They Are Not Your Friends

WW Texas Day 1

2007-11-17T00:44:00.000-08:00

Hey gang,
been a while since I was on, so I decided to post a quick update before hitting the sack. Texas is in full swing, and the first day was not bad. Brisk sales and walk-ups throughout the day, and I had enough time to swing through artist alley. Good buddy/great artist Kody Chamberlain was out dropping the goods (Punks: The Comic) on fans and onlookers, Phil Hester and Andy Kuhn were doing their low key humble thing despite everyone telling them they rock, and Top Cow alums Joe Benitez and Billy Tan are representing for the Cow.

We had a good day with the big man, Marc Silvestri, Mike Choi, Michael Broussard, Kenneth Rocafort, Eric Basaldua and young Phil Hester signing at the booth. Good times had by all, or so it appeared. Fans definitely enjoyed it.

After the show we headed over to the live art + auction benefit Heroes for Heroes (no relation to the Hero Initiative). Marc destroyed a new Darkness piece, Michael tackled the Hulk, Hester rocked Swamp Thing (I wanted to win the auction, but alas I work in comics and money is limited), Eric did Aliens v. Predator, and Filip and Kody teamed for a Blaxploitation jam piece. Mike Choi decorated some wacky doll to look like either a soft venom or a chunky black suit Spider-Man. Filip should have pictures of most of these, so I'll try to get them on here in the coming days.

The night ended with a trip to Waffle House, which was only a mile walk from the hotel, and so worth it. Lest you think this blog is a complete waste, I present a snapshot of the now, showing me giving notes and doing the editorial thing, and Mike Choi doing what he doest best in the background.

More tomorrow, unless the night takes us...

2 General Rules to Better Pitching

2007-10-31T22:13:00.000-07:00

1. Be excellent.

2. Learn the difference between it's and its. It's a big one, that much I can promise you.

These rules should also be applied to writing in general as well.

Steven T. Seagle on the State of New Comics

2007-10-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

Vertigo's excellent American Virgin ongoing by Steven T. Seagle and Becky Cloonan will cease to go on, but Steve did offer this after the news.

I don’t know what else Becky and I could really do.

Though I have learned some more truths about monthly comics circa 2007:

Doing A Good Book Is Not Enough – You can see what the reaction is from people who actually read American Virgin. And yeah, before the naysayers pop up to post “Well, I hated it,” as they inevitably feel compelled to do – let me just say I didn’t really cherry pick too much here. What you read above is what is out there for the most part. And while I’ve known some creators who ask people to “pimp their rides,” to the best of my knowledge I don’t personally know any of the kind reviewers above – who I thank for their support. They just seemed to really like the book we were doing. But that wasn’t enough.

A Great Launch is Not Enough – Our first issue not only sold relatively well, but it actually sold out a four thousand copy overprint. American Virgin #1 clocked in at around 24,000 units (you never get that from these charts everyone analyzes month in and month out). Our second issue sold out too, and while I thought something would be made of the sell-outs, nothing was. Our bad – a lost opportunity to get some extra juice. And very quickly – despite really great reviews and buzz – and I mean very quickly, we were down to half that amount, and falling. I didn’t worry, because there was a lot of great press about the book and I thought, much like some other launches of the time, we’d get our rebound from the reviews and the release of the collections. But the reviews dwindled off and the second collection never seemed to come out until the writing was on the wall.

Fresh Takes Are Not Enough – I think we’re in an age that really wants fantasy – which American Virgin, obviously, is not. I was delighted that almost every review posted, or email I got, or person I talked to at a convention seemed to mention some variation on the phrase “I have no idea where this is going, but I like the ride.” I don’t want to do comics that are like a hundred comics that have come before them. But when I look at what’s making it in terms of monthlies, the truth is, it’s comics that look like a hundred comics (or movies, or TV shows) that have come before them. The comics I love lately are also dying on the vine because they’re not doing it by the numbers, and I think that’s pretty sad. Still, lesson noted, though not necessarily “learned.”

Letting the Work Speak For Itself Is Not Enough – By and large, I don’t like to get out there and hark about what a great job I’m doing. I always assume that if the work is good, people will notice. But it’s become clear to me that in the age of the super-star creator, it’s important to be yelling about what a f***ing genius you are from every corner. So in the future, when I’m yelling about what a f***ing genius I am from every corner, please remember that I feel as uncomfortable doing it as you must feel hearing it. And when someone posts “Seagle isn’t a f***ing genius” – as they will feel compelled to do - please post a follow-up explaining that I wish I didn’t have to be the person making such claims. PS – Becky Cloonan is a genius to begin with, so please don’t make her yell about East Coast Rising Volume 2, just go out and buy it when it comes out.

Going Out With A Bang Will Have To Be Enough – No, our ending is no surprise to me. I actually called my original editor, Shelly Bond, about a year ago and said, so when are we going to get axed? In actuality, I’m surprised we got this long. So thanks to Shelly, Karen Berger, Vertigo and all my esteemed collaborators on American Virgin over the last couple of years for making it this far. Becky and I have one story left – “69” – and you’ll have no idea where it is going…but you’ll like the ride.

Who knows, maybe if enough of you like it – buy those trades, my friends – we’ll be able to come back some time and do a little more with Adam and the seriously f***ed up Chamberlain clan.

Steven T. Seagle

He's right, of course. Not to shit all over the whole industry, but the fans are scared. Scared of new ideas. Scared of taking chances. Sad, sad state of affairs...

Writing Report - Early October 07

2007-10-11T00:34:00.000-07:00

Well, as much as the day seemed like it would never come, I've actually managed to make some progress on Wight. Issue 3 is in the can, and that means we're just two issues away. The series doesn't move at a breakneck speed with tons of action, it's moody and atmospheric and a little heavier on talking than I would like, but it's the nature of the genre. Well, one of the genres. I'm really excited for the last two issues because... things actually happen. Questions answered, people making decisions, all kinds of things.

3 down (barring notes), 2 to go.

***
Troy and I have been on a mini hiatus with our project. We were on a good roll and were pretty close to having most of the main story beats worked out to the point where we could put together a pitch for the damn thing, but we got derailed by life and work. Anxious to get back to that as well, but he's leaving town next week so... I think we should (and need) be able to get that locked down before Wizard World Texas in mid-November, so that's my goal. Once we land a publisher, I'll be able to discuss more.

***
I don't know what I want to write. I'm in a funk, and I want really loose assignments. I've still got what I think is a really solid screenplay floating around in my head, I just need to commit it to paper, and I've a few comic concepts I dig but I'm not sure I want to spend the time to develop.

I've been in a funk of late, and it has me questioning whether I want to write about what I thought I wanted to write about or write about what I know (which is basically all the themes I always right about). Melancholia and angst pretty much cut to the heart. I really just wish I had some kind of direction. The good news is, the two comic projects which have borne fruit have been very different. The thing with Troy, also quite different. It's not like things are getting stale, quite the opposite, I just feel lost and bogged down creatively. I want to know where I'm headed.

If anyone wants to have me write anything for them (publishers with money) or develop something from a nugget (artists with talent), let me know. I'm in a weird place and seemingly only getting weirder.

Buy My Books (on Amazon)

2007-10-08T01:13:00.000-07:00

I opened up a storefront to try and burn off some of the crap that's lying around my house.

For now it's just one box of old American Lit books, but eventually it will be comics, DVDs, and who knows what other trinkets I can dig up. I wonder what dignity fetches these days.

Anyhow, if you want to help me make some tiny bits of scratch and clean my apartment, please help.

Buy My Books.

Thanks!

Hunter

2007-10-02T17:41:00.000-07:00

I want to read this book, knowing little more than seeing this cover image.

Damn you, American comics.

Positivity is the Key to Reality

2007-09-27T15:25:00.000-07:00

That's what my friend used to say back in high school. It never made sense until it did.

By clicking this link, you can read about our delays in scheduling and some of what we're doing to fix it. Filip Sablik, our illustrious VP of Marketing & Sales, gives the dish.

Let me just reiterate that we are busting ass, spending every working hour trying to get ahead, get on time, and get things back on track. There are a lot of reasons why things fell behind in the past and are behind now. Thing is, those things are always going to come up. We have to find a way around them. Will we be 100% on time in 2008? Doubtful. Even if we do everything right, there could be a print error or a shipping delay or any other thing we literally cannot control no matter how timely our output is.

But we're trying. It frustrates us not to have regular books out there month after month. More than it does the readers even. It's going to get better. This isn't just hyperbole.

Hang tight. Things are looking positive.

The Norm

2007-09-18T18:22:00.001-07:00

"You Will Be Able To Penetrate Her Deeper"

2007-08-27T02:15:00.000-07:00

Man,
the spam I get on my work e-mail is so much better than my personal one. Not only is there less of it, but man oh man do they know what I want. I mean, for years I searched for the answer. And now I have it. I can have the ability to shoot across the room (always handy at cocktail parties), speak in tongues, and learn about the escapades of Courtney Love.

"Dude, don't let your wife find out about this!"

Truer Words

2007-08-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

"I think a genuinely funny movie always has a shot at doing well, because so few movies are really funny," Judd Apatow told The Associated Press.

Is it that hard to figure this stuff out? Good story + good writing + good acting = good movie. Forget formula and stars and marketing stunts... Just make it right, get it out there, and people will respond.

San Diego Fast Approaching...

2007-07-22T03:10:00.001-07:00

Gird your loins.

Dependence Day

2007-07-05T01:17:00.000-07:00

Less work and less alcohol than I was anticipating.

Had a bit to do early on, including some proofs from the printer. Other than that, the country seems to be completely shut down, so not too much action.

I fear for the remainder of the week.

So this is comics

2007-07-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

Here we are, 18 minutes past the 9pm hour on a strange Tuesday night. Not strange because the night is strange, mind you, but strange because tomorrow is a holiday and I assume everyone will be taking the day off. Well, everyone but me, unless an emergency arises. It's not to say that I'll be at the office, or that I'll be locked on to a computer screen all day, but I'll still be tethered. The fact that I don't have the ability to send and receive e-mail on my phone is probably the greatest detriment to my social life. But then, if I wanted a social life I should have never gotten into comics.

More to the point, this is comics. It's a strange Tuesday night, and there's three of us here at the office right now. An artist is working on backgrounds, I'm lamenting the fact that there is no alcohol, and Chaz is putting together a Previews section. Previews is the bane of my existence. Nothing, save getting books out on time, is harder. Somehow getting together the 6-10 covers we need each month, usually 4 of which are old and done for months, never happens on time. We shoot for a date, and then immediately miss it. It's probably because we're playing catch up instead of getting ahead, so the time we could be using is left to troubleshoot what hasn't previously happened.

