TWO NEW interviews - great advice for new writers...

GD: 

In general, what inspired you to become a comics creator and screenplay author? What advice would you give others seeking the same career?

BE: I have many inspirations in film, TV, comics and literature. It would take me another hour to get through just a few of them [laughs]. If you were to pinpoint a few, I would say the works of Gene Roddenberry George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Katsuhiro Otomo, Mamuro Oshii, John Steinbeck, Richard Wright, Ridley Scott, Warren Ellis, Aaron Sorkin, ’80s afternoon and Saturday morning animation, the culture of the street/neighborhood arcades and Soul music from 1970-1989.


The best advice is to have something to show people.
Far too often I’ve met people who claim to be writers but have nothing to show for their career. No blog, no articles, no self-published work, no “officially” published work, no track record of any kind.


It is impossible to take someone seriously when there isn’t a method of determining if they have talent. If you’re a comic book artist and you don’t own a portfolio, then you’re a complete moron.


I don’t mean to seem harsh but the same thing applies to writers who have nothing written down. I wish I could say this was a small population of people, but the reality is that I’ve met thousands of aspiring writers over the years that talk a great game about getting published but spend little or no time actually writing anything.


Then the next level is to find ways to let people know you exist. It’s not easy, but it is possible to build a following through message boards, internet chat rooms, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites.


I see writers finish a project and then assume that editors and publishers will miraculously find them and offer them a contract. Writers have to be aggressive, vigilant and consistent in their pursuit of recognition. It takes time to develop yourself as an entity (it took me ten years and I am JUST getting through the thick outer layers of the business) and even more time for people to realize that you’re not going to waste their time.


Writers have to do research. If there is one thing I have learned, it’s that writers need to do research as often as possible. What do you research? Well, 1) market trends (what’s selling, what isn’t, and where your product will fit in once you get it out there); 2) how the industry accepts new talent (do you know how to find a literary agent and why you need one? What processes exist to get you past the gatekeepers of publishing companies and Hollywood studios); 3) determining who or what your core audience is and finding ways to attract them to your product; and 4) understanding how to “brand” yourself as a franchise and using that to attract others to you.


I produce a podcast devoted to sci-fi and comic book writers called Writing for Rookies that addresses the ins and outs of the business. I set it up as a “writing 101″ for those interested in comics and screenwriting but have no idea where to begin. It’s a perfect way to learn how this industry operates.

Click to expand...

JMH: How did you break into writing comic books?


BRANDON: Around the end of 1998, I met a lot of fledgling comic book artists inBoston’s geek scene. After spending time learning about how the industry actually operated (after realizing that much of what I believed about the business was completely wrong) I figured out the best ways to connect with editors and other writers working in the biz.
I made a lot of mistakes over the next couple of years – mainly believing that people were far more welcoming and open to new people than they really were – but after moving to New York City in 2002, I met a very talented artist named LeSean Thomas who was on the verge of getting signed with Pat Lee’s Dreamwave Productions.


LeSean told me that Dreamwave was looking for a writer for a new series called Arkanium and that I could pitch some ideas on what I would do with the series if given the chance. I typed up a one-page concept pitch and sent it in.
After a week went by they let me know that I was going to be hired on the series as the writer. Of course, I later learned that the only reason I got on board was because their first choices never got back to them. But that’s how it goes sometimes; a new writer will be chosen because they might be the last one standing.


For a variety of reasons, things didn’t quite go as planned with the series and it got cancelled after five issues but the experience was tremendous and I never forgot what I learned about how to be a professional.


As the years have passed, I’ve applied that knowledge to rebuilding my career from scratch.

Click to expand...

JMH: Writer’s block. How do you get around that creature?


BRANDON: I try to stay busy. If I can’t get any new writing or re-writing done, then I try to work on my podcast or my blog or spend time on message boards trying to drum up interest/awareness in my work. Of course, the old adage is to sit down and force yourself to put words on the page but it doesn’t always happen.


