Superior Spider-Man...? (aka Spidey dies... sort of... again)

Ok,  you've known him to be Amazing, you've known him to be Spectacular... well know he's about to be Superior.

Marvel, thanks to issue number seven hundred (700) is going to change the way Spider-Man is...  literally.

(spoilers)

So -- I haven't been following Amazing Spider-Man for a while, but I guess he's going to duke it out with Doctor Octopus in this episode -- and Spider-Man is going to forcibly transfer Doctor Octopus's mind into that of Peter Parker.

So, Doctor Octopus will sort of merge with Peter Parker.  He'll still have Peter Parker's sensibilities in a way, his morality -- but if you know Doc Ock -- he's got quite an ego -- hence the... Superior Spider-Man.

Here's a link to an article.  And another one here.

So, will his buddies figure out that Peter Parker isn't the real Peter Parker?

Is this permanent.... as permanent as any shift in comic books can be?  I guess the writer, Dan Slott, is getting death threats?

Jeeze, people.

How do I feel about this?  I dunno, sure.  Bring it on.  They'll probably REALLY mess with the Is Spider-Man a Hero or a menace type theme here.  To quote Sean Connery in the Hunt for Red October, "A little revolution is a good thing, every now and then."

I dunno, if I were Peter Parker, I don't know how I'd feel about Doc Ock hanging with my girl.  (Is he still with Mary Jane... or did that continuity get wiped out too)

Pomodoro/Egg Timer

A lot of times I sit down to write and I don't know what I'm doing.  I can't see the whole thing and I'm not inspired.  I hate the damn thing.  I have to watch the kid kind of thing, and I'd rather be doing something else.  But, it's your kid (metaphorical, creative kid) and you can't just ignore the thing.  You could, but then the kid would grow up with issues.

So, you don't over think it.  Don't try and do too much.  Just do 25 minutes.  Just spend 25 minutes with the kid and see what happens.  No expectations.  No nothing.  You spend 25 minutes, you win.  You don't have to FIGURE OUT the scene, you don't have to WIN A PULITZER PRIZE, you just spend 25 minutes.  That kind of stupid, simple, achievable goal - is the thing that gets me from one word to the next.  You just have to do that... I mean, if I can't do that... I'm stupid.  I'm a sucker.  I can't find 25 minutes...?  Come on, you know how many lackluster, non-productive things I could list that I have done -- that take MINIMALLY 25 minutes?

Ok.

I'm not the only one who feels this way.  Chuck Palahniuk has his "egg timer" method.  I don't have an egg timer.  I have a little pomodoro app on my computer.  So -- there you go :)

Two years ago, when I wrote the first of these essays it was about my “egg timer method” of writing.  You never saw that essay, but here’s the method:  When you don’t want to write, set an egg timer for one hour (or half hour) and sit down to write until the timer rings.  If you still hate writing, you’re free in an hour.  But usually, by the time that alarm rings, you’ll be so involved in your work, enjoying it so much, you’ll keep going.  Instead of an egg timer, you can put a load of clothes in the washer or dryer and use them to time your work.  Alternating the thoughtful task of writing with the mindless work of laundry or dish washing will give you the breaks you need for new ideas and insights to occur.  If you don’t know what comes next in the story…  clean your toilet.  Change the bed sheets.  For Christ sakes, dust the computer.  A better idea will come.

Thanks Chuck!  (more on Chuck P. here: http://chuckpalahniuk.net/workshop/essays/chuck-palahniuk)

So, get out there and toss the ball around with your creative kid.  There's not that much that's good on TV -- it's just 25 minutes :)

Writing about what upsets you...

So, I'm a member of this site called www.litreactor.com.  It used to be the Chuck Palahniuk fan club site -- but now it's morphed into something a little more general about writing, workshops.  You can submit your work, review others -- take online classes - and read essays by people... a bunch of them by Mr. Palahniuk himself.