Text isn't something I mess with. Along with marketing (shout out to Frutti), we determine what's going to be on sale in a given month. Again, this is set months and months in advance, especially in terms of what trade paperbacks we'll be soliciting since that goes to bookstores as well, but invariably things are changing right up until the last minute. Move a trade up here to have it in time for X. We need that book to coincide with X. It's a light month, so let's move this up a little bit. Whatever the case may be, things happen. And I haven't even mentioned the arduous chore of writing scintillating text for each item on sale to make it palatable to retailers, consumers, and the industry in general. Maybe it's because I don't do the majority of the writing. Thanks, di Beppo.

And then there's the matter of getting pagination and page numbers. Because of the way our Previews section is set up - images on the interior, text on the outer edges, we can't just design the section as soon as we have art and text. So that's another piece in the puzzle.

So knowing full well that text is due by X date, art is due by X date, pagination will be determined by X date and anything else we may need to know. Somehow, this Tuesday night repeats over and over again, month after month, section after section. It's not to say we're unorganized. It's not to say we're not trying. It's just to say that no one smiles upon us during these days, and we're left to wonder if there is any point at all in existence.

Maybe that's being melodramatic, but that's kind of how Previews feels to me. It's like someone stabbing you repeatedly in the stomach with knives you've provided them and then asking if they can buy some of your books.

I don't know. It's 9:30, I'm hungry, and we're still working. This is a typical day in the life.

What an Editor Does - by Steve Wacker

2007-07-02T23:20:00.000-07:00

Steve Wacker was kind enough to illustrate what it is we in the editing profession of comic booking do on a regular basis. It almost does the insanity justice.

Thanks, Steve.

______________________________________________________________

HOW PRETEND TO BE AN EDITOR AN EDITOR AT HOME
by Stephen Wacekr
-Ask a friend to go to her computer and to start sending 250-350 e-mails to you.
-Mark each of them HIGH PRIORITY.
-Find 17-23 people, each of whom you need to make happy. Pretend they’re all under contract to you and ask them too call with very legitimate questions and concerns… many of which have to do with money so you feel even more pressured (If at least one of them only speaks another language…all the better!)
-As the e-mails are “ding”ing into your mailbox, spill coffee on your shirt (VERY IMPORTANT EDITORIAL RULE I LEARNED THE HARD WAY #459: Don’t put original art on your desk when there are any drinks around…or fountain pens…or me.)
-Next, have someone play an assistant editor who’s generally more on the ball than you are and ask them to compile a couple dozen questions that another department needs answered so they can work on a budget.
-Answer one e-mail while being spoken to.
-As more questions are asked by the assistant, answer the phone.
-Grab a pile of papers and pretend it’s 32 pages of the greatest super-hero in the world and you have 20 minutes to make sure there are no mistakes before it has to go to the Bullpen to be composited for the printer.
-Open an e-mail pointing to an internet thread asking for you to be fired.
-Ding, it’s another e-mail, you failure.
-Try to start reading a script.
-Read page one 14 times as various calls and e-mails keep “ding”ing.
-If things are going right in this simulation, you will get interrupted by a…let’s call him Schom Krevoort who will remind you of a meeting in 10 minutes to discuss a very important spreadsheet.
-Read page one again. It’s a great page one.
-Make wish for a future filled with one page comics.
-Leave for meeting with list of three major things that must be done today, so other people can do their jobs.
-Don’t forget to call British talent early. They’re 5 hours ahead.
-Receive final proof of issue going to press right now.
-Find glaring error in it.
-Weep like Warren Ellis at a pub with no Wi-Fi.
-Wonder if you’re any good at this job in the first place.
-Be told “you could act like a man” Don Corleone style by Tom…I mean Schom.
-Artist just called. You forgot to send paper, ya idiot.
-Blame assistant.
-Read that page one again…dip into one panel of page two.
Get asked by a comic news site to answer 457 questions, most of which assume you’re a dullard to start.
-Spend 5-10 minutes discussing old comic story you liked with the 34 people you share an office with.
Have an awesome conversation with artist or writer you’ve admired for years. Learn something new about your Editor-in-Chief when he was breaking in.
-Remember why you love this job.
-Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.
-Notice you misspelled your own name up at the top of this. Good editing, creep.

No, Seriously.

2007-07-02T22:53:00.000-07:00

I'm not a well man.

That's not to say I'm sick. I was a bit sick last week, coughing up stuff, but I'm mostly clear of that and am now of sound body and mind. There's no alcohol or drugs coursing through this bloodstream. And yet, something is wrong with me.

My full-time gig takes up a lot of time. There's the fact that on an average day I wake up between 7 and 8, and from that point on barring a run or passing out in the shower, I'm checking e-mail pretty much constantly for the next 12-15 hours. All while fielding phone calls, pulling out my hair trying to juggle blown schedules, requests for umpteen different things, proofing, yelling at people who say they've uploaded when the files clearly aren't there, bugging people for scripts, reading scripts, making notes, planning the future, talking to my bosses, taking meetings and more. These are just a few of the many things I, as an editor, do on the day-to-day tip.

Then there's the freelance stuff I'm already set to do. I wrapped my one-shot a couple weeks back, but I still have my OGN that became a mini that added an issue bringing the total up to 5. I've written almost two issues. Issue two is in flux, but then after that I should proceed steadily toward the finish line ably abetted by my co-writer, David.

Then there's the thing I'm putting together to pitch with Troy. We're meeting only about once a week when one of us isn't out of town, but the goal is to have that thing totally pitchable and probably be under way with script by the end of July. We're not pitching at SDCC per se, but having it ready by then would definitely not be a bad thing.

But here's where I'm sick in the head. Last week I had an idea. I should write a screenplay, I thought. Yeah, and I should do it by my birthday or, failing that, by the end of August. So on top of my ridiculous schedule, my freelance commitments, my project with Troy, balancing a social life and exercising, I'm going to find time in my day to write a feature-length screenplay in the next 60 days. Well, less than that considering July 2 is almost spent.

And to drive the point home, I'm not coming at this with an idea from the green folder. I haven't pulled anything out of the file on my writing e-mail. I haven't even thought of an idea, sparked to it, and been off to the races. I am very much, out of my ass, trying to write something with a sub-60 day time limit and have it done. Now, I'm not talking about a final draft. I'm talking about a first draft. A version I'm happy with could be months or years away. But I need to accomplish something, and I need to make sure I'm writing every day.

So far the longest script I've written happened across two nights and somehow managed to get up to about 47 pages. Sadly, I can't confirm this, nor can I confirm how bad it is, because I can't seem to find the damn thing anywhere. I'll look through some old hard drives when I'm done here. Anyhow, that was during my sophomore year of college. A little over a year ago, I finished school. I decided the next thing I was going to do was write a TV pilot. Well, I managed to get Pilot Season off the ground at TC, but no such luck on my own endeavors. I have an idea, I even have some early notes somewhere, but ostensibly I've done nothing.

So here I sit, a month and a half from another birthday, with nothing more under my belt that I can really and truly hang my hat on. So it's time to suck it up and be a man. Or at least make the most of my free time. What little time that is.

Anyone has any ideas for what I should write about... Please feel free to share.

I Quit

2007-04-16T02:42:00.001-07:00

No more blogging. Not for a while anyway.

Bye.

Seattle Friday

2007-03-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

Not much going on.

We got here. We checked in. We checked out the convention center, which the front desk tried to tell us was a mile and a half away, but was closer to a half a minute walk. Our boxes and booth weren't there yet, so here's hoping it all shows in time for me to set up prior to the show tomorrow.

Met up with Marz, and saw the sights. We went to the Space Needle (but stayed down on earth), and the Gehry designed Science Fiction Museum, but didn't make it past the gift shop. Then we went via monorail down to the wharf, and Pike St. Market, where we went to a comic shop (go figure) and ate dinner at a French restaurant. I had cassoulet, which had all sorts of meats I shouldn't be eating, but it was pretty damn good.

After that, we took the monorail back to the needle, and walked back to Marz's hotel. A quick drink with Aaron Lopresti and Frank Cho later and we've retired to our room at the Silver Cloud. Yeah, we have a giant plasma TV hanging on our wall. It's nice. Unfortunately, all the con folk are at the hotel we left from... Why they're not closer to the show, I don't know. But hey, at least I can roll out of bed whenever I want.

Anyhow, like I said, not much going on.

Emerald City Comicon

2007-03-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

I'm off to Seattle in the morning for the Emerald City Comicon, hosted by the very kind Jim Demonakos.

I'll be bringing some books, some displays, and the guy that drew this:

See you there. Everyone else, be patient with me.

Deadlines Can be Murder

2007-03-29T11:34:00.000-07:00

In fact, I've thought very seriously about murdering many creative types due to their inability to turn in work.

And yet, a simple aphorism from the always affable Rob Schwager has kept me on the straight and narrow:

Don't murder anybody.

Comic books aint worth possibly getting buggered in jail.

He just might be on to something.

Not Fired!

2007-03-22T02:03:00.000-07:00

I've been sucking hard. (That's what she said.)

Honestly, my output, my commitment, and my work has not been there of late in terms of my writing. I've been so beaten down by work and life, that I didn't care about anything anymore. It got so bad, that after I tried to quit and then rededicated myself to the project because I was an idiot, I then did nothing. I tried to do many things, but the work wasn't coming. The words weren't there. So I made an alternate plan, calling for more assistance from the mighty Wohl, and saying I would get him X, Y, and Z. All I got him was E, for excuses. It was so bad that he had to light a fire under my ass, giving me a drop-dead of Thursday morning (a few hours from now) for getting what I promised in, or he would assume he should proceed without me.

Maybe some would call that dick, but I call that good editing. He knows I want to work on this book. He knows I want this under my belt. And he definitely knows how jazzed I am to be working with my artist. If anyone doesn't know, I'm on the book with Kody Chamberlain, and it's called Wight and Associates, out this Fall. I'll put up the promo piece here on the site, but it already appeared in the Zero-G Preview book. Anyhow, David threatened to take away what I wanted. And even though it took me until 2am to get it to him, I think it's in under the gun, unless there's a catastrophic e-mail failure or something.

Seriously though, tonight was probably the last night I expected to get any work done. I was tired, I was sad, I was uninspired. But I got off my ass and I wrote. And that's what writers do. They write. Simple as that.

FUCK!

2007-03-14T00:54:00.000-07:00

It's like I'm making negative progress. As an admitted procrastinator with a deadline on the way, how is my idiot brain not getting this.

Write words. Turn in scripts. Get on with life.

FUCK!

Slaving Over a Hot Script

2007-03-13T23:06:00.000-07:00

I have no idea how to make this not suck.

It's a bad premise for a comic. It's not visually appealing, there are too many characters, and the writer isn't experienced enough to make it work. He tries. He tries straight writing, beat breakdowns, whatever. There's no way to get around the fact that he's also spent hours staring at what is essentially a flashing cursor (although Final Draft's cursor often disappears).

