.com/#!5749652/before-mario-was-a-game-it-had-to-exist-on-paper/gallery/1
Something as simple as visiting a video game blog has sparked numerous ideas.

So what has inspired you guys lately? What weird occurrence pulled a full fledged story out of you?

Ha, I forgot about this post.

I had some weird ones lately

- A story about an actor who's becoming depressed with his abilities and pictures he's subjected to. He forms a bond with an army battalion while training for a terrible action movie. He decides to not return to finish the film and joins the squad instead. And where did I get this okay idea (it's far from great...let's be honest)...fucking AVATAR extras of all things.

- I have a great little shorty story about an alarm clock that came to me while my g/f kept hitting the snooze button. The entire story unfolded while I was half asleep. I'm actually quite fond of it.

- A co-worker made an offhand comment about documentaries and super heroes and I immediately thought A Man Bite's Dog take on following a super villain around would be pretty bad ass. This has to have already been done right? It seems too easy...

[joshdahl]

I had a strange inspiration the other day. It was a few facts creeping together in my head.

I heard a while ago that rats are naturally afraid of cat urine.
About a month ago, a rat was walking up my front steps, coming right toward me as I waited for a cab.
My roommate's cat KEEPS being in our entry way, right inside the front door. This is really annoying and we want to find a way to make her stop.

Then I thought, what if she is trying to protect us from the rat?
There is a horror story in there somewhere... where the annoying and gross problem that someone struggles to solve is actually a protection from some far worse problem.

[Gryphon]

Here is a writing fragment I wrote this past week as a writing excercise. Im wondering what I should do with it or where should I go with it.



Suggestions are welcome.







I can hear them moving, moving so slowly to try and deaden their sound but I hear them. They come from my graveyard, desecrating it every night. I can see shadows as I tend to the graves. Shadows of them leaving for the night to do God only knows what. I can’t leave here, and they know that. They taunt me endlessly, they who have come back from the veil. They must be punished for their misdeeds, but they laugh off all. I haven’t seen them fully but I know they do.
I haven’t seen them fully but I know they are there. Just like no living people have seen me but they know I am here. The living avoid my house in the graveyard, the house I am damned to stay near until the graveyard ceases to be.

The wind is blowing strangely, the way it does once a month. They are coming now, but I have a trap for them. Something they couldn’t have foreseen.

……

I go to the grave, the one that always draws me yet I don’t know why. The name on the stone means nothing to me, Marcus Collinsworth, but it will serve me well tonight. I cut my hand slowly with rock I found next to the grave, and slowly let seven drops of blood drip out onto the gravestone and 5 on the grave itself. If this does not draw them, then I do not know what will.

……..

It is nearly midnight and the blood has set in. The wind blows stronger now. It has been weak this month but like always it reserves its strength for this bizarre ritual. This mockery of death, and mockery of myself and my current fate. It has not rained in 6 months in this town, six months being when they started coming. From what I gathered from the living who walk the graveyard at times, this is odd but there is no draught which is stranger.
……..
I go to the trees by the house, the trees that mark the entrance to the old part of the graveyard.. and I wait. I wait till I hear the slow footsteps. One person, then two, then four and so on. The steps are in line with each other, and the dim shadows appear.

For a time I think my plan has failed when I hear a divergence in the usual pattern. I hear steps coming closer, faster. I see the shadow taking on a clearer form. A man, tall, swarthy and longhaired, and clutching a gun in his hand. He comes to the grave, not knowing why. He approaches the grave and begins to raise his hand……He starts shouting. He turns, and sees me…………

[Benel Germosen]

All good stuff. By the way, "You Can Get There From Here" is on it's first draft. If anyone is interested in reading it and giving me feedback, I'll appreciate it. You can PM me with your e-mail address and I'll send you a copy.

[Gryphon]

I can hear them moving, moving so slowly to try and deaden their sound but I hear them. They come from my graveyard, desecrating it every night. I can see shadows as I tend to the graves. Shadows of them leaving for the night to do God only knows what. I can’t leave here, and they know that. They taunt me endlessly, they who have come back from the veil. They must be punished for their misdeeds, but they laugh off all. I haven’t seen them fully but I know they do.
I haven’t seen them fully but I know they are there. Just like no living people have seen me but they know I am here. The living avoid my house in the graveyard, the house I am damned to stay near until the graveyard ceases to be.

The wind is blowing strangely, the way it does once a month. They are coming now, but I have a trap for them. Something they couldn’t have foreseen.

……

I go to the grave, the one that always draws me yet I don’t know why. The name on the stone means nothing to me, Marcus Collinsworth, but it will serve me well tonight. I cut my hand slowly with rock I found next to the grave, and slowly let seven drops of blood drip out onto the gravestone and five on the grave itself. If this does not draw them, then I do not know what will. My blood is not that of the living, it doesn’t contain the same aura. I am not alive after all, nor am I dead.

……..
I wait by the house I am cursed to stay near forever. I awoke here long ago and haven’t been able to leave the vicinity since that time years ago. The graves in this cemetery mock me as I walk past them, mocking me that I am stranded here and cannot move on while the dead have gone to their rewards or punishments. And the grave that draws me, has been the king of the mocking, daring me with secrets I cannot know, yet which hold the key to my fate. My fate, which has eluded me for so long, yet which still seems far away. But then again, I’ve been waiting so long time seems to me nothing to me anymore.
……..
The house is an old looking one, it seems nice on the surface but it hides a sinister demeanor. Like a house you see in a dream that soon turns out to be a nightmare. Sometimes I wonder, if it is the house I am bound to, or if the house was put there for me by whoever stuck me here. I know it is not the house that binds me here, but the burial ground itself. An old cemetery, or so I’ve heard from the living as they walk in here looking for the graves of the deceased relatives, an old graveyard with an old past.

