My aliens future shock is so easy to understand. Read more inside...

[Jim_Campbell]

> My point was that my line was similar to John's.
> Which it is.
> So if Jim attacks my line he must surely attack
> John's.

Similar. As I keep saying to you. Not the same.

?They say the only good politician is a good politician.?  (I'm assuming that second 'good' should read 'dead' ...)
?In this case, that might be true.?

This reads like a line of dialogue spoken by a human being, yours did not.

This is dialogue, especially in space-conscious medium like comics, where words should be used with precision - the devil is in the detail and one misplaced word can make the difference between a great line and a deeply awful one.

_Still_ don't believe me? How about:

"Gaze into the glove of Dredd!"

As factually accurate as the original line, but nonetheless bloody awful. I can't tell you the amount of time I've spent poring over the thesaurus because I _know_ that _one_ bloody word in a line is wrong, and I _know_ that there's a better one but just can't think of it.

Or the two weeks we wasted arguing with one editor because he wanted a word changing because 'the kids wouldn't understand it' ...

He didn't seem to grasp that we'd picked the word because it absolutely, concisely and specifically meant what we _wanted_ it to mean ...

(The kids can bloody look it up, was my - admittedly undiplomatic - response.)

If you're that cavalier in your attitude to using language, why are you writing at all? The words are _everything_!

Cheers

Jim

[W. R. Logan]

>Sorry about that one Logan.

>Hee hee!

No, believe me it wasn't funny, I really dislike Siku's artwork and think its an affront to have his work appearing on Dredd stories, and to have to read it 5 times was something I wouldn?t wish on even you.

>My point was that my line was similar to John?s.
>Which it is.
>So if Jim attacks my line he must surely attack John[backslash]'s.
>
>Which he will not do.
>
>I think the term we are looking for is hypocrisy....


Not counting all the stuff that John has written during his long career outside of 2000AD, he has had close to a 1000 scripts published to do with Dredd and 2000AD. He has characters that he has created optioned for movies, (Dredd, Strontium Dog, Button Man, & History Of Violence). So if the line that you mentioned wasn?t one of the best there?s a whole body of work that has seen print that at times can be some of the best ever to be printed by a British writer.

He also doesn?t say that he?s better than anyone else and doesn?t harp on about having scripts and characters sat on agents desks.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

Link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theclassof79" target="_blank">The Class Of '79

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theclassof79/files/%23%20Logan/class%20of%2079.jpg">

[Jim_Campbell]

> Jim, r u 4 real!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I am.

> This guy is arguing over it's and it is!

You misunderstand me.

I'm not arguing about anything. I'm telling you.

I spent ten years writing before Kev Walker and I landed the Inspectre for the Megazine (admittedly, we had sold several projects which then didn't make it to print for a variety of other reasons, but that's beside the point).

I have a stack of rejection letters _this_ high, dating back to when I was twelve.

And I read every single one. And every single one that wasn't a form letter, I read over and over again until I was sure I understood the reason for the rejection.

And then I sat down and tried to write something better.

At the same time, I wrote other fiction, reviews and articles. I started pursuing small press outlets for my writing because, although I wasn't getting paid, it was all practise.

I was worried that I wasn't reading widely enough, so I chose to do an English Literature degree - not because the qualification would be of any use to me (it never has been) but because I knew the course would _make_ me read stuff I'd never otherwise have read in a million years:

Beowulf (in Anglo-Saxon, thank you very much), through Piers Plowman to Pilgrim's Progress, Spenser's 'The Faeire ****ing Queen', Philip Sidney's 'Apologie for Poetry', Shakespeare, Marlow, Jonson, Donne, Milton, Marvell, Blake, Jane Austin, the Brontes, Gerard Manley Hopkins ...

Even the stuff I hated help inform my understanding of the language. I _worked_ at it and I learned. And I studied comics: the real, skilled craftsmen like Wagner, Grant, Mills and more, umm, extravagant types like Grant 'steal everything' Morrison.

And I _still_ knew that I would only ever be an 'OK' writer, but that didn't stop me from trying. And if there's one thing I do _know_ I'm good at, it's dialogue and characters.

People have paid for writing them, and _told_ me I'm good at it.

