A week ago today I was at NY Comic Con 2017. It didn't disappoint. As it was last year I found myself on some kind of inexplicable high of creative energy and love of stories. I haven't been to too many Comic Cons(something I plan on changing) but the ones I have been to have all felt somehow like home to me. The storytellers, artists and the people inspired by them bring a magic to the air almost that lifts my spirits.
At NY Comic Con 2017 I met so many wonderful and nice people willing to take time out of their day to talk to someone just starting out on the creative comic book path. They gave me so many great insights I will forever be grateful to them. A special thanks to Zig Zag Claybourne, Cerece Rennie Murphy, Oliver Mertz one of the creators of First Law of Mad Science, and the creators of Kodoja for patiently explaining how to market a creator owned-comic and get it off the ground. I was very touched by the amount of time and information they gave a novice just starting out. Hope to pay it forward someday.
So with this information in hand and I am sure more to follow I am setting out on a new journey. I am going to be bringing The Way of the Night to life and introducing it to story lovers everywhere. I am going to be taking the journey of an independent comic-book writer and finally bring one of my stories to life and tell it to whoever wants to hear it(or read it in this case). I hope you join me in this journey! Would love the company :) So stay tuned changes are coming!
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
To Storytellers and NYC Comic Con
NYC Comic Con is this weekend. It's one of the biggest best known comic book conventions. Many people I am sure have their opinion of it but I wanted to share mine.
All my life I wanted to tell stories. I from time to time gave a synopsis to people, usually family members or friends. Most of the time they said that is a really interesting idea for a story or that is a great idea, something along those lines. My only experiences actually putting them out there was when I submitted a couple short stories to a high school literary publication(one was awarded second place and the other honorable mention) and when I submitted a couple scripts to a production company. The feedback on the scripts was that the dialogue was wooden and the characters were flat. At least that's the only feedback I remember from it. Between that, my film career not turning out how I had thought and a family tragedy that followed shortly after I stopped writing and gave up the dream of being a story teller.
Then about a year ago a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to accompany her to NYC Comic Con. I had never been to any comic book convention. I had read comics(mostly marvel, some DC) since I was 11 years old and bought a spider-man comic I saw in a magazine rack at a supermarket check out line. But I stopped reading comic books several years ago for various reasons. But I was still a fan comic books and the superheroes I followed for so long so I decided to join her since I had the day off from work anyway.
When I arrived at Comic Con in NYC I was overcome with this creative energy for lack of a better word to describe it. Being surrounded by storytellers and the people who were so passionate about those stories had an affect on me that I wasn't fully grasping while it was happening.
We ducked into a panel at one point during the day just to sit down. We didn't even know what it was about. It turned out to be about the documentary Batman and Bill which I only saw the first half of but based on that highly recommend to anyone who loves Batman and/or writing. The documentary described Bill Finger the co-creator of Batman who died penniless, alone, and never having Batman attributed to him aside from the writing credit of one episode of the Adam West Batman TV series. As I watched the film I saw Bill Finger as a man who loved telling stories and kept creating and telling the Batman story even though he received nothing really from it but meager paychecks. I saw the people in the crowd during the Q&A so impassioned by this because Batman had such an impact on their life.
When I left Comic Con I realized that you have to just tell the stories inside you. That they are important. That a story somehow helps us work through things or inspires us or touches our heart maybe opening a door that was closed even partially. They help us to know parts of ourselves and our world. The mythologies and tales told around campfires at the dawn of humanity all the way to the myriad of platforms to tell stories we have today have an impact on people and on our society. And if you have stories inside you then you need to tell them no matter what fears you may have because the stories and their impact are a gift to the world. All of them.
I also realized that the comic book platform might be Baby Bear to my Goldilocks so to speak. Perhaps it is the hybrid between film and books that I need to tell my stories. So I am giving it a try. But one way or another I won't stop telling stories again and I will find a way to get them out. And I am going back to NYC Comic Con and I hope to find the same inspiration and creative energy and love of stories that led me to where I am now. So good luck to all storytellers out there and to all those who help them tell those stories! Never stop.
All my life I wanted to tell stories. I from time to time gave a synopsis to people, usually family members or friends. Most of the time they said that is a really interesting idea for a story or that is a great idea, something along those lines. My only experiences actually putting them out there was when I submitted a couple short stories to a high school literary publication(one was awarded second place and the other honorable mention) and when I submitted a couple scripts to a production company. The feedback on the scripts was that the dialogue was wooden and the characters were flat. At least that's the only feedback I remember from it. Between that, my film career not turning out how I had thought and a family tragedy that followed shortly after I stopped writing and gave up the dream of being a story teller.
Then about a year ago a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to accompany her to NYC Comic Con. I had never been to any comic book convention. I had read comics(mostly marvel, some DC) since I was 11 years old and bought a spider-man comic I saw in a magazine rack at a supermarket check out line. But I stopped reading comic books several years ago for various reasons. But I was still a fan comic books and the superheroes I followed for so long so I decided to join her since I had the day off from work anyway.
When I arrived at Comic Con in NYC I was overcome with this creative energy for lack of a better word to describe it. Being surrounded by storytellers and the people who were so passionate about those stories had an affect on me that I wasn't fully grasping while it was happening.
We ducked into a panel at one point during the day just to sit down. We didn't even know what it was about. It turned out to be about the documentary Batman and Bill which I only saw the first half of but based on that highly recommend to anyone who loves Batman and/or writing. The documentary described Bill Finger the co-creator of Batman who died penniless, alone, and never having Batman attributed to him aside from the writing credit of one episode of the Adam West Batman TV series. As I watched the film I saw Bill Finger as a man who loved telling stories and kept creating and telling the Batman story even though he received nothing really from it but meager paychecks. I saw the people in the crowd during the Q&A so impassioned by this because Batman had such an impact on their life.
When I left Comic Con I realized that you have to just tell the stories inside you. That they are important. That a story somehow helps us work through things or inspires us or touches our heart maybe opening a door that was closed even partially. They help us to know parts of ourselves and our world. The mythologies and tales told around campfires at the dawn of humanity all the way to the myriad of platforms to tell stories we have today have an impact on people and on our society. And if you have stories inside you then you need to tell them no matter what fears you may have because the stories and their impact are a gift to the world. All of them.
I also realized that the comic book platform might be Baby Bear to my Goldilocks so to speak. Perhaps it is the hybrid between film and books that I need to tell my stories. So I am giving it a try. But one way or another I won't stop telling stories again and I will find a way to get them out. And I am going back to NYC Comic Con and I hope to find the same inspiration and creative energy and love of stories that led me to where I am now. So good luck to all storytellers out there and to all those who help them tell those stories! Never stop.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)