One man was walking here some years ago, a strange man, likely mad I suspect. He had a book with him and was reading it constantly while he was here, always muttering the same three words to himself: Beautiful and haunted. Over and over again he said those words, and then something unexpected happened.

For all the years I have been trapped in this place, no living person has seen me. They know I am here, as I have said. They can certainly feel my presence, feeling the lack of warmth. Feeling the cold feeling of abandonment and isolation, the stench of despair. No one living lingers long around me. And yet, this man looked directly at me and spoke to me! I have no idea how that was possible; was it his madness that lessened his ties to the normal understanding of the world? Or was it something else? I shall never know because I never saw him again, but I will not forget our conversation.

“Hello there” he said, “are you the caretaker?”

Startled, I forced words out of my mouth to address this man.
“Yes” I replied, “ My name is Joe.” That’s being the first name I could think of on the spot.

“Well Joe, do you know how old this place is?”

“Not really, no. I don’t know too much about this place” I admitted.

“Oh its old, all right. It used to be an Indian burial ground but they abandoned it well before it became the Outlaw’s Graveyard. They said there was something wicked about this place. They left the dead buried, so as not to disturb their final rest, but didn’t bury anyone else here.”

“Is that so?” I asked with intense curiosity, for now I had some more knowledge of this prison that held me.

“Yes, they said there was something else here but didn’t know what it was. I’ve been doing research, and I suspect there were rituals done by an older now forgotten people here. I have reason to believe that this was a burial ground long before the Indians buried their dead here”

At this point I was starting to suspect that there was something not right with this stranger I turned to walk away.

“ I am sorry but I must take care of some matters” I said.

“Well I’ll be back tomorrow” He exclaimed, “ maybe we can talk more then.”

“Perhaps” I said and walked away.

I didn’t see him the next day, or ever again fro that matter, as I have said. But I did see something. The book he had been reading was lying there on the grave of Marcus Collinsworth, along with a handprint of blood on the grave.

……..

It is nearly midnight and my blood has set in. The wind blows stronger now. It has been weak this month but like always it reserves its strength for this bizarre ritual. This mockery of death, and mockery of myself and my current fate. It has not rained in six months in this town, six months being when they started coming. From what I gathered from the living that walk the graveyard at times, this is odd but there is no draught, which is stranger.
……..
The living call this cemetery, “The Outlaws Graveyard”, due to the local legend that outlaws would bury their dead associates here. As well as those they murdered, where in vengeance or in cold blood. An old local legend, and one that might prove useful to me in this matter.
……..
There is a pain in the back of my head, a sharp pain as if someone is stabbing me. This pain is a sign, like it always is. It means only one thing and that is that something bad is about to happen.
……..
I go to the trees by the house, the trees that mark the entrance to the old part of the graveyard.. and I wait. I wait till I hear the slow footsteps. One person, then two, then four and so on. The steps are in line with each other, and the dim shadows appear.

For a time I think my plan has failed when I hear a divergence in the usual pattern. I hear steps coming closer, faster. I see the shadow taking on a clearer form. A man, tall, swarthy and longhaired, and clutching a gun in his hand. He comes to the grave, not knowing why. He approaches the grave and begins to raise his hand……He starts shouting. He turns, and sees me…………

I am not prepared for what he says


“Murderer!!” He shouts at me

“Murderer!” He repeats over and over again

[Fygar]

I read Scott Mcloud's MAKING COMICS last week and it was a brilliant read. I put it right up their with Robert McKee's STORY. If you have any interest in making comics, I'd say it's a MUST read.

[Fygar]

So how are my writing friends of the Bendis Board doing?

What's everyone working on these days? Pitches for the Gathering? A taut screenplay that's better than 90% of what's in the cinema? The be all end all super hero comic? A novel that'll light the world on fire like the Millenium trilogy?

If anyone has anything they're looking for feedback on, send it over. I always love helping out when needed.

I wrote out my 2012 goals last week. I want to get a lot done but I'm up to the challenge.

- Get my original graphic novel Temperament in some sort of production mode.
- Finished editing "Every Last One Of Us" (A story I've been working on since the inception of this thread. I'm almost half way there but it's starting to drive me a little crazy)
- Finish my Miyamoto bio graphic novel
- Start preproduction on a Science Fiction story I had in mind.

[Treacle]

Blogging, mostly. My goal for 2012 is to get a new blog post up everyday.

http://www.thelingerieaddict.com

[Benel Germosen]

Working two short stories, one a sci-fi crime story, one about a high school shooting. I'm working on a screenplay about Satanic mean girls, poetry and stand-up comedy (which I will be performing tonight!)

[Corrina]

I'm finishing up my portion of The GeekMom book. Should be done to send into our editor at Crown by Feb. 1.

After than, I've got to get writing and expand my steampunk detective story into a full-length novel.

[Kedd]

My main goal is to get first draft of this mini that I want to submit. I'm working on other stuff that I haven't been able to define for myself just yet.

[NeverWanderer]

Working on a series pitch, just finished a script for another pitch, just submitted a synopsis for yet ANOTHER pitch.

Nobody will ever call me the catcher.

[Patton]

Mostly short stories. Just finished a couple I wouldn't mind getting feedback on if someone wants to trade off and let me offer feedback on theirs.

[Fygar]

Here's where I am right now with writing.

I started a new graphic novel a couple weeks back. I have sat down to write exactly four times. For me that is horrible. Four times in two weeks is embarrassing. The thing is I had fun all four times. My process for this one is completely different than anything I've ever written. It's nine short stories under the umbrella of a major event. I am hopping around from one story to the next. When I get bored/ stuck with one story I move to a different one. I have been writing the "beats" to each story on paper and when it comes time for dialogue I grab my laptop and write it out immediately. It's been very smooth thus far.

