Tony Cliff's Blog, page 3
February 24, 2023
Practical Defence Against Piracy: Chapter Two, pages 124-127
Alexandra follows the advice she's received and is in the process of consulting with a feathered wisdom-keeper when who should return but the island's foul-mouthed Provveditore. What does his return mean for Alexandra and her family?
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The only reason for that link, “Read this on DelilahDirk.com,” is to offer you a maybe-nicer reading experience. There are no ads over there, no traffic counts or tracking nonsense. I have no idea how or where you’re reading this comic and I don’t really care. I just want you to enjoy it.
Practical Defence Against Piracy is the fourth book in the Delilah Dirk series of adventure graphic novels. I’m sharing it, chapter-by-chapter, as I finish it. There is no release date… yet. To keep up-to-date, subscribe to the RSS or join the infrequent newsletter.
Work on this comic is supported by the generous patronage of readers like you, on ol’ Patreon Dot Com. If you are enjoying it and are able to contribute to its production, please do so, and become the wind in Alexandra’s sails. You’ll find weekly updates, the stupidest goofs, behind-the-scenes stuff, pages show up there first, and more… all for less than the price of a single floppy comic per month.
February 17, 2023
Practical Defence Against Piracy: Chapter Two, pages 120-123
Still adrift, isolated from her family and friends, Alexandra continues to seek advice from unfamiliar sources.
These pages look their best on DelilahDirk.com.
Read these pages on DelilahDirk.com!
Practical Defence Against Piracy is the fourth book in the Delilah Dirk series of adventure graphic novels. I’m sharing it, chapter-by-chapter, as I finish it. There is no release date… yet. To keep up-to-date, subscribe to the RSS or join the infrequent newsletter.
Work on this comic is supported by the generous patronage of readers like you, on ol’ Patreon Dot Com. If you are enjoying it and are able to contribute to its production, please do so, and become the wind in Alexandra’s sails. You’ll find weekly updates, the stupidest goofs, behind-the-scenes stuff, pages show up there first, and more… all for less than the price of a single floppy comic per month.
February 16, 2023
How to Write Better Dialogue
Mike Mignola demonstrates a good solid dialogue principle in Hellboy: Right Hand of Doom.
Reader Matteo asked for advice about writing dialogue, specifically how to avoid it sounding "too on-the-nose." I'm glad he did, too, because I love writing dialogue. I would never claim to be an authority on the topic, but I do think I have a good ear for it. One of the signs that I'm reading a book that's not For Me is when I notice myself doing too many mental rewrites of the dialogue. It's a hard skill to articulate, but I'll try to share principles and approaches that have worked for me.
For writer-types, aspiring or otherwise, I hope this is useful—the appeal should be self-evident.
For readers, I hope this offers some insight into the craft of your favourite writers and arms you to better identify work you might enjoy.
Who knows, maybe it'll even help us all communicate with each other more easily.
Below, you'll find
Some quick rules-of-thumb,
smart thoughts from Jordan Morris, Dik Pose, and Ben Hatke,
and an extended look at the most important touchstone for good dialogue.
Mike Mignola, Amazing Screw-On Head. Don't write dialogue if you don't need to. ("Poof!")
FIRST, SOME QUICKIESPeople rarely answer each other’s questions directly. This is a shortcut hack for creating the illusion of what I think is the most important aspect of half-decent dialogue: remembering that each character has their own distinct wants and needs.
It’s very hard to write a character so greedy that their behaviour seems unbelievable. Go ahead, give it a try! Depress yourself!
Think about how often you say exactly what’s on your mind. It’s probably not that often. What keeps you from speaking your mind? Manners? Foreknowledge? Fear?
Don’t spell things weird to imitate the sound of an accent. This is from Stephen King’s ON WRITING, I think. Don’ go confoundin' yer spellcheck fer the sake a'yer regional colour. Just spell words normally.
Speak the lines out loud. This one is from story wizard Dik Pose. Dialogue sounds different coming out of your mouth than it does sitting on the page. Your mileage may vary on this depending on whether you're one of those readers who has an "internal narrator" or not. I have an internal narrator and I don't change much when I try this. But if you're that other type of reader, this might be essential.
