Charles Martin's Blog, page 14

Dear Literati: Publishing a play?

Editor’s Note: Let us tell you about our wonderful plan for your life! Dating, parenting, writing, publishing, murder-for-hire. You got questions, we got answers. Just email charles (at) literatipressok (dot) com or come to an event to submit your question for our consideration. Someone from The Literati will respond when the mood hits us right.

“A friend of mine is looking for a publisher for a play a friend of hers has written. Interested?”

We often get asked to consider all manner of submissions from children’s books to erotica to screenplays to poetry. I was once a writer who had no idea how to take this brilliant thing on my computer and get it into the hands of a soon-to-be-adoring public, so I empathize with the struggle. Literati’s protocol is to avoid just saying “no”, but to offer insight as to how they might proceed and realize the potential of their project.

In my response to the above email, I began with the caveat that I don’t know much about theater outside of the fact that you only spell it “theatre” when referring to a specific theater. I then imparted the following advice:

1. Plays are meant to be seen, not read, so the logical move would be to stage a production. Build a solid cast, get a knowledgable director, get the play in front of the people and see how they respond. I am not personally a fan of competitions, but playwriting competitions might be helpful for new writers needing a critical eye from a professional.

2. Theater, like music and movies, is an art form dependent on community. If you want to write plays, you must engage with the theater community, learn their ways and support their art. If you do, when you are ready to put out your own work, you will be able to cash in some of that goodwill and have also picked up some valuable insight on the inner-workings of your craft. This can be said of all art forms, of course, but community is critical for all of the collaborative arts.

3. I love the theater, I loved performing despite being a terrible actor, and I enjoy the unique experience of consuming theater. Witnessing a performance that will be unique to that one night, no matter how well-rehearsed the production might be, can be more thrilling than the grandest of Hollywood movie spectacles. But I can’t imagine a scenario where I would buy and read a script from a playwright I didn’t know. Also I know little to nothing about professional theater. Therefore I have no business trying to sell plays. This is not a rejection of the art form so much as an acknowledgement of my own limitations as a publisher.

Offering this sort of advice is always a little tough because it will be disheartening. Writing is a very lonely plight because it is a craft of isolation. What we are creating is entirely within our minds, gods of our interior worlds where every character, every plot twist, ever line of dialogue somehow reflects our souls. Releasing a glimpse of your soul to the public at large is terrifying. To have your inner world rejected is devastating, which is why, as a publishing company, we do our best to offer guidance to anyone who approaches us, even if we know we aren’t the right home for their project.

So, how to approach publishing as a novice trying to birth their first work?

1. Do you actually need a publisher and/or an agent?

Probably not, especially for a first-time author. Publishers that work with unknown, first-time writers often only fall into two categories:

A. Small, boutique publishers (like us) who have a very narrow focus and a very small budget.

B. A predatory, vanity press that will grossly overcharge you for printing and marketing services which are a waste of time/money. Agents are the same way. There is always that slim chance that you will luck into a perfect opportunity with an open-minded agent that will transform your career. It is that hope that makes writers such ideal targets for scammers.

There is nothing a publishing company can do that you can’t do better and cheaper yourself. Social media and digital publishing elevated savvy self-published authors to equal standing among some of the heaviest hitters represented by the major publishers in New York and California. These independent writers are making a wonderful living without the help of the traditional publishing industry because they are willing to do the work themselves. Not everyone can join their ranks, but it is good to know that publishers aren’t the gatekeepers to literary fame and fortune that they once were. Yes, we publishers have our place, but we can be easily circumvented.

If you don’t have the time or money to produce and promote your own book, then this is not the industry for you anyway.

2. You know of a small publisher that is trustworthy, you appreciate the sense of community that they provide, and you want to submit. What now?

The only question that really matters is do they publish your kind of writing? If you are a poet, but they don’t publish poetry, then it doesn’t do you any good to press your work upon them. They won’t be able to sell it because that is not what they do. If you are a superhero comic creator and the publisher focuses on romance, then your plight is also hopeless. If they do take on your project, all you are doing is splitting royalties with a company that does not understand you or how to sell your work.