Twenty five months. I missed my deadline. I carved out two years to write this particular graphic novel (appropriate since that's how long my characters have to live) but went over by a month. It's tough to say why I failed, but when I look back over the past two years I'm shocked I finished it at all. I survived a break up with a girl I dated for nine years, moved three times, fell in love, maintained friendships, started new ones, found employment, wasted countless hours watching film and playing video games but at the end of the day I finished Every Last One of Us.

A 525 page behemoth of a graphic novel. 9 separate stories told with 92,489 words (all of which caused me heartache). I can't tell you how many times I broke down with this one. Oh the tears. So how does it feel a week later? Surreal. When you write something nearly every day for two years there's an emptiness to your new life when you can't return to it. I'm glad it's done but it's bitter sweet. Why did I do this? I have no course of action to produce something of this scope. I can't even get off my ass to publish a 110 page graphic novel let alone this. But the story is told and if I find a way to see it on the shelves within the next ten years then I'll consider it a victory.

[Jef UK]

I thought y'all might be interested in this:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o301/buraj/Trip%20City/Schmuck_you.jpg

Send your schmuckiest, most happless, awkward, embarrassing and/or clumsy personal story, 800 words or less, by May 7 and I’ll pick the top three which will then be read by a jury comprised of Emmy Award winning cartoonist, Dean Haspiel (Bored To Death, Billy Dogma), Eisner award winning cartoonist Nick Abadzis, (Laika, Hugo Tate), and poet/author Sandra Beasley (Don’t Kill The Birthday Girl, I was The Juke Box) who will pick the first, second and third place winners. All will be published on TripCity.net, one per month, from least schmucky to most schmucky, between June and August.

Fr prizes and futher details, click the hide button:

The following prizes will be awarded:

1st Place – A signed copy of Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comics by Christopher Irving and Seth Kushner

2nd Place – A signed copy of Seth Kushner’s limited edition CulturePOP Photocomix book.

3rd Place – A signed copy of the TRIP CITY Visitor Guide

Please, amateur schmucks only—no pros!!

PLEASE EMAIL ALL ENTRIES TO: tripcityinfo@gmail.com

Read SCHMUCK, Seth Kushner’s “comix neurotica” and prose at TRIP CITY (http://welcometotripcity.com/category/series/schmuck/)


The Jury

Emmy award winning artist, Dean Haspiel, created the Eisner Award nominated, "Billy Dogma," and illustrated for HBO's "Bored To Death." Dino has drawn many superhero and semi-autobiographical comic books and graphic novels for major publishers, including collaborations with Jonathan Lethem, Harvey Pekar, Jonathan Ames, Inverna Lockpez, and Tim Hall. Dino also won the 6th Anniversary Literary Death Match in NYC with his "brute charisma" and curates cool multimedia projects at TripCity.net

Sandra Beasley is the author of I Was the Jukebox (winner of the Barnard Women Poets Prize), Theories of Falling (winner of the New Issues Poetry Prize), and Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life, a memoir. Her essays have appeared in the Oxford American, and Washington Post Magazine. Her poetry has turned up in such venues as The Believer, Slate, and The Best American Poetry 2010. She keeps her heart in a suitcase and her groceries in Washington, DC.

Nick Abadzis is a cartoonist, writer, graphic novelist and editor of international renown who has been honored with various awards including the prestigious Eisner in 2008 for his graphic novel Laika. He recently relocated from London in the UK to New York City where he continues to work both as a storyteller and editorial consultant. His next major project is a revamped and digitally-restored collection of his first ever strip Hugo Tate, originally published in legendary UK music and comics magazine Deadline. This will be published by Blank Slate Books in 2012, and other graphic novels are in the works.

Seth Kushner’s photography has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Time, Newsweek, L’Uomo Vogue, The New Yorker and others. He was chosen by Photo District News magazine as a three-time winner of their Photo Annual Competition. Seth’s first book, The Brooklynites, (with Anthony LaSala) was published by powerHouse Books in 2007. His next book, Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comics (with Chris Irving) will be released in May 2012.

[Fygar]

Twenty five months. I missed my deadline. I carved out two years to write this particular graphic novel (appropriate since that's how long my characters have to live) but went over by a month. It's tough to say why I failed, but when I look back over the past two years I'm shocked I finished it at all. I survived a break up with a girl I dated for nine years, moved three times, fell in love, maintained friendships, started new ones, found employment, wasted countless hours watching film and playing video games but at the end of the day I finished Every Last One of Us.

A 525 page behemoth of a graphic novel. 9 separate stories told with 92,489 words (all of which caused me heartache). I can't tell you how many times I broke down with this one. Oh the tears. So how does it feel a week later? Surreal. When you write something nearly every day for two years there's an emptiness to your new life when you can't return to it. I'm glad it's done but it's bitter sweet. Why did I do this? I have no course of action to produce something of this scope. I can't even get off my ass to publish a 110 page graphic novel let alone this. But the story is told and if I find a way to see it on the shelves within the next ten years then I'll consider it a victory.

Jesus, I don't remember writing this post at all. Over six months later I can't get Every Last One of Us out of my head. I reflect on it daily. I really wish it was something that could hit the shelves in the near future, because it truly is something special. I've had four people read it in its entirety now and loved the feedback I got.

So, how's everyone doing? What do you have on your plate? How's writing going in general?

I'm knee deep in my Miyamoto story. I'm not working on it with any sort of consistency and I can tell it's hurting the work. I'll have a breakthrough day and then won't write for five or six days and it just hurts the flow. Long gone are the days where I wrote everyday and I can't pinpoint why that is. I think the fact that I haven't done much to see anything published is really starting to get to me. Sure I have a handful of stories in the pages of The Gathering (which is amazing) but I need my long form stuff out there soon or I'm going to burn out. I can feel it.

