META: Writer's Block and Crazy-Ass Ideas
Tom Russell
it. If I get stuck on a scene, or a line of dialogue, or even trying
to find precisely the right word, I am unable to skip ahead and come
back to it later; if I'm blocked on one thing, I'm then blocked on
them all. Even if I know what happens next, even if it's been plotted
out and I'm itching to write it-- nothing comes.
This tendency is exacerbated by the type of story I usually write-- a
superhero story-- because those stories (and other stories of a highly
speculative nature) thrive on details. And if I'm stuck for a detail,
then I'm stuck on the story-- sometimes for days if not weeks at a
time.
It's a little embarrassing, and also somewhat odd. One of my
favourite things to do-- the thing that gets me excited about the
genre-- is to find those details, surprises, and off-the-wall ideas.
And I especially love "tossing them off"-- mentioning an adventure,
villain, gadget, or _something_ in passing, giving the reader just
enough time to say, "Wow, that's cool, I wish there was more of that".
This was something that the superhero genre is really good at-- the
ideas that are simultaneously ridiculous and grandiose, silly and
sublime; other genres can't accommodate the same sheer number and type
of ideas within a single story. Mystery stories have to be tight and
economical; there's no room in romance novels for talking animals,
space gods, and just sheer crazy-ass shit.
I'm talking about the kind of stuff that Kirby did, especially in his
Fourth World stories: the Black Racer, Goody Rickels, pyro-granulate,
Flippa Dippa, super-hippies the Forever People, Glorious Godfrey and
his Justifiers. And then there's Mister Miracle-- Scott Free-- who
has just about the most obvious name a super escape artist could. But
then you look at a story like "Young Scott Free", and you get Scott's
departing lines to Darkseid as he crawls his way to Earth: "Let me be
Scott Free-- and find myself!"
And that line is so incredible-- so strong and awesome and true and,
yes, obvious-- that it takes the silliest name this side of Pamela
Isley and Edward Nigma and makes it Awesome. That's one of the
greatest things about the superhero genre-- it can take things that
are utterly ridiculous utterly seriously, and in the process create
something astonishing, something that works both as drama and comedy
at the same time.
That's one of the many thousands of things that attract me to the
genre, and that's what I try to do in my work, particularly my Jolt
City stories. And while I have no trouble coming up with crazy ideas
for stories proper-- Apelantis attacks!-- I do sometimes find myself
blocked with the toss-offs. What hopefully looks like effortless
invention actually takes a whole lot of effort on my part.
I especially have trouble coming up with villains who aren't the main
focus of a given story; writing JOLT CITY # 10, which introduced over
twenty-odd villains, was something of a nightmare. I often try to
jump-start the process by surfing the internet, hoping something or
another will pop up and I'll go, "Ooh, I'll use that!"
But it almost never, ever, ever works; not even randomly plucking
cards from a card catalogue, or using the "random page" button on
Wikipedia are able to do the trick. What happens usually is that a
few days later, something just pops into my head, and it's usually
more-or-less the perfect idea.
It's a bit maddening, and certainly not conducive to maintaining a
monthly release schedule. :-)
Anyone else want to share their thoughts on writer's block, crazy-ass
ideas, and inspiration?
==Tom
EDMLite
> Anyone else want to share their thoughts on writer's block, crazy-ass
> ideas, and inspiration?
I know what you mean about the search for "crazy-ass"
ideas. My solution, so far, is to write the story
down, in whatever boring form it comes to me, print
it out, and then go through the story as if I was
going to pencil it, imagining all of the visual
possibilities. "Having the butler be the killer
makes sense... but having a MONKEY butler be the
killer makes for good nonsense."
My writers' block came in terms of writing about
heroes. I'm a believer in the idea that the
characters should drive the story. Things
shouldn't just happen to them; the choices they
make should lead to the situations in which
they find themselves. And yet super-heroes
aren't particularly dynamic characters. If
Commissioner Gordon doesn't turn on the
Bat-Signal, Bruce Wayne just sits around the
cave adding applications to his Facebook page.
Or does he? I had a chance to talk with
Matt Wagner when WonderCon was in town, and
here's what he said: "Most super-heroes have
something they would rather be doing. Batman
doesn't want to be Batman. If you can show
what they actually want to be doing, it makes
the characters more interesting" -- and their
decision to abandon those goals for the good of
others more poignant.
And that's been a big help to me -- if there's
one thing writers tend to be good at, it's
imagining things they would rather be doing.
--Easily-Discovered Man Lite
--Would rather be taking on Angelina Jolie in a
piefight
Tom Russell
> My writers' block came in terms of writing about
> heroes. I'm a believer in the idea that the
> characters should drive the story. Things
> shouldn't just happen to them; the choices they
> make should lead to the situations in which
> they find themselves.
I'd certainly agree with you as far as writing straight-up heroics.
Passive protagonists, such as the princesses in Disney films, can get
a bit annoying.
I think when working in comedy, though, you can get away with a more
passive protagonist. Check out some of the better films of Harry
Langdon, for example-- the general rule for a Langdon character was
that while a brick could hit the villain in the head, Langdon must
never toss it himself.
That's an extreme example, of course, and I'm not suggesting that any
hero, comedic or otherwise, necessarily be that passive; my point is
that an audience can deal with a highly passive character if his
reactions to the goings-on around him deliver some kind of comedic pay-
off.
> And yet super-heroes
> aren't particularly dynamic characters. If
> Commissioner Gordon doesn't turn on the
> Bat-Signal, Bruce Wayne just sits around the
> cave adding applications to his Facebook page.