Observe from life. Another Dik Pose tip. Just like good drawing and good writing generally come from being a careful observer of life, go out and listen to the details of the ways people speak. Rather, don't just listen, but transcribe. A good way to train your ear AND train the connection between voice and words on the paper.
Don't write dialogue if you don't need to. This tip is from character genius Ben Hatke. In comics, you have other tools at your disposal. Facial expressions, body language, reactions and looks and meaningful silences. They're a part of our daily life. Watch your scene in your mind. Could that character speak with silence?
Tom King, Bilquis Evely &co., Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Clearly demonstrating the "distinctive voices" principle.
CHARACTER VOICEI asked Jordan Morris (hilarious gentleman and writer of BUBBLE—both the podcast and the graphic novel I illustrated) if he had any dialogue-writing tips. “Make each character so distinct that you could tell who is talking just by reading the dialogue," he said.
I was surprised I almost forgot this tip, because Jordan and I both agreed that one of the best things in comics is when you have someone who speaks in highfalutin language paired with someone who speaks plainly. Think HELLBOY, when everyone spouts ludicrous prophecies and Hellboy responds "sure thing, bud." More recently, SUPERGIRL: WOMAN OF TOMORROW does this, too.
SHORTER IS USUALLY BETTERJordan says, “one of my personal habits is trying to include too many jokes in one line. For instance, if I think of two funny ways to say "this person is boring," I'll try to fit them both into a line. It's always a little tough cutting something that you like but 9/10 times the shorter version of the line reads better.”
IN COMICS, BACK-AND-FORTH IS EXPENSIVEThis is a good companion to the previous point. In real life, ideally, a conversation involves a lot of back-and-forth between its participants. When we’re writing, trying to imitate that quality can make things sound natural.
Unfortunately, in comics, each line needs a new word balloon and an associated tail. They take up space and can be difficult to arrange in a way that’s easy to read. Sometimes it’s worth it, but if you can find a way to “optimize” an exchange into fewer word balloons, it might improve your reader’s experience.
Like, we could take,
Greg: “Where are the Pits?”
Slime Nerd: “Which Pits?”
Greg: “The Slime Pits, idiot. What other Pits would I be talking about?”
Slime Nerd: “Oh my Glob, you’re going to the Slime Pits?”
Greg: “Why else would I be asking you?”
Slime Nerd: “Take me with you!”
… and edit it down to,
Greg: “Where are the Slime Pits, idiot?”
Slime Nerd: “You’re going to the Slime Pits? Oh my Glob, you have to take me with you!”
This makes the letterer’s job easier and is easier for the reader to parse. It might also be better writing as a whole, but that depends on your taste and intentions.
DO NOT WRITE DIALOGUE IN THE OUTLINEI don't like "Do Not" rules, but this can be helpful. It's a Robert McKee STORY tip. Sometimes I think it’s good advice, sometimes I don’t.
The thinking here is that if you write oblique dialogue in your outline, you might lose track of what’s really important in the early stages: keeping track of your characters’ true wants and motivations.
A straightforward accounting of any given scenario is a lot easier to work with later (and revise, which is inevitable) than the alternative. For example: “Greg meets a Slime Nerd. Greg hopes the Slime Nerd will simply tell him how to get to the Slime Pits. The Slime Nerd wants to be safely escorted to The Pits, though, and will not provide that information unless Greg agrees to take him along. Greg really does not want a tagalong, but accepts him as the price for the information.”
If your outline includes a bunch of dialogue tennis between Greg and The Slime Nerd, it may be tricky to later interpret those original wants and motivations. Since wants and motivations are your rawest story material, it’s helpful to have easy access to them, rather than needing to dig through a layer of blah blah blah.
The counterpoint to this is that sometimes writing dialogue is a good way for you, the writer, to explore your own characters. Letting them “talk” can be a helpful way of unearthing notions you don’t yet fully realize or understand. When I’m in the early stages of writing and I discover a dialogue exchange that feels good and useful I’ll make a note of it, but I try also to ensure I’m noting the subterranean motivations.