The problem is that what I care about is not sucking, not telling a good story. And that's a major problem. Someone could tell a good story with this, it just isn't me, or at least it isn't the me of today. I wrote the original #2 in two days. That's the actual writing, not the thinking about, plotting, etc. Now I can't seem to make it any better, despite months having gone by. I think the first draft was done on November 19, the second on February 11. Yeah, I turned in a first draft on #3 in between as well, but shit...

Why can't I just hack this thing out and get it done? Why can't I make a single ounce of fucking progress. I'm tired of not getting any closer. Why does nothing inspire me?

The Definite Maybe: Movies - Is this Work?

2007-03-13T00:38:00.000-07:00

The Definite Maybe: Movies - Is this Work?

I posted a quick preview of some movies based on trailers. It's not super indie-skewing (just a little), but I'm excited to be watching trailers and thinking about movies at all.

Operation Not Quitting - Phase One

2007-03-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

I was a stupid idiot. I took a job, I wasn't happy with my own work, I procrastinated, then I tried to quit. I'm over it.

So now I need a new script that I can be happy with and that can let me move on to the next one by late Thursday night. The good news is, I've completely written the script twice before. This will officially be my third draft, but between all the treatments and revisions on that, I'll call it my unofficial fourth. So the good news is, I know how it starts, and roughly how it ends. The bad news is, it's been gutted. A scene I've had problems with in every version is now gone, leaving me with four empty pages before a pivotal scene happens after the now missing scene.

All in all, after throwing out everything I had problems with, I have eight pages of script already written. I may need to finesse to make fit with the new version and surrounding scenes, but I'm just over 1/3rd of the way there. Problem is, I'm 2/3rds out and a little unsure how much of the now missing scenes can be reworked and salvaged versus what I need to go completely original with. Made some notes tonight, but it's more pre-planning than planning. I think I can get it worked out in my head during the day tomorrow (or at least I hope), then get to some typing and maybe knock half of what's left out tomorrow.

The interesting thing is two of the new ideas I had today. One will strengthen the overall story, and the other, I'm not sure about... Could be a complete waste or a nice expansion of the narrative. It could go either way based on execution, which is exactly what I'm blanking on. Oy...

This isn't going to be easy. And it may not be great. But it will be better than it was (which I'm told wasn't terrible), and it will be done on time. I'm going to get some sleep now to ensure that this happens.

Finding a Voice

2007-03-12T00:34:00.000-07:00

My biggest problem right now, in addition to having no time, not being very good, and possibly jumping ship on a project I've been embroiled in for some time, is that I have no idea who I want to be as a writer.

Most of the time I want to do gritty, hard-edged character-based stuff with a crime, con, or lay person caught up in something bigger vibe. But I often end up back with the really small, character-based relationship bullshit. Ostensibly every story I've ever written is about the end of some relationship we barely see, getting the hell out of dodge, and trying to cope with moving on. And every character is me at some stage of my past life or an imagined stage of my future.

I don't really have anyone I can pattern myself after. I alternate between wanting to be the serious Coen Brothers, Wes Anderson with smaller casts, anyone who is my flavor of the moment, a Kasdan, or today, Scott Frank. Is there a way to marry what I want to do, these intelligent crime stories wrapped with the shiny but tarnished bow of the anti-romantic comedy? Is merging the two how I finally come up with something original?

It's part of what has me torn about my latest spec non-project. I feel like from a character-based perspective, it's the best idea I've had in a while. The problem is, the B story, which is actually the A story of each individual episode is giving me problems. The setup is clever, ties into my even more clever title, and gives me worlds of possibilities. But all I can come up with, beyond the pilot, is incredibly dull. I see parts of the pilot so clearly. I see the set-up and the emotional arc and several potential endings that all serve the same purpose, but I have no idea what makes up the bulk of what's beyond that. This isn't a movie idea. It's not a done in one (or two hours, as it were) deal I can just tell and walk away from. It's a process for the characters, who will essentially never become whole again, no matter how close they get. This is the static nature of television. Now what's the story?

So I'm torn. And I don't know where anything is headed, or if anything will ever get written again. Other than blogs.

That Was Stupid

2007-03-11T19:57:00.000-07:00

After another weekend spent suffering over the fact that I can't write for shit, or at least can't write my unannounced OGN with my super-talented artist, I told my editor/"co-writer" that maybe they should find someone to replace me.

Considering I'm unpublished, not very good, and not in the position to set myself up for future work by bailing on my first real gig, that probably wasn't the smartest of moves.

***
I've been really bummed since getting back from New York for a lot of reasons. It's been a tough two weeks and I've done a lot of reevaluating of my station in life. I think for the past several months, I put my eggs all in one basket. I decided to go full steam ahead with comics, and dedicate everything I was doing to it. Sure, I was going to work on those spec pilots in the background, but in 2 months it will have been a year since I graduated, and I haven't written so much as a title page for any of them. Hell, I'm barely watching movies as it is.

It would be fine if comics were the be all and end all of my universe. But the more I read, the less I like. And while my career is going great - no 22 year-old should be in the position I'm in - it's not the career I want for my life. I want to be a writer. I don't want to manage schedules and traffic art and be a babysitter. I'd be in a better position as a writer if I could finish anything. The problem is, I'm not writing what I want to. I said yes to two opportunities because I thought they were what I wanted so I could use them as stepping stones, but instead they've both become albatrosses. Artists hard at work telling stories I've grown out of favor with, and me scrambling to try and come up with something that will live up to my expectations and their skill.

I need to figure out what the hell I'm doing with my life, and I need to figure it out fast. This is a crisis. I need time to write, and time is the one thing I don't have. If I had money, I could have time, and then maybe I would actually write. I just wish I had something could believe in. Right now I don't believe in much. Not myself, not my ideas, and certainly not my writing. But I know all it would take is the right sentence. The right turn of phrase or combination words and I could kill myself all over again to make something happen.

People are defined by how they react to crises. How will I react to one of my own making? Who will I disappoint with my decisions?

New York Time

2007-02-21T20:46:00.000-08:00

I'm typing this post from The New Yorker Hotel. Top Cow is in town for the New York Comicon this weekend, so be sure to stop by Booth #217.

It's going to be an interesting rest of the week with 2 books set to go out, and no editors physically at the office. But at least we have Internet, so when I can hang out in the room, it's like a virtual office. Kind of weird not being there for pages coming in though.

***
I'm still hard at work on my top secret project with my Top Secret artist. But there's a book available at the show that spills the title, if not the creative team. Be on the lookout for that...

But anyway, I'm having problems with the script. I rewrote the second issue and felt like I had worked through some issues. Problem is they were all minor ones. The major ones I couldn't exactly get a handle on are still there. Having reread it with new notes, I definitely see that now. But to help me get this thing on the right track, I've started reading Syd Field's Screenwriter's Problem Solver. It's incredibly repetitive, but I think it's helping.

The end goal is to create a script I'm proud of so we can all have a book we're proud of. And of course, I want to do it in a way that actually allows me to finish working on it and move on to other projects a better writer for it. I'm trying to get there...

Kurt Vonnegut *

2007-01-28T21:54:00.000-08:00

I took the "Which Science Fiction Writer Are You?" test.

I lucked out and got Mr. Vonnegut.

I am:

Kurt Vonnegut

For years, this unique creator of absurd and haunting tales denied that he had anything to do with science fiction.

Which science fiction writer are you?

Rotten

2007-01-23T23:22:00.001-08:00

Some days just start out bad.

You wake up to a stack of e-mail you know is going to make you late for work. Work e-mail of course. You don't have time for the personal variety. One of those e-mails is from an artist's agent, and uses the words please, soon, talk, and serious stuff. It's going to be a long day.

Storms get weathered, conversations get had, and days go on. This one went on and on, spiraling into a debilitating headache that began on the nearly hour-long drive home (total time of commute today - 100 minutes) and ended while trying to pack up my belongings for the move.

You run the production meeting and take a look at the schedule. Maybe it's just because I'm Jewish, but New Year's doesn't seem like it would take that much time away from work. People keep talking about these holidays, but you were at work... The schedule is a dangerous mistress.

Another artist sends you an e-mail claiming there's no way he can do the work by the given time. He can either hack it out, or it will have to go in FedEx tomorrow. He can't get it done in time. You come up with an impassioned plea, illustrating the marriage of art and commerce in the comics industry, and how once again a couple hours on either day of the weekend could have avoided this problem. Or waking up earlier. By the time you push send, there's another e-mail in your inbox telling you that he's finished, and that the pages will go out today.

Wash that down with a thought-dead project roaring back to life for another round of revisions. The time spent managing the project has taken more time than than some entire series do. You're not complaining, it's just a bad to day to have yet another thing back on the plate.

At least one of your superstars came through today, and the marketing requests were dealt with in an extremely expedient manner.

Oh, and those people who told you to make X, Y, and Z changes, and you explained which could and couldn't happen. They've given you the same corrections and more. It's like talking to yourself, and you wonder if there's any way to be more clear than addressing issues point by point.

Some days start out bad. Others end that way. My middle was gooey and delicious. Well, for leftovers anyhow. At least yesterday I watched Scrubs. Stupid Tuesday...

Mentions of My Tyranny

2007-01-20T10:17:00.000-08:00

There's a mention of me in the interview up about The Darkness Levels series on Broken Frontier.

A Good Day

2007-01-20T10:04:00.000-08:00

That's what yesterday was.

I've only been in this game for 3 years. I've been reading comics for almost two decades (I know what the first one I bought was, but not the first one I ever read...), but I'm still a relative rookie at this. But I've got determination and panache, and that coupled with guile is what's gotten me this far. Well, that plus accumulated contact info from coworkers, freelancers, the Internet, and my own travels.

So I claim yesterday as a victory. Not only did I call an industry legend and not get turned down about a project, but another damn good artist sent me an e-mail that helped make my day. He basically admitted that I had convinced him to work for me, and that he was resigned to doing it at some point soon, since he could tell it was bound to happen sooner or later.

I don't know about you, but in a world where I do nothing but complain about exclusive contracts and sweat over blown deadlines, this one gets chalked up in the win column.

Shot Down, Put Up

2007-01-17T00:12:00.000-08:00

Some changes didn't take. Things that went up, had to go down. It's hard when we don't make announcements. Wires get crossed, and intentions are off.

One of the new artists is here. I mean physically here in my apartment, currently calling the couch home. In the absence of proper Kung Fu, he opted for the director's cut of Kingdome of Heaven. More power to him for going Ridley on his first night in Los Angeles.

It's been a very long day. I had some good chats with artists today, including a major cover artist. Spent a lot of time on the phone somehow. I don't like the phone. Talk to me on e-mail where I can answer a question and let us both move on with our lives. Otherwise, we're just wasting time with pleasantries when bidness can be getting done. Hell, when I call people I'm the pleasantry type, but when they call me I feel as though we don't need to waste our time. Certain people I don't mind, but I guess it's the ones I do that seem to take forever on the phone. My mom doesn't count. She's allowed to monopolize my time.

