KK All!

KK so here it is Lord Bronco's quick, not exhaustive, Guide to Writing(With a particular emphasis on Comic book Writing)!

Part One

Go buy the Hunter Killer Scriptbook Number One, along with the first issue of Hunter Killer number One! Written by Mark Waid and Marc Silvestri, it really is a behind the scenes accounting of how the actual artistic process works when pitching and then completing a script for a major publisher!

Though it's a typical (well, not so typical) Western Superhero epic, what the guys do is show you is all of the process behind a typical, successful submission and publication!

The work speaks for itself, but it does a great job of illuminating that your greatest tale ever told must be condensed into a pitch-a pitch that may very well be turned down!

It gives a great insight into the behind-the-scenes thinking of an actual editor, and what distinguishes an accepted script from one which is turned down.

Second, and this is just me, and this is Wayyyy outta left field, but go and buy F. Scott fitzgerald's "The Last Tycoon"!

Umm I have to give Dave Sim Props for pointing me in this direction, but what it is is his final, uncompleted last novel. In it, he portrays a producer in 1940s Hollywood, during it's heyday.
What it shows is pretty accurately the mindset of a Hollywood Producer, and how he makes creative decisions about who is green lighted for an expensive commitment of monies and people's time , and who isn't.

As well as the relatively flippant nature of editorial creative decisions that he may inflict upon a screen writer.

Why does this apply to the thought process of an aspiring comic book creator?

Because a typical comic book is a 22 page short story! (Caveat-In Western Comics! In Eastern manga, there is *much* more latitude for pacing pages and allowing a story to develop more organically-which is why manga *Is* really nifty!)

And even Stephen King agrees on this one, Short stories are the hardest things to write!

In fact in many ways, that's all you watch everyday on more mass media like television and movies, short stories that are boiled down to their most simplistic elements!

and this is especially true in comic books-because like a Hollywood production, there are *many* elements that typically take multiple individuals many hours of real time to produce them, and that that's why you don't see too many original things made-They're simply too risky to invest in!

Which makes everything sound really depressing, I admit! but as long as you know what you're going up against, it's not all that bad really!

Because comics have been changing over the last 15 years! And I think the format has changed drastically-it's no longer mass produced kids stuff you buy at the grocery store that made Marvel and DC big public corporations!

I think the new format is a color graphic novel that runs 64 to 96 pages, and only costs about 13 to 18 bucks!!!

And this brings me to my final point

Part 3

Print On Demand Publishers!

My fave is Comixpress, but there is also Lulu.com, and various versions of music ones like I-Tunes and YouTube and a host of others!

These are brand new business models, and they really work, to a point...we shall see.

The point is is that the Hollywood producers and big publishing editors and literary agents are a thing of the past! This is both a good thing *and* a bad thing, but it's mostly a good thing :-)

The Final point is...

Part Four

Your characters are all really cool, and anything you spent more than 100 hours creating and playing is probably a hundred times more interesting and publishable than 90 percent of the stuff modern comics and movies and TV shows are charging money for! :-)

Ohh K, that's enough for know, but I wanted to give some pointers before i do my first pitch to MMOART,com...

I guess the the point I'm trying to make is that learn to edit yourself and to think about the target audience your gonna be selling to, because that's what the editors are payed to think about!

If you save the editor this troublesome step, you're many steps ahead to being a truly professional writer!

I hope these tutorials help up and coming artists, and doesn't annoy anybody.

LB!