Dec 13 2008
This webcomic is based (loosely) on an article in the Wall Street Journal.
Dec 12 2008
The guys at Atomic Robo compiled a Few Simple Rules to keep their work from making the same mistakes as other comic book series.
…maybe it’s unfair to say that we “hate” comics. More accurately, we hate the reality of the state of American comics today; what comics have become… We see so many titles making the same mistakes that pushed us away from comics in the ’90s, and the tragedy is that these are wholly unnecessary elements and easily remedied. But it feels like no one ever does.
They have five solutions.
I really like those, and I will add eight rules for my work.
Dec 10 2008
Many manuscripts get nixed on the first page. Here are a few things that publishers want to see early on.
1. Is it easy to read through? If your first page introduces many characters, fictional words, place names and the like, the story is probably a slog. If your first page is hard to understand, your manuscript is dead on arrival.
2. “Do I care about this story?” The easiest way to make a reader care is to give urgent, pressing goals to a likable protagonist. If nothing’s at stake, readers will probably find the story boring. If the reader doesn’t care on page one, your submission is in grave danger.
3. Does the author have a professional grasp of English? If the author has multiple typos on page one, they’re just going to assume the author is an amateur and move on to the next manuscript. Making a good first impression is important. Rule of thumb: If the first page has 3+ typos, the manuscript will not survive to page 2.
4. Does it look like the plot is going somewhere? If the first page gets bogged down in a geography lesson, or a winding prologue, or a lengthy exposition, the answer is probably no. Pacing the first page well is extremely important.
Dec 10 2008
Some choice excerpts from a decidedly wild profile of Chuck E. Cheese’s customers.
In Brookfield, Wis., no restaurant has triggered more calls to the police department since last year than Chuck E. Cheese’s.
Officers have been called to break up 12 fights, some of them physical, at the child-oriented pizza parlor since January 2007. The biggest melee broke out in April, when an uninvited adult disrupted a child’s birthday party. Seven officers arrived and found as many as 40 people knocking over chairs and yelling in front of the restaurant’s music stage, where a robotic singing chicken and the chain’s namesake mouse perform.
“The biggest problem is you have a bunch of adults acting like juveniles,” says Town of Brookfield Police Capt. Timothy Imler. “There’s a biker bar down the street, and we rarely get calls there.”…
In Toledo, Ohio, four women were charged with disorderly conduct after a melee erupted at a Chuck E. Cheese’s there last year. According to police reports, it started when parents complained to the restaurant manager that children were loitering at the drawing machine…
“I thought they were going to attack me,” says Sheri Kellar-Raab, the first officer who responded…
The company stationed armed security guards inside the restaurant in an effort to make it safer.”It was like something out of a Quentin Tarantino film,” says Mr. Zielinski, referring to the “Pulp Fiction” director. “What parent is going to take their kids to a place where there is alcohol and pistols get brandished?”
Dec 08 2008
It’s almost the end of the semester, so our staff will be writing considerably less here over the next 10 days or so. Thanks for your patience!
Dec 08 2008
There are a lot of sword-and-spell webcomics (8-Bit Theatre, Order of the Stick, etc.) but Looking for Group has more flavor and relies a bit less on inanity. And its art, of course, is much better than most free webcomics. (It’s comparable to Dr. McNinja’s art, but has better coloring).
Dec 07 2008
This article lists a few tricky points related to writing about guns. I think its list is pretty good…
Dec 07 2008
I found this article on storyboarding comic books very useful.
UPDATE: This article describes some of the terminology in laying out comic book pages.
Dec 06 2008
Pravda: “Condoleeza Rice Decides to Destroy Europe.” I might have missed that article in the Wall Street Journal and the Guardian.
Dec 05 2008
Some publishers are cutting staff, and the market for books slumped dramatically in October and November.
Dec 03 2008
Today, I received an e-mail from a prospective comic-book artist. He said that, as part of his application process, his employer wanted him to illustrate a 24-page story. But he doesn’t have a script. Would you like to do a sample script for him? As a sign of my appreciation, I’d be willing to help review your script, which will help you eventually sell your script to a publisher. If you’re not sure how to write a script, Dark Horse Comics has some formatting tips here.
The artist would really appreciate if your script included each of the following:
If you’d like to participate, please e-mail me at superheronation[AT[gmail[DOT]com. Thanks for your help!
Legal details: Allowing the artist to use your work for his application would not affect your legal ownership of the script or your exclusive rights to it in any way.
Dec 03 2008
The first minute of this started slowly, but after that it’s comedy gold.
NASA Simulator Prepares Astronauts For Rigors Of An Interview With Larry King
Dec 02 2008
Generally, character overlap is problematic. If two characters are interchangeable or perform the same role in your story, removing one is probably wise. Having a smaller cast-size tends to save space, improve characterization and facilitates tighter scenes.
Twins (and triplets and quadruplets, etc.) tend to be either indistinguishable copies or slightly modified versions of the same mold. If they’re indistinguishable, then the second twin is heavily redundant with the first and either can be easily removed.