C.B. Cebulski is good people. If I haven't linked Chesterfest off to the right, I really need to.

Brain Crippled

2007-01-15T00:37:00.000-08:00

I've been sitting here for over an hour working at one thing. Well, two things if you count making some additions to my ever-expanding, newly renovated Amazon wish list.

So I'm writing this graphic novel, right. I was 3/4 of the way in, and have notes on the second and third parts. I could easily have made the notes, turned in my voucher, and moved on to the final chapter of the book. Problem is, I'm fairly happy with the first script. I like how it begins, I like how it ends, and I like some of how we get there. The rest, not so much. It's full of plot for plot's sake, lack of character development, and way too many one page scenes. I'm still finding my rhythm as a comics scribe, since screenwriting is so ingrained in my brain. I lose the ability to think visually most of the time, since instead of a moving shot, every narration, every line of dialogue, every instance of a comic has to be spaced out and described. I write a lot of "Angle on the schmuck" type of descriptions.

Back to my problem. I could get the scripts polished and done. Hell, I could do it in about an hour tops, and likely before I went to bed tonight. But then I'd go to sleep knowing that my first substantial published work was nothing more than a hack job. I gave up on it when things got tough. So weeks after I meant to (the notes were a little slow), I spent the weekend trying to get things right. I'm retooling the story, replacing a major subplot, and trying to pace it better. But it's not going. At all.

My new subplot isn't a subplot at all. I've done plot graphs to try and figure how each story breaks down, and I've tried to work more intrinsically from character. I know who this guy is, the one who is the focal piece of my new subplot, but I have no idea if he has a story. See, the idea behind it is basically the same idea as the main plot. And that's when I start realizing, my A story is barely there. My A story is strung together by the pieces of B and C, and my D is just a love story. It's the only thing I know how it actually plays out. And hey, look, A and D come together at the end and it all makes sense from a character perspective so all must be well. Do I need four storylines? No, of course not. But do I need four main characters with three or four other major ones? Apparently so. Since this isn't my baby or my call, I can't make wholesale changes.

What I want to do is throw it all away. Remove one character entirely (yes, the first issue is already underway with that character in it). I think the tiny part of A that bleeds into B/D should become A entirely. Put mystery at the center of the book. B should be separate. Treat is as an actual subplot, not something that ties into the larger story unnecessarily. C... Still a problem. It gives me something to do with two characters, but there's really nothing there. At all. Over an hour in and I've got jack for anything. D... Well, at least some things stay the same.

It's easy to please other people. It's much harder to please yourself. Right now, I'm the measure of displeased. And I just want to be done (I planned and was supposed to finish by the end of 2006, so many days ago). But I'm not getting any closer, and this story is barely getting any better. I've made one major tweak other than the partial gutting that makes the story stronger, but nothing else is coming along.

I'm just working through my inability to write out loud, so pardon me for being a waste of words right now.

Does Mark Bagley Work Weekends?

2007-01-07T22:35:00.000-08:00

There's no work ethic in the comics industry.

I don't take days off. Sure, I don't go into the office on weekends (well, some weekends) and I certainly work less hours, but not a day goes by that I don't check e-mails, make phone calls, or deal with problems. Is it wrong for me to expect the same of the people I work with?

If the work doesn't get done Monday through Friday, Saturday and Sunday provide a means to catch up. Makes sense to me. But I guess that's the problem. I hold people to standards that are too high. I want them all to be at least as smart as me or work at least as hard as I do. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but that's not going to happen. When it comes to work, I put it before most things. I sacrifice for the greater good. That doesn't mean I'm not selfish, but it does mean my heart's in it. I'm all in, 100%.

So when I need pages done or things drawn or whatever, I expect it to get done. I don't expect excuse after excuse or "I don't work on the weekends." That's not good enough for me.

But that's the problems with expectations. The higher they are, the harder they are to meet. Sometimes good things happen. Most times you're stuck holding the phone, trying to clean up the mess you did everything to keep from happening.

Say what you want about Mark Bagley or his work (which I'm a fan of), but that guy gets it done rain or shine. There are no excuses that could keep him from coming through when it counts. I need a Bagley, I need a Hester, I need a Romita Jr. I need people to step up, be accountable, and get things done. That's the only way to succeed.

Let's let the failing stop now.

What a Week

2007-01-04T23:01:00.000-08:00

As of tomorrow, I'll mark the end of my first official week in my new position since we were technically closed last week, even though a few of us spent the whole week working (and really, when do I not?). It's been trying and satisfying and I'm realizing one can never have too many pens, sticky notes, or enough time. I'm trying to squeeze every hour out of every day, and in the end I have to learn to just step back and be an alcoholic. Not turn to drink, but to accept the things I cannot change.

Holidays are a funny time for artists. The rest of the world has holidays off, so why shouldn't they? As a person I absolutely believe that they should. And for some, the holidays are the normal ones (X-mas Eve and proper, New Year's Eve and proper), but for others they extend for weeks or even months. The problem is, this is comics. Comics, for better or worse, despite physical improbabilities and impossibilities are a monthly business. One month you pick up issue X of a comic, and the next issue Y. The letter columns used to say "See you in 30!" They don't say it anymore. Largely because the vast majority have eschewed letters columns in favor of editorial or advertising content, and also because it's hard to say. The level of quality needed to elevate books beyond adequate or hack is possessed by quite a few artists, but only a tiny fraction can kick ass and take names without ever missing a beat or having the quality suffer. Working for a company founded by a legendary artists that has produced many soon-to-be legendary artists and other modern masters, it's hard to ask the talent to balance the speed (commerce) with the artistic vision they have. It gets done, but without months of prep, it's often not done monthly.

Part of my headache for the past 36 hours or so has been taking a look at the schedule. It's been a bit like an old cartoon where a character is in a small boat and a tiny leak springs. He puts his finger or a bucket or some other item over the hole and congratulates himself. Only to be struck by another stream of water. Again and again our intrepid hero finds a way to plug each hole, but more and more spring up. It's always the case with editing, but I'm without any sort of safety net right now. It's a crucial time for a number of things, and I'm doing everything I can to stopgap and plan ahead and mend. It's taking a mental toll if not a physical one (Hey, it's 11pm and I'm still awake. That's a victory). But I know at the end of the day, there's only so much I can do. I can't do what I ask my artists could do. I have to rely on them to come through, to have faith that the schedules we shoot for will be met, and find creative solutions when they're not. I'm experimenting with more and more ways to do things. I'm looking for better calendar and spreadsheet options to manage my days. I'm doing a lot of things more than once as I get my bearings.

And through it all I struggle with the same problems. Lack of talent, lack of reliable talent, lack of affordable talent, disgruntled talent, too much talent at the wrong times, etc. I could kid myself and say that I can find a way to get out of the hole forever. But it's not possible. There's always something. Call it Murphy's Law or SSDD. I like my job. Right now I wouldn't trade it for any alternative. I'll find a way to make things better, and in the future I'll have even more ways to deal with each thing that goes wrong. Right now I'm still figuring it all out.

And speaking of taking weeks off, I really need to get back to my OGN. I've seen about five pages of it so far, but I really need to get all my revised scripts done and approved. I still haven't even written a first draft of the ending. Yeesh. This coming from the guy who bitches about unreliable talent. At least my artist isn't waiting on me, right?

Alright, I'm going to hop on ComicSpace and deny a bunch of people I've never met. Then I'm going to read a pitch. Then I'm going to sleep. But not before I check my e-mail one last time...

Animator vs. Animation I & II

2007-01-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

Forward to me by Edgar Delgado of Studio F fame. It's pretty clever stuff.

Part I

Part II

Trudging

2006-12-07T00:56:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to write. Trying to finish the script I couldn't finish over the weekend because of the USC loss and other issues of concentration.

I'm trying, but my body won't let me. The headache I've had for the last 7 hours won't die. It's making me seriously consider putting a hole in my head with something sharp to ease the pain. I knew my roommate had that drill for a reason.

I'm averaging a page every 58 minutes. That included bathroom breaks and whatever else, but come on. I don't know what my average speed is, but it has to be faster than that. Right now it feels like there is no end in sight.

Seriously, hole in the head seems like a plan. Ow.

Do Not Ignore Ramos

2006-12-06T17:51:00.000-08:00

Did you know that Humberto Ramos, artist extraordinaire, blogs. You can check it out right here.

I did not know this. Did you?

Done Day

2006-11-20T00:15:00.000-08:00

First draft of the second "issue" of my first ever comic is done. My artist, the amazing [Can I mention his name yet?] is doing some roughs this weekend and getting started probably tomorrow on #1. He'll be going fairly slow (as he's working on multiple projects and transitioning full time to comics right now), so I don't know when the actual book will be complete, but those first pages will be pretty special to me. I just hope I live up to how good he is with my scripts.

***
What's less Machiavellian than chess, but can carry some of the same connotations? That's the question I asked myself for a while today, to no avail. I did learn about all sorts of Chaturanaga game family games though. None of them seemed to suit my purposes, so I went a different route.

***
Friday night saw me finish up the breakdowns, where I figure out the pagination and beats of everything I'm going to write for the last 66 pages of the OGN. From there I was able to get over myself and my overanalysis of pacing, do my job, and let the editors tell me where it doesn't work. This will only backfire if they respond with, "It doesn't work anywhere." But there's a good chance nothing quite that bad will happen.

The rest of the weekend I work basically non-stop except for food and Monster House breaks. Damn that's a taut script, and one that I learned a lot from watching. Even the second time I was reminded how good it is. Wish I had that command.

***
Work continues to be both awesome and frustrating. The 2007 schedule is basically set, and some of what I'd like to see done didn't make it into the game plan. I've jumped head-first into the rest of it though, and I'm trying to make the most of it.

Still, it's frustrating. Especially when someone takes the time to read something but doesn't actually read it. They say something that strikes you as odd and uninformed, then you go back and say, "Yeah, this could have been avoided if the instructions were followed." It's like that test back in elementary school, where you have a minute to complete a sheet with some crazy number of instructions on a page, but #1 is to read all the directions before beginning the test. When you get down, further, you realize that the test isn't to get the BS work done, it's to follow instructions. The last instruction tells you you've already won and to put your pencil down. The first time I got this, I was off to the races. Needless to say I felt like a chump. Anyhow, some things never change. Not for me, but, you know, for some people.

Having a good time taking full advantage of my ability to bust my ass so that the schedules are adhered to, only to have Murphy's Law constantly come into play. Today a colorist informs me that his hard drive bit the dust. He's not coloring multiple books right now. None of them are due this week...

I do the best I can. I work in comics for a living. I'm getting published and collaborating with an awesome artist. I guess that's all I can ask for at 22. 23... You're in for so much trouble.

