On Writing

I remember a while ago, my uncle and I were discussing a project that I was thinking about writing. It was one of those ideas that had a seed to build on but in thinking about it more in depth, I realized that it really wasn’t much of a story. It was just a scene. He suggested that I do it since I was “such a good writer”. Compliments aside, it struck me as an odd thing to say as I’m pretty sure that he has never read ANY of the stuff I’ve written. I can understand that he could look at all the books I’ve done and he’s likely glanced at the reviews…but still, he hadn’t read any of them himself. So, how could he say I’m a good writer?

It was all based on perception. It made me realize how many other writers out there also have a perception about them. I remember reading on a message board about a writer who has had some success in comics, but certainly nothing to build a career on and he definitely couldn’t hope to live on his writing income. However, he does do quite a bit of self publishing as well as working on projects which undoubtedly make little if any money. Now, I’m not equating income earned with being “good”, but the point is that a lot of the forum members tout him as a good writer yet it’s obvious that many, if not most, don’t actually read his stuff. Yet, they call him good writer. That’s the perception.

Sometimes, a writer is a writer simply because he calls himself one. I know of a few writers who constantly critique output from other writers, mainly in the vein of spouting off of where they veered off course and in turn, offer their own take on the project. In other words, how they would have done it. I seldom, if ever, do that. When I read someone’s work, I may not agree with their direction or style, but I figure they did it the way they wanted. I accept what they have done and base my decision on whether I liked it or not simply on that. That’s why I’m such a lousy editor sometimes. I follow their direction instead of trying to instill mine into their work. It seems to me that many of these writers would be better served critiquing as a critic instead of doing imaginary re-writes in their heads.

It seems in the comic business that everyone that is not an artist, wants to be a comic writer. This is true in the book market as well…all you have to do is to look at the enormous number of books that are written that go unsold except to family and friends. One person said (and I’m not sure who originated the quote but I think I heard it from Paul Storrie) about how so many people say that “one of these days when I get the time, I’m going to write a book.” The implication is that the only thing holding back all of these would be writers is time and not talent. I’m asked often about writing and I have to say, I usually have very little to say about it. Yes, part of it is the old adage that if you want to be a writer, than write. It’s a simple statement and much truer than most people want to accept but it’s not the entire picture.

One thing I see quite often is how many would be writers like to discuss the story they’re working on. They outline the plot, discuss the narrative structure, develop scenarios, and even throw in some of the dialogue. I can’t do that. I may jot down a few notes about something (in fact, I have files full of these jotted down notes) but I can’t even think about a project until I’m doing it. To me, part of the experience of writing a story, whether a novel, short story, or comic story, is to unveil everything at the time of writing it. If I work in advance, then the story is told. It may not be in publishable format, but I’ve told the story and seldom do I have an inclination to go back to it and retell it by directing it into its final form. The story is done.

I get asked quite often to contribute to various writer conferences or even just forum discussions. I find them to be a waste of time…for me. Perhaps they’re useful for other people. Far too many people write about writing instead of just doing the actual writing.

Now, I’m not suggesting that I know what works and what doesn’t. I certainly am not burning up anyone’s sales charts or anything. But overall, I’m very happy with what I’ve done with the caveat that I still have a long way to go and have a lot more tales to tell, hopefully better than I’ve done in the past. Writing is a very subjective thing…not just to the writer himself (or herself), but to the audience as well. I sometimes find it difficult to accept that I have fans out there and am embarrassed when I meet them at conventions or online. The embarrassment comes from the fact that I’m accepting I have fans. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great feeling yet somehow, I feel conceited accepting their praise.

But my fan base is limited. I understand that. For one, in comics, I don’t write what would be considered traditional fare. Yes, some writers succeed without doing that but most of the comic audience is geared for the typical superhero market and even though many of today’s top writers manager to twist and turn the genre on it’s head, it still starts with well known characters and established profiles. I give them all the credit in the world for doing what they want to do and succeeding at that. I don’t know if I would be capable of doing that. I had a good friend who landed a job at Marvel and while working for them, I was privy to what he was going through. I didn’t see that as writing…it was just putting words on a page. Granted, the “big names” at Marvel and DC have a lot more latitude and undoubtedly a lot more freedom to do what they want but it seems at the entry level, it doesn’t sound like a lot of fun.

