OIK2 asked me, “Do you plan to take this in the direction of a storyline comic, or one shots?”
What could have been a simple answer turned into a long rambling post of me musing about my muses, so I’m blogging it instead.
In the words of John Lennon, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” I try not to plan too much for the comic, I’m going on gut instinct. However, I do have ideas!
As long as the comic stays weekly, I’m keeping it as one shots. It’s just too difficult to retain readers for an extended story line when you’re only doing 3 panels a week. I also like this ability to get these stupid one liners out of my head. There are always one or two panels in each strip that could stand alone. I attribute that to the Gary Larsen influence on my young mind.
If Life decides I have time to move to a multiple day a week posting schedule, I might try to do mini-series strips. The story would start with the week and end with the week, but each strip would be complete on it’s own. For example, there are two more comics that go with the Zombie Apocalypse story line, but the week I planned on doing the second one Marvel was acquired by Disney and that material was too timely to let slip by.
Finally, I have ideas for full length comic book stories for both Dalia and Despair set in each of their separate universes. The idea is that someday I will have the time and motivation to make these graphic novels come to life. Dalia has a few stories actually, she’s been in my head since 1998. I even have an idea for a children’s book based on her, though she’s more of a regular round fluffy four legged cartoon Clydesdale in that one.
Despair’s stories are a little more difficult. Since she’s a World of Warcraft character, the ideas I have for her are too close to fan fiction. I know that Ryan Sohmer and Lar deSouza do this very well with their comic, Looking for Group, but their success makes it that much harder for me to come up with something original. I want her story to be different enough to stand out from theirs, but still be humorous and dark.
All of the characters in my head have rich, colorful lives of their own. Dalia and Despair are the only two to cross over from their personal worlds into the space I occupy in my own brain. Though, perhaps they are not alone. I’ve recently discovered that even the “me” character in this comic has a life of her own. I always refer to her as The Artist in my head. She is my productivity, the artist I want to be. I used to think Dalia held that role, but Dalia’s more like my artistic conscience. The Artist is the part of me that’s just trying to do this thing. Good or bad, she’s getting it done. More and more I feel like I’m just along for the ride.
Twenty One copies of the Almost Normal Special FurFright 2009 Collection have been ordered! If the Print and Shipping Gods are nice to me, I’ll have them the day before the convention! Each comic is laid out over a 2 page spread for a total of 18 pages plus a title page and a blank page for me to do a sketch for each buyer. For everyone who pre-ordered their book, I’ll be shipping them out after the convention.
