What Do You Do For Writer's Block? |
| Q: As far as I
can remember, there isn't a point in my memory, where you weren't writing something... so
if and when it happens ( I hope not ) how do you deal with writers block? (Question asked by 'Pike'.) I don't believe in writer's block. Sometimes I have a dry spell but most times I'm on a roll. I work far in advance (just completed BOP 15, Robin 71 and Nightwing 40 in the past few weeks.) so if I'm not happy with how things are turning out I can take a few mental health days. But I don't wait 'til the muses hit me. I know a few tricks to coldstart my imagination and there's a few formulas I can use if crunchtime is upon me. During the CONTAGION stunt on the Batbooks I was writing the lion's share of the titles and so had to crank out three titles in three days on two separate occasions before that one was finished. Don't take this to mean that I hack. Stories don't leave this office 'til I'm satisfied that there's SOMETHING there that I'm very happy with. A reversal. A snappy exchange of dialogue or two. An inventive fight scene. A character bit that thrills longtime fans. There's a kind of story that never fails if you do it right. I call it a collision course story. You set two or more cast members in motion and they go their seemingly unrelated way. Then they all get together at the climax. PULP FICTION is a play on this formula. Most Elmore Leonard stories play off this. I only use it (maybe once every two years) when I can't think of anything else to write and the penciller and inker and letterer and colorist want to pay the mortgage on time. That's the REAL pressure for me; the fact that I'm the first cog in the wheel. It starts on my blank monitor screen. And if I screw up my deadline then everyone behind me gets a late start and gets paid late and then the four color crappola hits the fan at an editorial meeting and my name is taken in vain.
|
©2004 by Chuck Dixon. All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced without permission. |
|