Jordan mentioned something similar. He says he makes two different outlines before starting any script; one is dialogue-free. “The second outline adds more details and some little bits of dialogue that I may or may not end up using. That usually makes the move to script a lot easier.”
From this two-page spread of Practical Defence. A character's Want can be as simple as "I want a decent-sounding nickname."
Finally, a universal rule that will never lead you wrong:
REMEMBER YOUR CHARACTERS’ DISTINCT “WANTS”When we talk about dialogue being too “on the nose,” I think what we’re describing is dialogue that serves the writer’s needs exclusively, without emerging from characters’ own wants and needs. At the other extreme, more languorous dialogue may sound naturalistic, but it would be nice, really, not to waste the reader’s time. Those are the two extremes I know how to recognize: moving the plot forward (and perhaps dumping exposition) versus natural-sounding dialogue that may err on the side of sluggishness. I think there’s an ideal point somewhere in the middle, and anyone who can hit that mark is a Good Writer.™
Consider: Greg wants to know how to get to the Slime Pits.
First, an on-the-nose approach:
Greg approaches a knowledgeable-looking Slime Nerd standing at the side of the road. He asks, “how do I get to the Slime Pits?”
“The Slime Pits are twelve kilometres east upon this very road,” says the Slime Nerd. “But ever since the coronation of the new king nine years and fourteen days ago, the neighbouring Kingdom of Grapes has been at conflict with us. To prevent incursions from our hated Grape enemies, King Bradley has demolished the bridge over the Whisky River, and so in order to reach the Slime Pits you will need to find some alternative way to cross, for the Slime Pits are on the far side of said river.”
The Slime Nerd has the information Greg needs, and not only does he offer it freely, but he adds in a whole bunch of other junk that I guess for some reason the writer felt it was necessary to include. The Slime Nerd is not a character, he is a shambling husk, a mouthpiece for the writer. He has no wants or needs of his own.
That’s the most important key to half-decent dialogue, I think: ensuring that each character has their own wants and needs.
Typically, the wants and needs of each character in your scene will be different. If you’re writing a scene and all the characters have the same wants and needs, ask yourself: why does there need to be dialogue here? If everyone wants to go to the Slime Pits and they all agree about how to do it and the details of what will be involved, they don’t have much to talk about.
Let’s go again, but this time the Slime Nerd desperately wants someone to take him to the Slime Pits. It’s been so long since he’s visited (because of the conflict, of course). I’m going to try to make it as “natural” as I can and we’ll see how much it drags on.
Greg approaches a knowledgeable-looking Slime Nerd standing at the side of the road. “Excuse me,” he says.
“Hunh?” Says the Slime Nerd.
“Hello, stranger,” says Greg. “Can you tell me… how do I get to the Slime Pits?”
The Slime Nerd looks him up and down. “You want to go to the Slime Pits?”
Greg nods.
“What makes you think I know?” Says the Slime Nerd.
“Apologies if I have offended,” says Greg, “I did not mean to. I thought only to take a chance.”
The Slime Nerd snorts. “Sure you did.”
Greg gives the weird nerd some side-eye. “I’ll keep on my way,” he says, keeping on his way.
“Of course I know where they are,” the Slime Nerd shouts after him. When Greg turns, he adds, “look at me.”
“Thank you for your time,” says Greg, waving farewell.
"Thank you for your time?" the Nerd parrots back. "Thank you for your time? Friend"—he wrings the word until it holds not a drop of sincerity—"my poor dumb friend. Stay and hear me out."
… and so on and so on. It's naturalistic, but it doesn't really go anywhere or do anything.
Finally, let me see if I can thread the needle so it sounds like things real characters might say, but also keeps things alive…
Greg approaches a knowledgeable-looking Slime Nerd standing at the side of the road. "How do I get to the Slime Pits?” he asks.
The Slime Nerd looks him up and down. “Are you from the castle?”