If a publisher does have a mission that aligns with your work, then form a personal bond with them. Read what they produce, go to their signings, invest in them so they can feel more comfortable investing in you. The vast majority of our new talent acquisitions are from writers and artists that we’ve known from personal or online encounters. Maybe they share our posts, email us kind comments on our content, or come to our events. If they’ve bought our books, then I will always give them a serious look, even if we ultimately end up passing.

So, do we publish plays? No. We also don’t typically publish poetry, kids books, erotica, traditional genre, or nonfiction. There are always those special cases where the project is unique enough that it veers into our crosshairs, but by a general rule, we don’t understand those markets and we would just be wasting your time if we tried to take on something so far from our normal business model. If you have a play you want to get to the public, then look for that community and SUPPORT THEM!* If you are a poet, find poetry readings and start talking to the other poets to get their advice. BUY THEIR BOOKS!** Find your community, whatever it is, and embrace them. If that community doesn’t exist, create it. That is the best advice I can give to any artist.

But don’t take any of this as a reason to not talk to us about your work. If you have something that you know is outside our wheelhouse, but you just need some advice on what to do with it, then email us or approach us at an event. We are full of opinions, some good, some not so good, and are happy to impart them to you. You’ve come to our site to read this post, therefore supporting us, so we are happy to do what we can to support you.

*I am yelling this because it is super important.

**Also super important.

On the Strength of a Song: How OKC Folk Trio Judith Built a Sound from a Whim

Judith

Friday, August 14, 7pm

The Basement

2515 NW 16th St

wearejudith.bandcamp.com

$5

“At that first rehearsal, I was like, ‘Peace out! This sounds terrible! I don’t want to be a part of this!’” violinist Morgan Ward said, recounting the beginnings of Judith the way one might remember a vacation gone awry.

“It was so bad that I left in tears,” said violinist Lynn Neill, and guitarist Kinsey Charles remembered thinking “What have we done? We booked a show before we’d ever played anything together!”

Coming up on their one year anniversary, Judith is a budding Americana/Folk trio from Oklahoma City who convey thought-provoking stories through intimate lyrics and vocal harmonies. Their live performances are so organic and fine-tuned that one would hardly guess that the band was initially intended to be just a one-off project to play a block party at the Plant Shoppe on Film Row.

“We were all standing around,” Charles said, “and Jen Semmler (owner of The Plant Shoppe) was like, ‘You guys should have a supergroup!”

As with many “supergroups,” strong personalities and conflicting opinions were unavoidable, and the end goal soon became to just get through the show.

Part of the difficulty came from the different backgrounds Neill, Charles, and Ward brought to the group. Both Charles and Ward are songwriters for Judith, and, while Charles was used to playing solo where she’d “write a song, 30 minutes, and it’s done,” Ward said she was “a bit of a music snob. My family drilled that stuff into us, and we grew up singing four-part harmonies and things.”

Then there was Neill, who played violin in school orchestra, but didn’t have much experience creating music of her own. While Charles and Ward worked more quickly and spontaneously, Neill started out relying on the familiar, methodical framework of sheet music. “Those first practices were like, four, five hours,” she said.

“It felt like we were all getting married,” Charles said. “I had these babies, and now they were their step-children, and we were being sensitive” about how to raise them.

One crucial element ultimately saved the band. “We had one song that was great,” Charles said, “but all the rest were terrible. We were like, ‘Okay, what do we have that’s good in this song? Why does it work? We need to mimic what we like about that to the other ones.’ That’s what we did.” That song was “Reminisce.” Ward characterizes it as their “anthem song.”

With its delicate hook and moody imagery, it plays like a tale of loss, but that’s a disguise. A closer look at the lyrics reveals a bold independence that turns that trope on its head.

“Reminisce” kept Judith from giving up on the project. “You don’t wanna stick it out forever, but if you feel there’s something in there that just needs some grit and some time and some work,” Charles explained, “there are things worth working for.”