On the other hand, some twins have only a slight difference, usually along a single character trait. For example, one is optimistic and the other is downcast, or quiet vs. loud/outgoing, etc. There are a few problems with that. First, one-dimensional differentiation is typically flimsy and shallow. Why not just make them distinct characters? Second, it’s generally harder for readers to keep twins apart, particularly identical ones.
Nov 28 2008
Giving your characters urgent goals will help make your story dramatic and interesting. For example, let’s say John wants to go to prom, but his parents won’t let him unless he does well on a chemistry test. Will he actually go to prom? That’s a dramatic question.
Unfortunately, many manuscripts introduce the character without a goal, hoping that readers will trudge along until the character actually has something to do. Don’t trap yourself into something like this.
CADET DAVIS: In this first chapter, your hero doesn’t do very much except for walking across town and chatting with another character. What’s the point? What’s he trying to accomplish?
AUTHOR: He’s introducing himself and the setting.
CADET DAVIS: That’s what you’re trying to accomplish. What’s his goal? What’s at stake for this character?
AUTHOR: Well, nothing, not yet anyway. In a few chapters, he’ll find out that he has to realize his destiny by going on a quest to stop the villain.
CADET DAVIS: If nothing’s at stake now, why will readers find this chapter interesting?
AUTHOR: *silence*
Unfortunately, if publishers or readers find your manuscript’s first few pages boring, they will not keep reading. From the earliest part of your story, your main character needs to have a goal.
So what do you do if your hero doesn’t know what his main goal is yet? For example, at the start of Harry Potter, Harry doesn’t know that his primary goal is to “go to Hogwarts and thwart Voldemort.” He doesn’t even know that he’s a wizard. J.K. Rowling used temporary goals to tide us over. For example, “read the letter that Uncle Vernon is trying to hide from you.” Those goals made him interesting even though we didn’t know anything about his magical destiny.
What sort of temporary goals work? Anything that has high-stakes for the character. It doesn’t have to be life or death, of course. (Harry Potter only needed to obtain a letter!)
What sort of temporary goals don’t work? Joy rides. If a character is trying something just for kicks, or to have a good time or just because he’s curious, the stakes are probably not high enough for him for us to care. One main exception to the rule against joy rides is that sometimes, deep into a superhero story, you can briefly show the character trying out his new superpowers. That will stall the plot, but that’s mostly OK because we need to know what the hero is capable of. Also, by that point of the story, you better have convinced readers that you have a plot or you are screwed anyway.
Nov 26 2008
This article offers strong advice on how to use criticism effectively. To summarize:
There is one main issue that I think he kind of misses, though. He says that “the value of critique varies widely depending on whether it is given with the same goal in mind as you had in writing it.” That measuring stick is pretty useless. You’ll probably never know whether the reviewer’s “goal” is the same as yours.
For example, let’s say I write a story that’s a cheap knockoff of Eragon. If my reviewer says “this needs to be totally overhauled,” is it because he hates this specific knockoff or because he finds the entire epic-fantasy genre cliched? Unless he specifically admits to hating epic fantasy in general, there’s no way for me to know.
A more useful measuring stick in judging a review is “does this get me closer to what I want to accomplish?” It doesn’t matter at all what goals the reviewer has, but whether his advice helps you achieve yours.
Nov 26 2008
The Texan asks “where ya from?”
The Harvard professor says “Where I come from, we don’t end our sentences with prepositions.”
The Texan asks “where ya from, jackass?”
Nov 25 2008
Ack. I misplaced my weekly list of article ideas. If you’d like to suggest any, I’d appreciate that. Here are some of the questions we’ve previously answered.
Nov 25 2008
A friend of a friend (who graduated from a pharmacy school with a 2.5/4.0 GPA) has supposedly been offered $3 million to spend six years as a permanent resident in a remote region of Alaska. Is that remotely believable?
Nov 23 2008
Homo superiors are characters that are just like humans, but better. That usually makes them bland and two-dimensional, like Superman or Legolas. This quiz will help you diagnose the problem and fix it.
Nov 22 2008
A Chosen One is a hero that is passively chosen for greatness, like Eragon. Readers typically prefer characters that make their own destiny. This quiz will help you diagnose and fix the problem.
Nov 21 2008
Mary Sues are characters that are overpowered and too perfect. This test will help you diagnose and fix the problem. It typically takes around ten minutes.
Nov 19 2008
We’re mostly satisfied with our header, so now on a monthly basis we experiment with major site-design changes. I’ll let you know what happens in a month.
Nov 18 2008
Nov 18 2008
I found these recent videos particularly funny.
Attractive Girls Union Refuses To Enter Into Talks With Mike Greenman
Nov 17 2008
“Citizens, never fear. Crazy do-good freaks are here!”
Nov 17 2008
We’ve already discussed why beginning writers tend to struggle with first-person narration, but third-person narration has its own share of problems.
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