Write Club 32

One of the things I love about being unemployed is being able to watch THE BRADY BUNCH. Thank you, TV Land, for showing back-to-back episodes every day. (I may have every episode on tape, but it’s easier to watch ‘em this way!)

On today’s episode, Peter gets a column in his school paper, and adopts the nom de plume “Scoop Brady.” We’re not enlightened about the exact nature of his column, but it seems that he writes nice things about people and gets presents in return.

This made me realize two things. First, if a schmuck like Peter Brady can get a column, then I’m not as cool as I thought. Secondly (and most importantly), I gotta start writing nice crap about everyone!

I also started thinking about the curious animal known as the Internet comics gossip column. I read a couple of them each week; you might know of them. Depending on who you talk to, gossip columnists are either necessary or destructive. They’re bitter creatures who can’t get jobs in comics themselves. Or not.

So maybe if I started writing gossip about people, millions will read this column! Trouble is, I don’t know any gossip. Therefore, I’ll just have to make some up.
------

MANY HAPPY RETURNS
Which DIGITAL WEBBING PRESENTS creator recently celebrated a birthday? I’m not telling, but rumor has it that he’s desperately looking for something to erase the wrinkles of the human race.

BUT YOU KNEW THIS ALREADY
Is it true that Chris Kirby will be writing every story in every issue of DIGITAL WEBBING PRESENTS from now on? We understand that he actually has been since the beginning – in fact, I’m really Kirby writing under a pseudonym.

WHY’S IT HAVE TO BE SO ELECTRICATED?
Word has it that hot Canadian rocker Avril Lavigne will be starring in a big screen adaptation of SHADES OF BLUE. Taking heed of the recent musical trend, the movie will find Heidi and the gang starting a band.

WE’D LIKE TO SEE HIM FIGHT WITH THE ELF
Nabisco executives are secretly cooking up plans to launch a line of GUTWALLOW cookies. However, their marketing department is scrambling to find a new, kid-friendly name, with “Gingerguts” being the forerunner.

YOU CAN DANCE IN MASS?
Digital Webbing head honcho Ed Dukeshire is a man of many talents. Recently, he dazzled a crowd of thousands with his fancy footwork at the annual Haverhill Hootenanny. Reportedly, it was dosie-do mastery garnered him the honor.

Wow, that was easy!

NEXT: Back to normal.

Write Club 31

As I write this, we’ve been at war a week or so already. When this column appears, I’ll be over in the UK, hanging out in Edinburgh and London for a couple of weeks despite it all – hell if I’m gonna let Saddam (or George, for that matter) piss on my vacation plans.

(Some of you might be thinking, “Why did a guy without a job plan a trip overseas?” So lemme just say that my non-refundable tickets were bought before I was laid off, and I’m staying in hostels anyway. So there.)

Anyway, this war stuff got me in a political mood, and I started thinking about politics and comic books. Specifically, how much of his own political views should a comic writer interject into his work? What about letting his views be known in other venues?

I think it’s certainly appropriate for a writer to interject his own views into creator-owned work. Some of my favorite series are slanted heavily toward the author’s views – Howard Chaykin’s AMERICAN FLAGG, for example. If it ever gets published, readers of my own HARLOW’S END will pick up on my views of religion and other social issues.

But if you’re writing, say, SUPERMAN – what then? Is it appropriate to give your icons political leanings?

Judd Winick’s recent run on GREEN LANTERN springs to mind. Winick’s a self-proclaimed uber-liberal, and there are aspects of his work that support that description. Some people have argued that the inclusion of Terry Berg, a young gay character, is Winick’s attempt at forcing his own politics on GL readers. (Whether that’s true is open to interpretation; personally, I thought Judd simply reflected the diversity of the world Kyle Rayner lives in.)

Other comic creators make no secret of their political leanings, although their writings may not overtly reflect their views. I always enjoy Steven Grant’s “Permanent Damage” column, because he churns things up with his commentary on world events. I may not ALWAYS agree with what he says, but he makes me think.

(I wonder if Grant ever experiences backlash for his opinions. Like, does anyone say, “I’m not gonna buy that issue of CATWOMAN Grant wrote ‘cause he dissed Bush?” I have to admit that I’ve personally avoided work by creators who’ve made hateful statements, so I suppose it’s possible.)

I suppose it all comes down to personal choice. Me, I’ll avoid overtly expressing my political views in my work. Or not.

