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The Writers' Block

Started by The Legendary Shark, 21 November, 2014, 09:26:25 AM

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Hawkmumbler

Worse writers than you Sharky have had long and fruitful careers. Keep at it champ!

The Legendary Shark


Thanks, Hawkie... I think.

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Bolt-01

I'll second Jim in saying that PDF's are about the worst to letter with. If we do get one, and it does happen- then a polite mail requesting a more letterer friendly version is asked for as well.

Hawkmumbler

I've knocked up a fair few short stories this year, more than 2017 and 2018 combined, and though i'm content with several of them (and despise a few more but hey-ho) i'm still struggling to get over my anxiety of putting my work out there.

Getting rejected for a few zines earlier this year didn't help my confidence none, and I only hope I don't sound like i'm taking criticism too harshly, I welcomed the feedback. It just makes me feel a tad like my stories aren't worth telling.

Tiplodocus

Just posted off my first submission to the House of Tharg in more than 15 years.

(Sorry, I did the dialogue in CAPS).
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

Bolt-01


The Legendary Shark


Fingers crossed for you, Tips!

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Tiplodocus

Can't believe it had been that long actually. I was thinking it was about 5 years.

And can't believe how shit and immature  previous submissions were.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

The Legendary Shark

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IAMTHESYSTEM

You can pre-order Alan Moore's writing course at the BBC. Not cheap at £80, but you'll probably be hard-pressed to find better writing advice.

https://www.bbcmaestro.com/courses/alan-moore/storytelling
"You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension."

http://artriad.deviantart.com/
― Nikola Tesla

The Legendary Shark

#145
Greetings, fellow creatives.

Open source comics.

Anybody interested? If so, I've had an idea...

Let me start with the most constructive criticism I ever got, from a wannabe corporate drone called Muscles* in the late 90's, "You never finish anything." Being young and unable to control my indignation, I began to bristle. But Mr. Muscles smiled and explained that this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I was trying, at the time, to get a "factory newsletter" off the ground and we were close to printing Issue #1. Muscles said that this was the hardest part, generating momentum to get things going, and that I was good at that. The problem was that I'm not the type to keep things going because I'm always looking for the next thing to start. Other people are good at keeping things going but can't kick things off very well. Horses for courses.

Secondly, Bludd & Xandi. The recent publication of the collected story took me completely by surprise and made me feel rather good. Something I wrote that other people enjoy. There are few better feelings than that. But I don't plan on writing any more B&X, I started it but I doubt I'll finish it. The Celestial Agents belong to the world now, if their story continues it continues, if it doesn't, it doesn't. Either way, I'm proud of, if not entirely happy with, it. Pushing on, and back to the point...

I have three story ideas and two possibilities.

Firstly, I continue as-is, but maybe with a little help.

Or, secondly, I start something. Ideally, we could end up with something useful in some way. First, though, we have to start. Get over the inertia. I'll be "striprunner" (because why not?), so I'll write all the scripts. Anyone who wants to pitch in with suggestions or criticisms is welcome to do so - but all out in the open, so everyone has a voice. We'll start with a kind of "writers' room" deal, then see if we can pass it on the "artists' room" and then maybe even the "marketers' room." I'm out when the writers' room ends, so the marketing part especially is none of my concern. I'll take donations but that's it, I'm just in it for the story.

Anyway, the Open Source Comic Challenge is to produce the first episode of one of the following (or better) ideas:

The Harlem Heroines. Two or three decades after the Original Thrill, the only part of the once famous aeroball team remaining is the Harlem Heroines, which used to be the second-stream "women's team." Now, they're on the cusp of their first game in the International Aeroball Superleague after climbing out of the lower leagues under the leadership of the club's new owner, a local self-made billionaire (maybe with the shady help of a certain pinstripe freak...). A story about aspiration and loyalty, and the benefits and costs they entail. ("Welcome to Wrexham Harlem"?)

