A Newb on Writing Comics...

I've jumped feet first into figuring out how to write comics. As a person who has loved comics her entire life, this has always been a dream. I always knew it was a tough thing to do, but has that swayed me? Not at all. The past week I've really been actively researching and exploring the world of comics publishing and writing. It's amazing what one can learn in just a week.

I always knew it was a tough field to break into, but I never realized it was *this* hard. Most publishers don't just want your script, they want to see drawn pages, which means hiring an artist. Or that's what it means for me since I couldn't draw if my life depended on it. From what I can tell, a lot of agents are the same way. I could be wrong about that one, though. Still looking into agents who rep graphic novel and comics writers. There aren't as many as you'd think. And if you want to write for one of the Big 2 (DC and Marvel), GOOD FREAKING LUCK! I'm personally not interested really in writing established books so the fact that DC and Marvel are off the table doesn't bug me too much. What does bug me is how closed they seem to be to new ideas and new talent. But, whatever.

And then, there's the actual writing of the thing! Go google "comic book script examples". Go on, I'll wait. (I would have just shown you some here, but I'm paranoid about copyright infringement...)

*waits*

Do you see what I mean? Do you see how intricate that stuff is? Similar to a screenplay and yet different. Instead of shots, you have panels. There are tons of terms to learn, too. And if this book is a series, where do you end the first book? Is it like chapters in a novel or not? I mean, maybe... I guess. Wait, no, not really, but sometimes... *sigh* There's so much, it all just makes my brain hurt. But in a good way, if that's possible.

If you came here looking for advice on how to write comics, I'm sorry, but I'm in the same boat you are. I do, however, have some links and recommendations that I've found extremely useful:

Gail Simone wrote this: A Real Tip Just From Nowhere

Neil Gaiman's FAQ page has some advice and some reading recommendations.

One of the books Gaiman recommends is Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud and, guys, GO FREAKING READ THAT RIGHT NOW! I don't care if you've never had any interest in comics ever! Seriously interesting stuff and so well done. I mean, a comic *about* comics? Genius!

Another rec from Gaiman is Will Eisner's Comics and Sequential Art which I will begin reading in the next couple of days as soon as I get over the book hangover I got from Understanding Comics.

The forums at Digitalwebbing.com look to be informative. I just joined and will be perusing them. I know forums were very important in my journey to becoming a published YA author. I'm a fan of forums.

I'll continue to update this post with more links and things as I find them.

Despite my bitching, I'm really excited about this. I'm a learner, I love to learn, so this endeavor is right up my alley. I'll keep you posted, ya know, if you're interested.

Do you have any recs for me? Have you attempted comics writing? Post in the comments!

Fangirl Friday!

I know, Fangirl Friday seems to be the only posts I'm doing lately, but things have been busy in Leahland. I promise to work up some other stuff soon :)

Happy Birthday to Elizabeth Banks, Robert Wagner, and Emma Roberts!

New The Avengers stuff!!! ....homina, homina, homina....

"I have an army." "We have a Hulk." *fangirl squealllll*

Speaking of comics, for the longest time I've kind of been avoiding reading the new Astonishing X-Men due to the absence of Jean Grey (my FAVORITE comic character), but I finally gave in when my brother insisted I catch up. And, you guys... WOW! As much as I hate to admit it because of the whole Jean Grey issue, it is awesome! I highly recommend it even if you've never been into comics. I mean, just look:

Agents and Queries and Links, OH MY!

So, writing a book is tough. This is a universal fact (and if it's not a fact for you, then I hate you. Okay, maybe hate is a bit strong. How about loathe? Yeah, that's better). Getting that book published seems to be even harder. The next step, after you've edited and revised, repeated that ad nauseum, is too find an agent (unless you want to go a different route like self-publishing or directly to publishers which I know nothing about). So, I thought I'd put together some links I've found useful for this process.

The very first step when you find an agent you're interested in is to go to their website to make sure they rep what you write, are accepting submissions, and to make sure of their submission guidelines.

Literary Rambles has been absolutely INVALUABLE for me. The tons of agent spotlights are helpful and concise. The "Helpful Posts" in the right sidebar are just... well... INVALUABLE.