[Benel Germosen]

Trying to get back into writing short fiction after spending the entire summer writing comedy. I'm got a comic script that I should probably start working on before the deadline.

[NeverWanderer]

I'm knee deep in my Miyamoto story. I'm not working on it with any sort of consistency and I can tell it's hurting the work. I'll have a breakthrough day and then won't write for five or six days and it just hurts the flow. Long gone are the days where I wrote everyday and I can't pinpoint why that is. I think the fact that I haven't done much to see anything published is really starting to get to me. Sure I have a handful of stories in the pages of The Gathering (which is amazing) but I need my long form stuff out there soon or I'm going to burn out. I can feel it.

I hope my own comments to you in our email exchanges haven't contributed to that feeling. I understand how daunting it is to just put something out there. It took five years and 3 out of 5 issues for me to finally realize I had more than enough to put The Link out there. I probably could have done it in year two -- the script or art haven't changed since then. I just needed that much time to build my knowledge and confidence in the industry... and I still probably got it wrong. But at least it's finally fucking out there. There's a release in that.

If you're having trouble focussing on the Miyamoto story because you want the other stories out there, I'd say adopt the same method you did when writing Every Last One of Us. Work on Miyamoto until your brain slides off the page, then switch to plotting out your proposal strategy and writing pitches for ELOoU and Temperament. You have lots of options; pitching to publishers like Oni, Archaia, First Second, Top Shelf -- even without an artist attached. Get the story out there, show them your published work, let them decide whether to accept it or not. Otherwise, you could go the webcomic route, which means finding an artist, yeah, but it's manageable. OR, you could try the crazy shit! Publish just the script, serialized, on a blog, promote the hell out of it and see if an artist comes to you. Do what a lot of hollywood writers do and try to find a champion for the book who works in the industry. Like, go to Michael Lark or someone and say, "This story should be drawn by you. Please help me get it made." I don't know if this sort of thing actually works, but it feels like it should, especially when the writer really has the goods, as you do. Feels like a pipe-dream, but fuck it, the only harm it'd bring is maybe making someone remember your name. Be relentless! Be r

Anyway, like I said before, I'll be happy to help however I can.



So, how's everyone doing? What do you have on your plate? How's writing going in general?

It's pretty exciting right now! And a little exhausting. As most people on the board probably have seen, I've started publishing a fantasy serial novel called Gatewalker on Jukepopserials.com. I'm trying to promote the thing like crazy so people will read it and hopefully register with the site and vote (votes mean money for the Top 30 stories at the end of each month). I've printed up flyers to post at work and comic shops and gaming stores. I've posted threads on all the message boards I frequent. I've even sent emails and tweets to professional writers who I really respect, just in case they might find it interesting.

Shameless Plug: http://www.jukepopserials.com/home/read/51

Aside from that, I've also started up a blog to accompany each chapter of Gatewalker with insights and bonus material. It's very much inspired by what John Rogers has done with KungFuMonkey (kfmonkey.blogspot.com) and how Brandon Sanderson runs his website. It should take me about 2 weeks to finish each Gatewalker chapter, and only an hour or two to write each blog, so I figured it's a fun way to prolong people's enjoyment of the serial and keep them interested. We'll see if it works.

Shameless Plug: http://gatewalkerbonus.blogspot.com/

I had a minor crisis with The Link, which turned into the need to finish writing the last two issues before the year is out. Which, I really can't complain about, since doubt and distraction were the only things keeping me from finishing it in the first place ("What if it gets picked up by a publisher who wants me to change the ending? I'll just hold off on writing the last of it and go write this short story instead.") Now that I HAVE to finish it, it's kind of an exhilarating feeling... I'm sure as time wears on, that exhilaration will become stress. I'm already halfway done with issue 4's script, having written probably the most important scene of the miniseries -- the Info Dump. I'm basically writing that on the weekends and writing Gatewalker on week nights.

Shameless Plug for people who've heard me babble about this comic forever: http://neverwanderer.blogspot.com/p/link-preview.html

Meanwhile, I'm waiting to be tapped to adapt a friend's novel to comic form.

And I'm being groomed for a new position at work, which will mean more money and hours, but less time at home to work on all my writing.

Exciting times!

[Jef UK]

So, how's everyone doing? What do you have on your plate? How's writing going in general?

Been publishing something weekly via Trip City: http://welcometotripcity.com/author/jeff-uk/

Odd Schnozz and the Odd Squad is finally all drawn (156 pages!) and being colored and lettered now.

Dean Haspiel and I have a pitch together, where the first 5 pages look like they are already going to be published early next year by one of my favorite publishers, and I meet tomorrow to get a 100 page graphic novel funded for 2014. Meanwhile, I'm chipping away at the last couple of stories for a prose short story collection that I'll be shopping around to agents next year. And by February or March, I hope to have the next Rocktronic Mixtape Anthology finished, this time in full color! Oh and I'm finally wrapping up the script for AM/UK #5, and the first 6 pages are being drawn now. And we just finished recording a 13 song album.

I'm very busy!

[Jef UK]

I think the fact that I haven't done much to see anything published is really starting to get to me. Sure I have a handful of stories in the pages of The Gathering (which is amazing) but I need my long form stuff out there soon or I'm going to burn out. I can feel it.

If you're interested in what I have to say about the difficulties and strategies for getting published, I talk about them at length here: http://thelotteryparty.com/interviews-jeffrey-burandt/

[Cradleman]

So, how's everyone doing? What do you have on your plate? How's writing going in general?

