So many of you have been asking me how to get your hands on the new @$$hole! collection, and I can't say that I blame you. Unfortunately, distribution was a bit of an after-thought when printing this first book. A learning experience, to be sure.



So there are a few options available at the moment, and more will be forthcoming down the road. Currently if you live in or near Ann Arbor, MI, I recommend checking out The Vault of Midnight. In the local section you will find several copies of my book prominently displayed. If you can't find it, ask someone who works there for it. They'll be able to bring you right to it.

I've also been taking the book on the road with me, first to Reactor and then to Mid-Ohio Comic Con. I usually have some extra copies around, so if you're in Chicaog just drop me a line and I'll meet you somewhere. I have not tapped into local Chicago distribution opportunities just yet - I just haven't had the time. Soon, though.

For those of you who are further out, the book will become available on the internet very soon. I don't have a store set up on the website, but I will make it publicly available for purchase somehow. More on that after I've had a chance to review the best options.

###

@$$hole!: Laura's 21st Birthday is the story of a slacker who's so lazy, he forgot his girlfriend's 21st birthday. Desperately taking his demonic Japanese roommate in tow, he must over-come his mall-o-phobia and dive into the depths of retail hell to find her the perfect gift. This teen-rated tale has some hilarious humor, and even some of that mushy stuff.

The book is 50 pages and runs for $6. You get:

- an awesome 41 page story
- an afterword by the author (hey, that's me)
- several pages of original content appearing only in this book
- a forward by the fabled "Josh from TokyoPOP" himself, Josh Elder

Please also help spread the word by telling your friends. If they like it, have them buy it - and refer them back to my website.

Thanks, gang!

Labels: asshole comic, comic books, comics, mid-ohio comic con, photo comic, reactor con, web comics

So I posted on twitter the other day about having completed my outline and beat sheet for the latest Temple story, and had a few questions pop up about what a beat sheet was and how to use it. A perfectly rational question, since I hadn't used a beat sheet before last year, and really didn't even know what it was called until early this year. I figured that this could be a good opportunity to talk a little about my writing process. It'll be surface level at this point, and if people find it helpful / useful I may turn it into a series of posts.

Please note that this is just the process that I use and have found that it works well for me. It's not reflective of what the pros do (no two writers follow the same process), although I've found that many of my professional writing friends sometimes use similar tools. This isn't gospel - I just hope that it helps some people out.

STEP 1:
Come up with an idea or story. I'm sure I don't have to tell you writers how to do this. ;)

I'll come up with themes, characters and motivations. Basically, everything in the "pitch package." I can go on for days on just this step alone, so perhaps in a later post....

STEP 2:
Typically after I have an idea for a story in my head or some scenes that I want to use, I create a "beat sheet" of the events of the story. I use it to help edit the order of events in my story, to help create the 3-act structure, etc. This is usually a very short document that consists of notes of events, maybe locations or some brief dialogue that I think is relevant. I've read a few online resources that have more detailed beat sheets, but they all seem to agree that it is a very short snap-shot of the events in a story. It helps me maintain the beats in the story, since I tend to write very rhythmically.

However, the "beat" in "beat sheet" refers to the beats within your acts. I'm sure I don't have to go into three-act structure here (every story has three acts: beginning, middle, and end), so I won't go into it. But the purpose of the beat sheet is just to get a snap-shot of your story, see where and how it flows, where it's weak, and adjust accordingly. Unlike a script, this is a document for me, the writer. I can write it any way that I chose, and sometimes it'll vary from story to story. It's just a great quick reference for me to use - and it can be very fluid and evolve as I continue my writing process.

Here's an example of a working beat sheet from the upcoming Temple prequel, Assassin.



STEP 3:
After the story is prepped in a beat sheet, I write down my cast of characters and make a few notes about their motivations in this story. What do they want? What are their goals and objectives? What drives them to push the narrative forward? Sometimes this step precedes the beat sheet, if I don't know my characters very well or are introducing new characters into a story. But when it follows, I'll typically go back to the beat sheet and make some tweaks and changes based on those motivations. This can go back and forth a few times until I feel very confident about the story.

Here's an example of an outline for a short story that will be appearing soon in an anthology:


STEP 4:
At this point I take my beat sheet and make an outline, typically a page-by-page breakout of the events to overlay the story. The outline helps me further figure out pacing and how fast my story is going to evolve, and it can also help me figure out how many panels I'm going to be using per page, where some of the more dramatic moments are in the story, etc. This document tends to be a little longer and more detailed for me - an evolution from the beat sheet, if you will.

Sometimes I skip this step entirely, if I want a story to evolve more organically. But for a lot of the more complex plots that I've been using lately (like weaving together all of the events of Temple), I like to use this method.