I am often asked why I have never written for the Big Two. The first reason is pretty obvious. I’ve never been asked. The second reason is that I’m not sure if I could. I don’t know if I could work in a manner where I would have to suppress my writing to fit into that on an editor’s or a convoluted storyline/crossover. I’m not saying that I’m “above” that, I’m really saying I don’t know if I could do that. To me, the major incentive for working for the “Big Two” is money but if its not something that’s enjoyable, I don’t know if the money is worth it. Of course, the recognition would be nice…not so I could the cover of Wizard (if its even around any more) but using that recognition to direct people to my other stuff.

Putting words on paper is a term I use a lot...internally. Sometimes when I’m reading someone’s work in an editorial capacity, I wonder why they’re just slapping together words. Even in novels where the word count can be exceptionally high, every word counts and has to contribute something. I see far too often, especially in comics, that words are just fodder to fill up space to move from one scene to another. I think that writers need to take advantage of those interludes to reveal something more about the characters or to help establish personalities, settings, etc. No word should be wasted.

Ironically, this idea is used in many motion pictures nowadays and it has sort of backfired. If you watch movies, virtually every character and every scene in the beginning is actual foreshadowing for the end of the movie. The economy of words actually work against the story as the script has been gone through so many times, that the flesh is cut away and only the meat remains. You can almost always tell who is going to be the bad guy or what is going to play a role later in the movie because they were introduced in the first act. That’s why independent films often have so much more of an impact. There are wasteful characters and scenes and so by the end, you don’t necessarily see everything get tied up in a nice final ball. Of course, this didn’t apply to the conclusion of Lost and a lot of people were fine with it so maybe that portends well for the future…until we get a slew on unanswered finales.

I do believe that anyone can write. And everyone should. It doesn’t mean than someone else will find it appealing but that’s a different thing. Even writing for oneself can be a cathartic experience for a lot of people and sometimes, it’s a way of just getting it out of your head. It’s funny in that most writers have certain ideas or storylines rolling around in their heads that they can’t get rid of. Often times it isn’t a “great” idea that’s a sure seller or anything but just something that doesn’t let go. Perhaps when it is finally done, it goes nowhere (in terms of publishing) but still, it has to be done. I’d imagine it’s the same way with songwriters.

In today’s market with the incredible exposure of the internet, there seems to be a lot more people getting their stories out. Whether it’s a web comic, fan fic, self published work…whatever, I think that the opportunities have never been so prevalent. Yes, it does lead to some incredibly bad writing out there but also some really interesting stuff. I believe that some people may only have one compelling story to tell and then everything else after that doesn’t work, but at least they got the chance to do that one story. How many comic creators end up being one trick ponies. When I was running Caliber, I saw quite a few of those.

My usual response when people ask me about writing is pretty simple. If you want to write----write. Don’t spend your time rewriting someone else’s work and write for the sake of writing. Worry about the publishing later.

Remember, artistic expression should never be based on sales.

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Summer's Here!