NEXT: The new, improved WRITE CLUB!

Write Club 30

I’ve been thinking about what it means to be a WRITER. Maybe it’s ‘cause I’ve been unemployed for a while now. I mean, I used to be able to say, “I’m a writer” when someone asked my occupation.

Is it okay for me to still say that now?

Yeah, sure…I wrote REALLY BORING stuff. I didn’t spin tales of young adventurers sailing a magical sea. Still, I made a living being a writer (and also an editor, but we’ll just keep it simple).

The project I was working on was discontinued, so my job (and a lot of others) went out the window. I quickly followed. Before you shed too many tears for me, know that I got a generous severance package, so I’m not struggling. Yet.

Well, I’m not struggling FINANCIALLY, anyway. Every so often, I start to question my worth, which I guess is natural. It was one of those introspective moods that inspired me to pen this week’s column.

So, I’m no longer a PROFESSIONAL writer. I write this column; I write comic stories; I’m working (slowly) on my novel. So I guess I still qualify as a WRITER. But we all need validation, and I think that making MONEY writing (albeit writing insurance form letters) made me feel as if my writing had value.

Of course, it’s still freaky to be laid off, no matter what I did to pay the bills. It was nice to have a “real” job while I putzed around with my writing. And the scary thing is, I undoubtedly made more at my day job than I ever would writing comics.

Anyway, I’m still a WRITER, I know that. Unfortunately, I can’t pay the bills with that knowledge.

NEXT: Politics and writing.

Write Club 29

Grammar is my friend.

I’ve always found rules to be comforting. Oh, sure, I BREAK the rules here and there… but you have to be familiar with then rules before you disregard them. I’ve always found it easy to distinguish when someone KNOWS his grammar and chooses to warp it out of shape (as opposed to writers who clearly don’t know the basic parts of a sentence).

Last time, I talked about Stephen King’s ON WRITING, which sparked my own thoughts about grammar and style. Like King, I think a firm grasp of grammar is crucial to any writer. Like King says, “If you don’t know, it’s too late.”

King advocates avoiding passive tense when writing, a point I wholeheartedly agree with. “Hugh guided the boat through the channel,” as opposed to “The boat was guided through the channel by Hugh.” What’s really the object of my sentence here? Hugh is, not the boat.

I found a lot of passive tense when I rewrote form letters for the insurance company I used to work for. “Your response must be received in ten days,” for example – which I promptly changed to “We must receive your response within ten days.” (Admittedly, I know I fall victim to using passive tense every now and then. If you dig through my archived columns, I’m sure you’ll find several examples. But do as I say, and alla that!)

As I was flipping through ON WRITING, composing last week’s column, I reread King’s thoughts on adverbs. “The adverb is not your friend,” he says. I’ve been guilty of overusing adverbs in the past, but can see the value of simplicity. Instead of writing “Elijah grasped the gris-gris bag tightly,” consider omitting “tightly.” Make your other sentences convey his need to grasp tightly. Let’s say Elijah is afraid that his gris-gris bag will be stolen. If I’ve already conveyed that idea, won’t the reader assume he’s gonna grasp the bag FIRMLY?

Let’s look at another example: “‘I hope Elijah’s all right,’ Magda said worriedly.” Assuming it’s already been established that Elijah’s missing, it’s probably safe to assume that Magda’s worried. Even using “‘I hope Elijah’s all right,’ Magda worried,” is probably redundant. “To write ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ is divine,” as King says.

How about those possessives? I, like King, cringe when I see “Chris’ new car” instead of the proper “Chris’s new car.”

Hmm, those quotation marks remind me of another pet peeve of mine – the misuse of quotation marks. Not long ago, I saw a sign proclaiming “FREE” HOT CHOCOLATE. Was the hot chocolate really free, or just, y’know, quote-unquote free? Sure, I get it, they meant to call attention to the FREE part, but that’s what underlining’s for.

Or how about this? “I could of dropped you off at the airport if you would of asked me.” Or, “The space station spun on it’s axis.” How about “If your going to the store, get some milk.” Shudder.

I’ll admit that I’m the first one to use “gonna,” “wanna,” and “cause.” Cause I often like to write phonetically, y’know. But it bugs me when writers don’t even know the rules they’re breaking. I know some will attribute this kinda stuff to the new age of e-mails, IMs, and text messages – “C U L8R” and the like. Throwing grammar out the window is fine if you’re typing an IM, but not so hot if you want to be a published writer.