Back Up Offa Me

2006-11-15T02:49:00.000-08:00

So I'm officially go for writing a back up story to appear in the back of some Top Cow books at some point soon. Just wrapped the story and sent it off to the higher-ups (it's already been approved by the managing editor...). Got to spend some time researching cool things like psycho-pharmacology, human waste disposal, and random acts of torture. Not exactly what I pictured when I set out to write this thing, but I went with my gut and stayed the course. Not sure if the hook is as strong as it could be, but I don't think anyone will see it coming. Or maybe they won't care. We'll see what happens when I get some feedback.

Either way, it's a nice change of pace from my OGN work. And it will be awesome to see art rolling in on both projects. No one has ever drawn anything I've written. Unless you count my flying squirrel book from way the hell back. Not only did I attempt to draw it, probably in crayon, but I made up a word that was about 9 words long combined from all sorts of gibberish and prefixes (a 10 year-old's take on cyber punk) and scribbled it down on my desk at home. Not on paper on the desk, but in pencil on the desk itself. Not sure how bad that little book is now, but knowing I was never an artist, and I'm still not the writer I want to be...

Anyhow, I'm writing. Not as much, as fast, or exactly the creator-owned projects I would like, but I'm getting paid to do something I love. How can you beat that?

New vs. Used

2006-11-14T16:11:00.000-08:00

My job is like a used car.

Damn You, Fraction!

2006-11-14T10:06:00.000-08:00

You did the unthinkable...

WHY???!!!!??!?!?? Why did Stilt Man have to die to suit your sick purposes?

I Missed Halloween?

2006-11-01T17:08:00.000-08:00

Things have been tight and hectic of late. Trying to get everything wrapped before I leave for Atlanta tomorrow night.

I've got:

A script to polish so my artists can get started
Ad text to write
A back-up story to research and write, and I'm not even 100% sure what character has been agreed upon for it.

All that and my television skills are falling way behind. The combination of missing cable and Internet at my girlfriend's house is partly to blame. So is my addiction to all things that let me skip the minutiae of life.

Anyhow, I'm swamped. But I always have time for Tony Lee...

Link of the week:
Jock tells you how to do covers the awesome way. That Jock... He's amazing.

Hot Damn!

2006-10-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

I don't know how much I can say about my book, considering I haven't even mentioned anything except it involved me writing and is four issues of potential awesome wrapped into a single OGN volume, but I've gotten cryptic news.

When I asked for artist approval, I really wanted veto power more than anything else to not get stuck with some talentless and flavorless artist whose work is barely better than my own (art, not writing). I didn't actually think I would get my #1 choice on the book, but sometimes things end up coming together in exactly the right ways.

When I can share more, such as his identity, or anything about/from the book, this is the place to find out about it. You know, eventually.

v2 Completion

2006-10-22T20:07:00.000-07:00

I finished the polish, incorporating notes and whatever ideas I didn't come up with between my first draft and my second drafts. It's really more of a polish, as I tend to think of a draft as something more akin to a page one rewrite or where motivations and characters actually change. I did more clarification than alteration, although I think a minor tweak or two will actually help make later events a little more cohesive.

Now I'm jumping back onto issue #2 and trying to finish it in about a week. If I get into a good rhythm, and I don't fall asleep, I can do 7 pages in a day. I don't like to, because I feel like I lose myself at the end and it could end up reading like a rush job, but I'm fairly confident that I can pace myself out over the next 8 days and finish with another script I can tolerate, and maybe even be proud of.

***
Speaking of pacing, NANOWRIMO is coming 'round the bend again. I'd love to get down for this, just to try and push myself and see what happens, but I'm busy enough with work that writing paid work is a lot on my plate, so I'll target '07 as my first attempt. We'll play it by ear though, as prose isn't exactly the easiest thing to structure. My brain is much more geared for screenwriting than anything else. While I really like prose, anything beyond short form is beyond my current comfort zone.

File Mover

2006-10-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

Because other programs like this generally suck, let me introduce you to my new friend, Pando.

I think it's great because it's free. And easy. And makes me make me think of how life should be.

Thanks to one of the two Jasons I met last month for the info.

Complimented

2006-10-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

Troy tells me that Matt Fraction's writing voice is my everyday voice.

I'm not sure there's a better compliment I can get before lunch. Feel free to try.

Dead Body Squad

2006-10-11T12:18:00.000-07:00

File this under inspiring research.

I want to see this documentary series. One never knows when morbid facts can come in handy. I'm speaking both as a writer and a conversationalist.

Middle Man

2006-10-10T16:13:00.000-07:00

Everybody hates the middle man.

Somehow, that's what I've become. The guy caught between companies, employees, departments, etc. At what point did everyone start hating everything they do and everyone they do it with? I'm sure that's not really the case, but it definitely feels that way.

I just want to go home and bury my head in the sand. I'm tired of pettiness, squabbling, and over exertion. I'm just tired...

Work, Work, Work

2006-10-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

That's all I do. I'm like one of those Keebler elves or whoever showed up in that movie with Snow White. Only I don't whistle. I have the power, but I don't do it whilst I work.

I've been having a lot of ideas pop into my head. Maybe it's because it's TV season and movies still suck, or maybe I'm an unfocused madman. I'm checking both boxes. Just can't seem to stick with one idea for very long of late, probably because I'm always in the middle of something else when "inspiration" strikes.

Anyhow, things at work are insane. Deadlines are useless it seems. There is no easy button in comics.

An Artist

2006-10-03T22:13:00.000-07:00

Filip Sablik, newly of Top Cow, is an artist of rising stature.

Check out his workblog here, or in the links to the right. Maybe one day he'll find me across the web and we can be Top Cow buddies blogging our freelance working lives. Or I could just drop him a line and beg. I'm still deciding.

Rough Cut Lady

2006-09-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

Overheard war stories from Fraction, Wood, and others.

Fraction provided this as a nice little injection of humor:

Rough Cut Lady

Scripted

2006-09-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

Well, that's a nice feeling.

I just put the finishing touches on my first draft. I've written a comic. It's at this point that I wait a few days and they tell me something along the lines of, "We really like what you're doing, and we definitely want to work with you in the future, but we're going to go a different direction on this project." I'll smile, they'll tell me that they hope I understand, and that I'll still be paid for my efforts.

Or maybe they'll tell me it's decent. That's what I want to happen. Or for them to say, this is shitty, this is golden, and here's how to make it all work. I don't know. This will really be the first time my creative writing, not my ability to summarize, has been put to the test at such a high level. Based on the three page sample I sent to someone, I think it will at least be passable. Enough that I won't need a page one rewrite.

Either way, I just finished, so now I need to do another pass and make sure that there isn't a missing page or the worst line in the world stuck in there. I've got some issues with some of the later stuff, but it's still too wet for me to mess with it. I'm going to take the Marz route and rescript after I get the line art. I'm working full script, as I don't know how to just plot, nor would I want to. I think I mentioned, there's a lot of room for the artist to play with things. Not a lot of opportunity for money shots, but maybe that's the kind of thing an editorial pass will fix.

Or maybe the money comes later... After the fame...

Crunch Time

2006-09-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

Got a little more insight on my issues with narration. The thing I have to remember is that Brian Cox isn't Robert McKee and he won't be yelling at me for using narration. There's a difference between film and comics, as many similarities as they may share. There are different rules, different pacing, and different everything. So I'm going to let the story be my guide.

Today is the last day I have to work on my first draft of my first issue of my first comic. That sounds pretty cool to say, I just wish I had gotten more work done yesterday. I couldn't focus so I ended up thinking about the book while watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. That show, while maybe overrated by my roommate, is highly underrated. Good stuff.

Time to finish up my book. At least the Falcons aren't on TV, so that's one distraction down.

Extraneous Speech

2006-09-16T02:51:00.000-07:00

I haven't figured out how I feel about narration in comics.

Alan Moore can do it. Everyone that's ever written Wolverine thinks they can do it. It's certainly much more viable and integral to a great many stories than voice-over narration is in the cinema. But is it more harm than help?

I had a whole hook, a reason to use narration in my book. But I didn't really feel the need to narrate enough, as I'd rather let the story tell itself, and so I had to rethink my plan. I like the little bit I did, but it wasn't enough to make it make sense to keep it.

Got my first five pages tweaked and added a new one in, and I did two or three pages overall tonight, not including the tweaks. Still on track for Monday, as my quest to get my first pic artist inches ever closer to the home stretch.

Anyway, really tired. I've got a long day tomorrow. I wanted to get one more page done, get my total down to an even number, but my vision is starting to blur. Night to all.

Chugging

2006-09-14T01:57:00.000-07:00

I passed out earlier trying to read a script. I thought that was it for my night, but somehow a glass of chocolate milk gave me a second wind.

Woke up, read the last nine pages of the script, and sent my one note on it off to the writer and our lovely Editress-In-Chieftain. Tomorrow they'll call me a hack, but tonight I rule the webspace.

After that I resumed writing Book 1 of my OGN. My progress had stalled a little what with my nuts sleeping patterns of late and some personal issues. Now it looks like I'm firmly back on track and in no danger of missing my first deadline. Now, whether the book is good, that's a whole other issue. At this point, I think more weight will be on the artist than me. I'm really allowing a lot of freedom in the script, or at least I feel like I am, so it will take some work to get it to be this amazing work my mother expects of me. Alan Moore I'm not. I'm trying to be terse yet descriptive in script and dialogue, so we'll see. Getting my first set of notes will be an interesting process. I think I'm almost more scared of doing a good job than being asked for a rewrite. At least I would know what to fix if the latter happened and I got copious notes, but when people tell you they love something, you want to make sure you know why as well.

I've also discovered that I can't talk to Church about work. He doesn't seem to get, or I can't seem to explain, my work-for-hire status on the book. He thinks all comics have the potential to be Grant Morrison comics, but that isn't what they want here. This is a much more straightforward book, blending genres but not bending minds and perceptions. I think.

What does he know anyway? Everything he wants to do is weird and subversive. Even David Lynch does something straight forward once in a while.

***
I really like Ron Marz. Good writer, good person, good conversationalist. Good man, that Marz. I think it's a good thing that I don't hate a guy we do this much work with, and whose work I also grew up reading. That's right folks, Kyle Rayner is my Green Lantern.

Diction

2006-09-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

I'm addicted to work.

I spent about twelve hours at work on Friday, ten or eleven yesterday, and I could have left tonight anywhere from 2-3 hours ago. I hung around to poorly design a fake ad, read pitch, and write e-mails to talent. I wonder if I'm any better than just okay at my job. I know I still have a ways to go, but editing is contingent on so many factors - talent, scheduling, budgets, knowledge, company edicts, etc. I wonder how I'm doing, given everything and my own agenda. Am I merely plugging holes? Am I steering us in the right direction? Can anyone hear me.