The Power. Aeons ago, an unimaginably advanced race of beings survived a catastrophe by designing "personal survival fields." These fields, generated by tiny sentient crystals embedded in the brain, allowed the beings to survive (and experience) the destruction of their entire solar system as a speeding black hole dragged it beyond the edge of the galaxy. Trapped in a billion year orbit of the galaxy, the beings eventually go mad and die and their remains drift away, atom by atom, until only the crystals remain. Finally, the crystals fall back into the galaxy and rain down on the Earth over the course of a day. The crystals seek out and bond with the first suitably sentient being they encounter, which is usually a human being, essentially giving them Superman-like powers. The story follows an 18 year old who suddenly finds himself with the powers of a god in a world where around 100,000 random people (mostly) worldwide have been empowered in exactly the same way. A story about the rights and responsibilities of power, and how the difference is rarely clear-cut.

Home. 65 million years ago, the planet Beitzah Rishonah was devastated in a vicious galactic war. The target of the strike was the lizard race known as the Tzif'oni, who supplied weapons to both sides. The Tzif'oni escaped as refugees on a generations long exodus through time and space, spurned and persecuted all the way, fragmented throughout the galaxy. Finally, following a particularly heinous incidence of persecution, the Orion Council recognises the plight of the Tzif'oni and their right to return home to Beitzah Rishonah. However, the planet is now called Earth and home to a Class IV evolving race and so the Council gives the refugees the entire solar system, except the Earth, and the technology to terraform any and all of them (except the giants). The Tzif'oni ignore humanity at first, making every moon and planet from Mercury to Mimas, into breathtaking gardens. But the Tzif'oni want to go home, to Beitzah Rishonah (the Primary Egg), and their long-term plan is to take the Earth. In the end, humanity's own enthusiasm for contact allowed an embassy, and then a compound, and then a secure spaceport or two, and then an island - which is when the Resistance began. Our story begins seven decades later, when the Tzif'oni have reclaimed most of Beitzah Rishonah, and follows a man born to this world who discovers the existence of the Orion Council and the possibility of pleading for their intervention. A story about home, its meaning, importance and value.

So that's it.

Basically, it's just for fun. I love coming up with this crap. The best case scenario for me is that we crowd source just one episode for the entertainment of the forum, tapping into its own creative instincts, maybe opening a window into the creative worlds and processes. If that's as far as it goes I'll be happy. At the very least, maybe you'd be kind enough to take the time to tell me which of the above you prefer, if any.

Well, are you in? Can we produce one episode of magic between us? I think we can. All you need is your reason to do it.




*Not his real name.
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Daveycandlish

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 04 January, 2024, 08:28:39 PMSecondly, Bludd & Xandi. The recent publication of the collected story took me completely by surprise and made me feel rather good. Something I wrote that other people enjoy. There are few better feelings than that. But I don't plan on writing any more B&X, I started it but I doubt I'll finish it. The Celestial Agents belong to the world now, if their story continues it continues, if it doesn't, it doesn't. Either way, I'm proud of, if not entirely happy with, it. Pushing on, and back to the point...



It is bloody good. It would be remiss of me not to give it a plug - I still have a few copies left!
Get yerself one from the PARAGONcomic blogspot BUY IT FROM HERE!!
An old-school, no-bullshit, boys-own action/adventure comic reminiscent of the 2000ads and Eagles and Warlords and Battles and other glorious black-and-white comics that were so, so cool in the 70's and 80's - Buy the hardback Christmas Annual!

Fortnight

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 04 January, 2024, 08:28:39 PMBludd & Xandi
Hey, I bought that. I'd read it within 30 minutes of opening the envelope! That was a great concept that's definitely got legs. I was sad it ended so quickly. Definitely needs expanding.

The Legendary Shark


Thank you, that's very kind of you to say.

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Fortnight

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 04 January, 2024, 08:28:39 PMThe Power
My vote would be for this, but the world really has enough superhero stories, so I'd make the recipients of the crystals more like victims ultimately, and have the "powers" more like bizarre side-effects. Not silly. Just odd. Like contact with water causes the individual to catch fire, along with anything around them, or another could have the "ability" to pass through solid objects, but only at times of great anger or arousal. These could leading to some unfortunate encounters at bars.

And after only a short time the crystals' 'energy' causes them to go mad like their original owners, not just mad from residual loneliness, but also schizophrenia due to the extant personality embedded in them. The only one who doesn't show any negative symptoms despite being equally effected can be an estate agent, for obvious reasons.