David Meadows
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Registered: 09-2003
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 #39: Writer's Comments
I wasn't going to do another one of these, but I think I ahould explain the late appearance of this issue...
(You should probably read the issue before reading this.)
Problems: first, without Chi-Yun, I had no ready-made the comic relief. Second, I deliberately wanted to focus on Sara and her thoughts on where the group should go next. Obviously Sara is upset about losing her friend. She's also unaccustomed to being unable to fix the problem. And Don, the closest thing she's got to a father figure, has just basically told her that she's not good enough to help...
Oh dear.
A few pages into the issue I was starting to really hate how I was writing it. It was far too depressing. And though I was happy with the various plot lines I was moving forwards (heroes vs. The Leopard; Don looking for Chi-Yun) I wasn't happy with the tone of the story.
That's why the writing came to a grinding halt and I sat on it for a while. I just had no interest in writing it the way I had planned it. But I couldn't think of a better plan.
Finally I dropped it completely and started writing issue #40 instead. Two pages into #40 I wrote the first line of Sara's dialogue and it perfectly summed up what was keeping her going. And it wasn't what I expected but it suddenly made a lot of sense.
I had been writing #39 from the point of view of Sara thinking it's all gone wrong, I'm so depressed, let's all give up and go home. She was looking at all the bad stuff that had happened, and that's why I was finding the issue far too depressing to write. What she should have been doing (though not consciously) was looking at the good stuff.
So I went back to #39 and looked again at a key scene. And wrote:
quote:
"I usually watch James instead."
At that point, I knew what every other scene needed to say. I went back over the whole thing, fixed the bits that were too heavy-handed, and finished it on what I hope is an optimistic note.
Looking at it now, I think I've probably overdone the melodrama. But I don't particularly mind. I know it's not my greatest work but it says what I want it to say.
Which is better than not saying anything at all...
--- "I never need to watch my opponents when I fight. My power takes care of that." -- Sara, Heroes issue 39 on line now! |
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26/11/2006, 11:24
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Ray Oceanweaver
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Registered: 04-2003
Location: England, UK
Posts: 175
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Re: #39: Writer's Comments
That quote:
"I usually watch James instead"
really made it for me. 
--- Rachel
~The optimist fails as badly as the pessimist, just has a better time of it~
Wings of Rapture - For Writers of Erotica and Romance |
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26/11/2006, 15:02
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knightflyer
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Registered: 10-2004
Location: Orion Arm, Milky Way
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Re: #39: Writer's Comments
quote:
"I usually watch James instead."
Definately the best line. I had to smile.
Stuart
---
Stuart
---------
"What goes around come around."
"And sometimes you get what's coming around."
"And sometime you are what's coming around."
Jim Butcher, Grave Peril
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26/11/2006, 21:56
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lardboy
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Registered: 09-2005
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Re: #39: Writer's Comments
Indeed, a rather natty line I must confess.
Worth the wait.
But rest assured Dave, I still think you're a beast! Poor Chi-Yun! Poor Charlie! (Whoever he is).
As for Major Democracy being, "the best at what he does", I'd always assumed that to be summat to do with his proclivity for cheesy oratory.
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29/11/2006, 12:20
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