The Absolute Write Forums are a great place to meet writer buddies, get critiques, and find out even more information on prospective agents from people who have real experience with them.

I can't do a query blog post without mentioning QueryTracker. So much info on agents there.

The Query Shark: read every word, you guys, to help with your query writing. Same goes for The Evil Editor who is really good about critiquing every query sent.

Publishers Marketplace is another place to find agent info. Their most recent sales, their submission guidelines, and links to their websites. Some sections are for paying members only, but there's still a lot of info to be had by us poor people.

Oh and check to see if your agent of choice is on Twitter. If he/she is, then stalk, er, follow their tweets. But, for the love of all that is good and holy, do NOT pitch to them on Twitter. Unless they're doing some type of Twitter pitch contest. Maybe there is someone out there that pitched to an agent on a whim on Twitter and it actually worked out for them, but I have yet to hear that story. I've only heard agents say that this does not work.

Google... yes, Google the hell out of the agents you're interested in. Read their blogs, read every interview they've ever done.

And just to keep your spirits high and maybe spur you toward following your dream, check out the How I Got My Agent columns over at Writer's Digest. Some days I read one after another after another just to remind myself that it does happen as long as one works hard enough.

Obviously I'm not an expert at this whole thing because I am neither repped nor published (and even if I were either one of those things, it probably wouldn't make me an expert), but this all comes from spending A LOT of time investigating the process. I hope this helps and if you have any more suggestions on great places to research agents or to help with query writing, comment away!

Day 80: I Open The Red Pens *Dun, Dun, Duuuuunnnn*

I thought that when I finally finished my first draft it would be all unicorns and rainbows. The heavens would open up and shine down upon me, warming my writerly heart with relief.

Yeah, not so much.

I felt deflated. I felt scared and worried. Here I have this thick stack of utter crap which I must now polish and coax into a shimmering diamond. What the hell have I gotten myself into???

There are whole side plots that I know I want to add and I haven't even created them yet. I'm starting to lose confidence in my first five pages (is it really writer suicide to begin with a dream?). And on top of all this, I have to write the most amazing, spectacular query letter and a synopsis. I have to research agents, which is kind of fun at first but quickly becomes intimidating. I'm not even going to talk about all the mother/wifey stuff I still have to take care of. (But you just did talk about it, Leah. Yeah, I know. Hush.)

After discussing all this with the DH (who is completely amazing, BTW), he said, "Go take a hot shower and don't think about it for a while."

See, I have a theory about hot showers. I was watching Food Network one day. They were doing a special on spicy food and this scientist guy comes on and says something like, "The reason people like spicy food is because when the heat hits our mouth, the body interprets this as pain and sends out endorphins to help us handle it." I believe the same thing happens when you take a nice, hot shower. I believe this because during that shower I thought something I hadn't thought in weeks.

"I have a good idea. This is a good story. I just need to improve it."

Later, after everyone passed out, I grabbed my newly printed stack of utter crap, opened the brand new pack of red pens, and began reading. Next thing I knew, it was forty minutes later and I'd practically covered five pages in red ink. Let's see, 187 pages divided by 5 is 37.4, 37.4 times 40 minutes is 1496 minutes which is 24.93333333333 hours. This shouldn't be too bad.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes I freak out but in the end I know that I just have to do the thing that I'm freaking out about and get over it.

Suck it up, Miller! You better get back to reading every post on QueryShark and EvilEditor! You continue to stalk all those agent blogs! And, for the love of all that is holy, don't be afraid to strike through that entire sentence you slaved over last month because it just doesn't serve the story!

Good work out there, Miller, now hit the showers.

*As a side note, I'd like to give a big shout out to Myra McEntire whose blog is great. To know that she's about to release her first novel and it wasn't long ago that she was dealing with the same things I'm dealing with now, well... It just makes me feel a ton better. Plus, she's hilarious.

Day 72: Good To Be Informed, Right?

Ah, the internet. It is a never ending stream of information. It is an ocean of knowledge. It makes me want to pull my freakin' hair out!!!