“I just want to get to the Slime Pits,” says Greg.
“You don’t look like you’re from the castle,” says the Slime Nerd.
Greg sighs. “I’m not.”
“You’re not one of…” and the Slime Nerd spits slime onto the road. It globs up among the dust. “…one of King Bradley’s men?”
“Certainly not,” says Greg, offended by the assertion.
“Then maybe you'll take me with you,” says the Slime Nerd.
Greg shakes his head. “I travel alone.”
“Do you want to get to the Slime Pits?” Asks the Slime Nerd. With a cruel smile he adds, “in one piece?”
Greg's got his Want: to get to The Slime Pits. The Slime Nerd wants to be escorted to The Slime Pits, but he also seems to have another Want: to make sure Greg is not one of the King's men. By making both characters talk at odds for the first four lines of dialogue ("characters rarely directly answer each others' questions") I think it both sounds more natural AND we put a point on the idea that The Slime Nerd is in opposition to the King's men. Presumably that will prove a useful idea later.
“Good luck, friend.”
I wish you all happy reading and happy writing.
This post and the ongoing updates to Practical Defence Against Piracy are supported to an astonishing degree by the contributions of patron readers. Join them, help bring a little joy and wisdom into the world, and have fun along the way! Fresh updates arrive in your inbox every week.
February 11, 2023
Practical Defence Against Piracy: Chapter Two, pages 116-119
Having pushed away her family and her new friend, Alexandra becomes lonely.
These pages look their best on DelilahDirk.com.
Read these pages on DelilahDirk.com!
Practical Defence Against Piracy is the fourth book in the Delilah Dirk series of adventure graphic novels. I’m sharing it, chapter-by-chapter, as I finish it. There is no release date… yet. To keep up-to-date, subscribe to the RSS or join the infrequent newsletter.
Work on this comic is supported by the generous patronage of readers like you, on ol’ Patreon Dot Com. If you are enjoying it and are able to contribute to its production, please do so, and become the wind in Alexandra’s sails. You’ll find weekly updates, the stupidest goofs, behind-the-scenes stuff, pages show up there first, and more… all for less than the price of a single floppy comic per month.
February 4, 2023
Practical Defence Against Piracy: Chapter Two, pages 108-115
This week, the hills are alive with the sound of a massive EIGHT-PAGE update!
Due to a confluence of bad choices and simple miscalculation, Alexandra has grown up without, let's say, a complete understanding of what will be expected of her as an adult. Now that she's been told, it seems as though both her mother and her new best friend are at odds with her. Alexandra pushes back. She shows them what she wants.
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Many thanks to the patron readers who help get this comic Out There, living in the sun; who help make it a Part of Your World.
January 28, 2023
Practical Defence Against Piracy: Chapter Two, pages 102-107
Settle in for this week’s special six-page update, in which Alexandra seeks solace from her friend. Will she find it?
These pages look their best on DelilahDirk.com.
(Wondering who Kite and Owl are?)
Read these pages on DelilahDirk.com!
Practical Defence Against Piracy is the fourth book in the Delilah Dirk series of adventure graphic novels. I’m sharing it, chapter-by-chapter, as I finish it. There is no release date… yet. To keep up-to-date, subscribe to the RSS or join the infrequent newsletter.
Work on this comic is supported by the generous patronage of readers like you, on ol’ Patreon Dot Com. If you are enjoying it and are able to contribute to its production, please do so, and become the wind in Alexandra’s sails. You’ll find weekly updates, the stupidest goofs, behind-the-scenes stuff, pages show up there first, and more… all for less than the price of a single floppy comic per month.
January 21, 2023
Practical Defence Against Piracy: Chapter Two, pages 98-101
Chapter Two continues, and while Alexandra doesn't find her practice swords, she does find some sort of… knife or dagger or short sword. Who can say.
These pages look their best on DelilahDirk.com.
Read these pages on DelilahDirk.com!
Practical Defence Against Piracy is the fourth book in the Delilah Dirk series of adventure graphic novels. I’m sharing it, chapter-by-chapter, as I finish it. There is no release date… yet. To keep up-to-date, subscribe to the RSS or join the infrequent newsletter.
