THE WAY OF THE WRITER: Some Under 140 Character Thoughts on Writing

Here's a collection of some of my Tweets on writing. I'm @whisperingloon on Twitter, and I usually tweet about writing, comics, and movies. You know, geek stuff.

As a creator, don't ignore negative criticism. Ignore negative critics. There's a BIG difference.

I've found as a comic book writer, I learn MORE from actually drawing my simplistic little comics. 24 Hour Comic Day was a GREAT boon to me.

Drawing, however awfully, pushes me to think like an artist. So when I script for an artist, I've walked a few miles in their shoes.

Ugh. Not a good sign when the WRITER is bored by the story ... time to take a step back and start over, methinks.

Best tool for great comics: EDITORS

Dragons! Big 'splosions! Swords! Mechanical armor! I love my job! Some days more than others. This is one of those days more than others! :)

In the days of ink and scroll the only hard drive crash you had to worry about was a club to the head or insanity. So I guess I have it good

Worst part about freelancing: Being told outright you don't get the job A. b/c you're not good enough or B. b/c you're not important enough. <-- That tweet followed by this one --> I should have a thicker skin by now, but I still don't. <-- which was followed by this one --> There's got to be some sort of cream that can do it. Probably prescription only, tho. :)

These were all posted on the same day:

#ComicWriting To writers: If you give a character dialogue in a panel make sure to actually mention that character in the panel description. <-- That tweet followed by this one --> #ComicWriting To artists: writers are sometimes forgetful, so remember to look at the dialogue to see if you need to draw someone in a panel

#ComicWriting EVERY page should end in a "mini-cliffhanger" to take readers to the next page.

#ComicWriting The page doesn't have to end with someone's life in danger. Just give the reader a reason to want to know what's next.

#ComicWriting Your page could end with a question in dialogue. An unexpected event. Something to push the reader to keep reading.

#ComicWriting Think of the end of each page (esp. odd numbered) like the commercial break of a TV show. Make readers curious what's next.

And these were also all posted on the same day (it's about writing for comics, but there's a lot that can be applied to prose and film):

some people say a comic is like a movie mixed with a novel. It's not.

#ComicWriting a comic book is like a movie mixed w/ poetry. Make every word count. Each line should push your plot forward.

#ComicWriting each action and line of dialogue should reveal something about your characters.

#ComicWriting long conversations are easy/lazy. Edit yourself. Push yourself to reveal the same thing in fewer words.

#ComicWriting & make sure something visual is going on. Movement, setting, or action. Point OR counterpoint to the dialogue.

#ComicWriting Long dialogue? Short? There is no right or wrong. What's best for the story? Strive for that.

#ComicWriting You may love a bit of dialogue, but let it go to serve story/characters/pacing. That's what readers care about.

#ComicWriting Edit yourself. Push yourself. Have someone else edit you (very important!). Ask & answer hard questions. Repeat.

Back to solo tweets:

Overweight. Scruffy. Wearing a black t-shirt ... w/ a comic book character on it. I'm not doing the comic book writer stereotype any favors.

And from my alter-ego, Professor Negatron:

#HowToMakeComics #FromAspiringWriter Tip #1: The bigger the explosions, the less character development you actually need.

#HowToMakeComics #FromAspiringWriter Tip #2: Snappy, semi-witty dialogue is easier than character driven dialogue, so use it often. Or only!

~ Ben 

    

THE WAY OF THE WRITER: Twitter as Dialogue Coach

 

While this post relates mostly to writing for comics, it does have it's application to film and prose as well . . .

I have long held that the old maxim about comic books which says they are "part movie, part novel" is completely and utterly incorrect.

Something a little more accurate would probably be they are "part movie, part poem". In other words, to borrow from Conan O'Brien's "If They Mated":

 

 

So comics share the illusion of the passage of time and visual language with film; and they share the use of words to convey emotion, motivation, and added information with poetry . . . and together they tell a story in a way that is completely different than both, because comics are able to pull from both the visual and the textual.

But in a more concrete sense, comics share something else with poetry: the careful use of words. In a novel, words are chosen for impact, but there is more freedom because there are more words. In poetry, each word must be carefully selected to express the author's intentions in as concise and powerful a way as possible. This doesn't make one type of writing easier or more difficult than the other, it's just my observation in trying my hand at both.

Comics have a similar goal, but with an added limitation: actual page space. There is only so much room on a page, and every word takes away from that valuable real estate. I remember reading an interview with Neil Gaiman when I was first getting into the actual writing of comics in which he spoke of a single panel in a story that gave him, the artist, the letterer, and the editor trouble because the panel was beautiful, but the entire panel had stuff they didn't want to cover. So the question was what should they cover? What was the least important detail on the panel to cover.

For film writing, dialogue doesn't take up physical space, but time. Every added word adds split seconds, which add up to seconds, which add up to minutes . . . which adds to shooting time and the length of the film.

Enter Twitter. Every time I struggle to write a Tweet, so I can fit it into Twitter's 140 character limit, I find myself thinking about how similar this is to the struggles I have with my dialogue writing in both film and comics. 

There's one big difference: Twitter ALWAYS wins. It is 140 characters no matter what. With comics or screenplays, I sometimes can let myself get lazy. Fortunately, this is where having good feedback from writers I respect my my editors comes in. I cannot stress enough that the MOST VITAL part of the writing process is getting feedback from people whose opinion and feedback you can trust. It's often all too easy to spot writers who believe they're good enough editors of their own work. Yes, there are probably a lot of great writers out there who simply don't need editors. I'm not one of them. And neither are you. (Sorry for being so presumptuous, he said, writing a blog post without the use of an editor.) And even those writers who ARE great, well, usually, they recognize the importance of having a great editor who can make their great writing even greater. (See, an editor would have said, "You used the word 'great' four times." And I would have argued, "Well, I did it for symmetrical reasons or something." And the editor would have said, "Take out the first 'great', it's redundant." And I would have.)

So, Twitter can be a HUGE time waster. In fact, if I ever do Writer S. Blockhead again (a badly drawn comic about the hypocrisy of writer's block), the first one will be about Twitter. But, Twitter can also be a great exercise in word choice. 140 characters is a very comfortable character count for comic book dialogue. Can your dialogue fit into a Tweet? Why not? If there's not a compelling reason, consider revising it.

Or at least having an editor look at it.

~ Ben

Other "The Way of the Writer" articles:

Why Write?

The Weight of the Writer
Holistic Writing
Intentionality, part 1
Nothing New Under the Sun
Intentionality, part 2
It's So Rewarding
Productivity

Inspiration?

Keep Your Head Up

Dig Deep, or Method Writing

Fear

Dramatic Storytelling

Formula for a Great Story

Just Write

What Can VW's Li'l Darth Vader Teach Us About Storytelling?

Comic Writers Should Be Comic Artists