Before I start with tonight’s topic, I took a few moments (okay, hours) to catch up with a few shows, and one half hour I should not have caught up with.
How I Met Your Mother needs to be cancelled now, it is gotten that lame.
And now….
Every comic reader has the dream, to write his or her own comic, create their own character to stand among the Pantheon of the great comic characters like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, and the Fantastic Four (sorry Spider-Man, you’re still on my crap list).
I, however, dreamt a bit bigger. I think it was because I really liked creating characters… lots of them. Enough for an entire universe of comics. With that much under my belt, it would seem only fitting that I would not want to create just one comic, but a comic company around these characters.
Granted, it helps to have a game plan as to what I would publish. Naturally, I would want to start small, but huge.
The flagship book would be my team book. This team would have some set characters, along with a rotating cast of others that come and go as needed. For me, this team book would revolve around the team I used in my fourth NaNoWriMo, and the first story arc would be an adaption of that NaNoWriMo story. Given the nature of the team book, it would be possible to cover citywide crises as well as small time crimes.
If you have ever seen the old 1980s cartoon MASK, it would be similar to that, with superheroes instead of tech heroes.
While the team book would give an idea of what this comic universe is like in one city, the first anthology book would broaden the scope. Each issue would feature three or four stories, some multi-part, some stand alone, all of which would look at the adventures of heroes beyond the team book. In practice, I would try to keep the main characters of the team book out of this anthology, if only to maintain some degree of continuity.
This book would be like the old bi-weekly Marvel Comics Presents in nature, before it started to feature only popular characters that were already in three other books.
The solo hero book would feature a character outside of the city where the team book was set. This character would be more of a street level hero, one akin to the old pulp heroes that Dynamite Entertainment has been working with as of late.
This anthology would feature the darker side of this comic universe. It would feature a headline story based off a government/superhero conspiracy idea that I have been ruminating for quite some time, and would feature a couple of back-up stories of demon hunters, vampire slayers, and werewolf fighters, along with other creatures of the night.
Strange worlds, alien creatures, and technologies undreamt of would be the focus of this anthology. One of the characters I would feature has actually appeared on this blog, that of Tempest Solaris, but other stories would relate tales of galactic wars, explorers of forbidden worlds, and strange life on alien worlds.
One of the ideas I came up with when I was thinking about my comic universe was the concept that there were other generations of heroes. This anthology would explore the back story of the world I created. A rotating stories of pulp heroes of the 1920s and 1930s, the dark era of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the sporadic appearances of heroes throughout the ages would be featured, all expanding on the history of the world that is the setting for all of these books.
As you can probably gather, I am a big fan of anthologies.
It’s something we all get to look forward to: growing older. At least, it’s something we get to look forward to if we are not on a comic book reality. And, last time I checked (ten minutes ago), we weren’t.
It is an issue that really never comes up in comics. This is mostly because it is possible to take a full year to tell a story that happens in one day in the comic. The very nature of comics prevents aging from coming into play, except in a severe long-term fashion, or for story effect (“Superman, you aged 300 years in 30 seconds, and Lex Luthor is attacking!”)
For those of us who wish to create our own comic world (thus keeping control over our ideas), we can either follow the lead of the majors, or we can adopt our own ideas in dealing with aging. After all, it is quite possible that and creator could create the hero that readers will want to follow for years, or even generations.
So, beyond just ignoring aging entirely, what can a reader do to deal with it. Surprisingly, there are a number of options out there.
English: penulis = writer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Any writer will tell you that inspiration can strike anywhere at any time. Naturally, most writers will make sure that they are ready for these ideas whenever they may strike.
For me, there are 5 things I always keep with me to further my writing.
I’ve been thinking of rewriting the comic scripts that I wrote years ago, the script that became the basis for one of my NaNoWriMo novels.
First, I still been to remember that I have no drawing talent at all.
Secondly, I need to consider whether or not I want to include parts of the NaNoWriMo novel in the scripts, which would undoubtedly turn the five scripts (each script being one issue) into significantly more scripts.