Work on this comic is supported by the generous patronage of readers like you, on ol’ Patreon Dot Com. If you are enjoying it and are able to contribute to its production, please do so, and become the wind in Alexandra’s sails. You’ll find weekly updates, the stupidest goofs, behind-the-scenes stuff, pages show up there first, and more… all for less than the price of a single floppy comic per month.
January 13, 2023
Practical Defence Against Piracy: Chapter Two, pages 94-97
As Chapter Two continues, Alexandra and her mother have a civilized meeting of minds to discuss their opposing viewpoints.
Some people might argue, "uh, yeah," is not period-appropriate dialogue, to which I cordially reply, "yeah doyy."
These pages look their best on DelilahDirk.com.
Read these pages on DelilahDirk.com!
Practical Defence Against Piracy is the fourth book in the Delilah Dirk series of adventure graphic novels. I’m sharing it, chapter-by-chapter, as I finish it. There is no release date… yet. To keep up-to-date, subscribe to the RSS or join the infrequent newsletter.
Work on this comic is supported by the generous patronage of readers like you, on ol’ Patreon Dot Com. If you are enjoying it and are able to contribute to its production, please do so, and become the wind in Alexandra’s sails. You’ll find weekly updates, the stupidest goofs, behind-the-scenes stuff, pages show up there first, and more… all for less than the price of a single floppy comic per month.
January 7, 2023
Practical Defence Against Piracy: Chapter Two, pages 88-93
Happy New Year!
In this six-page update to Practical Defence Against Piracy, all of Alexandra’s expectations for a life of vivid outdoor adventure are dashed.
These pages are best viewed as two-page spreads, which is easy to do at DelilahDirk.com.
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Read these pages on DelilahDirk.com!
Practical Defence Against Piracy is the fourth book in the Delilah Dirk series of adventure graphic novels. I’m sharing it, chapter-by-chapter, as I finish it. There is no release date… yet. To keep up-to-date, subscribe to the RSS or join the infrequent newsletter.
Work on this comic is supported by the generous patronage of readers like you, on ol’ Patreon Dot Com. If you are enjoying it and are able to contribute to its production, please do so, and become the wind in Alexandra’s sails. You’ll find weekly updates, the stupidest goofs, behind-the-scenes stuff, pages show up there first, and more… all for less than the price of a single floppy comic per month.
January 5, 2023
How to Write a Graphic Novel (*For Yourself)
After I posted this video about my thumbnailing process, reader Laura DP commented, asking,
I’m interested to know a bit more about the point just before the translation of notes into thumbnail pages. … I assume you still plan an outline where you have the main beats locked down prior to thumbnail notes? Or are the notes you showed in the video basically the outline you give yourself (I also assume you do different drafts as you work out the story) and you leave just enough wiggle room to let certain things develop in a different way than you expected?
If we can rephrase the question like, "what sort of scaffolding do you build yourself before you start illustrating comic pages," I'll describe that below. The TL;DR is: these assumptions are correct, more or less.
~ ~ ~
CONTEXT INTERLUDE! When it comes to making comic books, I feel like I know what does and does not work for me in a lot of ways and I'm also still figuring stuff out. One of the few absolute beliefs I hold about creative pursuits and their industries is that everyone needs to figure out their own way to do things, and that, ironically, I do not trust anyone who claims to offer absolute solutions. This is all to say: glean what you will from what I can offer, but only through trial and error will you figure out what works best for you. <3
As a ten-year-old, sitting at the kitchen table, my comics-making process was: just draw each panel one-at-a-time, without the least bit of concern.
Over the years, I learned how to feel fear, worry, and self-doubt, just as most of us do. When I started the comic that became DELILAH DIRK AND THE TURKISH LIEUTENANT, I made roughs and sketches to try to mitigate those feelings.
By the time I got to DELILAH DIRK AND THE KING'S SHILLING, I was more comfortable with long-form writing, so my process included writing a 25,000-word manuscript which I thought would let me isolate my story-related fears from my illustration-related fears. This assumption was partially correct.
