Category: Opinion

Writers – Don’t Be Discouraged!

My Life as a Couch Potato:  The Spuds Have Eyes, Part Two

by Dawn McElligott

James Komack
James Komack

The year 1974 found me California Dreaming most of the time.   I was eager  to begin my career as a TV executive.  I didn’t bother informing my parents of these ambitions.  I knew they’d weigh me down with the same arguments that have paralyzed so many aspiring TV showrunners before me:  “You’re nine years old; you have to finish fourth grade and you haven’t written a darned thing!”  Perhaps I hadn’t written anything because the times, they were a’changin’ and I didn’t know how to respond.

By the mid-1970s, all the supernatural shows that had inspired me to write had been cancelled.  The audiences wanted more realistic fare.  To create a sitcom,  realism would have to be balanced with humor.

Fortunately, a grownup TV executive, James Komack, had already been developing new material.   His efforts were undoubtedly informed by his experience as an actor, director, producer and standup comic. read article

John Ostrander: Through the Years

Warning1

by John Ostrander

I recently was talking to my friend and frequent (and upcoming) collaborator, Jan Duursema, about just the technological changes I’ve seen in comics over the course of my career. It must be getting close to thirty years since I began all this.

When I first started, I wrote my plots and scripts on a manual typewriter with a carbon copy for me. For you boys and girls who don’t know what a carbon was, it was a black inked piece of paper that you placed between the first and second pieces of paper. As the typewriter key struck the first page, the force of it would penetrate the carbon and leave an identical letter on the second page. If you hit it hard enough. In theory.

When I began, I wrote out my plots and scripts in longhand on yellow legal sized pads of paper from which I would then transcribe to the typewriter. It was easier to make corrections on the yellow pad than on the typed page. There, if you even made a spelling mistake, you had to haul out the Wite-Out (sic) or Liquid Paper. These were small round bottles of white paint with a cap with a small brush in it and it was a pain to use. If you didn’t seal it up properly, the liquid would dry out and become unusable. Some inkers who use it to this day either for corrections or to create effects. read article

Diana Vacc Sees CRIMINAL MINDS: BEYOND BORDERS

cmbb posterby Diana Vaccarelli

Criminal Minds is following in the footsteps of Law and Order and CSI by spinning off its own clone, called Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.  This child/nephew/niece is about an elite group of FBI Agents charged with coming to the aid of and solving crimes that involve American citizens abroad.

THE GOOD

  • The fast paced writing of the series.  The numerous twists and turns keep you on your toes and in suspense. (The music helps too.)
  • The writers really bring to life the different cultures where the Agents are sent to do their thing.  For example, the pilot episode took them to Thailand, giving viewers an interesting glimpse into how women are treated in the Thai Police Force.
  • The performances by all the actors, led by Gary Sinise.  Each character on the team has a distinct personality and set of skills. Much of this is in the writing, as in Criminal Minds, but the actors’ performances seem so genuine that it wasn’t till I sat down to write this review that I even thought about possible copycatting.

THE BAD: read article

Peggy Bechko’s World: Writing the First Draft

prachettby Peggy Bechko

Writers are always digging for tips on how to do it quicker, better, more detailed, less so, whatever!

But I note the dreaded first draft is frequently skipped or maybe sort of glossed over. So, let’s take a look.

You’re a writer, you have a great idea, but all sorts of ‘tips’ are hanging you up. You don’t want to be too wordy, you worry about what your ‘first’ reader might think, you want to get everything just right – right from the beginning.
Not going to happen. Really. read article

“Am I really a Writer?”

Mindy Newell isn’t just a writer, she’s an all-round writing pro extraordinaire, with a resume to die for. And here she is asking herself the Writer’s Eternal Question, just like all the rest of us. What a world, what a world….

FreelanceWritersTips
by Mindy Newell

One of the doctors I’ve worked with once asked me “What’s it like to be a writer?”

I guarantee that every single one of the columnists here at ComicMix has been asked that question, or a form of it, quadrillions of times. read article