(for those who don't know, Chuck Palahniuk is the guy who wrote Fight Club... a bunch of other stuff too, but Fight Club is the one that put him on the map)

In one of his essays he talks about a bunch of tips for writers.  Today I'm talking about number twelve:

Number Twelve:

Write about the issues that really upset you.  Those are the only things worth writing about.  In his course, called “Dangerous Writing,” Tom Spanbauer stresses that life is too precious to spend it writing tame, conventional stories to which you have no personal attachment.  There are so many things that Tom talked about but that I only half remember:  the art of “manumission,” which I can’t spell, but I understood to mean the care you use in moving a reader through the moments of a story.    And “sous conversation,” which I took to mean the hidden, buried message within the obvious story.  Because I’m not comfortable describing topics I only half-understand, Tom’s agreed to write a book about his workshop and the ideas he teaches.  The working title is “A Hole In The Heart,” and he plans to have a draft ready by June 2006, with a publishing date set in early 2007. 

Show, don't tell -- on introductions

“Don't say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream.”  ― Mark Twain

How are you introducing your character?  You know - the first time we see him or her?  What is she doing?  Can you accomplish more in that one scene?  What are they arguing about - what are they doing -- what are they IN THE MIDDLE OF.

Remember William Goldman?  Start Late.  Get out early.  Start a scene as late as possible, get out of it as soon as possible.

So, when you introduce your hero -- what character revealing thing are they doing?  Layer it up.  What character revealing piece of clothing, argument, action, everything - try and cram as much as you can in there.  Make every scene, every moment a thick, juicy bit of a dramatic moment.  Remember... this isn't real life.  It's a movie.  Movies, like love stories, go tell stories of the ordinary -- in a nice casing of the extraordinary.

Show, don't tell.

Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing

Elmore Leonard -- the guy behind "Get Shorty," "Out of Sight," "Rum Punch," "Bandits," "The Hot Kid...." this could end up being a very long list.  The man's prolific.  Sometimes better than others -- but for the most part, always very enjoyable.  

He has 10 rules for writing that can be listened to in any medium.  

Enjoy!!!

1. Never open a book with weather. Not directly translatable to sportswriting, but it’s a cousin to the idea of getting right to the point quickly in your lead.

2. Avoid prologues. Advice I give a lot to B/R writers is to lead with what your story is about, not context or background, or what Leonard, referring to fiction, calls “backstory.”

3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.

4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” … he admonished gravely.

5. Keep your exclamation points under control.

6. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.” This one and the next three are a lot more relevant to fiction writers than anyone else, but it’s worth noting the underlying ethic.

7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.

8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.

9. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.

10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. This gets quoted a lot, and it’s the kind of glib line that ends up in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations. But you should take it seriously. What are your readers likely to skip?

What I'm reading... "VENOM"

So, I remember standing in line at a Save-On when we were visiting my grandparents in Chicago, looking at the first appearance of Venom.  I didn't buy it.  I think I opted for a Spider-Man reprint that involved the Death of Captain Stacy at the hands of Doc Ock.

But Venom has always been kind of cool.  Well, let me correct that.  He was cool - and Marvel just sort of saturated the entire universe with venom himself, along with venom spawn, Carnage, all kinds of wanna be look alikes -- and it got old.

But, lately -- and I know this isn't brand new so I'm a little behind.  But there is a new Venom.

Flash Thompson.

Remember Flash Thompson, the guy that used to beat up Peter Parker in High School?  Well, he became friends with Peter Parker later - and he eventually joined Special Forces -- saw some combat - and lost his legs.

He drinks.  He's down.  He's a loser.  Right?

Wrong. The military has the Venom Spawn and they're trying to control it.  Trying to get it to be some kind of weapon -- and so they enlist our boy -- Flash.

And it is freaking cool.

They've taken Flash Thompson as addict, and translated that into him trying to keep the Symbiote (venom thing) under control.  It's pretty cool -- I recommend it.

The writer on the series for a while is this guy Rick Remender - and I came across him with the Uncanny X-Force.  I'll talk about that next time.

I'm still way behind on Invincible, Chew.  Saga is great if you haven't checked that out.  But, I'll keep you posted on things.