***
Saturday was the most productive writing day I've had in forever. 7 pages in one day. Not sure they're any good, in fact I know they could be better, but a seven page day is a seven page day. I'll take it. Now all I have to do is stop getting tripped up by myself and keep working. I'm really hoping that thinking about layouts and pacing will start to come more naturally as I keep writing comic scripts. I'm just so intrinsically drawn and in the mindset of the screenplay form, that I find the biggest chore just knowing where things go and how quickly. Eisner touched on pacing between panels issues, but I'm nowhere close to figuring this out. Right now I'm writing as if my artist will know exactly what I want on some pages, and letting them fill in the rest on others. I don't know what my style is yet. Sue me. And if I wrote everything I thought, I would hamper them anyhow.

On the artist front, things are in semi-limbo. Looks like my first choice, previously mentioned on this here blog, is available to do the book. All we have to do is get it approved through the various channels and I could be a very crappy (decent?) writer working with a very good, very underrated future star.

***
I'm using my iPod for the first time today. Opened it weeks ago, then nothing. Threw a bunch of emo and Eels music on there, and took it to go. Bought a case at Best Buy, the DLo VideoShell too. I'm returning it in favor of the iSkin eVo3, as the one I bought comes pre-scratched. Anyway, having music in the loo and on the way to the food court is nice, but I've yet to get the addiction. Not like music is work, right?

Anyone with accessory suggestions, feel free to pipe up.

Editing Link

2006-09-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

Writer's Digest Editor's Site

Not even sure how I found this...

Lack of

2006-09-06T10:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been beset by inability to focus, lack of determination, and the fact that it's upwards of 86 degrees in my apartment when I try to sleep at 1am. Amazingly, it was only 82 this morning when the sun was on its way up.

Anyhow, just wanted to pop on and link to a new artist I had never heard of until today. In viewing the amazing James Jean's (2 time Eisner-winner for best cover artists) work blog (which puts mine to shame 1,000 times over), he mentioned Christopher Niemann. Now, I had never heard of him either, but his stuff is really cool. I think it's time that we started looking beyond comic artists and really try to find someone like the next Dave Johnson to really make some of our covers work beyond traditional posed imagery.

Now for the pretty:

James Jean

Christopher Niemann

Dave Johnson
(interesting note, the original cover showed the figure on top as the King, and on bottom as the Jack...)

Remember When I Said I Hated Printers?

2006-08-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

Yeah, me too. And now I'm paying for it.

Just got our copies of a book that I was basically the only eye on. Things got messed up. I could say it was the printer's fault, but that would be wrong. At the end of the day, it's the editor's fault. We have the least amount of control over anything in the process, but it's still our fault. We're the managers and babysitters of the comic book industry. We may tell people to kill off characters or other stupid things the creators had no intention of doing, but damn it, we're all about the end product. Most of the time.

I fucked up, guys. Call it a printing error, which it is, but basically it's my mistake. I take the blame and the heat, semi-anonymously on a covert Internet blog. And I thought my 7 day EIC stint would be largely everything free. Nope. Aparrently I'm all about mistakes. Ah well, there's always next year.

Unless I get fired. Then it's pretty much just this.

Nothing

2006-08-30T03:35:00.000-07:00

That's what I remember after coming home.

I cleaned, I dusted, and then I passed out. A lovely side effect of it being 110 degrees in this place. Anyhow, needless to say, no progress on anything. When I woke up to a phone call at around 10:40, I realized I hadn't eaten dinner.

Read a few comics, but no more how to stuff from the masters. I did find an old story idea and notes though...

Past Perfect

2006-08-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

Some days the Internet can truly inspire you.

Oh, yes. I was a fan...

The End of EIC and the Beginning of OGN

2006-08-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

My seven work day tenure as EIC was fairly uneventful.

It came and went the same as any other seven days. I did my job, I did very little in the way of change, and most decisions were made with an eye or ear toward deferment to others. I may not have been at this forever, but I should learn to trust myself a little more. If I fail, I fail, but if I stand on the sidelines I don't even get the opportunity.

In any event, Renae was back which meant I got to focus on my normal stuff. Trafficking, proofing, contact, and feeling confused. Sometimes you can go home again.

***
I got an e-mail today from someone I've never heard of. The best part was that her name didn't even match her e-mail. Normal gmail addy, but totally different first name on it than her real one. I have no idea who she is, but she knows a thing or two about the OGN I'm working on. One thing she was told, on this e-mail thread in which several people were Cc'd is that there was a treatment for the book. I e-mailed my editor and he told me that yes, the final version of my treatment has indeed been approved.

All that means is say goodbye to the theoretical and start mashing keys for real. It's funny that I never really thought I would end up in comics. I never wrote comic scripts, never tried to draw my own, and never really even conjured fan fiction in my head for my favorite super hero books. I guess after I got offered Bearers, and even before that, I might have thought that working in comics and being respected in other ways might open the door for me as a writer. Well, it has, and now my chance to deliver or fail is at hand.

I reread Alan Moore's Guide to Writing Comics a few weeks back. Just a quick primer to refresh that if I want to be the type of genius he is, it all starts with theme. I went with Plot and Character, in the face of both Moore and Tolstoy. Strangely enough, #1 on the agenda for ol' Leo was transitions. You can thank Stephen Gaghan for that little tidbit.

Anyhow, before I get further off traffic, I'm knee-deep into Will Eisner's Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative. If there's a guy who did it well over and over again, it's him. My biggest worry is the actual panel-to-panel storytelling. Because I have a movie background, my sense of timing is a little different. I pay attention when I'm reading scripts and comics, but laying it out on my own from scratch is my biggest worry. Hence Eisner tonight and probably some perusing of Panel One and Two tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be all set to break down my issue one script by pages and then get to the nitty.

The artists search begins. I asked for artist approval, and at this point I think that's basically turned to I can look for anyone and get shot down as needed. I'm brainstorming and googling people I think fit the profile. It's tough to find an artist for a book that's all suits and conversations with a dash of other stuff thrown in. Most people you see want to work on what inhabits the vast majority of shelf space in the direct market - spandex-clad super hero action. Visually I see this book much closer in tone to a psychological thriller, mystery, or crime book than anything else. I'll go with my top couple dudes of Phillips, Lark, and Maleev for what I'm looking for. There are a couple of other guys who I think are on a very similar level in terms of what they can achieve visually, but I'll save their names so prying search bots don't snatch them out of here and give them other, better-paying gigs before I get a chance to nail them down. One of them has been name-checked on this blog, and I met him at SDCC. I flat out told him a few weeks back that I must work with him in some way, shape, or form. Right now I think there's only one other artists that even approaches my level of wanting-to-work-withedness, but it's much less visceral with the second guy.

Anyhow, the wheels are spinning on all fronts. I'm going to waste less time on words that don't amount to a paycheck and a published work, so that's all for tonight.

Crossing Midnight #1 Cover

2006-08-25T18:07:00.000-07:00

File that under why J.H. Williams III kicks much ass. The book is written by Mike Carey, penciled by Jim Fern, and expertly inked by my pal Rob Hunter. Other than that I know nothing beyond that I like this cover a lot.

DMZ 4 $Free

2006-08-25T10:27:00.000-07:00

DMZ is an incredible book. I wish we were publishing it. In fact, I wish we were publishing anything Brian Wood wants to do. Well, I tried, but I got on that bandwagon a little too late. I was talking to him months before this happened, but we both knew it was going to.

Anyhow, his second Vertigo book is DMZ (the first was Fight for Tomorrow). It's genius, ongoing, and the first arc already collected in a trade. I'll refrain from telling you about it, because DC has made it available free online.

READ DMZ #1 FREE ONLINE HERE.

You'll thank me for this. And maybe, when he does a book at Top Cow, you'll read it too.

I Hate Printers

2006-08-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

You know the best part about working in publishing? Having the printer screw things up for no apparent reason.

Normally I have no real issues. Our books print very well, on high stock, and there are rarely any problems. Occassionally a black plate will print wrong on a single page, but you can only really see this at the right angle. Since I've been here, we've only had one major snafu as far as completely wrong things printing. We printed a Witchblade convention variant cover on Wanted#4's interior, and amazingly its back cover as well. Anyway, freak accident that, and it was for a small run item. That actually makes its value go up in a case such as that.

Anyhow, cut to mid July. We printed quite a few books in June and July to make sure we had them for SDCC. One of them was a book that we had in waaayyy early. It had to make the show. But somehow, the show opened and it wasn't there for Preview Night (and neither were our business cards). Ditto for Thursday, and again Friday. We got it just before the signing of some of the people involved that day. Hot off the presses, and with a blemish. You do everything you can, and then something screws up. There it is, set in proverbial stone, preserved for all time. (Can a book with a blemish, a problem in the printing, mind you, not an incorrect page, actually get a CGC 10.0?)

This week I've been trying to get our books from last week approved with our usual printer. There were some slight switcheroos, and all the sudden I find myself 4+ e-mails deep into this process, and five (four?) days without a single response. I keep getting e-mails from the printer, but none seem to address anything from my previous e-mails. They're waiting on me, but I'm waiting on them. It's this merry-go-round of non-communication that has me loving the fact that not only might two books go later than they're supposed to, but that they might also print incorrectly.

I just want one day where everything makes sense, and where freelancers tell me the truth. I'm actually getting closer to the latter, as my goal is to be the most honest editor in comics, and I feel like the talent is actually responding to that in a small way. Who knew honesty still counted for something? As far as things making sense...

Who is This Girl?

2006-08-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

Didn't you guys read Bearers of the Blade? Aren't you reading Witchblade? You should be...

ATLimation

2006-08-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

The AJC has an article about the animation hub that Atlanta is becoming. One more chance to rep my city, and explore a fallback career when mine ends prematurely at 22.5.

"Not drunk enough..."

Treated

2006-08-17T21:22:00.000-07:00

I spent Sunday night staying up until 3am Baltimore time working on the treatment.

I went totally simplified, writing down scene headings on note cards and buying a $1 coupon organizer from Target to keep everything in its place. A few scenes never found a home (like the random beating and/or rape scene), but overall I think it helped me get a better picture of what I was working with than text on screen. A few days later, and I'm 83% certain that we're talking about an approved treatment. Next stage, scripts.

***
Interesting times at work, as four different writers followed up me with so far this week regarding treatments. No news to report there, not that I ever could (we save the good stuff for cons and press releases). Another writer is showing up regarding yet another pitch tomorrow, and I've had the good fortune of being invited to tag along. I assume the invite includes permission to speak, but I'm playing it close to the vest for now.

And because that doesn't quite qualify as interesting, here's what is. For today through next Friday, I'm acting Editor-in-Chief. I'm not sure if acting or defacto is the proper term, but Renae is taking a much-needed and well-deserved vacation from the business we call show (or comics, I keep forgetting). That puts me in charge of everything I do, everything I should be doing, and a whole bunch of stuff I have no idea about. So far nothing has come from too far out in left field, but the week, and my tenure, isn't anywhere close to finished.

