doc_destructo

Ah, finally.  Yet another short fiction entry for the deathless_pose community.  This one centers around a couple characters from my 24-hour comic this year and the abandoned NaNoWriMo novel.  Go Team Me.  Even if it's not that great.

Going Home

 
 

Not exactly thrilled with it, but it's something.

Here's my latest submission for the deathless_pose community.  It's always gratifying to write about Fluffy and Bearbear or anyone from Destructo's little world.




Ah, what joyous times...

Mom's taken Little Dude for the weekend so I've been slacking even moreso than usual. Though that will change come Monday, since I'm going to start another novel with the NaNoWriMay folks. I'm leaning towards using some the ideas I've had concerning Norse mythology and Thor's kids. What can I say? I like cute kids hitting people with hammers and Norse mythology gives me that in spades! I'm also considering writing what I think of as my anti-Harry Potter story. Where the good kid from a nice home gets sent to a School for Wayward Children and it turns out the school teaches the kids how to be more wayward.

But I dunno. We'll see.

The other night, The Wif and I finally went to see a movie (it's been months since we went to the theatre together); Ne's choice was the oh-so inspired Silent Hill. Apparently this film is based on a video game. I could tell because only gamer-makers would have a story revolving (to the exclusion of nigh everything else) around demons, a hot biker cop and a hot mom in FMBs. Yeah. Needless to say, I think a more appropriate title to the movie could have been Don't worry! I'm stupid. Because they were. Like really, really stupid. The movie's only saving grace was the 20 or 30 seconds where the hot cop with the pixie hair-cut beat the shit of five guys with her extenda-baton. Alas.

Hey, there's a story idea. Write a stereotypical horror story but everytime the characters need to advance the plot have them say "Don't worry, I'm stupid." Unfortunately, it would be a very short story as I am not the most forgiving of stupidity.

( Also in the realm of the perhaps too much information )

And hey! I totally mowed the front back yards! Again! That's twice in two weeks. What? Hopefully I'll get to have some actual time alone with just my brothers tomorrow when I go down to pick up Little Dude. What say you, oh magic 8-ball?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

.

Whoa.

It's been almost a month since I've updated yon journal and, like most things I put off, I've been waiting for something really big to happen to make up for the time away. But a lot HAS happened, and I've just been too lazy to post about it.

First, I'm web-homeless at the moment, having let the EvaComics domain and hosting lapse because I have a bunch of my own ideas I want out on the InterWebz. That, and I've outgrown that little doujinshi project. Outgrown it months ago, even though I still have the occassional gag strip idea. So, I'm fishing for domain names upon which to host my own art and writing as well as hopefully use as a launching pad for my artistic endeavors. Thus far, magnificentbeard.com hasn't been taken, but something in my head says it might be too close in name to another site I can't friggin' remember. Oh well. Suggestions are always welcome.

Second, I'm currently (well, not at this very moment... ) working on the character bios and images for the Second Round of the Small Press Idol contest. Though, considering their site's been down for almost a week, the enthusiasm's been waning for that project. It has, however, given me the excuse to go back and reread my NaNoWriMo novel and I've enjoyed hearing the characters' voices again.

( An Excerpt for the Bio for Doctor Destructo )

Another happy-happy-joy-joy event was the expenditure of an ungodly sum of money to repair and register both the car and the truck. Mass air flow sensor, spark-plugs, front brakes for one; driver-side window and new exhast for the latter. It's all on one of the credit cards (cue the shuddering from intense loathing) and thankfully my performance bonus came in, but still... god DAMN it.

There's also the crap-fest that was resubmitting Little Dude's special assistance paperwork, a task I'd thought I'd done TWO MONTHS AGO. I will admit to that being one of my least favorite surprises EVER. I mean, I'd been less surprised by the third house fire than this.*

Fifth, I've absorbed the entirety of the Naruto manga and anime series. That's right, all 301 chapters and all 178 episodes. Not to mention scouring FFN and the likes for fanart and fiction. It's been over a year since I'd watched any television regularly and probably another half a year of not watching any anime. It's been fun to take a peek since I've started to feel really burnt out on comics/anime/manga/whatever in general. I've dropped my pull list to something like 5 indy titles with the occassional impulse purchase (read: Mouse Guard, Polly and the Pirates, SiP, True Story Swear to God, and Usagi Yojimbo). Picked up Nightmare & Fairytales which is muy awesome.

Sixth, though I have finished neither the lettering for the Snow White and Rose Red graphic short story nor the entry for the Small Press Idol contest, I have started working on fleshing out a couple other projects. One involving the idea of "karma brokers" and the other derived from post-Ragnarok Norse mythology. There will probably be little kids hitting people. A lot. I think it's my niche. Heh heh. (Here is where having server space would be nice since I've got a couple sketches done that aren't half bad.)

