Writing / Storytelling Posts

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The Comics Journal Interviews Cartoonist Chris Ware

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From an interview in The Comics Journal:

Filmic language sort of took over comics in the 1940s and ’50s with adventure strips. I think that thinking of the panel as a camera is really…well, it’s one way of doing it, certainly, but the advantage of being a cartoonist is that you are not looking out into the world to make your work, you’re looking into yourself. So if you think of the panel as something that you are looking through, then it’s kind of a backwards way of thinking about it. If you’re going to use the innovations of film directors to communicate emotion then you’re just falling back on a crutch that I think is not specific to the medium in which you are working. So I was trying to find other ways of communicating things that were more endemic to comics.

It’s interesting to get a little insight into Ware’s unique style and worldview.

March 29, 2011 | No Comments

Studying the Conflict in…Miss Congeniality?


From The Glamorous Life:

Without conflict, you have no story. It doesn’t matter that your character wants something, and is motivated to get whatever he/she wants, without something standing in the way, you have no story.

Doesn’t matter how right the article is about conflict, still not gonna watch Miss Congeniality.

March 24, 2011 | No Comments

Planning for Pacing in your story

I’m starting to become very conscious of pacing in my writing.

Now, pacing in my work is a serious problem because with The Winchcombe, I’m publishing one page of my story at a time. I need to pay special attention to how much I skip around in the narrative, how much I rehash of what’s come before, and at what emotional level I end a particular scene.

And I just couldn’t do that if I didn’t have nearly every scene at least plotted out. If I were writing this project by the seat of my pants, I would end up with a logistical train wreck, like I have going on over here.

Yet another argument for the planning of stories. As Larry of Storyfix.com will tell you:

You pantsers are gonna hate this.  But the truth is, you can’t pants pace.

But you can plan for it.

The pacing of your story is very much like analyzing the flow of the blueprint for a building that hasn’t been constructed yet.  You look at the relationships between the parts – chapters and scenes for writers, hallways and rooms for architecture – and determine if the sequence and proportions are in balance, if they are optimized for flow and feel, not to mention structural integrity and aesthetic beauty, and you make adjustments accordingly

Links

Slightly Random Thoughts About Story Pacing… From 10,000 Feet

October 6, 2010 | No Comments

Interview with Terry Pratchett

Interview with Terry Pratchett by Aida Edemariam of The Guardian. He talks about his newest book, writing with Alzheimer’s, and the politics of assisted suicide, amongst other interesting things.

I Shall Wear Midnight, a young adult novel, was launched in central London at midnight on Tuesday, but, as has been the way throughout a career that has so far produced 50 novels (38 of them set on Discworld) and generated more than 65m book sales – Pratchett is already 60,000 words into the next book.

And for the last two and a half years, ever since he was diagnosed with posterior cortical atrophy, a rare form of Alzheimer’s, and lost the physical ability to write, he has dictated those words into voice-recognition software. At first, in fact, he talks to me about the machine as if I am a machine (which is not entirely unwarranted: there is a tape recorder sitting on the table between us). “… And the nice thing is, contrary to what you might initially expect, comma” – we both burst out laughing – “yes, sorry about this, full stop.”

Links

Terry Pratchett: ‘I’m open to joy. But I’m also more cynical’

September 28, 2010 | No Comments

Dealing with criticism: if it doesn’t hurt a little, it’s probably worthless


Lots of good stuff is going up over at storyfix.com lately that’s right in line with what I’m trying to figure out and get better at.

I really like this sample critique that Larry Brooks did for a writer. This is a service that Brooks provides, and I’d say that it’s a valuable one, especially if you don’t have anyone who your letting really dig into your work for you. And I think it’s rare that you’d find someone willing to go this far into your stuff in your own backyard.

Read the critique and analysis. Imagine how hard it must have been for that writer to endure the tearing down of his work. The repeated “you have potential” just wouldn’t be enough of a warm fuzzy to offset the systematic dissection of his story. But I guess the lesson is that you need to be able to get kicked in the face, smile, and really try to see how that kick was actually helpful in some way.

And I think that the writer being analyzed would agree that this document is very helpful.

LINKS

An Intimate Look at One Writer’s Feedback

September 16, 2010 | No Comments
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