Do the easy ones first

Anyone remember the SAT's?  I don't remember doing terribly well -- but I remember one bit of advice: "do the easy ones first."  The idea being, if you can't start getting easy question after easy question under your belt -- before you know it -- you'll be a quarter done with the test.  I'm doing this more and more with writing.  I don't know how the whole thing is going to work out, but I do know there's going to be this once scene where _______.  Write it real quick.  I don't know what comes after it, but I do know there's going to be a scene where they ______.  

Just jot it down real quick -- and then you'll have something. 

The Scriptment

Don't feel like writing a full on script -- but you're not an outline guy?  Try a Scriptment.  James Cameron is a big fan of these things as you can see here: http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/s/spider-man-scriptment.html.  It's a great tool because you can start on writing the script without feeling like you need every single last details in there.

I'm doing that now on the script I'm working on.  It's like drawing a person -- you start of with broad strokes and then slowly bring in the detail.  Some people can write an outline out and get it ready with lots of detail.... but that doesn't come natural to me.  Of course, the people who can write a detailed outline are probably make a lot more money at screenwriting than I am.

My favorite sites for scripts is: www.simplyscripts.com

Desperately Seeking... a Nemesis!?

I remember this story from a while back (http://www.nerdist.com/2008/07/sf-man-looking-for-nemesis/). 

Chris Hardwick wrote about a guy who posted an ad on Craigslist asking for a Nemesis.  The post was funny, and a little silly.  But recently I've been missing the competitive nature of a big sales office.  We're a small firm, so you don't have that same spirit of competition with different teams or departments.  So... I have recently picked a Nemesis.  I'm not looking to completely destroy this person... but I definitely want to "beat" him/her.  Why not?  Everybody needs a reason to wake up in the morning :)

What about you?  Do you have a nemesis creatively?  Personally?  Professionally?

What I'm Reading - Savages

Don Winslow -- I'm curious to read his other stuff now.  He has a bit of a Chuck Palahniuk flair to him -- but it's not as substantial -- well, correction -- not as substantial as some of his work.  But Don's voice is fun.  It carries you along.  I bought it two days ago and I'm already half way through the thing.

The novel chronicles the story of two small time Marijuana Producers/Dealers.  They're white boys gone bad.  One's got the Ivy League Education -- the other one has the SEALs training -- and they're sharing a girl.

The Cartel down south gets wind of how successful these Gringos are with their product, and decides to offer them a deal.  They say, "no."  But, the Cartel doesn't like the word "no."  And the cartel gets this bright idea that they can "inspire" the boys to work for them.

It's a fun novel that straddles the line between silly and cool.  But, I'm into it.  I'm also down to read his other works.  I like to read the book and then see the movie -- just to reverse engineer how they adapted the piece.

So far, lots of fun.

Staying Motivated... put your money where your mouth is

I have a problem writing.  I have a problem doing anything that is good for me, really.  It is honestly so much easier to stay home, watch some Mad Men or maybe play Call of Duty and think about all the great things I'm going to do one day.  But...

You are what you do. 

I read a quote once that said, "he who limps is still walking."  I thought about it for a while, and it makes sense.  Some progress, it's better than no progress. 

I have an "arrangement" of sorts with a colleague of mine.  We each put in ten dollars at the beginning of the week into a pot.  Both of us have to do MINIMALLY one POMODORO (or one 25 minute block) of writing each day -- or we forfeit the pot.  Now, it's not a lot of money at ten dollars... but it builds up.  So, each week we hit our goals, and each week we keep putting in ten dollars.  All of the sudden, you REALLY start to second guess yourself when you try and say, "I don't have time to write" when it means you're going to forfeit a hundred dollar pot.

Things - a new outline tool?

Things is an application that you can use on the iPhone, the iPad, or on your Mac.  It's a a step-child of sorts to David Allen's Getting Things Done.  It represents the next attempt in a long line of time management and project management tools for the computer.  Overall, the app is good.  I use it to keep track of projects for work and other parts of my life.  But I don't think I've trained myself to take full advantage of the app.  But, recently I was in Evernote (I do a lot of writing in Evernote) and I liked the layout Evernote had of the index cards to sort of visualize your documents.  I thought about using that as an outline.  You guys are all familiar with the screenwriter who writes the scenes on Index cards and then moves them around -- pins them on cork boards, etc.  