Write Club 28

I didn’t originally mean for my thoughts on Stephen King’s ON WRITING to take up more than one column, but as I flipped through the book again, I rediscovered so much that I wanted to discuss. Virtually every word is important– or at the very least, interesting – to any writer.

I admit that I let too much time go by before I wrote this column. It’s about two months since I read the book, so the subtle nuances have faded away from my decrepit memory. But in a silver-lining sort of way, it’s given me the pleasure of rereading most of ON WRITING.

King writes virtually every day. Granted, he’s successful enough to make his living as a writer; he doesn’t have to go the office each day. Still, I envy his self-discipline. He writes ten pages a day, devoting his entire morning to his current project. The rest of his days are spent catching up on letters, reading books, and spending time with family. (Makes me wonder what the hell I’ve been doing with my unemployed-ass the past two months.)

Throughout ON WRITING, King offers a few writing exercises to wannabe scribes. I don’t care for writing exercises – I’m not sure if it’s a dislike or a phobia, but I never do ‘em. Still, King’s are interesting. (One, as my pal Scott reminded me, he encourages you to e-mail to him.)

King also gives some practical examples, not just general advice. There’s a great section on revising your work – a “before and after” example. He explains why he makes each change, picking apart a rough first draft and polishing it.

The most liberating part of ON WRITING for me was King’s disclosure that he doesn’t do outlines. He doesn’t spend much time mapping out the direction his tales will take, preferring to let the story tell itself and unravel at its own place. Gee, that’s sure at odds with what Dramatica Pro preaches.

So, which approach is right? Myself, I’m happy finding a happy medium. While using Dramatica Pro to map out the course of my novel, THE HIGH SEAS AND THE LOW BOATS, was illuminating, I don’t want to know every twist and turn. At the same time, I needed to have a general direction.

(However, I suspect that for monthly comic writers, it might be a touch more important to plan things in advance, simply because of the nature of the medium.)

I’ll stop rambling for now, as soon as I tell you that ON WRITING is an indispensable resource for any writer, accomplished or amateur. Buy it, steal it*, get it from the library – but read it.

Next: Grammar sucks. (Not mine, of course.)

*Doug Giffin doesn’t actually condone theft, especially if you are caught. It’s just a more dramatic sounding way to end the column, get it?

Write Club 27

It should be no big surprise that I idolize Stephen King; I’ve mentioned that before. But for a long time, I put off reading his ON WRITING. I’m not quite sure why… it’s almost like I was scared of it.

However, I came across a hardcover copy while Christmas shopping on Amazon for $4.98, so I figured someone was trying to tell me something. (When it arrived, it was mysteriously the large print edition; I hope there’s not a message in that!)

Wow. What an amazing book. Part memoir, part advice column, completely eye-opening. King uses a conversational tone that’s probably familiar to anyone even slightly familiar with his work, but remarkably, I felt as if he was talking just to me. What the hell – maybe he was. I’d like to think so, anyway.

I felt completely humbled while reading the first half. King’s love of writing was evident from an early age, and he possessed a drive – an urge – that’s quite enviable. For a King fan, it’s especially cool to get a behind-the-scenes insight into how some of his famous tales were born.

Eventually, King gets to the meat of the book – his advice ON WRITING. He begins with a toolbox analogy that I found quite apt. Vocabulary, grammar, style – all are found in a writer’s toolbox, although some are wielded more frequently (and more skillfully) than others.

(I enjoyed his thoughts on grammar a great deal, and I’ll explore those more a couple columns from now.)

King talks (in a general sense) about writers of varying skill. “It is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer,” he says. “It IS possible… to make a good writer out of a merely competent one.” I completely agree.

I don’t know whether I should be classified as “good” or as “competent,” but I’m fairly certain that I’m not a “bad” writer. (If so, please do not follow any of my advice.) I’m suddenly reminded of AMERICAN IDOL. Simon (and John Q. Public) wonders, “Doesn’t Keith realize how BAD he is?” But you obviously don’t have to be good – in any field – to get your fifteen minutes of fame.

King says, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” (I’ll amend that a bit. If you want to be a comic book writer, you must read a lot BESIDES comic books.) Calling himself a slow reader, King nevertheless reads seventy to eighty books a year.

