Editor’s Note: It’s Wednesday, so that means it’s New Comic Book Day and another edition of Amazing Journey!
The Amazing Journey column will touch on a comics-related topic, such as writing the first issue of a series, what it’s like to run a comic book store, working with artists, and how writing comics is different from writing prose.
Amazing Journey back issues
True believers unite (#1) | My comics origin story (#2) | Comic event series (#3) | The comics of Kickstarter (#4) | Single issues or trades? (#5) | From prose to comics (#6) | Adapting a celebrated fantasy series into a comic (#7) | Charting a career in comics (#8) | Comic book spoilers (#9) | Lessons from Kieron Gillen’s masterclass (#10) | Comics marketing 101 (#11) Designing memorable characters (#12)
As a writer, there are moments when you completely doubt whether your work is any good and moments where you think you’ve written the most brilliant thing ever.
After writing for the past decade, I’ve realized that the secret to persisting is to ignore the moments of doubt, but also to ignore the moments of self-actualized brilliance.
Case in point: the first several pages of my script.
I thought I had crafted a introductory sequence that balanced appealing to new readers while at the same time appealing to readers who have read my prior books and short stories.
But when I spoke to my writer friend about the opening, he said:
“You’re trying to have your cake and eat it too.”
“That’s exactly what I was trying to do!” I replied. “And I definitely succeeded!”
“Did you?” he asked.
I have gotten good over the years at being open to feedback and not getting defensive or precious with my writing. And so when I read the first few pages over again while talking to my friend, I realized:
“You’re right.”
What then was the solution?
Fortunately my friend had good advice there as well:
“Keep it simple, stupid.”
(He didn’t actually call me stupid).
“Also,” he continued. “You don’t have an establishing shot to open the issue. You have one long introductory paragraph in the first panel, but it’s not clear what part of that is actually being drawn on the page.”
“I was doing my best Alan Moore impression,”1 I said. “Trying to give the artist a little bit of background about the character and her current status quo, so they have that in the back of their mind as they draw the issue.”
But re-reading that panel description made me realize that, despite writing a comic set in New York City, I had not imparted that fact to the reader.
We discussed the rest of the issue, which mainly involved me talking out loud and my friend listening, but sometimes, just that is enough to figure out what you need to do to fix a story. Those other changes are super-spoilery, so I will save that perhaps for the director’s cut version of the script, but for today, below is the original first page of the script side-by-side with the revised version (click on the image to enlarge):
As you can see, the explanation of the premise of the Quest Board has been lengthened.
Instead of being introduced to Beatrice, being told about the Board and its rules, and seeing Beatrice complete her first Quest on a single page, the pace has been slowed down considerably, and we don’t even know until we turn the page what this “game” is really about.
I’m hoping these changes make for a more enjoyable and understandable read. And stay tuned next month for more comic updates!
That brings me to the Question of the Week and your last chance to enter the August giveaway. To enter, simply leave a comment with your answer to any of the Questions of the Week from any August Amazing Journey post.
What’s your go-to summer frozen treat?
What I’m reading this week
It’s another huge week of releases, with four Fall of X books, a new Thor, and the first issue of Kyle Starks’s Pet Avengers! (Actual title: Marvel Unleashed). Next week is the fifth Wednesday of the month and the unofficial end of the summer, so it is a relatively light week. Given that, Amazing Journey will be taking an end-of-summer break and come back the first week of September.
Immortal Thor #1: I enjoyed the end of the prior volume, and hope that the Black Winter thread is picked up in this title. But even if it’s not, this is the must-read book of the month.
Realm of X #1: Speaking of Thor, prior volume writer Torunn Grønbekk heads to the X-Office for a miniseries about the New Mutants who wound up in Asgard after the Hellfire Gala.
Jean Grey #1: The start of a four-issue mini-series starring my favorite X-Men character. Enough said!
Marvel Unleashed #1: This premise is just the best: “When Kraven abducts Lockjaw at the same time a local scientist mixed up with A.I.M. goes missing, it’s up to Throg the Frog of Thunder, Redwing the Falcon, Chewie the Cat Flerken, Lucky the Pizza Dog, Bats the Ghost Dog and their scrappy new ally D-Dog to save the day!”
What are you picking up this week?
Cool - looks like your making steady progress on the comic script. I didn't anything up last week but I think I have a few things to pick up this week. Summer frozen treat - Ben & Jerrys, any flavor as long as it's not too weird.
I've reached a point in my novel writing where the most effective tact for me is to write a really long first draft and then winnow it down. My current work in progress has already shrunk from 107K words to 94K, and will probably shrink another 4K before I'm done.