>
> Or does he? I had a chance to talk with
> Matt Wagner when WonderCon was in town, and
> here's what he said: "Most super-heroes have
> something they would rather be doing. Batman
> doesn't want to be Batman. If you can show
> what they actually want to be doing, it makes
> the characters more interesting" -- and their
> decision to abandon those goals for the good of
> others more poignant.
That's actually really awesome and noteworthy advice-- something that
seems obvious but is oftentimes overlooked, and it keeps superheroes
reactive instead of pre-emptive. A pre-emptive hero, I think, raises
a number of uncomfortable issues about law, order, and civil rights--
just as, I might add, a pre-emptively striking government.
==Tom
Andrew Burton
> I especially have trouble coming up with villains who aren't the main
> focus of a given story; writing JOLT CITY # 10, which introduced over
> twenty-odd villains, was something of a nightmare. I often try to
> jump-start the process by surfing the internet, hoping something or
> another will pop up and I'll go, "Ooh, I'll use that!"
See, I avoid having that happen by making my villains the good guys!
Let's face it, nine times out of ten the villains are more interesting.
They drive the story. They pro-actively innovate. Why should the
heroes get all the attention, when they're second fiddle to the villains
anyway. :)
> Anyone else want to share their thoughts on writer's block, crazy-ass
> ideas, and inspiration?
I normally do, but writer's block
--
Andrew Burton
tugly...@aol.com
http://utilitarian.us - A Guide to Esoteric Technology in Paragon City
http://jarodrussell.livejournal.com/ - Take a guess. ;)
Martin Phipps
> My writers' block came in terms of writing about
> heroes. I'm a believer in the idea that the
> characters should drive the story. Things
> shouldn't just happen to them; the choices they
> make should lead to the situations in which
> they find themselves. And yet super-heroes
> aren't particularly dynamic characters. If
> Commissioner Gordon doesn't turn on the
> Bat-Signal, Bruce Wayne just sits around the
> cave adding applications to his Facebook page.
>
> Or does he? I had a chance to talk with
> Matt Wagner when WonderCon was in town, and
> here's what he said: "Most super-heroes have
> something they would rather be doing. Batman
> doesn't want to be Batman.
I'm the same way. Five students failed another teacher's class so I
was called upon to teach a summer make up class but I'd rather be home
watching re-runs of the X-Files. Alas with great teaching power comes
great teaching responsibility. :)
Martin
Tarq
> Anyone else want to share their thoughts on writer's block, crazy-ass
> ideas, and inspiration?
Crazy-ass ideas come pretty easily in Australia! We have giant
marsupial rats hopping around our backyards, right next to the duck-
beavers. God, you are a pretty crazy-ass guy!
In lieu of inherent crazy-ass locales, however, I always find looking
to the law for inspiration to be pretty helpful. Here are some crazy-
ass ideas right now, straight from Australian law!
1. Women's rights
2. Saying 'sorry' to Aboriginals for Stolen Generations, and then
sending them off to mandatory boarding school
3. Amending the definition of 'free speech' so that you can get gaoled
for annoying a Catholic, and all banners and shirts must be cleared
with the police before you can have them anywhere near Sydney
Whoah! Sounds like parliament is a whacked out hive of crazy-ass to
me! What's more, if that doesn't help, just fall back on STIs,
monkeys, and old people. Or combinations of STIs, monkeys, and old
people! WHOAH! CRAZY-ASS!!
> ==Tom
~Mitchell
On a related note, I just wanted to complain about WYD. >_>
Arthur Spitzer
> Anyone else want to share their thoughts on writer's block, crazy-ass
> ideas, and inspiration?
>
> ==Tom
Writer's block...
Had a bad case of that from like '99 to 2004. I think I posted
Hurrikhal #1 back in '99 and was working on #2, but I got stuck
rewriting sentences over and over again. I think I was trying to make
#2 a lot better than #1 and in trying to write the perfect story I just
kind of got stuck. Probably a big reason I never finished On the
Deadbeat #4, or Jong #6 or Saviors of Net #18. Just too worried about
making them great.
As for how I broke out of that block... isn't funny how when you have
writer's block the one story that always pops into your head is about a
writer with writer's block? It always struck me as an absurdity. How
could a writer with writer's block write a story about a writer with
writer's block? I suppose the idea of Tippy O'Tipp the RACCCafe
bartender with awful tips to help writers writing their stories came
from that.
http://lists.eyrie.org/pipermail/racc/2004-June/000164.html
I wrote myself in the story asking Tippy how to break my writer's block.
And he gave me this tidbit:
"Ooh, Writer's Block! Aye, there's e pickle for ye. What e'd do if 'e
were ye would be to write e story about e writer 'oo has writer's block
'oo writes e story about e writer 'oo 'as writer's block."
"What the--?? How can I write a story about a guy who has writer's
block, if I have writer's block!!?? And how is the fictional character
in the story supposed to write a story if he has writer's block!!?"
"Hmm-- well 'e guess the fictional character probably 'as some keend of
magic ring that removes 'es writer's block when 'e writes stories.
Anywee, that's not really the important part o' the story. Ye see the
important part is about this cyborg ninja biker lassie 'oo wants to kill
our writer before 'e can write the story about the gee 'oo has writer's
block. But because 'e has amnesia 'e can't remember whee the biker
lassie wants to kill 'em. And somewhere in the story there's this cool
scene with the biker lassie getting into 'e motorcycle chainsaw duel
with 'e talking gorilla that wears 'e cowboy het!"
So there's the trick to breaking out of your writer's block -- Find a
magic ring that removes writer's block!
Of course for me it was simply not worrying about writing sentences that
were crap. Accepting that there are going to be bad sentences in
stories and moving on.
Arthur "Simple Isn't it?" Spitzer