Golly gee whiz. How the hell does he do THAT? “How many FRASIER and ER reruns does it take to make one American life complete,” he asks. If you can’t get away from your TV, “it’s time to question how serious you really are about becoming a writer.”

And for someone as easily distracted as I am, that’s a hard question to face.

Next: More on ON WRITING.

Write Club 26

I’ve always been one of those writers who just sits down and starts writing, usually unsure of what’s gonna happen in my story. As long as I can go back and tweak things, it seems to work. But for some reason, I was a bit scared to use this approach with HIGH SEAS.

I’m not sure why. Maybe I felt it was too important to leave the ending up in the air. I guess I just didn’t want those poor kids sailing around aimlessly!

I knew there were some computer programs to help writers get the job done, so I did a little digging. Dramatica Pro looked like the one best suited for my needs, and I found a brand-new copy on eBay for around $100.

Obviously, no computer program is gonna write your book for you (not that you’d want it to). However, Dramatica Pro promised to help me develop my characters and story, so I gave it a shot.

Dramatica’s StoryGuide feature asks you to consider the answers to between 60-250 questions. First, up, it asks about your characters. If you’d like, you can use character archetypes commonly found in fiction (the Skeptic, for example, or the Guardian). The StoryGuide will help you determine the relationships between your characters and how they’d probably interact.

Your main character gets the most attention, though. The answers you provide help you know what kind of story you’ll be telling. Does your main character change by the end of the story? Does he work things out internally (a “be-er”) or externally (a “do-er”)? What’s his problem solving style?

The StoryGuide will also help you plan how your story will unfold. What’s your characters’ goal? Where should you insert elements of foreshadowing?

The question is – is Dramatica Pro helpful? (Not to mention, is it worth the money?)

Depending on the complexity you select, the StoryGuide can ask you a LOT of questions. That can be a good thing – I was forced to think about how my characters will relate to each other, and was quite successful in fleshing them out.

But sometimes I just didn’t know that answers to the questions I was asked. Sure, you can skip questions, but the StoryGuide is perhaps best used by writers who have a good idea of their overall story. If you’re just making things up as you go along, it’s gonna be a bit tougher for you.

Even worse than not knowing the answer to a question is not understanding what the StoryGuide is asking you. Although the program generally provides clear examples, sometimes you just can’t figure out what you’re supposed to enter.

But yeah, Dramatica Pro has helped me plot the map of the HIGH SEAS, and I expect that it’ll continue to do so throughout the actual writing. In fact, I was proud of myself – instead of just jumping willy-nilly into my story, I had an outline to follow.

Of course, I soon learned that according to my writing idol, that was BAD.

Next: On ON WRITING.

Write Club 25

Okay, I got my laptop, and am ready to write my novel. “Waitaminnit,” says that little voice inside my head (or one of them, anyway).

What about the research? Sure, HIGH SEAS is a fantasy adventure, but the story begins in World War II era England. Our hero, Hugh, spends much of his time in a country school in a seaside town.

Now I’m not the kind of writer who feels that every detail must be 100% accurate. In fiction, even the kind that has its roots in the real world somewhere, I feel that history should serve the story, not the other way around. My concern is telling an enjoyable tale, not obsessing over minute facts.

But I want my HIGH SEAS world (at least in the beginning) to seem very REAL to the reader. Since I wasn’t around in WWII England, and never went to a country school, that meant I had to do a bit of research.

(An aside here to thank Philip Jean-Pierre – he sent me an e-mail suggesting a few topics that I could write about. One of his ideas was that I write about research, an idea that blossomed into this series of columns about motivation and THE HIGH SEAS.)

I had done some research way back when, but it had been years ago. I no longer lived in that WWII English town, nor spoke the language the way I did when I first immersed myself in English history. So I started over.

My best resource was the public library. I ordered books on the London Blitz (since Hugh lived there before being packed away to the tiny village of Bedruthan Steps), checked out videos and DVDs on the war. (There’s a great film set revolving around the Blitz called HOPE AND GLORY, which I heartily recommend.)

Again, my point is not to turn HIGH SEAS into a textbook, but I want the details to feel right. I want the reader to see Hugh and his family covering their windows with heavy draperies and blankets during the Blitz (so as not to provide a lighted target for Nazi bombers). And I hope that details like the kind of meal Hugh receives during his school day make his story feel much more real.

