Writing a Comic Book Memoir: Part 5 (Character Sketches)

Hello Comic Book and Writing Fans!

This update is all about the artwork. Gale Galligan was kind enough to give me the okay to share some of her concept art and character sketches for the memoir. Right now I'm just going to post the character sketches for my brother and me during the opening of the book.

Clearly I have some action figure skills I should put on my resume.

Gale is incredibly talented and I'm thrilled to be working with her. I'll be sharing layouts and more character sketches as they arrive.

The ultimate goal is to complete the first 10-page chapter, which can stand on its own as a short story about how spousal abuse affects the lives of everyone involved. From there we'll be pitching the story as a complete work and then going on to finish it ourselves regardless.

I'll make sure to keep everyone posted on Crowbar as we continue with the book.

Thanks for reading! And make sure to look for me on an upcoming episode of Interrupted, a podcast hosted by Marshall Dillon.

Talk to you soon!

- Kenny

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