I don't really get a ton of time to write (since my teaching job is more important) but when I can I work on my first attempt at a novel. I'm still in the (very rough) first draft and it's definitely taking a lot of work to get through the middle of the story. Considering I've only written short stories so far its kind of difficult, and it makes it even harder when i only get a weekend to work on it here and there during the school year. Anyway, I'm about 23,000 words into that with still quite a bit of story left to tell. would love to be able to work on it steady over winter break and finish it but I have no idea if that will happen or not.

[michealdark]

Write now I got a prose story I'm working on, I sent in my The Gathering script a few weeks back, and I might try to write some Halloween poetry.

[Michael-Deery]

I might be getting a two page story published this winter. I won't believe it to it happens,

I've also had a few comedy stories published for a satirical fake news site called newsbiscuit.com. The site is edited by professional comedy writers so it's not just a random site either.

[Fygar]

I hope my own comments to you in our email exchanges haven't contributed to that feeling. I understand how daunting it is to just put something out there. It took five years and 3 out of 5 issues for me to finally realize I had more than enough to put The Link out there. I probably could have done it in year two -- the script or art haven't changed since then. I just needed that much time to build my knowledge and confidence in the industry... and I still probably got it wrong. But at least it's finally fucking out there. There's a release in that.

If you're having trouble focussing on the Miyamoto story because you want the other stories out there, I'd say adopt the same method you did when writing Every Last One of Us. Work on Miyamoto until your brain slides off the page, then switch to plotting out your proposal strategy and writing pitches for ELOoU and Temperament. You have lots of options; pitching to publishers like Oni, Archaia, First Second, Top Shelf -- even without an artist attached. Get the story out there, show them your published work, let them decide whether to accept it or not. Otherwise, you could go the webcomic route, which means finding an artist, yeah, but it's manageable. OR, you could try the crazy shit! Publish just the script, serialized, on a blog, promote the hell out of it and see if an artist comes to you. Do what a lot of hollywood writers do and try to find a champion for the book who works in the industry. Like, go to Michael Lark or someone and say, "This story should be drawn by you. Please help me get it made." I don't know if this sort of thing actually works, but it feels like it should, especially when the writer really has the goods, as you do. Feels like a pipe-dream, but fuck it, the only harm it'd bring is maybe making someone remember your name. Be relentless! Be r

Anyway, like I said before, I'll be happy to help however I can.

Always appreciated, Joey. I still have to write back to that email. It was chock full of sound advice.

Michael Lark...I wish :) He would draw the fuck out of Temperament.

[Fygar]

If you're interested in what I have to say about the difficulties and strategies for getting published, I talk about them at length here: http://thelotteryparty.com/interviews-jeffrey-burandt/

Bookmarked! Thanks dude. I'll let you know when I give it a read.

[Fygar]

I'm in a sharing mood. Here's the unedited prologue to my Miyamoto story. It's currently nine pages, but I see it getting trimmed to eight or possibly seven in the final draft. I always start bloated and work from there later on.


PAGE 1

Five panels
Three rows
One panel in the first row
Two panels in both the second and third row


1 – Page wide. The KYOTO countryside begs to be explored on what is a ridiculously gorgeous day. A butterfly floats above exotic flowers in the foreground. A modest home is seen far in the distance. A separate shed is built next to it.

CAPTION
SONOBE, JAPAN 1960

2 – Two thirds width. Bird’s eye, looking down on the small home. HINAKO waddles around the house with a dripping wet watermelon. She retrieved it from a nearby well, which kept it cool on this hot summer day. She pays no mind to the clanging sounds from the shed near her. She knows her son, SHIGERU, is in there making a mess as per usual.

SFX – CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG

3 – Zoom in on the lone shed window. The glass is caked with dust and dirt. An empty cardboard box sails through the air.

SFX – THUNK

4 – Inside the shed. SHIGERU rummages through his father’s tools, tearing the shed apart. He’s eight years old, chubby cheeks, messy hair and bony knees.

SFX – CLANG THOK THUMP

5 – Inset, bottom right. SHIGERU pushes a milk crate aside, elated by what he finds behind it. The audience can’t see it yet.

PAGE 2

Four panels
Three rows
Two panels in the first row
One panel in both the second and third row

1 – SHIGERU lifts a lantern in the air, admiring it in the sunlight. An homage to LEGEND OF ZELDA, when LINK finds an item and lifts it above his head. Try not to make it so obvious though, a subtle nod.

2 – Ground level. SHIGERU tosses a few items into his shabby book bag.

3 – Page wide. HINAKO is in the foreground. She scoops out chunks of watermelon. Her back is to the kitchen window. SHIGERU is visible through it, exiting the shed. There’s a spring in his step as he embarks on another adventure.

4 – Page wide. SHIGERU pulls apart tall blades of grass, escaping his backyard.

PAGE 3

One panel


1 – Splash. Bird’s eye view, looking down on sprawling shot of KYOTO. SHIGERU gallops toward an impressive bamboo forest. Beyond the forest is an entrance to a cave. Grassy hills stretch into infinity in the background. The title is written in huge text on top of this image in transparent letters. It reads:

OUTSIDE

THE

MUSHROOM

KINGDOM

PAGE 4

Five panels
Three rows
One panel in the first row
Two panels in both the second and third row


1 – Page wide. Tall bamboo stalks line the foreground. SHIGERU tramps through the forest with no care in the world.

2 – SHIGERU swings off drooping bamboo and out of the forest.

SFX – SWOOOP

3 – Inside the cave. Drops of water fall from the ceiling. SHIGERU runs full tilt towards the entrance.

4 – Inset, top left. Tight. SHIGERU lights the lantern.

5 – Page wide. Bird’s eye, looking down on the cave. SHIGERU lights the way, illuminating how vast it truly is. Caverns and cliffs sprawl out before him.