One of the most difficult things to get right, however, is the language. Aside from the subtle differences between UK English and American English, there are other things to consider. British slang, for one – not to mention British slang that was in use in the 1940s. And while London-schooled Hugh’s dialogue isn’t too difficult to write, his ersatz bully of a companion, Alec, has a much more “country” accent.

I pored over a few non-fiction accounts of life during the time, jotting down scores of lines in my trusty notebook. Obviously, I won’t use the lines verbatim, but they’ll help me get in the spirit for writing the words coming out of Alec’s mouth.

Then there’s the magical boat the kids find. Sure, I can pretty much do what I want to with that, but I want the ship to have some roots in reality. I picture something that Columbus might recognize – but knowing nothing about the Nina, the Pinta, or the Santa Maria, that requires more research, baby.

Some advice though. Don’t get too bogged down in endless research (unless you really are writing a textbook). You can always fix things in your second draft if you need to. Otherwise, you’ll be like me – reading too many library books and never putting the first word down.

Next: Computer-assisted writing?

Write Club 24

I realize that I’m easily distracted while writing. One of the bedrooms in our house is reserved solely for the computer and our toy collection (mostly my STAR WARS figures and Michail’s DC DIRECT super-heroes). It’s my favorite room in the house, I think – I’m surrounded by all this cool stuff, have a TV/VCR with the Taj Mahal of cable packages, and I can easily jet around the web with my high-speed access. The monster of a desk is a great place to work on my autograph collection, too. There’s so much to do!

This, of course, is the whole problem. There’s too much temptation. “Hey, THE BRADY BUNCH is on in a few minutes! I can watch that while I type!” Or, “Lemme just pop over to Eudora and see if I have any e-mail!”

Despite all the resolutions to the contrary, I KNOW that I’ll do this kinda stuff. Know thyself, and alla that.

So I decided that what I needed was a laptop! I had my eye on a cute little iBook that I knew would be perfect. That way, I could write at the dining room table, laying in bed, or even at the Comet (the coffee place down the block).

Sure, I didn’t have a thousand bucks in surplus cash, but I wouldn’t let that stop me – I’d just sell stuff on eBay! And sell I did. Over the years, I’d accumulated a large amount of original comic art, especially LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES-related pieces.

I had some great items. A Dave Gibbons page from the first LEGION annual. A Jerome K. Moore STAR TREK cover. LEGION pages from Phillips, Sprouse, Giffen, Immonen. An amazing Humberto Ramos splash page from IMPULSE. EVERYTHING MUST GO!

And go it did. I got more than enough money to buy my laptop, and everything went quite smoothly (never mind the guy who had second thoughts about spending $200 on a piece of art and tried to return it under the pretense that it was “damaged.” Luckily, it was insured.)

So I had my laptop, and I could write anywhere! (As I write this, in fact, I’m sitting in an exam room, waiting for the doctor to come in and prod me.) Surely now I’d be ready to start!

At least you’d think so. Nope.

Next: You can’t make EVERYTHING up!

Write Club 23

As a writer, I sometimes lack motivation. Other writers can surely understand this – and so can everyone else, ‘cause I doubt it’s only a writer’s problem.

Yeah, I love to write, for a variety of reasons – but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s work. Often hard work. And while you’re writing, you can’t be reading comics, watching ALIAS, or checking your e-mail every five minutes.

There’s so much other stuff out there to distract me – the comics, ALIAS, the e-mails. Surfing the web. Working on my autograph collection. Reading books. Watching the 150 movies that are in my queue at Netflix.com. Hell, earning a living and trying to maintain some semblance of a social life.

Yeah, I can coast along, writing here and there, being generally happy. But there’s something missing. Something nagging like an old world wife.

Past readers of my column will know that I started my magnum opus of a novel, THE HIGH SEAS AND THE LOW BOATS, several years ago. I always meant to finish it, of course, but something always seemed to get in the way. For a long while, I could blame it on my medical problems, but that excuse isn’t gonna fly anymore.

I realize the need I have to write it; it’s just difficult to actually start again. I think there’s a degree of fear – that I’m not gonna be able to do it, that my magnum opus is gonna suck ass. Nonetheless, I’ve been gearing myself up for the process.

I’ve already decided that I’m going to start over – from scratch, as it were. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to completely ignore what I wrote ages ago, but I think there’s value in a fresh beginning.