After getting more comfortable with each other as bandmates through further practices, Judith performed at The Plant Shoppe block party. “The show went great. We were pretty blown away with the response,” Charles said. “We were like, ‘oh, maybe we should do this.’”

Judith has been steadily booking shows since that performance, but not without its challenges. Ward said that a recurring problem for the all-female band is being misunderstood and misrepresented. “The way you look gets judged a lot on whether or not you’re worth listening to, and I hate that.”

“What women deal with a lot is feeling over-simplified. Our songwriting is emotive and powerful and strong, and I get kind of upset when I play a song for someone and their response is ‘that’s sad.’ I’m like, that’s not all it is, actually,” Charles added.

Charles describes her songwriting as not just therapeutic, but also as a chance to learn from her experiences in hindsight.

“I can still tap into that emotion and remember, but it’s my way of rising above it.”

In a sense, that summarizes this first chapter of Judith’s existence—confronting their issues through art. They have subdued some potentially band-breaking struggles, and they have risen above to create a greater whole. While further challenges may lie ahead for the trio, it’s clear that they will be aided along by the two elements that underlie even the starkest of Judith songs—strength and hope. When they proclaim “Don’t you, don’t you worry about me” on their spirited chorus to “Scheherazade,” one can’t help but take their advice.

————————————————-

In the full, experimental interview this article was derived from—which you can read here—Judith also discusses the art of harmony in storytelling, the personal reasons they tell their stories, and one particular gig that had Lynn so upset that she had to stop talking about it for a moment. They also stumble onto the term “orc dork” and attempt to recreate “an ideal day.”

The interview uses a choose-your-own-destiny structure designed to empower the subjects interviewed as well as broaden the topics discussed. The hope is that this will take the conversation into places it wouldn’t otherwise go and bring about new angles to a familiar medium.

Judith Full Q & A

Judith—full interview

{{Legend}}

[icon] Le Menu—a list of general music-related questions the interviewee “orders” from

[icon] Jarvix Asks—questions asked specifically by Jarvix with the artist(s) in mind, prepared or otherwise

[icon] The Envelope of Introspection—an envelope of blindly-drawn paper slips with open-ended life questions printed on them, courtesy of thoughtquestions.com

[Le Menu] Do you think your music strives for or represents a certain image?

Kinsey Charles:  When we started as a band, that was a big push. We needed a sound because there are these other bands, and they have a sound, and when you hear a clip of them, you’re like “that’s so-and-so.” I mean, you can hear it. We may not have a huge purpose, but if Morgan writes a song and presents it, we’re like, “oh, that’s a Judith song,” or like, “I think that’s a Morgan song.”  They’re both good, but there’s one that fits into what we’re doing, and one that is….else.

Morgan Ward:  A personal thing.

Charles:  Right. Our songwriting, it tends to be, we want it to be emotive and powerful and strong, and I get kind of upset when I play a song for someone and their response is “that’s sad.” I’m like, that’s not all it is, actually. That’s not my purpose, to make everyone happy with my songs, but it’s like, even our sad songs, we try to infuse with an element of hope. That’s a good image of what we might strive for as a band, not shying away from emotions that are hard and just presenting songs that people can relate to in all walks of life, I guess.

[Envelope of Introspection]:  How would you spend your ideal day?

Lynn Neill:  I’m having a hard time with that question because what you need and what you want every day is different, so an ideal day varies. Today was a pretty ideal day, so I’m gonna describe it.

Charles:  Describe it! Describe it!

Neill:  An ideal day involves a certain amount of time alone in quiet, whether that’s just sitting, exercising, reading a book, whatever that is. An ideal day for me also requires some background noise, if that makes any sense, so be in a place where you can be an observer and not necessarily loud or the focal point. That can be going to a coffee shop and just being part of the environment there. But really, an ideal day also involves being around people you care about, which is sometimes these ladies right here, other times my husband. Other times, it’s my dog. There’s a balance in life, and there’s a balance to a day being what you want it to be.

