IN SEARCH OF THE MUSE
I’ve noticed that many writers deny they’re motivated by anything other than just the desire to make money. In British comics (certainly pre-2000AD), speed-writing was the norm and you were seen as a freak if you took time and care over your storytelling. Payment rates were deliberately kept low by publishers, to encourage writers to knock out stories as fast as possible.
THEME AND SUBTEXT
Theme is everything in a story. It’s what drives the character and the plot. If the theme of Judge Dredd changed and he suddenly veered off in an entirely new direction, there would be uproar from fans. Yes, he can change location: space; the world of the Dark Judges; the moon – but he has to remain true to the theme of grim, monosyllabic, future justice. Sláine is pagan, but if he suddenly became ‘New Agey’, my readers would hate it.
THE SECRET WORLD OF COMICS
In the late 1970s, there must have been some twenty or more adventure comics for boys and girls. But some of them were so over the top and so bad they were inadvertently very funny, even though they were written dead straight. For example, Bunty ran a story called Pogo Stick Patsy about a girl in World War Two. She is living in German occupied Poland with her rocket scientist father. He hides the plans for a secret formula in her pogo stick and she has to pogo her way across Nazi Europe to France. There, a British light plane is waiting to pick her up. But as the plane takes off, a wing support strut breaks off, and it looks like the aircraft will crash. But plucky Patsy leans out of the cockpit and uses her pogo stick to replace it and save the day.
THE FINALE
The finale is ‘fed’ by the theme of the story, played out over three acts. One side winning, then the other, until, by the end of the third act, the situation seems to have completely spiralled out of control so we’re on the edge of our seats, desperate to see the final outcome. Then comes the twist, which profoundly illuminates the theme.
SIX OF THE BEST – THE WINNER!
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STEP BREAKDOWN
A one or two page step breakdown requires no effort for a script editor to read and they can see at a glance where the problems lie and how valid the finale is – even though it may have taken you weeks to work it all out in comprehensive detail and then boil it down to almost nothing!
COMIC ROCK
I’ve just come back from a fantastic time as a guest at the Gibunco Gibraltar Literary Festival. The Rock really is something else. I was there to talk about my first two novels in the Read Em And Weep thriller series: Serial Killer and Goodnight, John-Boy, which are all about the world of comics. T
INCITING INCIDENT
The inciting incident is the key to storytelling. It should take place as early as possible in the story, that’s certainly what film script editors prefer, and – in dramas at least, it should take the protagonist and the reader to a dark and powerful place. Here are some good inciting incidents – and one weak one.
THE EMOTIONAL JOURNEY
In comics, characters often don’t make any kind of emotional journey and that is their strength and their weakness. We like the reassuring cosiness of characters who never change, who are the same year after year, and often don’t seem to have any kind of private life. We don’t want them to get religion, make good or bad financial investments, marry, leave their job, or fall out with good friends. All the things we do ourselves in real-life.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
But being a future cop like Dredd, a dictator like Torquemada, or a comic editor like Dave Maudling is still only a surface layer of character. It’s just a job description. Their true character is only revealed under pressure. Then the mask drops and we see who that person really is.
HEROES
My heroes are all from an underclass in one form or another and they all win. They are relatively rare in fiction – a point that needs lingering on. Because I believe we are deliberately programmed and conditioned to think our own lives are not important and not worth writing or reading about.
CREATIVE JAMMING
I’m often asked by fans and prospective writers about my storytelling. Why I write. How I write. How I created various characters. What are the tricks of the trade? Where do I get my inspiration from? How do I get over writer’s block and so on. So I thought it was time I answered those questions and shared my experiences in a series of weekly blogs, starting this week with CREATIVE JAMMING. I hope it will make Storyteller a useful ‘How To’ guide for writers – whether we’re talking comics, novels or film.