Summer's here! For me, summer begins when I give my last final and post all the grades. It feels like freedom that will last until late August. Last time I mentioned about the convention season and discussed the potential for C2E2. I seem to be in agreement with most people that the show was a bit disappointing and as with most of those same people, that was probably due to unrealistic expectations. Don’t get me wrong, it was a really good show. Some people had some set up problems but I wasn’t aware of any of that at the time. The venue was great, the attendance actually was pretty good (the reported number is around 27,000) and the vibe of the show was centered around comics. There’s advantages and disadvantages for being at the McCormick Center as opposed to the Rosemont and all in all, I guess they end up as a push. The expectations were high, since the NY show was such a phenomenal success and I plead guilty expecting something similar possibly happening in Chicago. It didn’t. But if you were to look at the show itself without doing any comparison with the NY show, it was a really good show. I think most attendees (fans, guests, dealers, etc) would at a minimum, compare it favorably to the competing Wizard show although most I talked to would place it above Wizard. One of the main reasons is that Wizard is much more of a media convention rather than a comic show. There were some complaints that being “downtown” limited the get togethers of the attendees---it seemed as if the Hyatt was the happening place, although I just stopped in one time. I spent both nights I was there with Rafael and Amy Nieves as my dinner companions and that was preferable to hanging out at bars. I guess I didn’t realize just how many conventions there are out there. Right now, I have offers to attend 5 shows as a guest and of course, that doesn’t include any of the bigger shows where I would have to buy an artist alley table or a booth if I went as Transfuzion Publishing. There’s a lot of creators who travel the convention circuit and hit many of the shows and when I had Caliber (and my stores), I also did a lot of conventions. But I actually don’t like doing conventions that much. I usually dread going but that’s balanced out by enjoying myself once I get there but overall, I still prefer not to do them. It seems I am always short on time and conventions really take a lot of time away from doing other things. I usually anticipate having lots of free time since I take time off of teaching in the summer but have found I never have as much time as I thought I was going to have. I look at my hopeful schedule and I already feel the weight of deadlines pressing against my brain, so not likely to do too many conventions. I know I’m not a big name and certainly not going to be a big draw for conventioneers so when I do get an invite and offered accommodations, I almost feel like I have an obligation to go since they extended the invite. Perhaps it’s the ego stroke, I don’t know. But I have to limit my convention excursions even though I really appreciate the gesture. One thing that will take up some time this summer is a trip that I’m taking to California in the next couple of weeks and since I’m driving, that will take awhile. From Michigan to California is something like 35 hours drive time and I’m one of those drivers that can only do about 8 hours a day so I’m looking at 4+ days of driving. Later in the summer, the wife and I have a similar trip planned to Texas so I will be doing some traveling. I’m going to California as I’ve lost another daughter to the Golden State. Now I have one in San Diego and one in San Francisco. The clan is typical of what’s happening in Michigan it seems. With both of my parents passing in the last few years and most of my brothers moving out of state, the family get togethers are getting quite small. I have one brother that moved to Florida, another to Las Vegas, one to Texas, and then another one that sort of roams around the country and last I heard, he was in Colorado. My last brother here is planning to move to either Texas or Florida. I’ve got two of my daughters in California now, another one that is planning on going there and then one that has taken a shine to New York instead. Pretty soon, there isn’t going to be any family here but me and my wife. So, we’re actually considering a move. We both like Colorado and North Carolina but we’re planning to explore other areas. Just coming out from Transfuzion Publishing is SIN ETERNAL: RETURN TO DANTE’S INFERNO which is the collection of the Sinergy series from Caliber but there have been some changes in the different levels of Hell. This was a really fun project to do all those years ago and it was great to have all the different artists each drawing a different level of Hell. Coming in about a month or so are some stories in the SHERLOCK HOLMES READER including the title story, MURDER AT MOULIN ROUGE, illustrated by Michael Zigerlig. He really crafted a unique style to the story and the always dependable Wayne Reid illustrated another all new tale that deals with Sherlock Holmes in retirement and how he spends his time. No, it’s not bee-keeping but rather with dead bodies… Even though I’m not officially a creator on the early issues, IDW will be releasing the first volume of DEADWORLD CLASSICS in July in association with Desperado Publishing. This is all Vince Locke artwork and it’s amazing to watch a teenager ply his craft. Of course, Vince went on to many bigger things (Sandman, for example) but it was Deadworld where he learned on the job.

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Conventions aren't all the same