Charles:  I agree, and I feel the same way.

Ward:  Mine would involve less people. (all laugh)

Charles:  “More of me.”

Ward:  More of me. (all laugh). No, that sounds so simple. I just tend to not like people. We were talking about this the other day. We were psychoanalyzing each other’s personalities, and we were like, “you’re like a shy extrovert, or you’re like a ‘this introvert,’ and then we’re like, ‘and Morgan just doesn’t like people.’” (all laugh)

[Le Menu] What spurred you to share your music with the world?

Ward:  Well, for me, personally, I grew up in a to-the-max musical family. We were involved in all sorts of choirs growing up. I played the violin and the piano, and everyone in my family played an instrument. I got mega burned out on all that stuff. Throughout college, the same thing. Like, my degree was in music. I was really involved in all that stuff, and it kind of got to a point where I realized I wasn’t as into doing that publicly as I maybe thought I was. So I stopped completely for three or four years. I didn’t touch my violin. I would maybe tinker on the piano now and then, but it had just become not a fun thing, like, at all. At all.

[Music] was the only thing that I knew how to be good at. It’s, like, so conceited, but that was the thing that my parents were proud of me about. It’s what people said I could do, and so that was the only thing I ever got any sort of validation from, I guess. I kind of didn’t like everything being connected to music, and so I took a break from it. You guys, in a way, spurred me to do it again and make it more fun.  Not that our songs are always fun or anything. They are a lot of times some tough subject matter, but not having the strings attached to it, of having that be who I am, or all the things I’m…

Charles:  We have a worth outside of that.

Ward:  Exactly.

[Jarvix asks] When I hear your music, it personally strikes me as delicate and beautiful, but a lot of the lyrics have quite a bit of bite to them, so there’s the thing. I just used the word “but,” as if the two aren’t supposed to mesh. Should I have use “and” instead?

Charles:  You should have.

Ward:  I think so.

Neill:  I agree.

Charles:  What makes people want to stop and listen is, you know, the beautiful harmonies and delicate violins weaving and these minor, lilting chords, but if you’re listening, you’re like, “they’re dealing with some business,” you know? And, I mean, I like that juxtaposition of hard subject matter or haunting lyrics. It can be vice versa, too, but our society looks at feminism or women like there’s these two options.

Ward:  I’m glad you’re taking this there. That’s what I was gonna do.

Charles:  Well, it’s like there’s delicate and dainty women, and then there’s hard, tough-looking, you know. There’s not this in-between. I like the in-between, and I don’t want to be boxed in. I’m a feminist, but I really like wearing make-up.

Ward:  Those things aren’t diametrically opposed.

Charles:  Yeah, we try to label things, and we try to simplify things. What women, and probably men, too, but what women deal with a lot is feeling over-simplified. I do like that description of “when I think of your music, I hear this, and I hear this,” but I do think it’s an “and.” I mean, the “but” part makes it feel special, you know, because, like, that’s not something that maybe you hear other bands do or other people do. The fact that you said “but” means it’s different than what’s out there, and so that’s good. Maybe that should be more of a thing, I don’t know. So maybe I changed my answer. (all laugh)

[Jarvix asks] I’m used to hearing a lot of harmony in folk music—I’m not necessarily boxing you in that genre—probably more than any other genre. Would you agree, and do you think that it is conceptually representative of the genre? (i.e. “folk music is about harmony”)

Neill:  Folk music is about storytelling, and in that sense, we are storytellers. That’s the purpose of our music, to portray a story. I don’t know if this is accurate, but this is my feeling about folk music and the reason that people do harmonies—it’s like adding your piece to the story, if that makes any sense. Part of folk music is a family being joined together in something and making it more of a community feel rather than “this is about me.”

Charles:  I like that!

Ward:  I like that, too.

Neill:  And writing music that can be harmonized with invites other people to join in, too.

Charles: I was gonna say the same thing as far as storytelling. Whenever we first started playing together, we were all like, “let’s all play everything on every song and let’s all sing everything on every song.” Then we kind of realized that, like, that may not tell the story in the best way.

