(no subject)

[technoir]

I can remember thinking I would write or draw comics for a living. I cant remember what happened to that dream. I just sort of let it peter off in the cacacophony of things that always distract us from our dreams. Weather it is money or lack of talent or just the criticism, people let their dreams get drowned out by other voices or sounds.

Now I always wanted to write XMen of course. When I was groing up they were the book to read. Amoung other things they were of course the perfect example of superheroes as metaphor. Mutants vs humans was of course a statement on very real racism in the world and Xavier's dream vs Magneto's dream always struck me as nod to Martin Luther King as oppossed to say Malcome X. If you were of a writing bent this is the one you wanted to do when I was a kid.

Vertigo came along and added to the list of things you could do.

I had my own Ideas for comics that reflected my love of the story of ordinary men and women in extrodinary circumstances. After all my favorite superhero is in fact Batman who is after all is said done is just a man made of flesh and very driven. He is in over his head fighting superpowered people yet he still wins.

My first notion for a comic was called The News. It was about 2 war correspondents who get assigned to cover superheroes in new york area. It was going to be about what it is like to be filming these guys save the world everyday. Very much like the Marvels miniseries, but I came up with it way back in high school. Still wouldn't mind doing that one if i had a chance.

I had one idea a couple of years ago of doing one about the government liason guy for superheroes. The guy who's job it was meet with supergroups for the whitehouse and make sure they dont step out of line. It would involve spy stuff and superhero stuff so it could be ubercool.

Anyways now a days i dont write near as much as I should and all the ideas I have rolling in my head will only see the light of day in games i gues which is sad a little i guess, but thats where I am at. Maybe I will change but change is hard so for now i will only dream of being a superhero.

and play City of Crack

TechNoir

Comments

[twelveoaks.livejournal.com]

I would totally buy those comics. They sound like very cool stories.

I think one important thing to do, when you have a dream like that, is not to sit around waiting for it to become "official" in some way. More than ever, in the information age, anyone who wants to do something creative and share it with the rest of the world can do so completely on his own.

Artists can scan and print and even post their work digitally on the web. Musicians (thank god) no longer have to have a recording contract to get "studio time," since recording equipment is now available on a scale you could install with the PC in your spare bedroom or garage (take that RIAA!) and authors don't have wait to be approved by some know-it-all publisher, they can do a small-scale printing purely for their own enjoyment, or publish electronically, or even self-publish real books fairly affordably.

No, doing "your own" art isn't likely to make you rich and famous (although it has happened) but really, is the reason you want to do something like this for the fame and fortune, or because you would love doing it? A lot of comic artists and authors do very well in self-published online formats, and a number of them have some very loyal fans.

I say do what you want to do, in whatever medium is available to you. Whether it "succeeds" or not is entirely subjective to your definition of success. I consider myself successful as a musician, not because anyone particularly wants to hear me, but because I make music and enjoy myself.

[technoir.livejournal.com]

I guess my problem is i lack the drive anymore. I feel a desire to write at times then I get discouraged or I am busy at work or I ....just let myself get disuaded from trying any more. It is like I lost the drive I had when i was young. I know their are other mediums. I know there is something out there if I try hard enough. I just lost something along the way and i dont know where it is any more.

Drive...

[newsedition.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm of the belief that drive is something that is, or at least can be, totally self fabricated. All it takes to be driven is forcing yourself to be driven. The problem is that it involves, in a lot of cases, being mean to the person you least want to be mean to - yourself. That means denying yourself fun and handcuffing yourself to your desk, Yes, it also means that you have to disconnect your NIC/modem and remove Solitaire from your computer. You CAN, however, listen to music if it doesn't distract you.

I've been having problems with the same sort of issues myself, and I've found that I suck at self discipline - but it improves with practice. The more I "just say no" to pointless distractions, the easier it is the next time - probably because I can remember how much more I accomplished the last time I resolved to do something productive instead of wasting time on something like freecell.

Meanwhile, posting to LJ is accomplishing something in that it puts you in more of a writing "mode" and you solidify your ideas more by writing them out. So don't be too down on yourself. Be hard on yourself - as that's what "drive" is - but never embrace a negative view of yourself as it doesn't help you in any way whatsoever. You actually are doing something, believe it or not.

Meanwhile, I would also recommend logging what happens in your games - as they might also make good stories - heck, they are stories. Don't look at it as just a game - it's an exercise in collaborative creative writing.