Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, dirk manning, image, nightmare world, shadowline

Write Or Wrong #74 – Write Angry by Dirk Manning

Dirk Manning writes;

Have you ever seen the full "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" speech from the film Network?

If not, or even if you have, it's worth seeing again for the sake of this column.

Take a moment to go ahead and watch it and get yourself in the right mindset.

Go on… it's OK. I'll be here when you get back.

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…
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You're back? Yay! Let's carry on then, shall we?

I reference this video clip because one of the most prevalent issues that seems to stop a lot of writers (aspiring or otherwise) from actually sitting down to write (or at least writing more) is variations of "I Don't Have Time to Write Syndrome."

While there are a lot of external factors out there that can pull one's time, energy, and/or attention away from writing (I discuss the majority of them – and effective ways to combat such outside distractions – in one of the later chapters of Write or Wrong: A Writer's Guide to Creating Comics, which is currently available exclusively on Amazon.com right here), even the most disciplined and regimented writers sometimes face difficulties in finding the motivation to write even once they allocate the time (and energy) necessary to sit down in front of the keyboard.

Sound familiar?

If this is something you find yourself struggling with, I encourage you to impose the following challenge to yourself:

Write/Create a story about something that makes you angry.

As anyone who partakes in writing on a regular (or even semi-regular) basis can tell you, it is a long, laborious, and lonely process.

With very rare exceptions, most writers need to be alone and fairly undistracted to write, and this means self-imposed isolation of some sort must take place, be it in a writing room at home, the coffee shop with earbuds in, or the dark corner of a seedy bar – all the while family and friends are watching movies, playing video games, going to the park and the like.

Or, if you have a family, more likely than not you write while they're all sleeping.

I remember sleep.

*sigh*

Due to all the draws on your time and attention that can easily pull you away from writing, it's important that you – whether you are an aspiring, up-and-coming, or established writer – discover (and then dedicate time to) stories and themes that stir up such passion, anger and/or emotional turmoil in you that you find yourself compelled to write about them just to get the vitriol you've stirred up in yourself out of your system.

Granted, it's a bit of a masochistic method of writing, but it can also be an extremely effective one once you tap into that part of your mind/psyche/soul and, if I may mix my metaphors for a moment, draw into water from that deep, dark well.

You see, if you're not truly passionate about the stories at the forefront of your mind, the sad truth of the matter is that you may never, ever find the "umph" necessary to finish them…

And it's that lack of "umph" that we oftentimes (whether consciously or not) label as the aforementioned "I Don't Have the Time to Write Syndrome" when, in truth, we do indeed have the time to write, but are merely not "moved" enough to spend our time doing it.

After all, if you have time to watch TV, play video games, cruise around Facebook, or hang out with your friends, I'd (accurately) contend that you do indeed have time to write – even if it's only a page or two at a time – but that you are instead more motivated to, or interested in, dedicating your time to other activities.

To be fair, there will be stretches of time when you genuinely won't have the time or energy to write, and depending on your own personal situation it may sometimes last for several weeks… or possibly even months. Such situations may include, but are by no means limited to, the birth of a child, moving into a new house, the need to pick-up extra hours at work during the holiday season, severe illness (of yourself or a loved one), etc… and in cases like this there's little more that you can do than muscle through them the best you can and, if possible, steal away whatever little time you have to write whenever you can.

However, if you have been claiming that "I Don't Have Time to Write Syndrome" is what has been keeping you from writing your script/story/screenplay/etc. while concurrently racking-up all kinds of virtual trophies and prizes in video games like "World of Warcrack" (not a typo), well…

Hey, if you'd rather spend your time being pretending to be Night Elf Mohawk online than building your skills, reputation, and brand as a bonafide writer, so be it.

I'm not trying to be judgmental here, my friends, and am only bringing this potential paradox to your attention in order to help you honestly evaluate your own situation/lifestyle and the possible roadblocks that are stopping you from doing what you claim to really want to do, which is be a writer.

I mean, you really do want to be a writer and create (or co-create) comic books, right?

If so, dig into your heart and soul, find those topics/themes that you are genuinely angry (or, if you prefer, "passionate") about and find stories to tell in which you can explore (or, if you prefer, "cathartically vent") about them.

After all, if you're truly passionate about something, you will find a way to do it.

Want proof?

Think back to the time you were first dating someone you really liked and how you would always find the time and opportunity to enjoy some time with him/her.

It's funny how, when we want something bad enough, we always find the time and energy to make it happen, eh?