Ward:  Well, and sometimes the absence of something speaks more volumes than having everything involved on it.

Charles:  Yeah. I like that.

[Le Menu] What is your creative process like?

Neill:  As a band, usually, Kinsey or Morgan will have a song or a great idea. They present it to us, either in part or in full, and then we kind of add our pieces to it. Sometimes it just gels right away. Other times, it is a struggle. Like, there are songs that we tried our very first practice together way back in October [2014] that we still haven’t figured out.

Charles:  Yeah, that explains the group really well. As far as for me, writing a song is sometimes, it’s just like lightning. I mean, it happens really fast. Generally, it’s something that has been on my mind for a long time, an idea or a story I’ve heard. A lot of my songs come from stories that I have read that other people have written, or poems that somebody’s written, or something on the news, something. I don’t feel like a deep thoughtful person most of the time—I’m, like, goofy and shallow and weird—but then I sit down with a guitar, and it turns out I’ve been thinking the whole time, so I’ll, you know, write a song really quickly.

How that’s broadened at this point—like, I don’t have an ear for arrangement, but maybe Lynn can do something cool here to enhance this part, and Morgan can find some really pretty things to sing. It’s changed kind of my process altogether, songwriting-wise, not just musically, lyrically. Usually I can’t write when I’m right in the middle of a struggle. I need some time for it to sit. Then I can step back from it, and it’s almost like looking at it from the big picture, seeing myself as a character so it’s not just narrow, like “this is what I feel,” you know? At that point, it feels very therapeutic and helpful. It doesn’t just, like, feel good to get out from my chest; it feels like I’m learning from it ‘cause I’ve stepped back.

I’ve heard a lot of people say, like, “don’t you get sad when you perform the same songs that bring up the same things over and over again,” but it’s different at that point. I can still tap into that emotion and remember, but it’s my way of rising above it. I know that’s not the case for everybody. I’ve heard interviews of Damien Rice, I think, saying he had to stop playing some of these sad songs over and over again because it kept him down in it. Maybe we write differently or something, but I feel like that is me rising above it, performing those things. Hopefully it’s helpful to somebody else to hear those things.

Ward:  As far as, like, now, writing, I agree that I tend to write more kind of open-ended at this point, to allow you guys to put your signatures on it, which I like. I think I’m a little different from you. I do tend to write a lot in the moment of something happening, when those kind of feelings or emotions are much more strong. I made up this imaginary EP for myself that, if I was coming up with a title for most of the things that I’ve written, it’s usually “the things you can’t say,” the things that are hard to say to someone’s face, or they don’t recognize these things that have happened. I tend to write from that spot a lot, whether it’s from myself and things I have experienced or my friends or my family. I see them going through and think that it would be hard to express this to that person, but I can give them or myself a voice if I’m putting it in a musical way. I wouldn’t be able to vocalize that in a kind of face-to-face way.

Neill:  This is just like the creative process. They do their thing, and I’m just, like, a little extra on top.

Ward:  The violin is your voice, and I hear when you’re playing. I hear the emotion the same way as if it were words or the song itself. It’s like taking the direction, and then you take it to this other level of, like, now it is complete. I don’t think it would be the same without that.

Neill:  Aww. I’m starting to feel more comfortable with the violin being my voice. Kind of like Morgan, I played violin since I was in 6th grade, but when you’re in orchestra, you’re playing somebody else’s music. I had a hard time actually creating music until recently. Even when I was, the first time we started practicing, I had my little notebook out with the staffs, and I was writing out the notes and everything. As we’ve gone along, it’s been a lot easier to just be in the moment of the music and really just feel it more.

Ward:  That’s not to say that you don’t have a great voice. I love when you sing harmonies and things.

Neill:  And you’ve really grown in your ability to leave things more open-ended. That’s a really vulnerable thing to do, is to leave a song unfinished.