If you notice all the coverage and announcements, you can tell what time of the year it is---no, not baseball season but rather convention season. It seems every week there is another convention to announce exclusive news from the various sites. If you’re a creator who attends a lot of conventions, the gauntlet has already started. Coming up next week is the new kid on the block, C2E2. For years, Chicago was the con, second only to San Diego in attendance but for many, had more alluring aspects. San Diego had the city and the trade show associated with it, but Chicago was the con that professionals loved to attend. Of course, then the con moved and soon after was taken over by Wizard and well, things have never been the same since. The organizers of C2E2 have picked up on this. They aren’t really promising much for this con but instead, hint more that the convention will be like the “old days” when Chicago was one of the Big Two. I really don’t know if moving the convention into the city itself is going to aid the convention. A lot of people going to the con may not want to deal with the headaches any downtown has plus for attendees and exhibitors, there’s a lot of extra expenses and hassles. Rosemont may not have had the flavor of a big city but it was a nice isolated little pocked with inexpensive rooms within walking distance of the con and you had the Hyatt bar which was sort of the con hangout. Not sure what’s going to develop at C2E2. It should be interesting to see how the aura develops for the con. However, I do think that this convention is going to be big. The people running everything seem to know what they’re doing and so whatever doesn’t work out this time, you can bet that they’ll fix it for next time. I believe that C2E2 will be one of the top 3 conventions and maybe after this inaugural event. One of the things I like is that they’re directing most of the attention to the comic aspect of the convention. Comic cons are beginning to delineate into different patterns. You have the “small” shows which focus on the independent publishers, self publishers, independent creators, and for lack of a better term, the “web” guys. But it’s all comics. Maybe the dedicated Marvel or DC fans may not enjoy them but it’s still comics. Although these small shows may feel like a niche market, they seem to do very well. The fans and exhibitors all have a good time. Then you have the media shows which have some comic guests but are structured around old TV celebrities, walk on cast members for big event movies, wrestlers, old playmates, and a celebrity or two who has ventured into the comic world with a title named after them but has no other connection. Many of the Wizard cons are like this judging from what I hear. I can only go by the one in Chicago and it definitely had that feel. Of course, you also have the conventions which cater primarily to the comic audience but are big enough in those areas to branch out to the media aspects without sacrificing the integrity of the comics portion. Shows like Heroes Con, Wonder Con and others. This is what C2E2 is shaping up to be as well judging from the guest lists and panels. Personally, I hate the media shows. If you’re involved in comics, I think that they actually hurt the comic aspect. Because of the media guests, the prices for attendance is usually pretty high and a lot of comic fans shy away from that cost. I find at Motor City for example (a media show) that most people wander over to the comic section simply because they paid their $20-$25 to get in, got the celeb to sign a picture of themselves from 40 years ago, and now the fan doesn’t have anything else to do. They want to find some way to use up their time since they paid all that money. They flip through the books on the tables, often dog-earring them, and often engage in what they will hope is a conversation about the merits of the original Battlestar Galactica versus the remake…or maybe this year, it will be V instead. The number of people attending the convention is irrelevant. I did a small show in upper Michigan (Cherry Capital Con) and it had maybe 10% of the people that Motor City Convention yet it was far more enjoyable and engaging. Again, it’s not the number of people that come through the door but what their interests are. I’m not trying to blast Motor City Con or even Wizard Conventions for that matter. It’s fairly obvious by their attendance that more people prefer their approach since the number of tickets sold is much higher than most of the “comics only” smaller shows. It’s just not for me. After running conventions in the past, I know you gotta do what pays the bills...I can certainly understand that. And many of them are not devoid of comic talent, obviously. A lot of shows that get blasted for being media cons have been running a lot of years so they’re appealing to somebody…just not me. I’m actually looking forward to C2E2 which is unusual as I look at most conventions with dread. It’s not that I don’t enjoy them once I get there but the time factor involved is always something that seems impossible to juggle. But once I get to the con, I find myself having a good time whether on the floor or after hours. I’m setting up in Artist Alley under my own name rather than for Transfuzion. I had planned on getting Transfuzion as part of the Indy Island but because of a miscommunication, that didn’t work out. But the folks at Haven Distributors will be on hand there and they will have all the Transfuzion books. I’ll be at Table E-8 right next to my Transfuzion co-hort, Rafael Nieves. So, in all but display, Transfuzion will be there. I plan to have most of stuff there and surprisingly, I think I’m up to about 22 books currently. I’ll be debuting the SIN ETERNAL trade which collects the Caliber series and I also have copies of the DEADWORLD: SLAUGHTERHOUSE graphic novel. I have a few hundred copies of the Image run of Deadworld that I’ll be giving away at the table for anyone that stops by and for anyone that buys anything at my table, they will receive a FREE copy of my young adult novel, SPIRIT OF THE SAMURAI, that is superbly illustrated by Rick Hoberg (of Star Wars and Spider-Man fame). I’ll also be signing at the Comic Related booth on Friday and Saturday and working with them to provide FREE copies of titles such as SAINT GERMAINE. Looks like it will be a busy show.

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