I suspect that my writing style has evolved a bit since that first attempt. There’s even a sentence or two that I’d probably cringe at, I’m sure. Perhaps my target audience has changed a little. Whatever the reason, I want to feel like I’m beginning an epic journey, rather than joining a show already in progress.

Okay, so I’ve got myself all psyched to start. But wait. Can’t start quite yet.

Next: My first writing tool.

Write Club: 21

I guess it’s the egotistical writer in me, but there’s lots of times I find myself saying, “I could have done better than that!”

It happens most often with big budget movies. It always amazes me how much money is spent to bring a script to life, even though the script itself is in desperate need of attention. TOMB RAIDER is a great example. It had some nice scenes and great locations, but when all the parts were put together, it was a nonsensical jumble.

See? They should have had me as a script consultant. I could have done better than that!

Sometimes it’s a painful thing to see. Take, for instance, the 1998 LOST IN SPACE film. I had been looking forward to that movie for over a year before it was released, and as readers of my previous columns know, I was pretty sick when it finally came out. In fact, I was determined to be well enough to see the movie in the theatre on opening day. (And I was… despite having a portable antibiotic “bomb” intravenously connected to my arm, underneath my jacket.)

The design of the film was amazing – I loved the rounded edges on everything! The costumes were great, as were the special effects. The casting was impeccable – I mean, Gary Oldman as Dr. Smith? How much better could ya do?

But, geez… Akiva Goldsman, what were you thinking? Once the Robinsons escaped from the spider-infested ship, it was all downhill. (Perhaps I’m a bit bitter because I was hoping for a LOST IN SPACE franchise, which, in a very Dr. Smith-like way, Goldsman sabotaged.)

I could have done better than that!

I could give a lot more examples, and I’m sure you have a few of your own. (Feel free to send ‘em my way – I’d love to see what your thoughts are!) But I have to admit – I have a few “I couldn’t have done better than that” moments, too.

Lately, I find myself thinking that a lot when I watch ALIAS. J.J. Abrams and his staff come up with great action sequences in amazing locales – and on top of that, they write great character moments. The scenes between Sydney and her mother just smolder. Not to mention those cool Rambaldi artifacts…

I couldn’t have done better than that.

Write Club: 18

By the time I got the finished HARLOW’S END pages from Anthony, summer convention season was over. So I had a while to figure out how I was gonna use the pages to promote my wannabe comic.

As I’ve mentioned before, I visited Digital Webbing fairly often, mostly as a lurker. I knew that DIGITAL WEBBING PRESENTS was in the works, but I didn’t think about contributing a story. Not quite sure why.

But when I got my copy of DWP #1, a little bell went off. The format worked well, the tales were great – maybe there was room for my HARLOW’S END preview story!

The only thing was, the story ended in a cliffhanger. It didn’t make a very good standalone story, to be honest. Luckily, it had scintillating art by Anthony Castrillo – and hopefully that would carry the rest of it.

I fired off an e-mail to Ed Dukeshire (the guy who owns this site, natch!) containing a sample of the story. I must have caught him in a moment of weakness, because he agreed to run the story in DWP. Wow – I was gonna be published!

However, since DWP was a “kid-friendly” publication, I had to take out all the “fucks.” Okay, no big deal – that was easy. But all the references to Elijah being a hustler had to go, too.

Now THAT was a toughie. His “occupation” is an integral piece of his character when we’re first introduced to him – a piece that I knew most readers WOULDN’T be able to relate to. It was part of the challenge to make him a sympathetic character as the series went on, despite his cockiness, despite his shamelessness about his way of earning money.

In fact, the whole reason Elijah gets into a strange car during the story is because he thinks he’s picking up a trick. How was I gonna get around that? Would it make any sense?

Obviously, since the HARLOW’S END preview DID appear in DWP #3, I made those changes. Perhaps the changes watered-down the concept, I dunno. But I was thrilled to see my characters in print, in such a professional-looking comic. (And thanks for that slick lettering, Ed!)

In a way, the “PG” version of HARLOW’S END was a blessing – I could actually show the issue to my nephews, my cousins, and the kid I mentor.

The response was very positive, despite that fact that the story was only a preview – most people just wanted to read more! Hopefully that’ll happen eventually. I’ll keep you posted as I continue to get HARLOW’S END closer to publication in an ongoing format.