Charles:  Well, yeah, and I’m not a tweaker. I’d write a song, 30 minutes, and it’s done. We first started with, we had—what, seven songs?—seven of, basically, my songs that we were arranging, and it felt like we were all getting married. I had these babies, and now they were [Morgan & Lynn’s] step-children, and we were being sensitive about, “this is how we should raise them. These are my children, and this is how I’ve been raising them.”

Ward:  Trusting that you will make it better in the end is a hard place to come to, and we have gotten there and will continue to go on that journey together.

[Jarvix asks]  You gals seem to have a great organic musical chemistry. Does it feel natural to create together?

Charles:  It wasn’t

Neill:  No.

Charles:  We’ve been friends for a couple of years. I was doing some solo music stuff, and I knew they both had music backgrounds but hadn’t been doing a lot with it, music-wise. You know Jen Semmler from The Plant Shoppe? We were all standing around, and she was like, “you guys should play together and have a supergroup!” We were like, “Yeah!!” and she was like, “We’re doing a block party…”

Ward:  Like, for a legit show…

Charles:  But we said yes.

Ward:  I know. I don’t know why.

Charles:  So it was like, we booked a show before we’d ever played anything together.

Ward:  I would not recommend this.

Neill:  So much stress.

Charles:  So then our first practice was awful.

Neill:  It was so bad, I left in tears.

Charles:  We were all like, “what have we done? We have this show that we have to do, and we’re gonna sound terrible.” I remember part of the frustration at that time was that we didn’t have a clear leader. I didn’t come to them and say, “Hey, will you guys back me up, be my band?”

Neill:  We were all co-presidents.

Charles:  Yeah, and we didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. We didn’t want to be pushy, so it was just a lot of us being [hesitant]. It was awful, so we had, like, a couple weeks between. I don’t know who started it, but there were some e-mails that floated around. We had one song that was good.

Neill:  Right.

Ward:  Yep.

Charles:  And it was great, but all the rest were terrible. We were like, “Okay, what do we have that’s good in this song? Why does it work? Do we like the sound? We need to, for now, try to mimic what we like about that into the other ones.” That’s kind of what we did, and a lot of it was just getting comfortable. They had some, like, just-violin practice where I wasn’t there, where they could just focus. That helped, just comfort-wise. Then, you know, the show went great. Practices after that were good, but we were pretty blown away with…

Ward:  The response.

Charles:  The response. We were like, oh, maybe we should do this.

Ward:  Yeah, it wasn’t supposed to be, like, a thing.

[Jarvix asks] So if you hadn’t had the show, you wouldn’t be a band.

Charles:  No!

Neill:  That’s right.

[Jarvix asks] What do you think that says for other bands who would probably have a first rehearsal like you did, without a show?

Charles:  It’s hard to say, you know. You don’t wanna stick it out forever, but, like, if you feel there’s something in there that just needs some grit and some time and some work and just some exploration…

Neill:  I mean, we worked really hard. Those first practices were like, four, five hours.

Charles:  Yeah, they were super long.

Ward:  It was like a second job.

Charles:  It was, yeah. (all laugh) Personally, I am not a hardcore girl. I’m just gonna say that. My personality is like, if it’s hard work, then I don’t want to do it. There’s just certain things that have come easy for me, and when they don’t, I’m like, “then I must not be meant to do that.” That’s just a flaw, so for me, on a personal journey outside of music, this group has really helped that characteristic in me. I have this timeframe to look at where it was like, bad, super bad, hard-work-hard-work-hard-work, good, great, fun! So yeah, there are things worth working for. There’s got to be something in there that you see is worth working for.

Ward:  I had a different flaw in me that is also getting better. I don’t mind working, but I think I’m a bit of, like, a music snob. My family drilled that stuff into us, and we grew up singing, like, four-part harmonies and things. At that first rehearsal, I was like, “Peace out! This sounds terrible! I don’t want to be a part of this!”

