My new respect for comic writers.

As I re-read my last post in the glaring light of sobriety, I'm realizing that all of the great comic book writers deserve even more credit than I've given them.  As anyone who has studied writing can attest to, it's hard enough to take an idea and realize it into words, let alone break it up into a number of still image descriptions to guide an artist and interweave dialogue to fit in those images all to fit into a certain page count and layout. 
One of the hardest things I've had to overcome in my attempt at comic book writing is that there seems to be no standard way of working.  Every creator seems to have his or her own way of overcoming these hurtles.  Some, who are blessed enough to have artistic as well as literary talent, will thumbnail out the page to  get the images straight in their head, other's work almost in stream of consciousness prose, leaving the formatting and panel layouts completely to the editor or artist. 
For me, since I'm new to this, feel I have to get the story down in a stripped down prose fashion and format the script in revision.  This adds a little extra work but still allows me the room to be a 'discovery writer.'  If there's any comic writers out there reading this I'd love to hear your methods or advice. 

Writing vs. Being a Writer

It's horrifyingly come to my attention that I'm a whole lot better at being a writer than I am at actually writing.  I can espouse at length about plot arcs, dramatic vehicles, denouement, and even incremental perturbations.  I've spent countless hours and money in classes and am less than 12 months from a degree in creative writing, yet I am currently frozen with a combination of fear and uncertainty when confronted with a blank page or screen.  My best guess at this point is that everything I've had in mind to write up to this point is suffering from being Schroedingers Story.  Much like the cat in the famous experiment, as long as it stays in the box that is my mind, it is neither alive nor dead so to speak, that is, the potential to be a good or even acceptable story is still there.  However, when put down on the page, the harsh light of criticism is cast upon it and I have to admit to it's faults.  I'm told that every writer has this cross to bear, and I'm assuming this is part of the process.  So here I go, pushing through, putting words on the page, and hoping I don't kill the cat. 

Submitting work and knowing your audience.

I'm currently in the process of revising a short story to Playboy magazine as a part of their yearly college issue.  They've put the call out to college writers to submit.  Anyone who's ever read Playboy with both hands knows that to be published in the fiction section of their magazine is a big deal. 
I'd originally begun revisions of a story called Deus Ex Machina which is actually a prequel story to my current comic book script.   It's about a young girl who visits Greece on a college exchange trip only to find her host to be Eris, the Goddess of Chaos.  Eris sees the girl as her opportunity to leave Greece and regain much of her lost power. 
My wife had suggested that I might reconsider and submit a story I'd written a few years ago called, The Chronicals of Mr. Fathom. On review I decided to heed her advice.  I'd been gung ho about revising Machina because of it's ties to my current work and because I wasn't happy with current draft.  But her urging reminded me to consider the publication I was submitting to and to keep in mind what had a better chance of getting published.  I'll post a sample of the story here for view, let me know what you think. 

Kevin Smith and geek obsession

Geek news outlets have been lighting up lately about the recent news surrounding Kevin Smith's debut of Red State at Sundance.  Apparently amidst controversy and protest the film opened to... luke warm results.  A few years ago I'd have been crushed by this news and probably lashed out at anyone calling him overrated over Facebook or Twitter, (if I had a twitter account.)  But as I get older, I'm finding many of the obsessions I had when I was younger fading.  Now I'm mature enough to recogognize that Mr. Smith is a filmmaker who made some excellent films that spoke to me at an age when few other works of media did. 
That being said, I find my cooling of fandom to be somewhat disconcerting.  Is it a sign of maturity or over saturation of media that I can't find anything to stay passionate about.  I worry that my inability to remain loyal to an artist that moved me, may be a side effect of this digital ADD society.  Of course I know I'm still a Whedonite geek, and a little maturing never hurt anyone. 

Tao of Geek

I’m a product of what you’d call the “Nintendo Generation.” Being too young to be in Generation X, and still needing a trendy generational designation, this is a term that has been coined to describe those of us who grew up on 3 ¼ inch GI Joe figures and Japanese import cartoons before they were called “Anime” like “Thundercats,” “Silver Hawks,” and of course the quintessential “Transformers.” Not to mention growing up post Atari, yet pre-internet, probably the biggest invention of our generation was the Nintendo. The game system that started the home video-game craze, hence the moniker, “Nintendo Generation.” However there is another movement that I think is more appropriate as our generation get’s older. As we all start becoming adults, moving into the working world and seeing things from our childhood come back again for the first time. Movies such as “Spider-Man” and “Transformers,” and the rise of comic-book culture, I think now is the time to embrace the movement to reclaim the term Geek. As the world becomes a scarier place the older we get, there’s a greater importance felt not only on people who are free thinkers, but also on properties that allow people to escape even if only for a short time. So now, I’m more proud to say I’m a Geek, than a member of the “Nintendo Generation.”