With the passing of the Mayan Calendar/December 21, 2012 date without anything remotely resembling an apocalypse (something which, surprisingly, the Mayans actually did not predict for that date), doomsdayers have been scrambling to determine the next date for the apocalypse. Thankfully, that date has been found.
It seems that the world will end on November 27, 2013.
“It only makes sense,” says Martin Borley of the apocalypse watch group Doomed R Us, “I mean, who really wants to deal with their relatives on Thanksgiving.”
When asked why this particular date was chosen, Borley stated it was obvious.
“The big problem with choosing the date for the end of the world is that, well, the end of the world is so horribly unreliable.” Borley sites failed doomsdays as January 1st of 2000, 1910 (with the approach of Halley’s Comet), and the two failed Raptures of 2011 as proof. ’December 21st hit doomsdayers particularly hard because of its close proximity to Christmas. Many prepared for the end of the world and not for Christmas, leading to a mad rush for presents on the 22nd.
“With November 27, it is early enough in the year that if the apocalypse did not happen, again, there is still time for people to buy their Christmas presents and wait for the next date for the end of the world,” Borley comments.
But what about Thanksgiving, we asked, wouldn’t a failed end of the world lead to a mad scramble to cook Thanksgiving dinner. ”There are a growing number of restaurants who are open on Thanksgiving. All a doomdayer would have to do is make a reservation for Thanksgiving. If the end of the world does not happen, then they are all set, and the help contribute to the economy by dining out.” Borley takes a moment to chuckle, “If the end of the world does happen, there won’t be a restaurant left to care that no one arrived at the reserved time for dinner.”
Naturally, given the historical unreliability of the apocalypse, we did ask Borley if there were any other dates that he was looking at for the possible end of the world.
“Nothing definite yet, but we are looking,” he answered, “We would not be an apocalypse watch group is we didn’t, at least, not a good one (laughs).” When pressed, he did offer a few leads on future dates for the end of the world.
“Beyond November 27, 2013, we have another prediction for January 1st, 2017. We are not giving that date much credence because, let’s face it, a lot of apocalyptic prophets like to use the New Year as the date for the end of dates. We are looking carefully at 2060, which Sir Isaac Newton said would be the end of the world. Beyond that, there are a few Biblical prophesies that predict the next pope will be the last pope, but we are not looking too hard into them since there is not even a definitive year for that.” Borley smiles once more, “Right now, we are focusing on the end of the world being November 27. After that, we’ll see where we go from there.” Borley chuckled, “If it is the 27th, at least Detroit fans won’t have to worry about how badly the Lions will get beat on Thanksgiving.”
In an effort to get my other works out there, I pose to you the last paragraphs of my 2012 NaNoWriMo, which should show why it took me four extra days to actually write the end of the book.
NOTE: There are references in it that will make no sense when reading just the ending, but it comes together if you read the whole thing (if I don’t rewrite it into oblivion).
In the years that followed, new shield dancers and song warriors were born. They grew up, learning the legends of their kind. They heard the stories of Kendra and Finley, of Sheena and Thomas. And they grew up with the greatest legend of them all, that of Ariel and Curran Kestrel, the saviors of the shield dancers and the song warriors.
-THE END-
Midnight write (Photo credit: stetted)
This is it. November 30th. Day 30 of the National Novel Writing Month. Congratulations to everyone who has completed their NaNoWriMo word count. And Good luck to everyone who is making the dash to 11:59 pm to make their word count.
I think I might have an ending. At least, one that isn’t so depressing.
More to come when I know it.
240/365 National Novel Writing Month begins (Photo credit: the girl who owns the world)
For many who are participating in the National Novel Writing Month, this is the final days of their attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days. For some, they have reached, or surpassed, the word limit, got their winner’s badges, and are taking a break before they dive into edits and rewrites. Some of these people may even take their NaNoWriMo works and seek publication.
Then there is me. I have reached the word limit. I surpassed it, actually. But my NaNoWriMo will never see the light of day.
I still don’t have an ending I’m happy with. Somehow, I feel that after everything I put my characters through, they deserve a better ending than the arranged marriage one I ended up with.
Regardless of that, this is the day that NaNoWriMo activates their validator.
It’s official. Another NaNoWriMo has been completed… even if the book is not completed.
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