Writing a Comic Book Memoir: Part 4 (Restructuring)

Hello Comic Fans!

It's been a few days since I've updated, but sometimes life finds a way to stop your blog. Sometimes its with hospital visits and helping family, sometimes its because someone created dinosaurs in a theme park by splicing frog DNA.

Well put Dr. Malcolm.
(You can find this on Etsy by sweetandlovely)

But I've still been writing and working on the memoir whether I've posted about it or not. Gale and I email frequently and talk about the project, as well as just check up on each other since we're both quality people. I'm going to say it a lot, but Gale is a fantastic collaborator.

Right now my challenge is breaking the second chapter. I have a general outline and a solid ending, I'm just discovering new recurring themes and elements in my true story that I didn't notice until now. It's like my life is a movie I've had on in the background a hundred times, but never sat down to actually watch and analyze the damn thing. Once you do you start noticing some pretty interesting stuff.

One recurring element in my life is prison or imprisonment. I'm kind of the black sheep of my immediate family, because I'm the only one that's never been incarcerated. But there's a period of my life that was very much like being in prison, and playing with that element in the story is going to be important.

At least I think it will be.

I'll be sharing some layouts and character sketches in the next post, as well as a more solid synopsis. I wanted Gale's permission before I started posting stuff, because this is her project just as much as it is mine.

I'm also willing to share script pages and talk about the writing process if anyone is interested. Just leave a comment with any questions you have and I'll make sure to answer them!

Thanks for reading and keep on writing!

- Kenny

Writing a Comic Book Memior: Part 3

Hello Comic Fans!

I've been having a bit of a crazy week dealing with some family stuff, but I'm back on track with writing now. I actually recorded an episode of a podcast on writing, which I'll share when it gets posted.

The memoir is coming along on schedule. I was sent some updates by Gale and she asked me if it she was good to start working on the layouts. I told her to go for it, so now I'm waiting for those sweet pages to roll in! She's a delight to collaborate with and I couldn't be happier with the process.

I still don't have anything that I can share just yet, so please enjoy this little snippet of writing advice from Brian Clark that I completely agree with.

Makes sense to me.

I'm revising the outline for the rest of the story and coming up with the pitch for the book. I plan on submitting to both comic book and regular book publishers. I might even send it to some literary agents, since comic book memoirs tend to be a bit more popular in the literary world. At least when it comes to academia.

The projects I'm spending more time on while I work through these next steps are a manga inspired title that I talk about on the podcast, as well as the edits of the chapters of the novel I wrote this past summer.

Writing a Comic Book Memoir: Part 2

Hey Readers!

Despite a very surprising and stressful day I was actually able to get a few script pages of Crowbar done today.

This was me today.

One thing about writing a true story and focusing on the key scenes of my life that relate to the narrative is that I'm having to do a lot more skips in time than I originally thought I would. I knew going into the story that there would be major events at different stages of my life, but I wanted to try and convey the same feelings or problems over the course of years on a single page.

I think I covered it in this first draft, but luckily I can always go back and rewrite it if it doesn't work. Knowing that I'm going to have to rewrite a story eventually is a blessing when it comes to moving on with the project. One of the things I clashed over with some of my professors in college was that most writing students aren't taught to finish anything.

What was their excuse?

"It's all about the process," they said.

Well no amount of process matters if you don't finish writing the damn thing. Not every comic I write ends up being drawn or published, but I at least make sure to finish the script. I'll even finish scripts or stories for things that I know I'm not going to send out.

That's a thing I've heard about from some other writers lately, that it's good to just finish things no matter how good or bad they are. I've found that it helps me target areas where my writing could be stronger and I make a point of improving on it the next time around.

I do have some character sketches that I can share, but I'm going to ask for permission before I do that.

Until then enjoy a piece of comic book storytelling craft talk from master Scott McCloud as he talks about clarity in making comics.

Scott McCloud lays down the science of simplicity in storytelling.

Thanks for keeping up with this blog as I continue to work on my comic book memoir. Or is it just called a true story because of the collaboration thing? I still haven't looked that up, so I promise I'll do that for the next post!

- Kenny

Writing a Comic Book Memoir: Part 1

Hello Internet!

I've recently decided to tell the story about my mother's attempted murder and how it affected me as a person and eventually led me to writing and creating comics. I'm collaborating on a pitch for the book now with the superb Gale Galligan, and I decided to document the process on my blog.

Why you ask?

For a few reasons. The first is that I don't update my blog enough, so this is a chance for me to explore and talk about my own writing while taking on a type of project that I've never done before. The second reason is that I want to be held accountable for finishing the project, no matter how long it takes!

Right now I've written Chapter 1 (of 6) and Gale is working on character sketches. Once I get her permission I'll share them with you, but for now I'll show you a picture of the document I'm working on right now.

Riveting picture right there--document porn!

I'm currently envisioning the finished story at about 60 pages minimum, but for now Gale and I are only worrying about the first 10-page chapter.

More images and information to come!

Right now the only challenge I have is what to label the comic. Is it memoir? Or is it just a true story because it's a collaboration?

I'm interested in any and all thoughts on the subject!

If you have any questions please comment below and I'll address them in the next post. Until then keep reading and keep writing!

- Kenny