But I like you two, and that one song made me be like, ok, I shouldn’t judge this by the first terrible rehearsal of us all not hitting the right notes or the right chords and things like that. I’ve kind of learned, like, I need to not judge people so immediately by the sound of their music, and just life in general, that sometimes people aren’t putting their best foot forward. I tend to look at that, and I’m like, I don’t want to be a part of that anymore. You guys have taught me to kind of stick in it a bit longer. It’s like you said. I like that word, “grit.” Put some grit into it.

So not only do we make good music, we solve each other’s problems. (all laugh)

Charles:  Yeah! How many bands can say that?

[Jarvix asks] So, quickly, what song are we talking about?

Charles:  “Reminisce.” It’s the one on our bandcamp.

Ward:  It’s like our anthem song.

[Envelope of Introspection] When in your life have you been a victim of stereotyping?

Neill:  We actually were talking about this earlier, when we were practicing, about the female stereotypes. That’s a big deal, people thinking we’re petty or that kind of thing. Oh, can I, should we talk about that show?

Charles:  Yeah, do it. Do it.

Neill:  Okay, so we played this show. There were these guys, and they were being jerks in every stereotypical way.

Ward:  She’s being nice with the word “jerk.” More like sexist douchebag.

Charles:  What made it worse, I think, was they did not know.

Neill:  They thought that they were being kind to us. Some of it was little stuff—which at the point they did this, we were a little bit sensitive—like asking, “oh, do you need help carrying your bags?” Like, no, we can do it ourselves. We carried it all in here. We set it all up ourselves. We are fully capable human beings. Even thinking that we’d…I can’t even talk about it, I’m so mad about it.

Ward:  There were sexist things that were said. There were things like that, like belittling-as-a-human-being things that were said, and then there were things just about the band in general…

Charles:  Critical things.

Ward:  I remember one question. He asked, “Have you been playing together for a long time?” and we were like, “no, we just started out.” Normally, people’s response has been, like, “Wow, that’s great. You guys sound good for being together two months” or something. He was like, “oh, I can tell.” We were like, thank you?

Charles:  How do you respond to that?

Neill:  It’s not that we can’t take negative criticism.

Ward:  No, exactly, but you don’t need to say that out loud.

Charles:  I’ve heard from other local female musicians like Annie Oakley and Samantha Crain and different people that have talked about the struggle of being taken seriously. For me, I do tend to always try to be nice, like, in public, but it got to a point where I was like, back off. Leave us alone. No, we don’t want your comments or your help or anything. It’s just putting up a no-nonsense…

Ward:  Well, it’s hard as women being in a band. The way you look gets judged a lot on whether or not you’re worth listening to, and I hate that. I wish that wasn’t something that was around, but unfortunately, it is. You have to be like, shut up, and regardless of what we look like, we deserve to be listened to and deserve to have a voice. Not that I don’t want a guy specifically in the band, but I enjoy being in a band with women, writing from a woman’s perspective.

Charles:  Yeah, it feels special.

Ward:  Yeah.

Charles:  …and also, I was a cheerleader. I’m being serious. There’s a cheerleading stereotype, right? I didn’t feel like I ever fit into that, ever. I wasn’t really super popular. I wasn’t like any of those things. None of my friends believed that I ever was one because I didn’t act like one. I was like, “what does a cheerleader act like?” Anyways, when you read that question, I was like, “Cheerleading.” (all laugh)

Neill:  Cheerleaders are generally thought of as popular, but orchestra was definitely not popular at my high school. It was pretty low on the totem pole of hobbies. With anything that’s put upon you like that, where you hear it over and over again, you kind of start to adopt it as truth in your heart, whether you really believe it or not. This opportunity has kind of helped me break that down in my own mind.

Charles:  Yeah, you almost start to label yourself, too. Even if you’re kinda like an orchestra nerd or—

Neill:  Orc dork.

Charles:  Orc dork!

Ward:  I had not heard that!

Neill:  That was the thing.

Ward:  Sounds like a Lord of the Rings thing. (all laugh)

[Jarvix asks] Are you working on anything or promoting anything right now?

Neill:  Always.