Think long and hard about what makes you seethe with rage, my friends, and develop a story that addresses it.

Don't worry about the whether or not you think it will resonate with readers.

Don't worry about whether or not it's a story editors will find commercially viable.

Don't even worry about whether or not you'll be able to find an artist to illustrate the script when it's finished.

Instead, focus on finding a story that really makes your insides burn, be it with anger or, I'll begrudgingly admit, even with love, and pour your heart and soul into writing it…

And finish it.

You see, here's the thing: If you don't feel your heart swell when you think about telling a story – again, be it with love or anger – you shouldn't be wasting your time writing it.

Folks, we are in a day and age where no writer – aspiring or otherwise – can afford to crap out paint-by-number stories that aren't seeping with passion of one form or another, regardless of what you may think about the quality of some (or even all) of the comics being produced by the "Big Two" these days.

I bring this up because I assure you that each and every new writer who's been tapped to write for Marvel and DC in the past few years were noticed (and then hired) by the editors at those respective companies because the comics they had written previously were stories that dripped with passion.

Whether you read them or not.

People ask me all the time how I get so much writing done, be it scripts for my creator-owned comics such Nightmare World, Tales of Mr. Rhee, or Love Stories To Die For (the last of which is debuting in print this September from Image Comics/Shadowline – you read it here first, folks!), work-for-hire scripts for publishers such as Big Dog Ink (among other assignments, I'm writing a three-issue arc for The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West starting with Issue #12 this fall – and it's the origin of the flying gorillas!), screenplay work for Blackbox TV, this very column, or the other writing gigs I do (such as the steampunk roleplaying game gig that I haven't formally announced yet)… and the answer is that I dedicate myself only to writing scripts and stories and columns that I'm extremely passionate about…

And I find that passion, more often than not, by writing about topics that – on some level – make me angry or stir up in me such a fevered reaction that, through fiction, I must say something about them.

It is not, like many people assume, because I write for a living, as alongside my writing career, I also work a full-time job.

Oh… and for the past five years I've also worked a second part-time job on top of that.

On top of working two jobs I, like most of you, have other extracurricular activities, family obligations and the like that also pull me away from the keyboard more often than I'd like, including how I'm now dedicating more and more weekends each year to participating in the comic convention circuit.

Yet, despite all of that, I still manage to get a lot of writing not only started, but finished, and then published.

It's not that I'm some sort of superhuman, mind you, nor do I use drugs of any sort of to keep me going (I've been "straightedge" my whole life and, on top of that, haven't had caffeine in well over a decade).

Again, I remain productive mainly by dedicating myself to only writing about topics I'm extremely passionate (read: angry) about.

A lot of writers will tell you, the aspiring writer, to sit down and write everyday – to just sit down and write anything.

While that may work for some people, I (as referenced above) live way too busy of a lifestyle to just plop down at the keyboard and bang away at it meaninglessly, you know?

Instead, I save my writing times to write stories/scripts that discuss themes and ideas that I'm burning up to write about.

Because I am the way I am, I most often find I'm most passionate about writing about topics/themes/ideas that unsettle me (and others), and as a result I mainly write stories that skew more on the "horror" or "speculative fiction" side of things than anything else.

(There are plenty of exceptions, of course. I'm by no means a one-trick pony, as the wide swath of stories types I told throughout the Nightmare World trilogy of graphic novels clearly demonstrates. If you've yet to check out the books, you can view the online version of the series right here, and when you do you'll find that despite the tongue-in-cheek "spooky" title, it really does contain stories of every genre imaginable.)

As far as your own writing aspirations (and potential career?) go, I again implore you to dig deep into your psyche and/or soul to find something that really, really bothers you, and then write a story that not only revolves around that theme, but says something about why this particular topic makes you so upset (or inspired, or enamored, or whatever).

If you're a talented and dedicated enough writer, you'll be able to rise to the challenge of finding a way to do this without making it come off like an immature rant, too.

Honest.

You don't even have to solve the problem you present, mind you, as long as you address it in a compelling way and tell a self-contained story that revolves around the theme you're presenting to the world through your story.

Delve into the muck and the bile of a situation/scenario/belief that bothers you… and then wrestle with it without allowing yourself to find too easy of a solution.

(This ease of solutions is the exact reason why so many people have a hard time writing compelling and passionate stories about – let alone identifying with – Superman. After all, how can you truly challenge a being with almost unlimited power without resorting to creating villains with even MOOOOOOOOOOORE UNLIMITED POWER?!?!?)

