Don't believe you can't: Write in as many media as you want

I used Grammarly to grammar check this post, because life is too short to look for split infinitives with your bare eyes.

Here’s something I hear a lot: a writer will say, “novelists don’t make good screenwriters,” or “screenwriters shouldn't try to write games,” or “comic book writers shouldn't try to write novels.”
We know these sentences are nonsense (I could choose a coarser label) because when someone who does something for a living offers you advice that happens to discourage you from joining their profession, they probably have their own and not your interests at heart. And that might not be completely conscious; a lot of people don’t realize the philosophies they hold dearest are heartily buttressed by convenience. So if you hear someone say that, nod and smile and whatever it is you want to write.

Because here’s why it’s really nonsense: different kinds of writing are different, no doubt about it. But a good writer can excel at more than one kind of writing. You might have the medium you’re best in, but if you’re a writer, you’re probably a few steps ahead in another medium than someone who has no felicity for language.

The rest is just details, rhythms, styles.   I actually thrill to the difference-- a screenplay is not a novel is not a game script.

This week I worked on a script for IDW comics, the first issue of a miniseries about a popular TV character.  Comic book scripts mostly offer challenges about space and pace: a comic book script usually runs exactly 20 or 22 pages, usually 5-7 scenes. I usually outline in Word or Excel, write comic scripts using Final Draft, the screenwriting tool, then deliver the script to the editor in Word, where we do the editing.  Another comic I wrote with Tony Salvaggio, Clockwerx from Humanoids, is coming out in hardback, and I wrote several interview responses.

• Medium: Comic book script
• Format: Feature Screenplay Derivative
• Tools: Final Draft, Excel, Word

Meanwhile, I worked on a novel. Genre novels like the modern horror book I’m writing usually run 300-400 pages long. There’s no set number of chapters or pages—unlike in comics, you have to hew closer to a sense of how the story is going and when you need to turn. I outline in Excel and write in Word.

• Medium: Prose Novel
• Format: Long form prose
• Tools: Word, Excel

I also host a podcast, the Castle Dracula Horror Movie Podcast. For that,  I have to write an introductory script each week and prepare my questions. I intro the show; the rest is a panel-type discussion.

• Medium: Podcast Script
• Format: Radio Script
• Tools: Word

At the same time, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, which I wrote the game screenplay for, got announced as part of the Xbox Live Summer of Arcade 2013. Game scripts are a different beast—I wrote those partly in Final Draft and partly in Excel.

• Medium: Game Script
• Format: Feature Screenplay Derivative for cutscenes, Database for incidental dialogue
• Tools: Final Draft, Word, Excel

I’m going to spend some time blogging on each. They’re all different and they all offer challenges. But I wouldn’t have it any other way, and you shouldn’t either. If you write, you work with words. The rest is skill, and if you’re still alive, there’s wondrous time to learn.

Writing Shadowland: Daughters of the Shadow, writing weekend

It's a "writing weekend," meaning I've committed to myself and a few other people lots of new work. So this weekend on the block we have:

• The script for Shadowland: Daughters of the Shadow #3-- this is actually just in time because Ivan Rodriguez-- who has this amazing ability to take my often-opaquely-described fight scenes and make them make visual sense--- is just now finished with Issue 2, so he needs to start drawing Issue 3. It's not as simple as me just writing a script and tossing it to Spain, of course. Before we go to script on a Marvel comic, we generally go through multiple panel by panel outlines. In a big event like Shadowland, numerous editors jawbone about every issue and how they fit together; my story connects mainly with its own issues, but we have to keep track of what the various characters are also doing in the main Shadowland mini, issues of Daredevil itself, Blood on the Streets and more. All of which gets us to: this Wednesday we had an approved outline and it was time to go to script, which was due Friday, last night. And, so that happened, and it's written. I'm always thrilled when a work finally comes together, and I see myself making choices, how about if we open this scene this way, how about if she sneaks in like this instead of like that, and I keep wondering-- what if I wrote this yesterday, would a different sudden idea occur to me? What if I wrote it tomorrow? We re-write and re-write, but many times the flash of inspiration shapes the final so completely that you can't imagine the story going another way. So I think, what if I were writing this yesterday, or tomorrow? Would this work happen? What is Yesterday Guy writing?
• Meanwhile, I owe another Marvel editor a synopsis for a one-shot story. A synopsis is basically a one-or-two-page breakdown of the story. In my case I break the synopsis out into Acts and Scenes, just to help keep track of the beginning-middle-end structure. A typical one-shot comic is 22 pages long, so it's crucial to make sure that the end is getting started about two thirds, or 15 pages, into the comic. 
• Meanwhile, I'm working on a new novel and hope to get some sample chapters done. That's slated for today and tomorrow.

