New Writers, check this out

[sebzero11]

On www.projectfanboy.com (yes, the page with Forby's two kick ass writing columns!) I put up some coverage of the HOW TO PITCH COMICS panel from MEGACON 2009. Covering pitches and writing in general, we get a look from the inside of the industry.

Featuring (In Alphabetical order):

Tony Bedard
Chris Claremont
Chuck Dixon
Barbara Kesel
Ron Marz
Diana Schultz
and
Mark Waid

Follow the link for more.

[Alexithymia]

Question about Pitch Writing:

Originally Posted by albone

Wow, seems like there's a few of us that need some help pitch writing! I wish I would've come her sooner.

A while ago, a friend of mine turned me on to a piece that Lee wrote on pitch writing. Basically, 'this is the story of (blank) who (blank) only for (blank) to discover (blank).' I've tried to use that in every project that I've done since.

I'm having trouble applying it to my current project and I was wondering if I might be able to get some guidance? My current project is Rival Angels and its a story about four girls who want to be pro wrestlers only for them to discover emotional rivalries along with professional ones.

*That* is the state of my current pitch, but I don't think its particularly solid. Lately, I've been alternating between 'Reality TV meets Pro Wrestling,' with 'Pro Wrestling meets 'Rescue Me.'"

Rival Angels is about four rookies who must contend with professional and personal rivalries as they battle against the best wrestlers in the world, in the top wrestling promotion, Rival Angels. It's more about the girls forced to room together than about the actual wrestling, though there is plenty of it. With that in mind, what would you say would be the best way to polish my pitch?

Thanks guys for your help!

Answer:

Originally Posted by Lee Nordling

This is a problem I see from many people when trying to apply the paradigm.

For example: this is the story of a guy named Joe who is hungry, only for him to discover that after he has dinner he's not.

A leads to B leads to C. Boring.

Let's try it again: this is the story of a guy named Joe who is hungry, only for him to discover no matter how much he eats his gluttonous soul will never be sated.

Okay, there's a twist here in the resolution that suggests that his hunger relates as much to his soul as his appetite.

And it conveys a sense of horror, so the tone of the piece has been achieved.

THIS is the key to making this paradigm work: finding the heart of the story and constructing the first half of the sentence to set it up. In short, it's more about the end than the set-up.

Now, let's get to the wrestling story.

My first note is that if this ISN'T an ensemble piece, it starts out wrong, and should ONLY be about the protagonist and her journey. Period. ONLY her journey.

But I'll take the assignment at face value. Let's see what we have:

The is the story about four girls who want to be pro wrestlers, only for them to discover emotional rivalries along with professional ones.

First, poor tone; we don't know if this is a comedy or Million Dollar Baby with wrestling.

Next, no ironic twist. This is a story about four girls who fight out of the ring as well as in it. There can't BE an "only for them to" because the second half follows the first half without much surprise.

Now, here I HAVE to take license in order to show how it can be done, and in this case its license with whatever you intend the story to be. (I don't know and don't really want to; this is for you to solve, not me.)

So, I'm making this next part up...but whatever the real point of your story is I'm sure this will help you find the real twist.

Here we go: This is the story about four girls who battle for survival in the ring of women's wrestling, only for them to discover that surviving their battles with each other outside the ring is a completely different matter.

Do you SEE how this still has them battling in both arenas (pun intended) but that the outcomes won't necessarily be the same? THAT sparks interest in readers wanting to know how it DOES resolve. Do this and you've GOT them by the testicles.

There's a terrific film called The French Lieutenant's Woman. It exists on two planes, one the historical love story that's being filmed as a movie, the other about the affair between the two actors that are playing the roles of the lovers in the movie. The stories have their parallels, but the outcomes are different.

You have a similar opportunity to explore the concepts of WINNING and LOSING in all its permutations.

Good luck.

--Lee

I think this is a very important post on the subject so I'm posting it in this Sticky.

[The Anti-crest]

In his book Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction, Vonnegut listed eight rules for writing a short story:

Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.

Start as close to the end as possible.

Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

Vonnegut qualifies the list by adding that Flannery O'Connor broke all these rules except the first, and that great writers tend to do that.

