Broken Frontier

If you read last week’s column you will recall that I have been facing a few inspirational hurdles. Sometimes life, work and creating/writing comics collide and the conflict becomes just a little too hard to handle. Even a week later, I am still in this space, struggling to define how I can make being a columnist, comics book creator/ writer, full time PR manager, husband and impending father work; all at the same time. I haven’t stumbled on the Universal How To Meet Every Responsibility Equation. If you have, let me know.

So, in the need of a bit of inspiration, I have decided to roll out another Ignition! column; I wasn’t planning on doing this so soon after the previous edition, but sometimes life takes you in directions you never expected …

MesSAGE

When I find myself in need of inspiration (I sat down to write this column two hours ago, and my fingers have just now started dancing across my busted computer keyboard; which I have been typing on for two weeks now, but that is a story for another day) I often turn to the master of silver screen Sci-Fi spectacle; George Lucas (He’s the guy who invented Star Wars, you laser brain!).

Star Wars recently hit the big ‘3’ ‘0’. Given how much of an influence that story has been on my own desire to be a writer, I am surprised I haven’t spent more time focusing on that galaxy far, far away in the columns that I have written for Broken Frontier.

None-the-less, just this weekend I stumbled upon one of Mr. Lucas’ many interviews that coincided with the anniversary. In most of them GL (George Lucas not Hal Jordan) focused on new Star Wars projects, but one of the interviews featured this awesome quote:

"You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don’t have that kind of feeling for what it is you are doing, you’ll stop at the first giant hurdle,Ó George Lucas.

I really needed to read those words today, given the HUGE creative brick wall that has been looming before me for weeks; work, family, life, writing this column, creating comics, going to synagogue – it’s all becoming too much to handle! Anyone else could have said this, even other creators I admire such as Len Wiseman, Rob Liefeld, Mike Miller, Brian Bendis, Jeph Loeb, Jason Martin, Darren Davis, Ryan Scott Ottney, Kevin Grevioux … However if any of them did say this, it would never have the same impact as it does when the words come from George Lucas.

The thing is that right now, at 9:15 pm on Sunday 8 July 2007 I have never been closer to having a career writing comics. However, I seem to be great at putting obstacles in the way of any chance of success. I am simply doing far too much in life to dedicate time to doing almost anything well. In October I will become a father and the opportunity to create anything except for a diaper management strategy is likely to vanish into thin air.

So, I am facing that giant hurdle that Lucas is talking about. One person who I have barely ever mentioned in this column reached out to me this week; his email was one bright spark in a manic seven day stretch that included one day in the office from 9 am – 10 pm. William, if you read this your email helped me to break on through the barrier for one more week, so thanks!

Despite the words of my friends George and William the fact remains that I feel as though I am creatively on the edge; I am exhausted and perhaps one or two more ‘wrong’ steps and I could very well walk away from creating comics.

SubMISSION

I have been lucky enough to have four projects which have been picked up by publishers after putting forward a submission. While it is a fact that of the four, only one has been published with another under development, there is a big difference between successfully pitching a project and seeing that book on the spinner racks. After all, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of writers who successfully pitch to Hollywood each year, yet most only get to see their script vanish into the black hole of the studio system, never to be seen again.

Writing a pitch is pretty easy for me; I worked in sales for years, convincing hapless boyfriends and husbands to spend thousands of dollars on diamond jewelry or convincing people on the other end of the phone line to donate money to charity. These days I spend my time at work convincing journalists to write positive stories about doctors.

I have probably put together six serious comic book submissions and I have had four picked up. All of this has been achieved despite the fact that I have only attended one USA-based comic convention (Wizard World LA 2002) and never met any of the editors/ publishers I have pitched to. All of it was done via email.

The fact is that when pitching, confidence is everything. If you don’t believe in the diamond necklace and the fact that, even for the price of $10,000 it represents exceptional value, you will never sell the necklace. Similarly if you don’t believe in your writing, your story or your art, you will never sell these to a publisher.

I am never suggesting you inject arrogance into your pitch email or your face-to-face discussion with an editor/ publisher at a con. There is a difference between confidence and arrogance; usually your confidence is backed by ability and talent, arrogance is simply self-delusion delivered with over-hyped aggression.

Build your networks, speak with publishers/editors (on message boards or email if you need to) and develop your talent. Having connections and skills mean you will go far in comics.

The Arcanum

The Oxford Dictionary offers the following definition for the word ‘arcanum’:

noun (pl. arcana) a hidden thing; a mystery or profound secret. ORIGIN Latin, from arca ‘chest’.

Look at a lot o’Lees… Stan Lee and Jim Lee star together on the legendary Comic Book Greats video from the early 90s. If your VHS copy has been worn through, you can re-live the dodgy clips and funky 1990s soundtrack thanks to You Tube: http://youtube.com/results?search_query=comic+book+greats&search

Spark plug>in

Ignition! is all about helping you to be the best creator you can be. If you have any ideas on topics to be covered in future editions, leave feedback in The Story Factory forum.

Next: What’s The Story?