I know Final Draft has some version of this capability, but unless new versions have nailed it -- I haven't liked it.  That brings me to things.  With Things you can separate things by various categories.  My "Area of Responsibility" and then by "Project" and then underneath Project you can separate by "Task."  Within each task you can add tags and notes.  So, I started outlining my current project on there.  The Area of Responsibility was the SCREENPLAY -- and then the Project was the Scene -- and then I could break down the scene into action bits by the various notes.  

Just something to try out.  If anyone else has any success on a new outline tool or any other "visualization" tools.  I've heard of "mind mapping" applications that people in the field of User Experience use a lot.  I'm toying with looking at some of the User Experience applications to outline and visualize the story as I go.  

Alright, back to writing!

Pomodoro - Time

I went to a SoCal Code Camp event in Orange County earlier this year.  The event is an un-conference of sorts.  It's a free event, with speakers coming from across the state and sometimes the country to come and speak on topics.  These speakers volunteer their time.  There are events ranging from the benefits of MVC and MVVM (see software development) -- to some other tips and tricks -- like time management.

There was a presentation by a guy named Woody Pewitt.  He's an executive at a software company and he talked about a "time management" philosophy called "Getting Things Done."  For those of you not familiar with GTD (Getting Things Done) just look up David Allen.  I was familiar with GTD, but he brought up something I really liked: Pomodoro Time.

Simply put, Pomodoro time is a method of working in blocks.  Theoretically, you work in 25 minute blocks -- take a five minute break, then go into another 25 minute block.  This has been profoundly helpful.  Raise your hand if there have been times where you feel so overwhelmed that you dont' know where to start?  Well, toss a Pomodoro at that task and see what's left and how you feel.

Most of this stuff isn't rocket science, right?  Most problems can be solved with working in blocks, taking a breath, getting a bit of sun, and making sure you get enough sleep at night.

I've recently entered into a partnership of sorts.  An accountability partnership where we text each other how many pomodoros we get done each day.  He usually kicks my ass -- but there are some days that the only reason I get out of bed earlier is because I don't want him to beat me.

Links for your reference:
http://www.socalcodecamp.com/
http://www.davidco.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/woodyp

Writing out of order

When I first graduated high school, I had this idea of being an Art Major.  I think I was toying with the idea of going into comics.  I still draw from time to time, but I dedicate most my efforts to writing these days.  But, there are several major concepts that translate from drawing into writing.

1)  Create out of order.  When you draw a person you don't draw the eye finished and perfect and then move onto the next eye.  When you do that -- you lose the sense of the whole.  I've got a half done image of a Jim Lee cover.  You'll notice he sort of sketches all over to get the idea -- sure there are a few parts that are just a tad more rounded than others -- but for the most part he's figuring things out "in general" and then closing in on them -- slowly getting the proportions right, slowly getting the perspective right.  So, for writing -- that means you might write a scene you know is going to be at the end first.  Or you might write some idea you have for an argument -- don't know where it should go, but it could work -- write it -- see how it fits into the overall perspective as you go.  Don't try and figure it all out ahead of time!

2)  Pencil.  Lately I've been doing a lot of my first drafts or ideas of scenes with a pencil and paper -- it just seems more forgiving.  Not as permanent.  There's something scary about typing things out on a page -- I mean, I know the delete key is right there (which is a whole other topic)... but pencil just seems to open up all kinds off possibilities.  You can draw, write, write upsideown, draw arrows -- seems like a better place to play.

So, as I motivate myself to put pencil to paper... give it a shot!

On persistence

The title of the blog is a reference to Thomas Edison's quote (well, we're not exactly sure if he said this exactly) about him not failing, but finding 10,000 ways that the light bulb didn't work.  See link: http://thinkexist.com/quotation/i_haven-t_failed-i-ve_found-ways_that_don-t/346094.html

 I read a quote from Albert Einstein recently,"it's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."
http://thinkexist.com/quotation/it-s_not_that_i-m_so_smart-it-s_just_that_i_stay/15521.html

So, keep going!