Notes from the Cincinnati Comic Expo 2011

It was fun! It felt like a lot more fun than a writers conference, but on reflection, I’m not entirely sure why. I mean, the obvious fun differences are obvious– you can buy a lot of cool things at a comic con, like amazing art, for one; but at its core, the content isn’t really that different. There are interesting panels at writers conferences too, inspiring, thought-provoking speakers, creators of compelling stories, and gifted illustrators. Maybe this was so much more fun because the air of desperation that often hangs over a writers conference was missing?

Or maybe it was because you don’t see people dressed up as Doctor Who and Wonder Woman at a writing conference.

Cincinnati Comic Expo 2011

Click to see more pics of the cosplay.

I attended a couple of awesome panels and brought back a few notes for ya. I’ve decided not to post big long recaps of these things anymore—blogging feels so different nowsadays, plus, I live-tweeted some quotes.

My fave panel was Michael Uslan’s, “The Boy Who Loved Batman.” Uslan is the Executive Producer of the Batman film franchise and is the person to thank for bringing the original, dark vision of the Dark Knight to the screen. I loved his talk so much I bought his book (with the same title.) He became a fan of Batman at age 8, and was heartbroken and enraged by the TV show version of the story. After seeing it, he made a vow (at age 15) to some day show the world the true story of Batman. Much later, it took him years to acquire the rights and then even after he had them, it was TEN years before he could get the first film made. Everyone else in Hollywood was convinced a serious comic book movie would tank.

Uslan also taught the first accredited college course in comics (at Indiana University), showing the links between comics, myth and folklore. His course was initially rejected as soon as he pitched it. The dean said comics were only cheap, lurid entertainment for kids, but admitted he’d loved Superman when he was a child. Uslan told us as soon as he was rejected, he knew he had to think fast. He said, “before I go, Dean, can I ask you two questions?” The dean nodded. Uslan asked him to give a synopsis of the story of Moses, which the dean did: the Hebrew people were persecuted, being killed. A Hebrew couple put their infant son in a basket and sent him floating down the Nile. The basket was found by an Egyptian couple who raised the baby as their son. When he grew up, the baby found out about his heritage and became a hero to his people.

Then Uslan asked the dean to recount the origin story of Superman, if he knew it. Sure, he knew it, the dean said. A scientist and his wife on a doomed planet put their baby son into a rocket ship and sent him to earth. He was found and raised by the Kents. When he grew up, he learned who he really was . . . and at that point the dean told Uslan his course was accredited.

He told other stories of his life that were just as fun and inspiring. I highly recommend the book. But even more than his fascinating life, I was impressed by Uslan’s perseverance and the way he made the most of every opportunity. He said, as his mom told him, “You can have the best ideas in the world, but no one will ever know if you don’t market yourself.” So when he got his course on comics approved, he called the press, pretending to be an outraged citizen who’d heard the University was teaching about comics of all things! Le shock! What a waste of taxpayer money! The story got picked up nationwide and as a result Uslan developed contacts in comics publishing, including a call from Stan Lee, which he called his “burning bush moment.”

Perseverance, holding fast to your inspiration, making the most of each opportunity, and getting the word out about your ideas – not bad lessons no matter what field you’re working in.

I want to go to more comic cons!

A Certain Number of Friday Things

No, not five! I never have five. I fail at five things on Friday. Friday Five Fail.

But not at fun, right? Fun! I haz it. I am all about Friday Fun. So here’s a few Friday fun things for you:

Did you know there is a medieval castle in Cincinnati? Well, technically in Loveland, OH, which is part of the Greater Cincy area. A man just decided one day he wanted to build a castle here, so he did. By hand. He based it on Norman castle plans and everything.

A Castle in Cincy

Speaking of fun things here in Cincy, tomorrow is the second Cincinnati Comic Expo and I am going! It will be my first comic type con– my first real con, I think. World Fantasy Con was more of a writers conference. I didn’t go to this last year because I didn’t know about it. Plus, even though I’ve been reading comics on and off for the past ten years or so, this past summer was when they truly sucked me in. Before, I could wait for the stories to be published as trade paperbacks, but now there are titles I eagerly buy the comic issues of every Wednesday.

My third Friday Fun thing is this, lookee here!

From Writing Conferences and Signings and Such

Debut novels written by friends! I haz them! It is *such* a thrill to see a story that you read in manuscript form become a fragrant, gorgeous book!

Wishing you all a fab weekend!

Cheered Up By Tolkien and Rowling During Revisions

Hey Writers! Do you ever doubt yourself when you’re writing stories? Or feel insecure about the choices you make with descriptive language, characters, plot twists, emotional impact, jokes, or any other little thing?

Hahahahaha! I know! We’re crazy with doubt and mean voices that whisper nasty comments in our heads about our work.