For the next two weeks, WRITE CLUB will feature a guest columnist – C.G. Kirby, the prolific fan-fave DWP writer of tales (f’rinstance, “The Dark Side of the Moon”). He’ll no doubt have you clamoring for more, but unfortunately, you’ll get me back eventually.

Near the end of the year, I’ll talk about what I call the “I Coulda Done Better Than That!” syndrome. I’ll also describe my experiences developing my novel using a new program I bought, the creation of another DWP story, and a buncha other stuff.

But I’d also like to hear ideas from you guys for column topics! What do YOU want to read? Any comic or writing-related subject you want my opinion on? Any feedback you want? I’m open for suggestions!

FREE STUFF ALERT – If I use your suggestion, I’ll send you a copy of DIGITAL WEBBING PRESENTS #3. (If you want, I’ll even autograph it, ‘cause I’m vain like that!) I’ll even pay the postage! So send your suggestions in, and I’ll see ya in a couple weeks!

Write Club: 17

Based on my feedback from Antarctic Press, it seemed like the challenge was gonna be getting editors to read my HARLOW’S END script. I decided the best way was to have a few pages drawn, as if it were an actual comic. I was sure that an easy-to-read (not to mention QUICK-to-read) preview would hook an editor and make them want to read more! (Well, maybe I wasn’t SURE… but I was at least hopeful.)

Of course, there was a minor problem – who would illustrate the preview?

For a while, I toyed with the idea of doing it myself. I’m a decent artist, and with the help of a program like Poser, I’m even better! However, after attempting to draw the first page, I realized that I was in way over my head. It didn’t look half-bad, true – but at the same time, I didn’t want something that only looked half-GOOD. Besides, HARLOW’S END is a pretty demanding world to put on paper.

So I started looking around for an artist with whom to collaborate. I put out a “Talent Search” ad right here on Digital Webbing, which resulted in a few responses. Problem was, being stupid at the time, I didn’t offer any money. And to be honest, most of the artists who were willing to work for free weren’t quite professional-level.

(Note to aspiring writers: If you want an artist to bring your ideas to life, be prepared to compensate them for their time. However, if your best friend is the next Humberto Ramos, you may be able to get around this rule.)

I started thinking about the professional artists who’d done pin-ups for me. One of my favorite HARLOW’S END art pieces was by Anthony Castrillo, who’d done work on X-FORCE, FLASH, and one of my favorite jobs by him, Jim Krueger’s ALPHABET SUPES.

I first started talking to Anthony in a rather strange way. He had done a fill-in on one of my favorite books – the late, lamented IMPULSE. Although I’d enjoyed his other work, I didn’t care for his interpretation of Bart and the gang, and I posted to this effect on the DC Comics message boards.

Surprisingly, Anthony sent me a message which said (and I paraphrase here) that he’d like to win me over. So we agreed that he’d do a pin-up of Elijah from HARLOW’S END. The results were amazing! He won me over, all right!

There was no question that I’d love to see some HARLOW’S END sequentials done by Anthony – but would he even be willing to do it, and if so, would I be able to afford him? As it turned out, Anthony was happy to draw a story for me, and we worked out an agreeable price.

I decided a six page story would work well (especially since that was about all I could afford!). But I couldn’t decide what to do – write a brand new story, have Anthony draw the first six pages of HARLOW’S END #1, or scrunch the first issue into six pages? Based on some advice from a couple other comic pros, I decided to go for the scrunching.

It was a difficult process, since there were a lot of characters to introduce – not to mention a distinctive setting to convey. Most of the subtlety had to be chopped out, but I hoped that the potential of the series would be apparent. I wrestled with myself, but finally came up with a script. To make sure that it was drawable, I also made rough thumbnails of each page.

I sent the script and thumbnails (and the money) off to Anthony, and waited.

As he progressed, Anthony would fax me the layouts for approval. I’d look at them and my heart would go thumpety-thump. Sure, other great artists had drawn my characters before, but no one had ever drawn an actual STORY! (Okay, I get excited pretty easily.) Anthony had followed my layouts to a large extent, but made changes to enhance the storytelling.

Finally, I received the finished pages via Fed Ex. They were better than I could have imagined… I think it was about a week before I could pry my eyes away from them. Anthony had indeed created a whole WORLD, including details that I had never even thought of.

So I had my beautifully-drawn, six-page HARLOW’S END preview. Now what?

Next: The story sees print!