So ... when I _tell_ you that no person speaking English as a first language would phrase a line of dialogue the way that you have it phrased, especially an existing character whose speech patterns have been a staple part of my reading almost every week for the last 20 years, then not only do I bloody well mean it, I _know_ what I'm talking about.

Jim

[Thread Zero]

Not counting all the stuff that John has written during his long career outside of 2000AD, he has had close to a 1000 scripts published to do with Dredd and 2000AD. He has characters that he has created optioned for movies, (Dredd, Strontium Dog, Button Man, & History Of Violence). So if the line that you mentioned wasn't one of the best there's a whole body of work that has seen print that at times can be some of the best ever to be printed by a British writer.

He also doesn't say that he's better than anyone else


Oh dear, someone ruffled your feathers eh?

scojo who hates birds

[Thread Zero]

So ... when I _tell_ you that no person speaking English as a first language would phrase a line of dialogue the way that you have it phrased, especially an existing character whose speech patterns have been a staple part of my reading almost every week for the last 20 years, then not only do I bloody well mean it, I _know_ what I'm talking about.


Having read The Inspectre I wouldn't say so.

Whatever happened to that....

And you were so great at dialogue you have written for the meg ever since.

scojo

[W. R. Logan]

>Oh dear, someone ruffled your feathers eh?

no feathers ruffled. I just know a few writers and one thing they have in common is that they don't harp on about how great they are or try to rewrite other peoples stuff. They just get on with the job in hand and earn a living at doing what they do best, and thats by writing.

I always thought that the 2000AD message board would be a place for idle chat about 2000Ad, a place that fans of the comic would first arrive before going onto the other 2000AD groups for some more indepth and serious discussion.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

Link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theclassof79" target="_blank">The Class Of '79

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theclassof79/files/%23%20Logan/class%20of%2079.jpg">

[Thread Zero]

I always thought that the 2000AD message board would be a place for idle chat about 2000Ad, a place that fans of the comic would first arrive before going onto the other 2000AD groups for some more indepth and serious discussion.

Where?
At the yahoo alt board.
I don't think you will find serious discussion there.

As for other writers not harping on about how great they are, do I?

No.

scojo the modest!
Kiss to Logan
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

[Jim_Campbell]

> Having read The Inspectre I wouldn't say so.

Oh, a crushing critique. I go now to hurl myself from the nearest bridge.

> Whatever happened to that....

FYI, we were in the process of plotting the second series when the Meg went over to Preacher reprints, so we shelved it.

> And you were so great at dialogue you have
> written for the meg ever since.

No, I went off do stuff for Games Workshop. Got comprehensively shafted by them and withdrew my projects in a huff.

FWIW, folks, I'd like to apologize to all the sane, reasonable people here, especially the folks at Rebellion since I seem to have started a fight in the virtual equivalent of their foyer.

So, I'm going to be man enough to stop. This tedious drivel is _not_ what I want people to see when they follow up curiosity about the Galaxy's Greatest Comic by visiting this site.

I apologize for rising to the bait of one the most intellectually stunted, untalented, immature, clueless trolls it has ever been my misfortune to encounter.

I'd like to think that, even so, I've managed to remain civil and reasonable in my posts here and caused the minimum amount of offence, but I am sorry for clogging up the board with interminable posts explaining the most dull, basic points of writing to someone who considers themselves a better writer than Alan Moore.

I content myself with the knowledge that Scojo's screenplays are either resident in the bins of whichever agents he chose to inflict them upon, or quite possibly doing the rounds at university screenwriting courses as an object lesson in how not to write.

Again, my apologies.

Cheers

Jim

[Thread Zero]

I content myself with the knowledge that Scojo's screenplays are either resident in the bins of whichever agents he chose to inflict them upon, or quite possibly doing the rounds at university screenwriting courses as an object lesson in how not to write.
jim


To Jim

You will be the first person I will tell if one of screenplays is sold and turned into a movie.

Hell, I will even invite you to the premiere...

scojo

[W. R. Logan]

>scojo the modest!
>Kiss to Logan
>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At least have the curtosy to take me for a meal and buy me a drink first.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

Link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theclassof79" target="_blank">The Class Of '79

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theclassof79/files/%23%20Logan/class%20of%2079.jpg">