But during these past weeks of revision on my middle-grade novel, I discovered a Whole. New. Mammoth Cave of Doubt. The Caverns of Revision Insecurity. When you’re revising, a change you make on page 52 can spark necessary rewriting through the whole manuscript. And revision doesn’t mean making one change! So the nasssty inner Gollum critic has TONS of new material to attack you with.

So I was hugely cheered up to find out recently that both The Lord of the Rings and The Sorceror’s Stone went through enormous revisions, complete with deep changes.

Here’s a quote from J.K. Rowling. I can’t currently find the exact source but believe it was an interview on Muggle.net. (ETA– Harry Potter expert, Susan Sipal informs me that this quote is from JKR’s website.)

There were many different versions of the first chapter of ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ . . . There were various versions of scenes in which you actually saw Voldemort entering Godric’s Hollow and killing the Potters and in early drafts of these, a Muggle betrayed their whereabouts. As the story evolved, however, and Pettigrew became the traitor, this horrible Muggle vanished.

Other drafts included a character by the name of ‘Pyrites’, whose name means ‘fool’s gold’. He was a servant of Voldemort’s and was meeting Sirius in front of the Potters’ house. Pyrites, too, had to be discarded, though I quite liked him as a character; he was a dandy and wore white silk gloves, which I thought I might stain artistically with blood from time to time.

The very, very earliest drafts of the first chapter of ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ have the Potters living on a remote island, Hermione’s family living on the mainland, her father spotting something that resembles an explosion out at sea and sailing out in a storm to find their bodies in the ruins of their house. I can’t remember now why I thought this was a good idea, but I clearly recognised that it wasn’t fairly early on, because the Potters were re-located to Godric’s Hollow for all subsequent drafts.

I love seeing that she originally envisioned so many key parts of the story so differently.

And here’s a heartening quote, from J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, by Tom Shippey, about J.R.R. T. finding his way plot-wise through The Lord of the Rings:

However neat the final product, Tolkien had no clear plan at all . . . It is an interesting, and for any intending writer of fiction rather an encouraging experience, to read through the selections from Tolkien’s many drafts . . . and to note how long it was before the most obvious and seemingly inevitable decisions were not made at all. Tolkien knew, for instance, that Bilbo’s ring now had to be explained and would become important in the story, but he still had no idea of it as the Ring, the Ruling Ring, the Ring-with-a-capital-letter so to speak: indeed he remarked at an early stage that it was ‘not very dangerous’ . . . Another element arrived at early on was the character who would become Strider, the Ranger, but in serveral opening drafts this role of guard and guide is taken not by a man, still less by one of the Dunedain, but by a weatherbeaten hobbit called Trotter, distinguished by his wooden shoes. . . . Christopher Tolkien notes that more than two years after his father started work on the sequel, he was still ‘without any clear conception of what lay before him.’ . . . Even by the time the Fellowship had reached Moria, Tolkien knew no more than his characters what lay the other side of the mountains. . . . Seven months after starting work on the Lord of the Rings, he complained that he still had no story.

An “encouraging experience” indeed! For some reason, I had the idea that most novels don’t change that deeply from first draft to publication. Maybe because it seems like lots of aspiring writers write something fairly quickly, sell it fairly quickly and then bang! just a few months later their books are on the shelves. It’s satisfying to see that two of the writers I most admire did not know where exactly they were going with those early drafts.

Wordy Wednesday

Yoo hoo and Howdy! My unexpected posting hiatus is over. I’m not exactly sure why I had such a long one this time. I got blown off blogging course by the Back to School-End of Summer gale and was slow to find my way back due to bunches of stuffs. Like rethinking this blogging thang. Yes! Again! LiveJournal has had so many woes this year, plus the community is not as vibrant as in Days of Internet Yore.

I’m not leaving LJ, but I’ve decided to mirror most of my posts on WordPress. And iffen you’re interested, the new importing tool WordPress has is AWESOME. It sucked over all my posts, plus my pics, plus links, plus all the comments! The comments are kind of in screwy order, but still! Back in the day, childers, you could only import the text of your posts. And now that I’ve talked about days of yore, as well as back in the day, I think it’s time to buy a clapper or a walker.

Should I make this a big fat catching-up post?

Nah, who has time to read such things? Plus if you follow me on Twitter or Tumblr, it’ll be too repetitive.

Although I will mention that Andy and I caught up with Doctor Who and now I see! I get the devotion. We’re devoted! We yelp and go “oooo!” and high-five each other while watching. And the other day, when Andy was playing a video game and had to make a moral choice, he asked himself, “Hmmm. What would the Doctor do?” and then chose the more compassionate act.

I’ll have more to say about that, and many other things, but will stop now. I’m glad I’m back to blogging. Even if I will never like that word, or “blog.”