So a couple of weeks ago, the week of the Superbowl, my satellite dish blew over up on the roof, and after some back and forth (which is irritating because even though I live on the top floor of the building, this side doesn’t have roof access and you can’t get to the other side from inside. You have to go downstairs, outside around the building, up three stories, up a ladder and through the trapdoor) I got it reset up and I was able to watch the ‘Bowl.
What a game it was! Holy shit, what fun. It makes me wish I did have a little shindig, but it was just a nice (probably moreso) just watching the game with Kenzie, who actually got into it and had a good time. Or so she says. Probably the best ‘Bowl I’ve ever seen, and that’s not just because of the crazy delicious historic spoilerdom, or the fact that no one, myself included, thought the Giants winning was a possibility.
Anyway, today the dish blew over again (after two years, now it suddenly starts getting all fragile?) but I can’t get it to work. Who knows what the fuck is up, but I called the tech support people and they’re sending someone on Tuesday. Ass, but not as ass as it could be, I guess.
****
I like having all my music on the playlist, but I get so picky that I end up spending huge amounts of time just skipping songs. The other night I was tired, ready to go to bed, but I wanted to listen to one more “good” song.
I spent 40 minutes skipping through the list. “No. No. No. I hear that at work all the time. No. Why do I even have this? No. Yes, but not right now.”
There must be an easier way. Handpicking music isn’t one of them.
****
I finished the second issue of “Gifted,” the series Lee is drawing. It’s going along at a good clip now, probably will be better now that the TV is off. Even with it on, I think I’m doing okay. For my own edification, I’m going to let you in on my little comic writing process.
No, no one asked.
1: Get an idea. This is easy, I have to many of them and maybe half of them are good. I often jot them down in my notebook (I’m about to start a new one, as the current one is held together with glue and electrical tape). Almost everything nowadays is genre, not superhero. Every once and a while I get the urge to torture myself and have ideas for established company owned characters (like Spider-man or Batman), but they are beyond pointless. It’d be like writing fanfic in a bathroom stall in lipstick; pointless and gross.
2: Once the idea is gotten I try to hammer out the core story. What’s it about? What’s going to happen? What am I trying to say? Is this a balls-out fuck-all adventure, or is there something deeper? Is it an excuse for a dinosaur to eat a Subaru? How long is it going to be, and is that realistic? Most of my dumb ideas run long, like a really bad epic poem. I love serialized fiction, be it TV or comics or novels, so that really shows in what I make. However, you have to start somewhere, so I’ve got to find a way to intro everything and make it interesting, even if one of the things I’m dying to write (Subaru-dinosaur chase) can’t happen until later. I do a lot of free-writing at this point, often asking myself little questions or just have little phrases or things that I want to make it in (Dinosaur v Subaru = 1000% awesome. Two Subarus?)
3: Once format and length are established (usually six, 22-page issues) I have to block out what happens in each issue. Every issue should end on something that makes the reader want to see more, just like every page should be its own little story that makes you want to keep reading. It’s like the act breaks in TV. Once I have a general idea, I handwrite it in little sentences for each page, to make sure that the beats I want to hit will fit in the 22 pages I have (a lot of folks have maligned the “format dictates story length” school of thought, and I kind of agree with them, but at this point in my nonexistent career I’m not in a position to try to change the industry conventions. That comes on day two). It also makes sure I don’t go running off in too many directions as I write, so I don’t go “Oh hey, I have to wrap this up in three pages.” This used to happen to me a lot, so I added this step. It’s like…
1: Harris comes home, tired from work. He sits down and relaxes.
2: He hears something outside and takes a look.
3: It’s a dinosaur. Hungry and cranky.
4: Harris runs outside and gets in the car. The dinosaur notices him.
4: Once that’s all done, I handwrite the actual script in a loose format. Lots of abbreviations and the like, since I’m just trying to get what’s in my head on paper quickly, keeping it extemporaneous and fresh and not worrying about format and breaks and the like. As I’m laying out the page by page breakdown, I’m getting an idea on how to specifically break down each page specifically(panel count, dialog, etc). Basic description, but usually all dialog, because that’s way easier for me. I used to be very specific about what was in each panel and every angle of every shot, but that’s not really my job. Sure, I have to make sure that there’s a way that *I’d* lay the page out, that there’s enough room for all the dialog, and that if there needs to be something big, then everything else is sufficiently small. It’s also at this stage where we see if my page-by-page breakdown works. I may realize that I need more room for this stuff, or less room for this stuff, and things get adjusted accordingly.
5: Once that’s done, it’s time to type it up. This serves as a second draft stage, where I can re-read, see what descriptions I need to adjust (What color is the Subaru? What was the Dinosaur eating before he saw it?) and what dialog works and doesn’t work. Most of the creative heavy lifting is done, I just have to make sure that what’s on the page is everything that I want to make sure the artist conveys. He shouldn’t have to come back to me for clarification, but I’m not going to turn him away if he does.
6: It gets drawn. I pace, and hope the Dinosaur looks cool.
Was this helpful? No, of course not, you don’t care, but writing it out makes me feel better. I like having a process.
****
I’m still getting like, 12 visits a day from Arizona. I’m wondering if it has anything to do with the increase in comment spam I’m getting (about 5 or 6 a day), or if someone is just going through and reading my life’s journey. My boring ass life’s journey.
It’s creepy, yet provocative.
You can hear me every week on the official Super-Fly Comics & Games podcast with the rest of the Super-Fly crew. You can visit the Panels on Pages PoP-Cast Network page through the banner above, or you can subscribe and listen to shows through iTunes on the banner below.