***
Currently reading Grant Morrison's Pop Magic. I'm really trying to expand my mind and make WWGMD more of a mantra than a simple slogan. I'll let you know how it goes. My first foray into chaos magic saw me studying (sort of) Philip Hine's writings on the subject. I couldn't get my mind in the proper place to actually start practicing.

Apparently, according to The Man, all you need to do is declare yourself a magician, and then do it. I quote:

"Simple. Declare yourself a magician, behave like a magician, practice magic every day."

Now back to your regularly scheduled metaphysical programming.

Progress Reported

2006-08-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

My flight was delayed. I had already finished Duncan Rouleau's existential masterpiece, The Nightmarist. The only thing left to do was read the other six books in my bag, or buckle down and get to work on the 85% final version of the treatment.

So I did. I busted open my virgin Moleskine and a pack of note cards and I did what I couldn't do staring at a computer screen. I wrote out every note that popped into my head, questions and possibilities as well. In between thoughts I wrote down scene ideas. I'd call them headings, but they seem more like ideas, images of what could be, than actual headings (murder scene, rape scene, etc.). Anyhow, I still have a whole bunch more cards to write, decisions to make, and then type the revised version up, but I'm moving somewhere. Last week I was pretty much treading water.

If it isn't a breakthrough, at least it's progess.

Outlining

2006-08-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I can't just move on.

Deleting that folder was the worst thing ever. Now I'm on an alternate computer that may or may not have the fonts, but I can't get Font Reserve to stop crashing in order to activate them. I'm dying here.

Thanks for the extra mile, Troy. Want to write my book for me?

Failure Comes in 7s

2006-08-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

Clicking this link will take you to what was supposed to be the opening page of my very much still and soon to remain defunct website. Yeah, that's some classy stuff right there.

Between two busted computers, one useless brain, and a lack of motivation to do anything but lacerate important parts and get black-out drunk, I'm really going full steam ahead on everything in the world I have to do.

I'm so far behind on life, that it will be a wonder if I ever get back to even. Damn con season and lack of prolification. I'd love to be one of those guys that just loads up a ream of paper and knows when to change acts based on how much paper remains. I can barely type two coherent sentences without boiling, and the only thing I'm excited about is the web comic I have no artist and no scripts for.

I'm going to start writing it right now. And then the phone rings...

Artist - David Aja

2006-08-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

This guy is really good.

Upcoming Iron Fist and Daredevil work on the site or here at Newsarama.

WW Chicago (the short version)

2006-08-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

Chicago was a good show.

Compared to San Diego, I still felt alive when I left. Maybe it was the fact that we tossed the booth so breaking down was easier. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't have hour-long meetings lined up every day and no one pitched me anything. Well, a few tried, but we've got that established creators only rule...

Anyhow, I had a lot of fun, met a lot of great fans and creators, and now I have to go back to work, where it seems like a totally different gig. Expect a rundown of who I met, tales of flaming shots, and the best picture of Superman ever in the coming who knows how long.

***
The page one (or two...) rewrite of the treatment for my book begins today. Here's hoping I can excite or surprise myself with this draft. It's dark and sexy material I hear. Why don't I just write sex scenes with no lights?

Work For-Hire

2006-08-01T00:59:00.000-07:00

So I'm writing this treatment. Again. And the more I look at it, the more it doesn't work for me. I've got a co-writer, so here's hoping he can salvage it. If not, back to page one.

My biggest struggles will be the pacing, choosing how much info to impart in each issue/page and keep the story moving at a decent clip. I already know that. What I didn't know is how hard it would be to make all four of my leads work within the confines of the story. The idea was pitched to me as two male characters, who were actually close to characters, and two chicks. Literally, those words, "two chicks." I wrote up some bios and stuck them in the story, but that's really all I did. They got backgrounds and were literally plugged into a story, but I'm not sure that story needs them. One is a romantic interest to some degree, but the other is literally another character pathetically asking for screen time.

Not to mention me wondering whether the concept is going south on me. Is it a concept I can't execute? Is it so hollow that I, in my infinite prowess as a writer, can't inject the life into it? Or maybe it's what I'm suspecting is the case. I'm not sure what story I'm trying to tell. I guess I want to sit there and focus on these really quiet moments in bars and behind closed doors, but I'm not concentrating quite enough on the world of the book. It's the big picture I'm ignoring so that the small can live. Or something like that.

It's late, I'm tired, I didn't get enough positive work done, and now I'm angry about all those things, including my 6:05 am shuttle pickup.

I'm thinking about doing the note cards thing. Just writing out scenes I want to happen regardless of plot, then assembling them as needed. I'll start with scenes, then build more for each characters as needed. Doesn't matter that I don't know if it will work. It's something I can do on a plane...

Here and Gone Again

2006-07-31T15:47:00.000-07:00

I'm headed to Chicago in the morning, so don't expect much from me. Maybe a bit tonight as I got notes on my treatment that I need to revise tonight before I leave...

***
Warren Ellis made an announcement. I'm interested in doing something.

***
I watched Little Miss Sunshine yesterday afternoon and it changed my world. No time to comment now, but let's just say I miss film. I'm thinking (and rethinking) about a lot right now.

SDCC Ender

2006-07-24T03:11:00.000-07:00

Back from the show.

Loads of insanity, good meetings, and good times. My feet are killing me and I almost killed myself driving home. So did the truck and the car that tried to run me off the road, but that was before I even found out that Red Bull does nothing.

Anyway, sleep is imminent and very much needed...

The Road to San Diego...

2006-07-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

...is paved with good intentions. It's also paved with plenty of to-dos, print outs, and one very unfinished treatment.

My plan to pull a (mostly) all-nighter ended about eight hours early when I went to sleep and never came back. I've done some more pre-writing work on it at work, as well as re-read Alan Moore's Writing for Comics, but there's still the whole actual writing thing to do.

Oh, and now I have the damn hiccups.

Titular Slowdown

2006-07-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

I spent some time trying to get the issue titles right.

I thought that if I knew what each book should be called, then it would make it easier to focus what was happening in each one versus the larger arc. I spent time looking for the right one-word terms to make the issues fit the feel I wanted them to have, but it took more time than it was worth, especially considering what I ended up with. I've already added in a new element that I like, but it's all that I've added. I've barely got Book One roughly plotted out, but I still have three more issues to go (It's a four-issue OGN roughly). And then I have to write it up fancy.

The other thing, this book already got optioned for TV. It's a done deal, so the editor on the book, and my co-writer, has been working with the showrunner to try and get it where he wants the property to be. The thing is, there are elements in his notes that don't translate from film to comics (it's not as seamless as some would have you believe), and I'm not sure I like the balance of reality and darkness in their version.

What I keep telling myself is that someone is paying me to write. That makes me a professional writer. I've got the keys, I'm just driving on a private road. When this is over, I'll have enough money to buy my own car, and then I can do my own thing.

Metaphorically speaking of course.

I'm taking an hour nap and getting back to work.

All right. I'm Hired...

2006-07-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

I'm attached to an actual comic.

I'll be writing a book starting today and due out next year. An OGN that I'm actually co-writing, but it's based on a treatment I did a few months ago. The pay is crap, it's not a solo credit, but it's something that will see print sooner rather than never. Gotta be happy about that.

I have a lot of work to do between now and SDCC.

Conceptual

2006-07-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

This morning I developed a zombie project. All in the time before it took me to finish brushing. And no, rotting teeth on my person are not the reason I came up with this.

***
I've often told people that I think Memento is the most original movie that will come out in my lifetime. Having just seen the trailer for The Prestige, I'm not positive that statement will change, but it does increase my respect (and minor disdain) for Christopher Nolan.

I don't need to be prolific. I'd like to be good enough to keep working though. I just want to kick it off, or even just know that one day I'll have an idea worthy of a Nolan or a Grant Morrison. I don't need to blow minds, I just want to punch them a little.

***
The pre-SDCC madness continues. Will I ever go home again? Too many books, too many items, too many creators, too many headaches...

Research - Do These Exist?

2006-07-13T00:30:00.000-07:00

At some point tonight, Church asks me my opinion of three haikus. They involve gerbil insertion, inebriation, wasabe, and clever line configuration that reminded me of So I Married an Axe Murderer.

When I asked him why he was creating haikus, and he told me someone had asked him to write some for them. I asked if he was in a weird haiku chain letter gang. "No," he says. "But that's definitely the best kind of chain letter gang."

Wait. Are there chain letter gangs? I thought I just made that up. He responds with: "I don't know, aren't there?" So, here I sit, wondering if I'm stumbled on a golden nugget, or whether or not I just missed the boat on another trend the cool kids never told me about.

***
I've got another writing project coming up from Top Cow. Again, not a comic, but paid writing work. I'm chipping away. Just last week I was told that I could pitch storylines and one-shots/minis for me to advance my writing career. While being invited to pitch doesn't mean anything will ever happen, it does mean the door is open to it potentially happening. I'm all about the hypothetical.

The next 6 months are going to be very busy and very crucial. Enough blogging, more writing...

I'm going to work on the unnamed project right now. It should be in your December solicits, I'm guessing it will be the item without the writer credited. Now, the preparation phase.

Art Link - Canete

2006-07-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

The blog of artist Eric Canete. Link me.

Art is Easy

2006-07-11T21:54:00.000-07:00

See?

My 1st Writing Credit and Daniel Way (in reverse order)

2006-07-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

First, Daniel (Wolverine: Origins) on why his stories have a reputation for being decompressed:

“Because the ‘decompress’ key is stuck on my keyboard.”

Second, here is my first published writing credit, page designed by the very talented Phil Smith:

If my name is too small, peep it right here.

One More Monday...

2006-07-10T23:23:00.000-07:00

I finished doing some editing for my good friends Nat and Ryan, the creative team behind the high-octane, high-action, just plain high five issue mini-series, Carson City. I would have liked to have been involved at an earlier stage, although I'm not sure I would have wanted them to do much different than what actually played out. All five scripts were written, so my job was more continuity editor, making sure things lined up, made sense, and didn't need to be completely redone. I liked the book. It's funny, has good characters, and some really clever ideas. When it gets picked up, I'll give it a mention here, and maybe they'll give me a mention in it.

***
If you were to read a hard-boiled noirish book written by me, would you rather it star:

A hitman
A grifter
A private detective
A layman

This is something I've wrestling with. I've got a title and a mood, and an idea of the character, I'm just not sure exactly what direction I want to take him.

***
We got our comps of Bearers of the Blade. In a lot of ways I wish I had gotten published before working for a publisher. I didn't get that buzz most people talk about the first time they see their names in print. Maybe it's because my written by credit is really tiny, or because it's a book that I edited, but I miss the tingle I heard was supposed to be there. Maybe one of you will be kind enough to buy the sweet con variant edition and ask me to sign it. Then I can glow for you.

