TWO FISTED HOMEOPAPE March/14 - No math, all intuition.
I don't even talk about my comics coming up. Whoops.
♫ I applied for a rescue dog,
But if I get you dog,
You're rescuing me ♫
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2022 -- bounce.
Less writing, more working.
This week has been a bit of writing. Just a bit. Definitely not a stack, or a load, or a massive chunk. Just a bit. Still working on the page-by-page outline, making sure each scene gets the real estate it needs. As I plan it, I see how many panels it’ll need. I consider the balance or panels in each page, you don’t want a run of panel heavy pages in a row. Well, I don’t. I like to think it’s all operating on some weird set of storytelling scales. That somehow it all balances out.
There is no hard math to it all. It’s all intuition.
I’d like to be done with it, but I’ve fallen into a dual rabbit hole at work: one is marking papers, and the other is prepping some really awesome lessons. Really in depth stuff, especially the ones on comics - doing a little dive into PREACHER and THE CROW next week so I want to come at it with everything I’ve got. Get the students as excited about this stuff as I am. Open their eyes to the form *and* get them analysing these two things with a critical eye.
The problem with my two jobs is I normally want to work on the one that I enjoy more, but sometimes, just sometimes, the teaching is a little more enjoyable than the writing. Usually when the teaching is clear [and let’s be honest, there’s less wiggle room, it absolutely has to happen] and it is up against the writing that’s in a problem solving phase, like outlining, then I’ll sometimes lean one way on it.
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Reading now, reading later.
I read a thing on social media once about people who want to finish reading the thing they are reading now because they want to get to the next thing.
I get that.
I want to read so much. And when I’m reading one thing, I’m also thinking about how long it will take so I can get to the next thing. But I try to not let it distract me from the thing I am reading. Because right now I have about a dozen things I wish could be next. But I am enjoying the book I’m reading now - THE YIELD by Tara June Winch - and so I’ll focus on that, making notes and underlining good lines just in case I teach it any time soon, and the next book will come in good time.
Though I do fear my days of reading 500+ page times might be behind me because they take so long and that’s a lot of time not getting to the next book.
My brain is crazy.
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ASD&D.
Ran a session last week where I got to put a little character work into a combat situation. I’d rolled up a Level 12 Wizard, and saw he had the spell Immolation. A spell I’d not seen before, but it’s a whopper - some serious fire damage. I was all set for him to use it as part of a cornered escape moment, but before I could one of the players decided to bust it out. So there’s my enemy wizard, absolutely engulfed in flames, and I decide to roll a Charisma saving throw to see if he’s a smart person and will flee, on fire, to try and douse himself, or…is he petty af. He failed the save, so I made him super petty and so he looks this player wizard square in the eye and just lights him up.
So there they are, two wizards, each on fire, staring at each other through this insane cavern of battle, and neither will give in or even try to save themselves. They just keep attacking and keeping rolling to maintain concentration on their spell. A lot of fire damage was given, and taken, and the whole scene just made me laugh.
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PERHAPS YOU'D CARE TO SAMPLE
A magazine.
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GRIST FOR THE MILL
THE INVISIBLE MAN - I finally finished watching this and I really enjoyed it. A complete study of a toxic gaslighting relationship - a brilliant allegory for our modern times. And, I mean, as far as allegories go, this one isn’t even all that hidden - we see the invisible guy openly gaslight and abuse his runaway ex, and she openly states this is what he’s always done, even before the invisibility, he isolates and punishes and makes it feel like it’s all her fault. I’d teach this in a gender critical class in an instant. It’s not a “scary” film, it’s just tense, constantly tense.
I also really loved that Michael Dorman, an actor who I instantly recognised and yet a quick search doesn’t really reveal anything I’d know him from, plays the antagonist’s brother, and he’s this kind of insidious, spineless, toady of a brother/lawyer, and Dorman plays him as always sitting forward and hunched over a little so his head lolls forward, like it’s coming out of his chest instead of his neck. It’s a perfect visual for the gutless mule he is.
DEAD DOG’S BITE - I read this comic by Tyler Boss and the style and storytelling he brings to his work is astonishing - though not surprising because 4 KIDS WALK INTO A BANK was phenomenal, and I’m still waiting to read his reteam with Matthew Rosenberg on WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE [furthest? Farthest?] - anyway, I haven’t read that yet because I’m waiting on the deluxe issues with the LPs. So in the interim, I’m glad I caught up on Boss’ solo book from Dark Horse. It’s weird and moody and intriguing in every single page.
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Be one of the good guys, because there's way too many of the bad.
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POST CREDITS SEQUENCE
I’m about to teach a short unit on writing memoirs in vignettes. I should put together my resources and share them here.
The basic outline is:
The Moth podcast has some awesome short stories that are memoirs - use some as quality examples.
Do a little Friday viewing, so I’m thinking ATLANTA’s ‘Fubu’ ep, the opening to THE BIG LEBOWSKI.
For short stories, I know IU’m doing the first part of Joe Hill’s THE CAPE, because it’s a memory of him as a kid. I have others listed, but cannot remember them.
I’ll see what I can put together for everyone, always good to have a targeted reading list.
If you know any cool memoir/vignettes, please send them my way :]