More often than not, I expose myself to new movies, TV shows, comics, magazine articles and scripts. I never try to rip any ideas from them, but it helps to stimulate new concepts in my brain so I can apply it to whatever is stopping me from moving forward in my writing.

Writer’s block is really an extended form of procrastination. Once you start getting work done, you find that quality writing bubbles up from your subconscious. If you spend time worrying about what you’re not getting done, it will overwhelm you on so many different levels. I try not to get stuck in that trap.

Click to expand...

JMH: Do your stories carry a message?


BRANDON: I believe all stories carry a message. Some are cautionary tales (horror), some are pro-individual (epics), some are pro-conservative (superhero) and it goes on and on. I don’t know if anyone goes into a story with the specific agenda of putting a message out there, but every human being has political beliefs (whether they realize it or not), every human being has prejudices, every human being reacts to various stimuli.


Writers are creatures of their socio-historical moment. The cultural context of their lives bleeds into their work regardless of intent. Writers from the 1920s and 1930s are products of their environment just as writers from the 1990s. Stephen King is a product of the 1960s and 1970s and that couldn’t be clearer in works like Carrie, Salem’s Lot and the early DarkTower books.


I don’t always have a specific message in mind, but I am very concerned about the political and economic situation in theU.S.as well as the nature of power and how it can be used to control the masses.

JMH: Do you feel more comfortable with writing prose or comic book sequential storytelling?


BRANDON: Both are fine really. Prose is much harder because there is a tendency to second-guess your work in the middle of the process. When you’re writing huge blocks of text, it feels good at first until you stop for ten minutes and examine at what you’ve done. There is a desire to edit yourself and that leads to paralysis because you can’t get past your own desire to be perfect.


Comic book scripting presents a whole other set of challenges. The collaborative element to comics can make it much more difficult to achieve thematic clarity. Even if you spend three pages describing one panel, there’s no way of knowing if the artist has the proper “director’s vision” to interpret your words into an illustration that conveys your intention.


I’ve always said that I would be a millionaire by now if I knew how to draw sequential comics on a professional level. I have these vast, epic, incredibly detailed and impactful stories in my mind’s eye but I have to turn that over to someone else and pray that they can get close to what I originally imagined.


It can be a maddening process. With prose, you don’t have to worry about anyone else meddling into your vision. It’s just you and the blank page. With comics – you have the penciler, the inker, the colorist and the letterer. In other cases, if you’re working for a larger entity, you have the editor(s), the publisher and (sometimes) the other executives to worry about. Your vision can be stifled by the politics of the company but that’s not something that happens of all the time.


Simply put, prose is your work unfiltered. Comics scripting is art by committee.

Click to expand...

Axler said:

"Simply put, prose is your work unfiltered. Comics scripting is art by committee."

Er...apparently, you have never dealt with the so-called editors of a major commercial publishing company.

Also...creating comics should be a collaborative endeavor, not a committee. I've always found it a far and away more freeing experience than working in cold prose.

Click to expand...

Axler;6675939[B said:

]Yeah...after writing 50 books and Godknowshowmany comic stories, I think I've finally become aware of the difference.[/B]

That is something of recurring problem, I agree...that's why it's best to work with credentialed pros instead the of the talented neophytes.

I suppose...well, everybody has their own experiences. Yours are somewhat different than mine.

Doesn't make you wrong....unlike what some Messianic idiots around here would try to force you to believe.

Click to expand...

Grigoris said:

CBW - thanks for posting. Your experience is helpful. I see Shadowlaw is only coming out in print. Any plans to publish it digitally and when might that happen? Is that your decision or the publisher decides? There's a growing number of people out there who prefer digital. You allude to the shift in your interview. I can't help but think of CDs - sure they sell, but mp3s are the form of choice. Convenient, easy to transport, and no need for physical storage. Makes moving a hell of lot easier.

One more question- does the publisher do any promotion work, or are you mainly responsible for it?

Click to expand...