PAGE 5

Eight panels
Five rows
See layout


1 – Page wide. SHIGERU ties a rope around a large rock.

NOTE
Panels 2-5 run vertically, which is contrary to the typical comic layout. They have to be positioned in such a way that the reader’s eyes follow this path.

2 – SHIGERU climbs down the rope into a dark cavity. He is above the panes.

3 – Further down he goes, darker.

4 – Even further, near pitch black.

5 – Reaches the bottom, pitch black.

6 – Two thirds width. SHIGERU treks down a cavern filled with stalactites and stalagmites.

7 – Ground level. SHIGERU reaches down to gather rocks for his collection. Their smoothness to the touch forces a smile.

8 – Same angle. SHIGERU is startled by a (off panel) noise. Are his ears playing tricks on him?

SFX – RAAAAAWR


PAGE 6

Five panels
Three rows
One panel in the first row
Two panels in both the second and third row


1 – Page wide. SHIGERU turns to face the noise, lifting his lantern high in the air. He’s seeing things, creating fictitious monsters through fear. Long shadows of said creatures cascade along the wall. They’re MOBLINS, OCTOROCS, LEEKS and GANNON himself from THE LEGEND OF ZELDA.

2 – Looking down on SHIGERU. He’s so frightened he stumbles to the ground, shattering the lantern.

SFX – CRRRACK

3 – SHIGERU scrambles to his feet, shoveling the broken glass into his arms as he goes.

SHIGERU
UH--

4 – SHIGERU races through the cavern screaming.

SHIGERU
AHHHHHH!

5 – SHIGERU takes a nasty tumble, hitting the ground hard. He cuts his cheek on a rock, and scrapes his hands and knees.

SFX – THUD


PAGE 7

Five panels
Four rows
One panel in the first row
Two panels in the second row
One panel in both the third and fourth row


1 – Page wide. SHIGERU flies out of a different outcropping from the one he entered. A trail of dust sails behind him.

2 – SHIGERU reaches the top of a grassy hill, breathless. He’s relieved to be away from danger.

3 – Same angle. He peers down at the broken lantern, ashamed.

4 – Page wide. SHIGERU heads down the hill, shoulders slumped. He has a long journey home and all that awaits him are disapproving parents.

SHIGERU
-SIGH-

5 – Zoom out. SHIGERU is further down the hill, just a speck from our vantage point.


PAGE 8

Six panels
Five rows
One panel in each of the first three rows
Two panels in the fourth row
One panel in the fifth row


1 – Page wide. HINAKO waits for him on the porch. Her arms sternly crossed. The sun sets in the background.

2 – Page wide. Over HINAKO’S shoulders. SHIGERU drags his feet as he approaches the house. He doesn’t dare lift his head. Fireflies dot the background.

3 – Page wide. SHIGERU tries to walk past his Mother. Her eyes filled with fire.

HINAKO
WHERE WERE YOU?

4 – Profile two shot. HINAKO kneels to SHIGERU’S eye level. She’s furious at her son’s lack of discipline.

HINAKO
WHERE WERE YOU? YOU’RE HURT…

5 – Same angle. SHIGERU hangs his head in shame and lifts the broken lantern. HINAKO sighs in disgust

SHIGERU
I BROKE DAD’S LANTERN…

HINAKO
UGH.

6 – Page wide. HINAKO puts a gentle arm on his shoulder as she leads him back into the house.

HINAKO
SHIGERU MIYAMOTO...


PAGE 9

Five panels
Four rows
One panel in the first row
Panel 2 is in the second, third and fourth row
Three panels stacked on top of each other next to panel 2


1 – Cut to an adult SHIGERU, now 32 years of age. He flies down a hill on his bicycle. A big smile spread across his face, shaggy hair sails in the wind.

PREVIOUS SCENE HINAKO
--WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO GROW UP?

2 – Two thirds height. SHIGERU swings around a busy KYOTO intersection. He cuts through a crowd that doesn’t appreciate his reckless driving.

CAPTION
KYOTO, JAPAN – 1984

3 – Two thirds width. SHIGERU pulls up to the NINTENDO headquarters. At this moment I can’t find a reference photo or get a sense of what their HQ was like in the early 80’s.

CAPTION
NINTENDO HEADQUARTERS

4 – Two thirds width. SHIGERU leans down and chains his bike to a post.

5 – Two thirds width. SHIGERU opens a glass door, just another day at work.

[michealdark]

Has anyone just had those days where you just started writing not really knowing where you were going and created what you feel is some of your best work? I'm not talking about later going back and realizing that in those few hours of frenzy ended up filled with grammar errors to later correct, just that you sat down with either a vague idea or no idea at all and suddenly 4 hours, 6 hours, however long later ended up going, "Wow, where the hell did that come from?!"

[Fygar]

Has anyone just had those days where you just started writing not really knowing where you were going and created what you feel is some of your best work? I'm not talking about later going back and realizing that in those few hours of frenzy ended up filled with grammar errors to later correct, just that you sat down with either a vague idea or no idea at all and suddenly 4 hours, 6 hours, however long later ended up going, "Wow, where the hell did that come from?!"

Yep and its one of my favorite feelings in the entire world. Sitting down and crafting something from nothing. Some of my more poignant stories were also my least calculated

[Kingsmythe]

Yes. I'm told it's called "flow state writing" and my first year doing NaNoWriMo was like that. I had no idea what I was doing, no plot, no nothing really, and every time I sat down to write, stuff just flowed out of my fingers through the keyboard.

Looking back at it, it needs a major rewrite, but for a first effort it wasn't bad, and some of the concepts are sound.

[Benel Germosen]

Yeah, that's literally the best thing that could happen when writing. That's the high I have to chase now.