I've read I don't know how many "How to get your book published" blog posts. The good ones, done by people I like and pretty much trust their opinion (Kiersten White and Gretchen McNeil to name a couple), seem to say the same things. Write, write, write, edit, edit, edit, query, query, query, and, above all, don't give up. Great advice that I intend on following! It's the query, query, query part that gets me frustrated.

I go through spurts of wanting to learn as much about the publishing industry as I can. I visit recommended sites like Agentquery.com and Querytracker.net and I search for YA agents. Agentquery gives me 346 and Querytracker gives me 342 (*at the time of this blog's posting). So, I start at the beginning, going to the first agent's blog. Lots of info to take in there which is good since a querying writer should investigate any potential agents thoroughly so said writer can tell if they will gel with said agents. I glance at her blogroll and notice a plethora of other agent and writing blogs.

"Oh, that looks good. I'll check it out," I say.

Before I know it, I have twenty tabs open and I feel more confused than when I started! *sigh*

After having this particular scenario happen multiple times in the past couple of months, I've realized some things.

1. I need to focus. Don't get distracted by the shiny blog about publishing trends or the fun website that can tell you what famous author you write like (I'm like Stephen King, woot!).
2. This calls for more new office supplies. (I can always find a reason why a new endeavor deserves a brand new notebook. Preferably one with college ruled paper, spiral binding, and very stiff backing. I hate a floppy notebook.)
3. This is going to take FOREVER!

So, I'll leave the agent sites alone for today because I haven't bought my new notebook yet (this purchase will also include some type of chocolate, I'm sure) and I'll get back to what really matters: THE WRITING. Because it doesn't matter how much research you do or how convinced you are that you've found the agent that will "get you". What matters is that you write that book! The book that will have agents chomping at the bit to represent you!

Well, a girl can dream...

Day 68: I'm So Freakin' Close!

I can't stand it, ya'll! Finishing is all I think about. To finally have the first draft done. To have some raw material with which to work. To set down with a bunch of post-its and a red pen. To fix all these things that have been needling my brain. *deep sigh* It will be a dream come true. I've been working on this since the end of December and it is about to happen. Hopefully, in another week, week and a half, I'll be able to attack it.

I've also decided not to enter any contests that involve winning a critique until I've edited and revised a good deal of my MS. I jumped the gun when I first started getting involved in this online writerly community. Now I see that what I have so far is so not worthy of submitting to anything.

In other news, I came across the most amazing website. If you're checking out my blog, you probably already know about it, but I must link to this awesomeness anyway. The Bookshelf Muse is ssssoooo helpful! I'm pretty sure I'll have it up and running any time I'm writing from now on.

Alright, that's all I have for today. I intend on whipping the WIP's  butt today!

Aw, Shucks... I Got An Award!

The awesome ladies, Alicia and Miranda, over at Slice of the Blog Pie were sweet enough to give me one of these lovelies. *blush*

The rules are:
1. Acknowledge and link back to who gave you the award.
2. List 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award to 10 other bloggers.


7 Things About Me
1. I can knit and crochet.
2. I dream of one day owning my own cupcake/dessert/coffee shop.
3. I breastfed both of my sons for the first year of their lives. I don't care if that's too much information, folks. I'm super proud of that :)
4. I am a huge Boston Celtics fan! I bleed green, baby!
5. I'm a horrible waitress due to being clumsy and awkward around strangers which is why I don't do that anymore.
6. When children aren't present, I cuss like a sailor. Its like I have to meet my quota before the kids come home again.
7. The first movie I can remember seeing in a theater is Willow.

And since I'm new to the whole Blog-O-Sphere, I'm only going to give this out to 5 people.

Melissa Dezendorf
Teralyn Rose Pilgrim
Deborah Burns
Veronica Gutierrez
Uncorked and Unwined

Day 60: Music...

After reading Stephanie Perkins's blog post yesterday, I went on a music hunt. She posted a completely amazing song that hit a nerve with me and my WIP.

So, I thought maybe discovering some new music would get me out of this writing slump I'm in. I was looking for weird, unique, dreamy, and pretty music. I hit up my Facebook friends and got a lot of good suggestions. Here's some of the stuff I came up with.

Got anymore suggestions for me? Is there music that you always listen to when you write? Or does it depend on what you're writing?