[The Anti-crest]

Taken from Athena Rose in the books forum. These links rule.

Originally Posted by AthenaRose

One of the LJ groups I belong to is Nanowriters. BTW - if anyone has an LJ account, do feel free to join us! Anyway, the person who runs the group posted links to a couple of interesting-looking sites, so I thought I'd share.

Build a world in 30 days! World-building is my favourite part of writing, I think. Certainly, most of my favourite authors are world-builders. It's great to be able to wander round, explore, observe the local flora and fauna.

Generate characters complete with backstories, equipment, spells and a whole lot more! Getting to know my new characters is also great fun - but sometimes they're a tricksy bunch who just don't want to let me in. I think this could also be a useful site for ideas for those minor characters who just wander into one scene but require a name!

Hope folks find these helpful!

[The Anti-crest]

Anytime a customer reviews your book negatively on amazon, don't do this:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1BA0D6...&cdSort=oldest

Niteflyr One is the author of the book. :-/

[NaveenM]

Originally Posted by The Anti-crest

Anytime a customer reviews your book negatively on amazon, don't do this:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1BA0D6...&cdSort=oldest

Niteflyr One is the author of the book. :-/

LOL! That was insane.

[The Anti-crest]

If you want a really good book about writing, one I haven't seen mentioned around here at all, was Like Shaking Hands With God. It's very short but very motivating and hopeful. It is a conversation between two amazingly brilliant writers, Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer and they talk about what it is to write. I just finished it, it blew me away.

[Comics Commando]

Since this thread is aimed at new writers, I'll chime in for a quick second.

I just finished writing version 2 of my tutorial for Comics Script format.

After working with thousands of scripts over 25 years, I put together a format guide for new comics writers. The first/test/proofreader version was put up a few months ago--and thanks to reader response, I've added a few segments to round it out.

You can get the updated version here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/37633504...ipt_Format.pdf

As always, if I failed to cover something anyone has a question about, let me know.


Best,

Kurt Hathaway
Cartoon Balloons Studio

Lettering / Logos / Fonts / Pre-Press / Page Design / Motion Graphics
for Print or Web / Entertainment, Advertising or Education!

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETGevjPkZso

[SuperMonkey]

This is Dirk Manning's most recent "Write or Wrong" column over at Newsarama. He's been doing it for a few years now and I've found it the most helpful resource in getting my work into gear and being able to work with artists.

At the bottom of the column there is a list of links to every previous column.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/writ...nt-100329.html

[Mohubby2]

I'm certain that this question has been adressed somewhere in the jungle of links and responses that follow, but all I really want to know is whether I can cut and paste my script into a thread or even dump a .pdf in.

I write in Word and Final Draft and haven't seen references to either. Sorry to be a PITA. Just looking for a simple solution.

Thanks.
Dan

[Kfu3000]

Howdy! Was just throwing this in for new writers.

We have a new podcast/website for writers called Scripts & Scribes.

http://www.scriptsandscribes.com/

Where we talk to writers about the craft and business of writing and not about gossip or current story lines or anything like that. It's more of an informational writing interview than a pop culture one.

If anyone has questions about writing, please let me know and I will try to get them answered by one of our guests. Thanks!

[Comics Commando]

Just found out my rapidshare link went down, so I put my scripting format guide on mediafire. Here's that link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?dg4cdb6xwgy5cec

If you're new to comics writing, it should be valuable...and if you're not, you'll still probably find something of use in it. It's a result of 27 years in the business.


Kurt Hathaway
Cartoon Balloons Studio
khathawayart@gmail.com

[Fred Duran]

Originally Posted by Mohubby2

I'm certain that this question has been adressed somewhere in the jungle of links and responses that follow, but all I really want to know is whether I can cut and paste my script into a thread or even dump a .pdf in.

I write in Word and Final Draft and haven't seen references to either. Sorry to be a PITA. Just looking for a simple solution.

Thanks.
Dan

If you're still wondering (two years later, haha), the only thing that'll be lost from Word to here would be formatting (bold, italics, etc.), which if you wanted to keep, you'd have to go back in and re-do manually. You could put a link to a PDF here too, I'm pretty sure.