***
Speaking of work, I just sent a letter that could have positive negative ramifications for me, but I feel totally justified in doing so. Sometimes you have to go with your gut. It's the way I feel about writing, and it's the way I feel about editing. Sometimes you have to trust yourself enough to fall flat on your face.

***
And more work... I stepped up today and started doing some design work. I may have worked in production for the last 18 months, but I've never been comfortable with design. Check the back of Hunter-Killer #6 to check out my handless work. Maybe I'll post those pages up when they get edited and approved. One page is all me, but thanks to Chaz for the background texture on the rest of the pages.

***
Troy and I have our second meeting tonight. Obviously, you know, we're on the ball. Hopefully he's done some research too, or solidified more of an idea of where we're going.

Had a quick chat with Brian today about collaboration and some reasons it hasn't worked for him lately. It's hard to take a step back and make sure you're working on the same page and toward the same ideas as your collaborators. It's gotta be one hell of a feeling when you really mesh with someone. Maybe that will happen to me soon, or maybe I'll just go it alone. Either way, you'll hear about it here.

For the Art Crowd - Progressions

2006-07-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

Go through the process of bringing Fell to life with Ben Templesmith.

Here. Those are two different links, and yes, I'm still not working.

Fake Dilemma

2006-07-06T23:42:00.000-07:00

It's so easy to be one of those writers who doesn't write.

The guy who sits in the back of every room nay saying, knowing his ideas are better than everyone else's. But he doesn't do anything. He just sits there. He doesn't act, he just talks.

That's me. That's Troy too. We're trying to change all of that.

I'm way overloaded, but things are looking up more and more each day. I just need to get through the next few weeks, and then really buckle down. No more hypothesizing, time for work.

My San Diego is going to be a very busy one, much to the chagrin of some. Stop by booth #2045 if you have a chance.

Bearers on Newsarama

2006-06-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

The good Mr. McLauchlin fed this to a few outlets, and Newsarama is the first to post it (to my knowledge).

Anyhow, check out a preview of my poor writing skills and other people's not-so-poor artistry.

The fans really seem to love it.*

The Long Day

2006-06-29T01:40:00.000-07:00

Witchblade #100 is going out the door this week, so I pulled a 12.5 hour day at work to help make it very possible. It was a very long day, so long in fact that I don't know why I'm not sleeping right now. I've lost the power to reason.

My freelance gigs are falling behind, but I should get them on track this weekend. I just hope nothing mysterious or sinister happens to me at the Magic Castle this weekend. That place is spooky.

1 Down, 4 to Go

2006-06-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

Last night I actually did some research, polishing off A Little Book of Aloha.

Not much in the way of useful info or proverbs, but it did plant two seeds in my mind. Let's see if that pays off down the line.

Swallow It

2006-06-27T23:03:00.000-07:00

It's easier than you think.

You're working on something for someone else. You have nothing invested but time, energy, and pride. When you're getting paid, it's pretty easy to let the last part go. Not even when you're getting paid a lot, just enough so you can say,"This is a job." It's not your heart, your soul, or something you can't let go of. If it were, you wouldn't be doing it in the first place.

Anyhow, these synopses were really getting to me. I was getting all these minor notes and changes, and I didn't see the point. It's not that I saw my words as gospel, it's just that I didn't see the point of the majority of changes. Then tonight it hit me. They're not paying me to give them what I want. They're paying me for a product that they want, and I'm okay with that. I'm giving in, acquesing to their whims and generally not caring whether they make perfect sense or not. If that's the way they want it, it's their money.

Is this selling out? Maybe. Do I feel like it is? Nope.

I'm a writer getting paid to write. What else is there?

***
Bearers went out last week. It's a sweet looking book, with amazing design by Phil Smith.

Keep in mind, I'll be at SDCC and Wizard World Chicago signing con exclusive variants of the book, if you're so inclined. I'll get a preview up here soon, but I'm really waiting on a site to do it first.

Behind Again

2006-06-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

I'm way behind. I have four scripts and an outline to read, one of which I've already agreed to edit. The rest is a possible gig, but I'll have to learn more first.

I really need to get started on my research. I borrowed four books on Hawaii from Annie (who went to school in Hilo), but I have yet to open any of them.

How upsetting is it that every idea I get for a comic starts out with the opening pages and narration. As much as I don't want to use it (a holdover from my screenwriting training), I may as well just realize that the majority of the best comics, especially the styles I want to work in, utilize it.

Half of the reason I'm afraid to write right now is Ed Brubaker. The other half is Sean Phillips. Put them together and you've got Criminal. It's just not fair. Look at that trailer. How can I compete?

Behind

2006-06-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

I had a fun weekend filled with all sorts of things, none of them working. Well, I did read Dead West by Rick Spears and Rob G. which is a lot of fun, but no research in the way of the Troy project or anything else.

Work has been keeping me pretty busy, but I still decided to beg for work on Monday. There have been a couple of bites thus far, some of them actually pretty promising. I'm really just hoping I can end up doing something that actually happens and matches my sensibilities.

I tried using SketchUp last night. It did not instantly turn a photo of me into a scary 3-D monster. Maybe I should have tried to read the directions.

I really need to get my proposal finished up so I can either push that boulder off the mountain or give up on the pipe dreams for now. I can't talk about that just yet, but we'll see.

Bearers is going out the door this week. It's actually going to be one of the Top Cow's first Image Advances titles. DC and Marvel ship one of each book a week early to comic shops every week, and Image recently joined the bandwagon. The idea is to drive up sales by letting retailer take a look at what's awesome before their fans come to the shop the following Wednesday. I'm excited. Orders are pretty good, and I expect that more people who pick up Witchblade #100 on a whim will grab Bearers as well.

Here's the pencil version of the con variant by E-Bas:

I did tell you it was getting a convention exclusive, didn't I?

Name Game

2006-06-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

How do you name someone who lived in a time before names? Perhaps she even lived in a time before language. Calling her UGGH just doesn't seem right.

The First Monday

2006-06-13T00:57:00.000-07:00

9:15am - Meeting with the company I'm doing the synopses/story bible for. Overall very productive, and nice to know I'm actually doing work they're enjoying and can make use of. The other nice thing is that I'm not working in a vacuum. I'm getting almost constant feedback on every summary I write. As much as I'd like to think my work is perfect from the first keystroke, it's pretty reassuring knowing that

At work - Finished the lineup for the Bearers book. It's going to be well worth your $2.99, with only 2 ads in the entire book, and a whole bunch of text by me and pretty pictures by a bunch of people you've actually heard of. I'd love for my debut to have been an actual comic, but I think this will be something I'm actually going to be fairly proud of. Once I know for sure that it will go out next week, I will get an actual release date for you.

The Troy Project - I managed to scrounge up a few links on Hawaiian mythology. I did some digging for urban legends and police blotter, but didn't come up with too much. I may have to contact some of Annie's friends from college (Hilo) and see if they can provide me any information I might find interesting. I'm hoping Troy has started digging, but I'm also not holding my breath.

At least I think I found an easy way into the story that will make us seem like we know what we're doing. It's the opposite of Tarantino-esque, more noir detective than anything if we can play it right.

12:40 am (Tues.) - After three hours, I've finished another round of corrections and additions to the bible. Overall this project has taken me a lot longer than I thought it would. Boiling down even a five page treatment or idea into a tight, single-page synopsis + teaser isn't as easy as I thought it would be when I took the job. Luckily, I'm getting paid for each entry, so it's not like I locked myself into a lump some deal and have 30 more to do for some previously agreed upon price.

Beyond the money though, I took the gig because it's paid writing. Dr. Whittington always talked about how you know you've made it in your field when someone starts paying you to do what you want to do. I'm getting paid to write, and while it's still a little odd for me to sit down and actually write (as opposed to just thinking about it), it's a great feeling. Hopefully I can keep this momentum going for when I get my OGN underway.

***
The Writer of the day is Dan Wickline. A friend of mine let me peruse a new anthology book I'm not sure I can actually mention yet. He's got somewhere between 5 and 7 stories in 22 pages, and some of them are really solid. It's hard to cram that much story into such a condensed space, but I didn't feel cheated at all. I'll try to mention more once it's on sale.

Read Dan's blog here.

***
Sorry I'm not an artist. I know it's a lot more fun when you have something to look at (see previous entry), but them's the breaks. I do words, someone else does pictures. Maybe I'll start taking pictures of the workplace or something. That'll confuse you into thinking I'm a real artist. Right?

Bearers is a Wrap (fingers crossed)

2006-06-10T17:27:00.000-07:00

My impending published debut is pretty much a wrap.

I just finished work on my final draft, getting everything in chronological order, making sure names worked, and fixing tenses. It took me a few hours what with finishing one of my reference texts, doing extensive names research, and rejiggering so the timeline comes out right. I should have done it a week or so ago, but I just couldn't get back to it. Troy read through it and noted that there's more text in the book than in all four issues of Down.

As far as names go, does anyone else find the process of coming up with them infuriating? I'm not talking about the agony of whether to name your protagonist Jack or Jake, but when you have a character that needs a name according to an ethno-geographic background. It's amazing, you spend all this time researching etymology, meanings, and trying to find things that flow well, and then it looks like you picked something totally arbitrary. I don't even know what some of the names I came up with mean anymore, but I know I chose them all for a reason.

PLUG TIME:

Witchblade: Bearers of the Blade - on sale July! (not the final cover- but Bachalo does rule...)

Pre-order it from Mile High .

I'll have more links once it goes on sale.

Moleskine

2006-06-10T13:54:00.000-07:00

In the tradition of Hemmingway and others, I finally bought my first Moleskine today.

I really got suckered with the 18-month calendar that starts next month and fits in my pocket, so then I just bought two ruled notebooks to make me feel like a writer.

Let's see, last night I was drinking. Today I'm angry and losing money. I think it's working.

It Begins Anew (Welcome to the Workblog)

2006-06-10T13:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, this blog went over so badly the last time that not only did Blond have more posts than me (2 to my 1), he even deleted them without telling me.

Well, seems as good a time as ever to start the work blog now that Troy and I have actually gotten this thing underway.

The Point:

No diary, just work.
The struggles
The triumphs
Writing is writing. I've gotta start somewhere.

I'm doing a lot of work right now.

I'm writing a company's story bible.
I've got an OGN on the back burner, but it's semi-guaranteed to happen at some point.
I've got my own work struggles at the Cow.
My first published and credited work goes to the printer the week after next.
Troy and I are researching our story.
I'm starting work on a TV spec.
Also, I've given up on sleeping.

I'll also be doing a lot of suggestions such as, wouldn't it be nice to work with Kody Chamberlain?

Welcome to the show. And if you're wondering about the address, it's because I also bought the .com this week, and eventually I'll be running something out of there. It's a hell of a slogan if you have any idea what it means. For these purposes, you can just think that it means I'm not waiting on nepotism or connections to make it. Fingers crossed that I have some talent.