Writing post!

[shadesong]

Writing Slackers-style is harder than you think.

For those of you who've never seen the movie Slackers: It follows a person or group of people until they encounter and sually interact with another person or group. Then it follows that person or group. And so on.

So, rather than a regular issue - like #3, where I stuck Napalm and Johnathan in a national park and watched the wacky hijinks unfold - this doesn't flow as organically. I knew where I was going to start and where I was going to end. But I have to fill a bunch of pages here. Plus, this is an opportunity to get some things across without being Exposition Lass.

So yeah. I knew I was starting outside Threshold, a club, where Kieran and Ryan come staggering out at dawn. Where do you go when you stagger out of a club at dawn? Well, you go for coffee. Originally, I wanted to have them meet some character who was buying coffee who would then go two doors down to the bookstore to pick up a newspaper, who would then bump into Quint; when the boys arrived, I realized hey, no, the owner of the coffeehouse makes a morning delivery to the bookstore. So she does that, and that enables me to bring Tyka into the story fairly seamlessly and without involving Shawn. Quint's in the bookstore... why? He's picking up textbooks he special-ordered for Capri, and by the bookstore interaction and interaction with Capri, I establish that Quint's her primary tutor, that she has a slight unreciprocated crush on him, and that she kicks his ass at video games regularly. Also lets us see the interior of the Pack's stronghold, the Tower, and establish the layers of security around Capri. Without doing the , "Well, as you know, Bob..." exposition stuff. So I think I'm pulling this off; it just takes delicate planning. Right now I'm having Bram courier a package from Halloran to Donna. I just need to figure out who's having breakfast with Donna, as they'll be bumping into Shawn at Kelly's Ephemera; I originally wanted it to be Jeramie, but Jeramie wouldn't be caught dead in a junk shop. Maybe I *will* do Jeramie and add a link between. Uncertain.

So. Um. My process. *curtsey*

Comments

[yendi]

And just to let jet_li_wannabe know, I already suggested Mr. Wiggles as the other person, but that idea has been shot down. I'm guessing the same applies to Mr. Fucking Wiggles, too.

off to meeting hell now.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

Eeexcellent. More of these posts. :)

One thing that I've found useful is to have a Delerium-ish character, who bounces around and makes irrelevant comments about people who aren't there, or spontaneously decides, "Hey, let's go see Joachim!"

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yeah. Tyka's that character. So's Alaria, but we haven't met her yet...

Bravo

[songwind.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me!

Exposition in a visual medium is even harder to pull off than normal prose - good job on that.

Re: Bravo

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Thank goodness I have a gifted artist to make it work! :) Mouse and I are totally in each other's heads.... she sees these scenes perfectly as I write them.

[m0usegrrl.livejournal.com]

actually, this is a perfect example of why comics work as a storytelling medium -- visual exposition. the more we show, the less we have to tell. if it looks like it's gonna run short pagecount-wise, there will be places in the story where visuals can be added to further enrich the reader's experience.

and i think Jeramie should be in there somewhere... =) but somewhere in keeping with his character; some situation that'll let the reader know just what he's like...

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Not *just* what he's like... but an idea. :)

[two-star.livejournal.com]

It's Slacker. Not Slackers. Geez.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

:P

[crackerbob.livejournal.com]

*soaking up lessons from the master*

Or would that be mistress? o_0

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Heh. Neither, silly, I'm sub. :) And I'm just getting started; Neil Gaiman, I'm not!

[crackerbob.livejournal.com]

Well I wasn't talking about that, silly. After all, I'm a dom.



Sad secret time... I've only read 1 issue of Sandman. I've been trying to get the graphic novels for over a year now =/

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

You are? *perk*

You must read more Sandman!

Re:

[crackerbob.livejournal.com]

I obviously wasn't paying attention to my html codes. o_0

And yes, I am and I knoooow I need to read Sandman... I'm horribly deprived.

[kyobu.livejournal.com]

I just read Mrs. Dalloway a couple weeks ago, and one of the many ways it impressed me was its preternaturally modern narrative style, which for a while jumped from person to person like that.