[c. page]

Has anyone just had those days where you just started writing not really knowing where you were going and created what you feel is some of your best work? I'm not talking about later going back and realizing that in those few hours of frenzy ended up filled with grammar errors to later correct, just that you sat down with either a vague idea or no idea at all and suddenly 4 hours, 6 hours, however long later ended up going, "Wow, where the hell did that come from?!"

Used to do it all the time when writing short fiction in college (although generally I have to be in an altered state of some kind to fully achieve it). I'm too much of a control freak to not have an ending in mind before writing something.

[NeverWanderer]

Always appreciated, Joey. I still have to write back to that email. It was chock full of sound advice.

Michael Lark...I wish :) He would draw the fuck out of Temperament.

(that's exactly what I was thinking ;) :D )

[NeverWanderer]

Has anyone just had those days where you just started writing not really knowing where you were going and created what you feel is some of your best work? I'm not talking about later going back and realizing that in those few hours of frenzy ended up filled with grammar errors to later correct, just that you sat down with either a vague idea or no idea at all and suddenly 4 hours, 6 hours, however long later ended up going, "Wow, where the hell did that come from?!"

I've always wanted to do that, but whenever I try with a completely blank slate, it doesn't work. I need an idea first. An image or concept or character that acts as the seed, and then everything just grows out of that. I'm totally envious of anyone who can do that. :) Maybe someday I will too.

[NeverWanderer]

I'm in a sharing mood. Here's the unedited prologue to my Miyamoto story. It's currently nine pages, but I see it getting trimmed to eight or possibly seven in the final draft. I always start bloated and work from there later on.


PAGE 1

Five panels
Three rows
One panel in the first row
Two panels in both the second and third row


1 – Page wide. The KYOTO countryside begs to be explored on what is a ridiculously gorgeous day. A butterfly floats above exotic flowers in the foreground. A modest home is seen far in the distance. A separate shed is built next to it.

CAPTION
SONOBE, JAPAN 1960

2 – Two thirds width. Bird’s eye, looking down on the small home. HINAKO waddles around the house with a dripping wet watermelon. She retrieved it from a nearby well, which kept it cool on this hot summer day. She pays no mind to the clanging sounds from the shed near her. She knows her son, SHIGERU, is in there making a mess as per usual.

SFX – CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG

3 – Zoom in on the lone shed window. The glass is caked with dust and dirt. An empty cardboard box sails through the air.

SFX – THUNK

4 – Inside the shed. SHIGERU rummages through his father’s tools, tearing the shed apart. He’s eight years old, chubby cheeks, messy hair and bony knees.

SFX – CLANG THOK THUMP

5 – Inset, bottom right. SHIGERU pushes a milk crate aside, elated by what he finds behind it. The audience can’t see it yet.

PAGE 2

Four panels
Three rows
Two panels in the first row
One panel in both the second and third row

1 – SHIGERU lifts a lantern in the air, admiring it in the sunlight. An homage to LEGEND OF ZELDA, when LINK finds an item and lifts it above his head. Try not to make it so obvious though, a subtle nod.

2 – Ground level. SHIGERU tosses a few items into his shabby book bag.

3 – Page wide. HINAKO is in the foreground. She scoops out chunks of watermelon. Her back is to the kitchen window. SHIGERU is visible through it, exiting the shed. There’s a spring in his step as he embarks on another adventure.

4 – Page wide. SHIGERU pulls apart tall blades of grass, escaping his backyard.

PAGE 3

One panel


1 – Splash. Bird’s eye view, looking down on sprawling shot of KYOTO. SHIGERU gallops toward an impressive bamboo forest. Beyond the forest is an entrance to a cave. Grassy hills stretch into infinity in the background. The title is written in huge text on top of this image in transparent letters. It reads:

OUTSIDE

THE

MUSHROOM

KINGDOM

PAGE 4

Five panels
Three rows
One panel in the first row
Two panels in both the second and third row


1 – Page wide. Tall bamboo stalks line the foreground. SHIGERU tramps through the forest with no care in the world.

2 – SHIGERU swings off drooping bamboo and out of the forest.

SFX – SWOOOP

3 – Inside the cave. Drops of water fall from the ceiling. SHIGERU runs full tilt towards the entrance.

4 – Inset, top left. Tight. SHIGERU lights the lantern.

5 – Page wide. Bird’s eye, looking down on the cave. SHIGERU lights the way, illuminating how vast it truly is. Caverns and cliffs sprawl out before him.


PAGE 5

Eight panels
Five rows
See layout


1 – Page wide. SHIGERU ties a rope around a large rock.

NOTE
Panels 2-5 run vertically, which is contrary to the typical comic layout. They have to be positioned in such a way that the reader’s eyes follow this path.

2 – SHIGERU climbs down the rope into a dark cavity. He is above the panes.

3 – Further down he goes, darker.

4 – Even further, near pitch black.

5 – Reaches the bottom, pitch black.

6 – Two thirds width. SHIGERU treks down a cavern filled with stalactites and stalagmites.

7 – Ground level. SHIGERU reaches down to gather rocks for his collection. Their smoothness to the touch forces a smile.

8 – Same angle. SHIGERU is startled by a (off panel) noise. Are his ears playing tricks on him?

SFX – RAAAAAWR


PAGE 6

Five panels
Three rows
One panel in the first row
Two panels in both the second and third row


1 – Page wide. SHIGERU turns to face the noise, lifting his lantern high in the air. He’s seeing things, creating fictitious monsters through fear. Long shadows of said creatures cascade along the wall. They’re MOBLINS, OCTOROCS, LEEKS and GANNON himself from THE LEGEND OF ZELDA.

2 – Looking down on SHIGERU. He’s so frightened he stumbles to the ground, shattering the lantern.