As I began PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY, one of my big questions was: does the manuscript help or hinder me? I decided to skip it. For one thing, I knew this would be a multi-year project, and I wanted to leave room for liveliness and spontaneity; I didn't want to lock everything down and leave myself nothing to do except to execute the script. Maybe I could leverage the fear for my benefit. I also believed that if I did much of my "writing" in my thumbnails, the comics would feel more "natively" comicky. (I wrote much more about these choices at the start of the project).
As of this writing, I think that first notion turned out to be valuable. I'm glad I didn't try to freeze the story in carbonite two years ago (and "try" is an important, accurate word in that sentence). Whether it makes the work more or less purely comicky, I'm not sure. I think it's about the same.
OKAY SO HOW EXACTLY ARE YOU DOING IT RIGHT NOW?
The Outline. I poked through my folders to see when I started this project and the first material I have for DD4 is from the summer of 2018. I was going to say "the outline just sits in the back of my head and barely changes" but that can't be true: I forgot I originally included a whole separate frame story set in Finland.
But my key elements have stayed true. You got to have something to hold onto, right? The island, the conflict with mom, and a few other notes we haven't hit yet. If building a story is like baking a dessert, this is like saying, "I have buttermilk, two eggs, and a half a banana—what can I make?" rather than saying, "I am going to make an apple pie," and going out to buy apples. I've got a handful of images or ideas I want to include, and I'm going to include them, and the rest of the dessert better shape itself to suit.
Stocking the Pantry. Post-its! I started using them. Clever story movements, useful connections, and impactful images occur to me in the shower/during dinner/while watching Great British Bake-Off and I write 'em down on colourful sticky squares. I am a firm believer that writing down ideas does two things: it triggers my brain to start chewing on those ideas, and it makes room for new ideas. Jotting down ideas is the first step in moving a story down the mental digestive tract.
I am happy to be the first person in human history to praise the value of "making notes." Please ship my Nobel Prize to my house, I am too busy (being a genius) to collect it in person.
Some examples of these are…
"DD in the crow's nest—she wants to see real pirates."
"A suspicious ship is on the horizon. Dad insists they shelter at Istoria (mom's island?)," connected to another note, "they expect a warm welcome."
"Mayor (A) is mom's brother" — in the original outline, he was just any old mayor.
"Cold welcome from the locals… until they find out it's mom."
A note spitballing on a concept: "Generations / Family. -This being Mom's home. -Dad was here before as assistant to envoy, met mayor, Vignelli's father then. -Mom has: brothers? A sister? Parents? --last time they were here was for her parents' funeral?"
… and so on and so forth.
They are all roughly arranged along a timeline, slotted in where I think they'll fit. It's a very casual organizational method.
One thing I know about myself is that I come up with better connections when I give everything time to "simmer" (or give the dough a chance to rise, ha ha, Nobel Prize me!). This Post-it approach provides an easy way to lean into that tendency. While I draw Chapter Three, for example, I'm leaving new notes for later chapters.
This is very zoomed-out, "outliney" writing. It's a lot of logistics and problem-solving, like "how and why can we include this tomb imagery," and, "why didn't Alexandra's parents talk to her about English Lady Demands sooner?" It also feels like where the most muscular parts of the story take form.
Rolling Out The Dough. First, I take all the Post-its for my current chapter and I re-write them longhand on new paper. Then I start writing the story out in order. If the previous step feels like building the forceful part of the story, this part feels like finding the passion and the humanity. I didn't intend to divide it that way, and I wouldn't recommend anyone intentionally do that, but that's how it goes.
This "script" is actions, it's dialogue, it's this-then-that, it's pacing, it's "camera angles" or imagery I want to include. Sometimes I work out the dialogue during this process, sometimes I leave it for the thumbnail. I never write panel breakdowns (i.e., "this is what's in panel 1, this is what's in panel 2"). I rarely write page breakdowns except to say things like "end the page on this beat," or "make this its own 2-page spread."
