Troop 142 – Wednesday Concludes!
Four new Troop 142 pages posted, wrapping up the fourth chapter in the story, Wednesday. Three more to go…
This means the book is more than half-finished, which kind of helps me get over a mental hurdle, where before I couldn’t really see the end in sight, now I can. Obviously there’s a way to go, and I haven’t even thought about starting in on major edits, revisions, and additions to the story – but clearly real progress is being made.
I know that I’ve probably talked before about my writing process, but I want to stress that for me, there’s no other way to write except for the approach of completing each page as I go. I’m just not able to script or even thumbnail things ahead of time. It doesn’t work for me. The best I can do is make notes in the margins of the pages, and write down ideas on my iPhone when they occur to me outside of my studio. I do have an outline of the general story arc written down in a word doc, so I’m not flying completely blind – but that’s just very loose, and I keep changing things as I go.
The approach makes me nervous, because there are likely some ideas that get forgotten because I don’t write them down. And also, I know that many pages that get finished might get tossed in the end. This has definitely happened in the past.
I think the truth is that I’m only able to really write while I’m inking a page. I can spend those hours at the table, inking, and let my mind dwell on the story while it’s not distracted. If I was to sit at a computer trying to write a script, I’d keep stopping and checking my e-mail or playing Scrabble. If I was to try to do some thumbnails, I’d get frustrated that I was wasting valuable drawing time, where I could be getting a page done. I’ve tried these other approaches, and have never been successful. I used to feel self-conscious about it, but in the past year have just decided to embrace it.
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Hey Mike,
I’m amazed that you’re able to write as you go. I think I remember hearing you and Alex saying you both wrote as you went and it blew me away. It seems like a great way to go in that I assume it keeps things nice and fresh while you’re working. I’m the exact opposite, I’ve got to have the story all broken down and thumbnailed out before I sit down at the drawing board. I wish I could do it your way, but whatever works, right?
On another note, I hope I don’t sound culturally insensitive or homophobic, but the last page posted in this batch was pretty gross. I’ve always spent a lot of time outdoors camping, fishing, hiking, mountain biking and all, but after reading your comic, I’m glad I was never a boy scout. Yuck!
Take care dude,
Trade
Hey Mike D – meant to tell you that I really like the work you did on the character poses during the rope bridge sequence.
Expressive and natural. Great stuff!
Oh, and “whoa” on the conclusion to Wednesday.
Another thing I can say about the book is that it breathes. Seems to be happening in a very real space and time.
Thanks Mike! I appreciate it.
Trade: thanks for the nice words as well. Yes, I agree, it’s really a “whatever works” situation. I think the only reason I dwell on it, is because I get the impression that in this day and age of larger publishers putting out graphic novels, there’s a preference for a certain way of working. My sense is that publishers and editors are more comfortable working with scripts and thumbnails, and not fully finished pages.
Can you elaborate on the reaction to the last page? Did you read it that David was just throwing up, or does it look to you like he’s spitting out something *else*?
Hey Mike,
I wasn’t sure exactly. My first thought was that it wasn’t something “else” but only because I didn’t expect you to go there, but whatever he horked up is shown right there in the panel, so as I looked at it I thought maybe showing something “else” was your intention, especially in context with the situation.
I hope this wishy-washy elaboration is helpful.
-Trade
It is helpful! Thanks.
There’s no doubt as to what he is throwing up, right?
With the previous tension and talks of BJs you’ve been building towards “something” and I do think you handled the reveal in an equally subtle and grotesque way – seemed true to the general “boys in the structured wild” vibe of the whole book.
Effective.