SFX – CRRRACK

3 – SHIGERU scrambles to his feet, shoveling the broken glass into his arms as he goes.

SHIGERU
UH--

4 – SHIGERU races through the cavern screaming.

SHIGERU
AHHHHHH!

5 – SHIGERU takes a nasty tumble, hitting the ground hard. He cuts his cheek on a rock, and scrapes his hands and knees.

SFX – THUD


PAGE 7

Five panels
Four rows
One panel in the first row
Two panels in the second row
One panel in both the third and fourth row


1 – Page wide. SHIGERU flies out of a different outcropping from the one he entered. A trail of dust sails behind him.

2 – SHIGERU reaches the top of a grassy hill, breathless. He’s relieved to be away from danger.

3 – Same angle. He peers down at the broken lantern, ashamed.

4 – Page wide. SHIGERU heads down the hill, shoulders slumped. He has a long journey home and all that awaits him are disapproving parents.

SHIGERU
-SIGH-

5 – Zoom out. SHIGERU is further down the hill, just a speck from our vantage point.


PAGE 8

Six panels
Five rows
One panel in each of the first three rows
Two panels in the fourth row
One panel in the fifth row


1 – Page wide. HINAKO waits for him on the porch. Her arms sternly crossed. The sun sets in the background.

2 – Page wide. Over HINAKO’S shoulders. SHIGERU drags his feet as he approaches the house. He doesn’t dare lift his head. Fireflies dot the background.

3 – Page wide. SHIGERU tries to walk past his Mother. Her eyes filled with fire.

HINAKO
WHERE WERE YOU?

4 – Profile two shot. HINAKO kneels to SHIGERU’S eye level. She’s furious at her son’s lack of discipline.

HINAKO
WHERE WERE YOU? YOU’RE HURT…

5 – Same angle. SHIGERU hangs his head in shame and lifts the broken lantern. HINAKO sighs in disgust

SHIGERU
I BROKE DAD’S LANTERN…

HINAKO
UGH.

6 – Page wide. HINAKO puts a gentle arm on his shoulder as she leads him back into the house.

HINAKO
SHIGERU MIYAMOTO...


PAGE 9

Five panels
Four rows
One panel in the first row
Panel 2 is in the second, third and fourth row
Three panels stacked on top of each other next to panel 2


1 – Cut to an adult SHIGERU, now 32 years of age. He flies down a hill on his bicycle. A big smile spread across his face, shaggy hair sails in the wind.

PREVIOUS SCENE HINAKO
--WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO GROW UP?

2 – Two thirds height. SHIGERU swings around a busy KYOTO intersection. He cuts through a crowd that doesn’t appreciate his reckless driving.

CAPTION
KYOTO, JAPAN – 1984

3 – Two thirds width. SHIGERU pulls up to the NINTENDO headquarters. At this moment I can’t find a reference photo or get a sense of what their HQ was like in the early 80’s.

CAPTION
NINTENDO HEADQUARTERS

4 – Two thirds width. SHIGERU leans down and chains his bike to a post.

5 – Two thirds width. SHIGERU opens a glass door, just another day at work.

Dude, I love this. Please, PLEASE keep going.

...is Shigero Miyamoto dead?

[Fygar]

Dude, I love this. Please, PLEASE keep going.

...is Shigero Miyamoto dead?

Thanks man! Much appreciated

Nope, alive and well. Still making games

[Jef UK]

Bookmarked! Thanks dude. I'll let you know when I give it a read.

Cool!

[Jef UK]

Here's a short comic I wrote that I like: http://welcometotripcity.com/2012/08/sh3/

Check it out, won't you?

[NeverWanderer]

Here's a short comic I wrote that I like: http://welcometotripcity.com/2012/08/sh3/

Check it out, won't you?

That was really good, man! Nice dynamic art work, cool concepts, and it feels like it gives you more than your average "preview" comic. Well done!

[Jef UK]

That was really good, man! Nice dynamic art work, cool concepts, and it feels like it gives you more than your average "preview" comic. Well done!

Thank you!

[Michael-Deery]

Got an e-mail containing the thumbnails of what should be my first published comic book story.

Very excited right now.

[Jef UK]

Here's a revision of a story I wrote for a Halloween contest on this here board: http://welcometotripcity.com/2012/10/ghost-story/

http://welcometotripcity.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/GHOST-STORY_COVER.jpg

[Jef UK]

Hey so I have a comix short story with artist Dean Haspiel in January's CREATOR OWNED HEROES #7. I'll be published in the same book as Darwyn Cooke!!
Here's the Previews order code and stuff:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o301/buraj/coh7_preorder.jpg

[kon-el kent]

hey guys,

Over the years I have posted on this thread about stuff I'd been writing. I often came here asking for advice or feedback.sadly I have never finished any of those stories or did anything with those ideas i had. It is time for that to stop. I have decided to take a 30 days writing challenge.

I am starting a blog to make myself more accountable.

http://30daysormore.blogspot.com/

I hope you follow it. I am always looking for feedback.

Thanks again for everything!

[Jef UK]

hey guys,

Over the years I have posted on this thread about stuff I'd been writing. I often came here asking for advice or feedback.sadly I have never finished any of those stories or did anything with those ideas i had. It is time for that to stop. I have decided to take a 30 days writing challenge.

I am starting a blog to make myself more accountable.

http://30daysormore.blogspot.com/

I hope you follow it. I am always looking for feedback.

Thanks again for everything!

So what happened? I don't see any updates.

[TV Zombie]

Finished another short story called "Gruesome Gertie (http://writerzkramp.com/?p=424)". It's been a long while since I last pimped my site: www.writerzkramp.com I would love it if you could find the time to read my work and make some comments. Thank you for the reviews!