Things are finally REALLY coming together. All the major projects are done. Right now there are 3 or 4 things still in production, but they are sequels, short stories, or such. It’s a bit weird to look in a folder and see the digital files from a year and a half’s worth of work sitting there. But that is what it is all about, right?
So, I have chosen Atticus Decimater to be the first book to go up on Kickstater. There are a couple of reasons for this, but mostly it comes down to the book being a lower cost to produce and print (B&W) means a lower funding goal will still cover the costs involved. I can then use those funders as a base for the next book, which will likely be Spook Town, followed by Dr. Fizz and Sissonne. It sucks having to keep the ‘flagship’ titles in reserve, but I want to build to them with the lesser costing (Black & White) books.
I have also decided to make manga sized ‘ashcans’ of each book as well. This is another strategy to getting the average pledge up. They are novel and kinda cute, each about 5 inches by 7 or something.
An Old Editing File
I came across an old file on the laptop, edits for the first issue of Spook Town. It’s funny, I remember it as being a mostly pure thing from David Thomas (the writer and creator), but I can see how much influence my suggestions were used in certain scenes. Frankly, I think it’s how I work best, as a team with someone to throw the script back and forth with a bit.
Here is how it works: I read and make notes as I go of stuff I would do differently, and WHY I would do it differently. If I suggest something new, I explain how I would do it, either as dialog or panels, and then I boil it down to ‘Elements Needed’. Sort of my way of saying ‘do it your own way, just get us from here to there’. And sometimes we get there, but sometimes not, and that’s a good thing.
Then I send that off, and sooner than I should reasonably expect David will send back a revised draft. It uses some things I suggested, and sometimes not. Truth is I am glad not all my suggestions get used, I think it would be a disaster if I were to stifle the creativity David or another writer has to bring to a project. Anyways, we have gotten better at it, but it is still work. Fun Work, but work.
In reality David does 8 drafts in 8 days due to all the feedback. First it’s the story concepts, then the story elements, then the scripting and at each stage I disassemble and give him back something that kinda resembles what he gave me to start with. We call it ‘editing’, but the truth is I basically take a shit on each one, and somehow the final product is actually pretty good.
Maybe I should hit David up about changing the credits to just have us listed as a team. I’d like that.
Well, that is all for now.