STEP 5:
With the beat sheet and outline in hand, I'm able to start my script. Again, sometimes things change and evolve along the way and changes are made, but for the most part by the time I make it to the scripting stage I'm pretty comfortable with my characters, story, pacing, and plot elements.

I won't go into details about how to write a script here, but if you'd be interested to learn more feel free to drop me a line and let me know. Maybe I'll turn this into a series of blog entries.

Labels: comic books, comics, web comics, writing

My Site

Vote!

The DD Awards are coming out this week (started yesterday, in fact), and this comic was graciously nominated for Best Photo Comic, and Best Socio-Political Comic. Unfortunately, the comic did not bring home the bacon, but just being nominated is reward enough. Especially for 2 years in a row for Best Photo Comic!

Also, be on the lookout for my contribution to the awards presentations: an epic 3 pager (combined into a single page) that falls into the current storyline, and also teases about possible things to come! It's for the Best Romance Comic category, and should be a hoot!

Also, if you live in the Chicago area, I'll be attending Reactor Con the weekend of September 18. I have 5 panels at the convention, and I'll be talking about various topics including writing comics, the artistic approach, crafting a fantasy world, and even a panel about this very comic here: @$$hole! I'll be premiering the first book there, which collects the Laura's 21st Birthday storyline - with new original artwork, an afterword by the creator, a brand-spanking new cover, and a forward by Josh from TokyoPOP, Josh Elder! 50+ pages for just $6.

Alan Evans and I will also be attending Mid-Ohio Comic Con in October, and will be hanging out with the very talented Lora Innes (The Dreamer), as well as several other awesome people both from DD and abroad!

More cool announcements as the week progresses, and as always there are reviews and comics on the main website.

Labels: comic books, comics, photo comic, photography, web comics, writing

My Site and Drunk Duck

VOTE!

And here's where the waiter's true colors start to shine. He's hinted twice now to find out if Trevor and the Cat Lady are married, and Trevor says that they're not even together (this is a first blind date, which is hardly a date even in the real world). Instantly, the waiter is back over to the cat lady - and with his arm around her, to boot!

I was going to try to have more of a seduction conversation in here, where the waiter was saying sweet nothings in Trevor's ear...but writing from the hip as I've been doing with this story, I just couldn't come up with anything in the limited space and time.

Anyway, I'm off for the weekend. Need to get stuff done that I've been neglecting (like laundry...and drinking). Have a good one!

Labels: blind date, blind dating, comic books, comics, dating, online dating, photo comic, web comics

My Site and Drunk Duck

VOTE!

Oh yes...I went there. ;)

Writing this comic without the benefit of a script, outline, or beat sheet has been fun...but I fear that I may drag it on too long. Originally, I just wanted to get 12 pages out of this story. But I'm already on page 11, and they haven't even ordered food yet! This story may become my big summer blockbuster story arc, and then I'll save the nude beach and / or the next birthday story for later. I would like to get back into the illustrated stories, since I have some good ones to tell there.

Do you think a back and forth between illustrated and photo would be confusing / frustrating, or would you enjoy something like that? Or, if you had to chose between one format over the other, which would you chose?

Labels: blind date, blind dating, comic books, comics, photo comic, web comics

My Site



Sorry it's a little behind schedule. Everything was done, but I was so caught up in other things last night that I forgot to post it. Alan Evans and I are attending Mid-Ohio con now in early October in Columbus, and last night was a scramble to organize everything and for me to figure out if I can order additional copies of the book before then.

So life's a bit of a scramble at the moment.

If you missed my blog posting for Wizard World Chicago, be sure to check it out on my homepage.

Well, back to writing scripts!

Also, don't forget to visit Erica's website, since she took these awesome photos!

Labels: blind date, blind dating, chicago comic con, comic books, comics, dating, drunk duck, drunk duck awards, online dating, photo comic, photography, web comics, writing

My Site and Drunk Duck

"That's not my name." I love that line from Xen. It's hilarious to me, because it could be that he's dodging whomever's looking for him, or it could just be that no one's pronouncing his name correctly. Or both!

Xen's a fun character, and he'll no doubt be making a return appearance somewhere down the road.

This story is quickly wrapping up. Only about 10-12 more pages left to go, and then we move onto the next story. "What is that story," you ask? Well, I'm not entirely sure just yet. Trying to figure out if I want to tell another prequel, or move on to the final chapter: Holy War.

Temple has a finite ending, and I'm looking forward to telling that story. But I don't know if we're quite there yet. There're a lot of holes to fill between now and then. So I'll pose the question to you: would you prefer to see another prequel or two, or just jump into the ending?

Also, out of curiosity, who's everyone's favorite Temple character?

Labels: comic books, comics, samurai, sci-fi, temple, the temple of a thousand tears, web comics