Out there on the web, I've been thrilled by the reactions Shadowland: Daughters of the Dragon #1 has been getting. I'm mainly proud of this work because it's my first official Marvel Universe title and certainly my first crossover event title. I've been following and joining discussions at Comic Book Resources and Comixtreme.

Oh, some other good news-- I heard from IDW that the new printing of Sword of Dracula, the trade paperback of the series I wrote about Ronnie Van Helsing (sister of Alex Van Helsing), has actually sold out, and they'll be going to a second printing soon. That's huge news.

Okay, enough screwing around. Time to get to work.

Unnamed Superhero Story

I have been writing comics for several years but have never actually published a superhero story-- not in comics, anyway. Several years ago I published two novels for Marvel-- an X-Men/Spider-Man team-up book and an Incredible Hulk novel called Abominations. But no comics. The comics I've written have been "plain clothes" and largely independent, such as Sword of Dracula, Soulcatcher and Sylvia Faust, and one Marvel comic, Strange Magic, about a witch. (All have female main characters, whatever that means.) I've also done hero-like manga in Psy-Comm. But never a hero comic.

So this was a big week-- a story idea I pitched had been setting at Marvel for about three months, not moving. Then suddenlyon Friday the story was rejected with a "try something else, but fast." This was hilarious because the editor was basically saying: "Get me an [Unnamed Superhero] story-- STAT!" There's always a caveat in there that the story must not suck.

Here's how the process went:

Friday: Editor says, "get me a new idea. This is an 8-page, self-contained story in [Unnamed] continuity."

An hour later: I send two ideas that I think I can fit into an 8-pager.
Monday: Editor says-- this is the actual email--

"Ok, let’s go with [Title of Pitch].

I’d say you might want to set up something in the very beginning, something brief that hints at [Hero’]s motivation to see [Character.] Perhaps a scene with other [redacted] or a flashback. Nothing too obvious but something that seeds the punch line.

Also, maybe we shouldn’t set this up as something that happens all the time, just this once. Otherwise you wonder why they keep letting him do this or why they haven’t caught on. I like that they threaten him with hurting/killing the others.

I think we can just go to script from here. I’m hoping you can find that subtle widget that can tie the beginning and end together and enhance the poignancy of the story.

When do you think you’d have the first draft ready?

I said, "I can get you a draft by Wednesday." It's an 8-pager. Of course I can, if I know what it's about. The toughest part would be that last request from the editor-- "some subtle widget," something nice that would make the story be memorable, touching, something special. What would it be? Who knows?

Wednesday: I turn in a draft of the 8-pager. In case you're wondering, here is what my format looks like:
I script in Final Draft and output pdfs. The numbers indicate panel numbers, but actually they're just guides-- the artist can split up the panels however makes sense.

The final story turns out to be a little different from the pitch. The main character's motivation got simpler but also more complicated. Also, I think I found a Subtle Widget.

An hour later, Editor sends back some notes. Change this pose I describe because he likes something else better. Add in this detail at the beginning because, unknown to the writer, this story will be in an anthology where we haven't presented this world very much, and it needs more setup.

I turn around the draft during a lunch break from my games work. Edit, pdf, attach, mail.

An hour after that, changes accepted and that's that.

So, from no superhero comics to one coming out in a few months.

Ta-da!