Charles:  I think our main thing right now would be our kind of social media presence because we know that’s going to be a thing when we start maybe trying to raise money to record. That and dusting off the old songs. Somebody asked us about doing, like, a three-hour set at a restaurant. We were like, “we have 8 songs,” so we’ve been working on expanding our set, and that’s been good.

Ward:  We do have exciting new songs that we’re excited to play.

Charles:  Really good ones, too… Dot dot dot.

[Fortune cookie] Your present plans will be successful.

Neill:  That’s a good one. Wow, thanks, fortune cookie company!

Charles:  That’s a great one! Save it!

Ward:  I like that.

New Addition To Let’s Make Comics Debuting Tonight

At the Mainline Art Bar in Tulsa, we will be offering layout samples to help emerging comic artists learn how to plan out a page. Provided by Natasha Alterici, the samples cover classic comic styles and her own favorite designs. Also, Alterici will be debuting Issue 2 of her breakthrough comic, Heathen, as well as offering a preview of Issue 3. We start at 6 pm and, since we are in a bar, it is for ages 21 and up. If you aren’t old enough, don’t despair, we will have more all ages events coming up soon. Just check the calendar for more info.

Citizens 4 Death Row Open Carry

Want Something for Free? Listen to The Comixologist Review Heathen for a Redeem Code for Issue One!

The good people at Comixology featured Natasha Alterici’s Heathen as a pick of the week! Her comic rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest titles in the industry.

“Aside from the absolutely phenomenal art in this book, what really caught my attention was this quest that was in the typical save the princess template where the valkyrie is on this mountain trapped behind flames and can only be freed by someone coming to rescue her. Then she has to marry them. The woman who is on the way to rescue the valkyrie is like ‘I really want to marry her. I assume she must be lonely so I just want to get her out of there.’ That kind of realism was really refreshing.” – Kara

“The art style reminded me of storyboards for a movie that are dirty, gritty, and almost unfinished, but it was perfect for this setting and story. I was really surprised about how well it fit into this story.” – Matt

“I’m out (of my clan), so I might as well go and save the day. I have nothing else to do. And why is everyone else so worthless?” – Kara

 

Sales for Heathen 2 are live on Comixology!

We are so very proud of Natasha Alterici’s masterful Heathen series and are proud to announce that Issue 2 is now available at Comixology and the print version is available at our store HERE. On Saturday, Alterici will also be giving a preview of some of the imagery of Issue 3 during a special Let’s Make Comics in Tulsa.

Tonya – Mammon – Machine

Check out this quick web comic humanizing Tonya Harding. It’s fantastic. Looking into the minds of criminals isn’t about absolving them of guilt, but understanding the root causes of destructive behaviors. Of course this is a valuable tool for storytellers, but a critical tool to just being a human who is no more perfect than any other human on the planet. As a friend recently told me, we are all guilty. It is one of our few universal traits, so trying to understand the torment that leads some down a dark path may be the only way to stop others from following them in the future.

Heathen 2 Preorder!!!!

Natasha Alterici’s beautiful a warrioress’s quest to dethrone the Norse gods is continuing on August 6 with the release of Issue 2 of Heathen.

Preorders are live now AT STORENVY. Only $5 and each preorder will be signed by Alterici.

Let’s Make Comics Dates

Let’s Make Comics is rapidly expanding as are other programs trying to build the art form throughout Oklahoma. H&8th just offered space to Let’s Make Comics in their massive, monthly happening on August 28. If you haven’t been to H&8th, this is a great opportunity to take part in OKC’s wildly successful cultural to-do.

Natasha Alterici will also be hosting a Let’s Make Comics on Saturday, August 8 for the release of Issue 2 of Heathen. Running from 6-9 pm at Mainline Art Bar at 111 Main Street in Tulsa, this will be an opportunity to learn the art from one of the fastest upandcomers in the state.

DC writer, Sterling Gates, also has a string of metro library dates and everyone’s favorite Jerry Bennett will also be at the Northwest Library on July 30 at 6 pm for his Hero High series.

For all our dates, check our Let’s Make Comics page or take a gander at our calendar.