Wow. That's a shitload of writing. I'd bet that if I put that much time and energy into a given project, I'd be a gazillionaire by now or some shit. Oh well, back to kids smacking people with hammers!






*By "third house fire", I mean "the third time my home and all my possessions were destroyed by fire." I recall my reaction being something along the lines "What? Again?! FUCK!"

Joe Konrath has several several goals writers should accomplish every day if they truly want to be writers. Now me, I'd rather not be strictly a writer since I really enjoy the whole "graphic" part of the graphic novel experience. So, here I am editing that list to suit my needs. And in the hopes that I can start doing more than 4 pages a day but once per week.

Joe says: 1. Write. One thousand words is good. Two thousand is better.
1. I can do that. A picture's worth a thousand words, I should be able to do a whole page per day. Hell, if CLAMP can bust out 120 pages a week, surely I can do 7, right?

Joe says: 2. Update your blog and website. Appearances, new info, contests, games, stories, articles, pictures, etc.
2. I can do that. At least the blog portion. I don't exactly have a lot to promote, but I should be able to update the blog regularly and have a few sketches to post per week.

Joe says: 3. Edit something. Your stuff, or a friend's stuff--either will help you improve as a writer.
3. Crap. Um, I suppose this will need to be combined with the web-presence stuff. Or I'll need to actually look up those comic guys who were having meetings at A+ Comics. Maybe this one will have to wait until no. 5 progresses.

Joe says: 4. Send out a query letter to sell a story or article. Getting published is your best form of advertising.
4. Crap. Once I have something to submit, maybe. I just need to find some places that actually take submissions for comics. Most have closed doors to unsolicited submissions, which is bass-ackwards to how most "real" publishers operate. Oh, Random House doesn't take that many non-represented submissions either, but they don't have a deny-all policy like Marvel or DC. Dark Horse, Image and Oni have their own submission guidelines and policies as well. This may be something that gets nixed if and go through self-publishing/promoting alleys instead. RESEARCH!

Joe says: 5. Expand your Internet presence. Leave messages and comments on listserves, blogs, boards, newsgroups, chatrooms. Trade links. Submit work to writing websites.
5. Eh. There are a couple of places I visit already, but I'm not a high volume poster. This, unfortunately will have to change. I should probably also look into getting a domain and hosting setup more in line with what I'd like to be doing. I think I've outgrown Desperation Studios. Hmm... need to think of a name now...

Joe says: 6. Set up an event. Sign up for a conference, contact a library, schedule a booksigning, speak at your local Rotary club, teach a class---get out there and meet some people.
6. This... I think is a bit beyond my scope right now. Though, I should make it a goal to build up a body of work that would allow me to sign up for a comic/anime convention and sell stuff and showcase to editors.


Wow, so, in the end, I gots to draw a whole page a day (HA!), post some crap here and at a couple forums and basically do a lot of research and networking. I think I'll focus on just the page a day for right now, though, and if I can get that into a routine, then I'll work on the other stuff.

After some light discussion the other day with the Wif, I decided to try my hand at writing a story about Kiddo's ever-present companions, Fluffy (the Elephant) and Bear-bear (the, you guessed it, Bear). Being the weirdo that I am, I immediately had visions of Teddy Roosevelt and Dr. Bearbear engaged in intellectual debate akin to the following:

"Rawr!"
"Bully!"
"Rawr!"
"Bully!"
"Rawr?"
"Bully?"
"Raaaawr."
"Bully."

Yeah, I seem stuck in the early 1900's. What can I say? (Other than most of the novels and serials written during those times have fallen into the Public Domain! HAH! Fluffy and Bearbear in OZ!)

But here's a longer text of where my own absurdist Winnie-the-Poohs are coming from:
( The Misadventures of Mr. Fluffy and Dr. Bearbear )

Yeah, I could be working on my thrilling epic about heroism through the ages, or that thing with those people. And yet I've already finished the first story. How cool is that?

Well, tonight's been fraught with exhaustion, a little busywork and some entertainment.  But overall, it's been a good evening.  Found some fun random story/idea generators to play for idea fodder.  Also found out I still have 9 and a half days of vacation left.  DAMN.  I was sure I'd been out more.  Probably because I haven't kept track of all the times I've come in late and stuff.  But still, gonna be off Christmas Day til the end of the year and still have enough leftover for a week off for each remaining month of the year.  Selling out to the Man is sweet.

Got a little bit more drawing done tonight, though nothing nearly as intensive as this past weekend.  Mostly more of the strip stuff.  A little doodling.  I'm hoping the random generator stuff will prompt some fun sketch ideas.

( cut for really dorky comicbook rambling )