(The only notable exception to this scenario that I can think of is the stellar Action Comics #775: "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way?" – which was later made into the animated film Superman vs. The Elite. For my money, there's never been a better – or more relevant – Superman story than that one comic issue, despite it revolving in large part around Superman fighting villains who are – *gasp* – JUST AS STRONG AS HE IS!!!)

See? Even in talking about something I like I find myself simultaneously getting angry about it.

Much like Harlan Ellison, it's just how I'm wired, folks.

Make yourselves angry… and then channel that anger to write about what gets your druthers up.

Explore topics that fill you with such rage that you must write about them in order to cathartically funnel, focus, and purge that angst out of your system and onto the page.

Ask yourself:

"What's wrong with the world?"

"What bothers me?"

"What not just annoys me… but generally ticks me off?"

And then craft a story that explores that theme… and write it.

Admittedly, yes, I'm totally playing into the "tortured writer" stereotype here… but if that's the role that you, too, need to fall into in order to write some original stories that you're passionate about, so be it.

Passion – tempered with a touch of anger (and dare I daresay rage) – can be just what you need to push you to make the time (since you'll never, ever "find" time for anything) to write the stories that only you can write.

Make no mistake, though: Stories inspired by something you're angry about do not necessarily have to lead to you writing angry stories.

For example, I grew up as a lover of short stories – especially short horror stories by the likes of authors like Edgar Allen Poe, Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, H.P. Lovecraft and such… When I discovered comic books as a teenager (yes, I was a late comic book bloomer) I was mortified to see that short stories – especially short horror stories – were largely looked at as "throw-away" concepts by most comic book publishers and readers.

This shock led to a bit of anger, which in turn prompted/inspired me to create my first comic series Nightmare World, with which I sought to remind people just how good horror anthology comics could – and should be.

Was that a bit hubristic of me – an unknown writer/creator – to take on such a huge challenge?

Yeah, it was, but my passion for the project led me to dedicating several years of my life to it, and that passion-inspired hard work, combined with a shared passion for the material by a small army of wonderfully talented artists (all of whom recognized, appreciated and shared my passion for the project) led to us eventually getting picked up by Image Comics/Shadowline.

This, in turn, has led to the numerous other writing and comic-creating opportunities that I continue to enjoy over a decade after I wrote my first ever story/script for Nightmare World.

(That first story/script, for the record, was "Momma's Boy," a zombie story about child and spousal abuse, and it can be read for free right here.)

When it comes to writing rewards of any kind do not come instantly, my friends… and because of this, you really do have to be passionate about what you're dedicating so much time and energy (and, more likely than not, money) to in hopes of making your dream/goal/passion – a reality.

This is why you need to find a topic that stirs you, moves you, and makes you scowl and rant and rave – and use it to craft stories you're genuinely passionate about rather than toiling away at paint-by-number stories that write themselves.

Finding topics that you're so passionate (or angry) about isn't always easy, nor is it always easy to write them, but in doing so you are much more likely to create a final product that, when all is said and done, will make other people – whether they are readers, artists, editors, or publishers – take notice…

But even if that doesn't happen right away, at least you'll have found the motivation to write, which is a victory in and of itself, and the most important step in becoming a writer…

Even if you have to make yourself angry to do it.

***

QUESTION: What's the most passionate single issue of a comic you ever read? One that stirred your soul, be it with love, sadness, or anger? Let us know in the comments below!

IN THREE WEEKS (instead of two since I'll be finishing a major convention circuit): Write or Wrong #75: "In the Month of Madness"

Dirk Manning is the writer/creator of the Nightmare World trilogy of graphic novels (from Image Comics/Shadowline – all available to order from your local comic shop) and Write or Wrong: A Writer's Guide to Creating Comics (from Transfuzion Publishing – available exclusively from Amazon.com). He is also the writer/creator of the online comic series Tales of Mr. Rhee and Love Stories To Die For (both of which are available to read at online for free at www.ShadowlineOnline.com). Along with the aforementioned comic-related work, he has also written several short films for BlackBox TV and has some other cool stuff in the works that he can't talk about yet. (Damn contracts.) Dirk lives on the Internet and can usually be found lurking around Facebook, Twitter and even his own website www.DirkManning.com on a fairly regular basis… when he's not busy writing, of course. Feel free to follow him at one or all such locations if you're into that sort of thing. Cthulhu is his homeboy.

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