For example, my "outline" Post-its include the notion that the Cordelia runs aground on the mole outside of Archipoli. But they mention nothing about Alexandra warning the Captain, or that the Captain doesn't listen to Alexandra. The notion, "captain doesn't listen to little girl," didn't occur to me at the outline stage, it's just an idea that seemed A) believable and B) funny when I was sitting there, acting out the scene in my imagination like I assume all writing people do.
That element—an Authority Figure treating Alexandra dismissively—then returned as a Post-it in Chapter Two, when Alexandra compares her parents' behaviour to the Captain's. I've really enjoyed having that flexibility, I think the book is benefiting from it, and I'm glad I'm trying it instead of having baked a manuscript at the start.
And that's how I get to the written document that you see me referencing in that thumbnail video. That's how I manage fear and uncertainty these days.
The answer to Laura's question is basically, "I do enough that I feel secure moving to the next step." Sometimes I do too much, sometimes I don't do enough. I improvise. And so it goes.
For more on the topic of writing (or to double-check whether or not I'm being a hypocrite), check under the "writing" post tag, or take a look at these…
From early 2021, at the start of this project. Lots of Post-its.
From Fall 2021, I get a better sense of this writing process as I start Chapter Two.
A celebration of leaving room for things to develop.
Two posts marking writing progress for Chapter Three—the steps above, in action!
As I suggested in the Context Interlude above, when it comes to writing and comics-making, everyone needs to discover the process methods that work best for them. Part of that discovery is practice and testing, but of course there's also just asking people what works for them. After all, no one expects you to bake an apple pie by first inventing fire.
Here are some books that taught me many useful principles.
Most recently, George Saunders' A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN. I read this in 2021 and posted about it so much that I created a tag just for him. I am a big fan of Saunders' approach, which emphasizes intuition, iteration, and honesty.
Lagos Egri's THE ART OF DRAMATIC WRITING. Long my favourite. Prior to this book, I had read Robert McKee's STORY and disliked it intensely. In contrast, this felt like a much better fit. I found myself nodding and agreeing a lot, even though all of Egri's example excerpts are from plays from 1930. It all felt "true." I should revisit it.
Stephen King's ON WRITING. Say what you will about Stephen King, I found this book to be relatable, practical, and humane. His advice to use fewer adverbs will stick with me until the end.
Anne Lamott's BIRD BY BIRD. This came highly recommended, and though I remember it fondly I can't mark any specific takeaways except for the one in the title. I am including it because I generally liked it and hey maybe you don't want to read Stephen King.
Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant's WRITING MOVIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT. An excellent contrast/complement to Egri's DRAMATIC WRITING, because it's important to understand the extremes. Shorter than McKee's STORY—if you're going to read that, you might as well read this.
Austin Kleon's STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST as well as KEEP GOING and SHOW YOUR WORK. I like Kleon's broad-based point of view on creativity. I think we agree that principles from one discipline can be mapped to many others.
Lynda Barry's WHAT IT IS. I made the mistake of dismissing Barry because her artwork was not to my taste. Oh, what a mistake. In this book, Barry emphasizes the value of images in writing. Not illustrations, but conjuring imagery with words and deploying their strengths. I love the principles she lays out.
I've revealed my feelings about McKee's STORY, but it would be irresponsible for me to not acknowledge that I've found value there, too. For example, his advice to not write any dialogue until the later parts of the process is really useful advice.
Perhaps you're thinking of pursuing more creative practices in this, a New Year. If so, I recommend Barry's WHAT IT IS and Kleon's STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST as starting places. The rest are all for writing nerds. :)
Thank you as always to all the Patron Readers who make it possible to keep working on Practical Defence Against Piracy.
For less than the price of a single floppy comic, get access—I mean, get access to the comic itself, as soon as the pages are done—but also tons of process posts (few as wordy as this one), lots of behind-the-scenes images, a great community of fellow tea-drinking adventure-likers, and not only are you supporting your work, but your name goes everywhere the book goes. At higher tiers, you can even see yourself drawn into the book!
