An important note: this month's journal entries marks the One Year anniversary of this journal!

Week of October 1st - 7th

I started to work on my next zine for APACalypse. I don't yet know what I'll make the feature article for this contribution, but I have until November 7th to come up with it...

I also began preliminary work on a script for a 12-page comic book story. I'm writing a segment to pitch to my friend Francisco Rosa (a member of Comicopia), for a comic he wants to publish called Personals.

I've written scripts before, but never for a comic... even though comics have been one of my passions for many years. This will be my chance to see if I could write for one.

Working on my comic script is proving to be a lot harder than I thought...

First of all, it's an adult comic book - which means that I have to write sex scenes (at least for this particular title. Not all titles considered 'adult' have material like this). I have to say... even testosterone isn't enough to aid a writer in creating believable scenes. To complicate this further, said scenes have to flow as a progression of the story itself. Anyone can write smut, good or bad; believable and suitable is work.

On a less hinky facet, I'm learning a format of scripting for the visual comic medium. Unlike film and TV, a full comic script usually needs a lot of the character motivations described, the actions they are performing, and the dialogue and silences need to set a rhythm. At least, that's how I'm doing it...

At the very least, writing this script is a positive learning experience for me, and one that'll help me to grow as a writer.

I've mentioned how disappointed I was with the way my Virtual University course was progressing. Well, I finally dropped out, by not submitting the final exam.

In some ways, this bothers me. I've tried to never miss a deadline, but I saw no point in busting my butt to produce an essay, then have no idea if I learned anything by writing it. A mark on its own is just a number. No indication of what I did right or wrong.

At least I finished and mailed in my letter to The Frozen Frog, the fanzine that I mentioned last month. A 5-page letter for my first try, and very little babbling. Not bad!

I finished my script for the comic. A 12-page story called Trust.

The funny thing is, I ran into Francisco just before I finished, and found out that I could have written a much shorter synopsis with sample dialogue.

That's one of the other formats for comic scripting. I guess that I simply opted for the harder way... but I think that it helped me to grow as a writer more that way.

Now, I prepare for the 30th: a trip to yet another science fiction convention. Fun, friends, and a chance to interract with other authors... even though it means spending more time in Toronto, I consider it worth it. [grin]

Back to The Write Stuff.

Last Updated: July 18, 1998

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