Hello there, interweb readers and clockwork fans. There is a new competition up at ZUDA and I have a strip running. Its called The Urban Adventures of Melvin Blank and it is a collaboration between myself and Thom Zahler. I do the SIDECHICKS webcomic among other things and Thom does the LOVE and CAPES comics.

Getting the whole strip down the road and on the ZUDA page had been pretty fun. I wrote it as a complete 4 page story and Thom did everything else. The inspiration was a little bit of HERBIE and a little bit of LENNY from OF MICE AND MEN. Here is the long version of the pitch--

"Melvin Blank has the mind of a child and the strength of a brute. After the passing of his parents, he lives in his Mother's house in the heart of a big decaying city. He works as a dishwasher at a nearby greasy spoon and he has his urban adventures as he travels to and from work. Melvin thinks its hilarious that the mass transit system he rides, the City Area Rapid Transit System, is called "the CART", but he doesn't understand why a nearby diner is called "Joe Mama's". In a world of grays, Melvin sees things in black and white. Good and bad. Day and night. Cereal and pizza.

Melvin is pretty sure that the house down the street is haunted, but don't worry, he plans to do something about it. He is in love with a beautiful co-worker who has an abusive boyfriend, for now. He is selling items from his parent's estate to pay for an elaborate headstone for the pair. At home, he has an angry cat named SOCKS and he never, ever misses SPACE PATROL RANGER. Melvin is absolutely sure that he is living the American Dream and he wants to share it with the rest of the people in his neighborhood whether they like it or not.

The first story is a complete eight screen story. It has a beginning, middle, and an end. Melvin is like that, he likes things simple.

Melvin Blank features a script by Bill Williams (SideChicks) and art & colors by Thom Zahler (Love & Capes)."

I would appreciate it if you would go to the ZUDA page and view and vote. Call us your favorite! Cut/ Paste/ VOTE Melvin!

SIDECHICKS- http://www.graphicsmash.com/comics/sidechicks.php

Info on LnC- http://www.loveandcapes.com/

Here's MELVIN. Go VOTE!-- http://www.zudacomics.com/node/1220

Bill Williams

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...Aaaaaand, now we're all back home again.

Oh, boy, did you miss out on so much good stuff! The over-arching intent for this year's retreat was a definite recharging of the old creative batteries. There were way more activities planned than usual, and lots more cross-pollinating discussions about genre, tropes, plots, and the other mechanics of writing.

A couple of activities were pure writerly research: the trip to the gun club, for example, to test out the idea of "twin .45s dispensing their grim justice," was particularly illuminating. Between shooting for crap with your off hand, and being acutely aware of how much .45s ride up on you, I'm officially declaring gun-fu a super power, with all of the rights and priviledges implied therein. I'm taking it off the table for the range of what 'normal' people can do. For the record, bracing our shooting hand and taking aim yielded far more accurate results. Go figure.

Also on the menu was some time spent behind the stick of a WWII warbird combat flight simulator. This was a hoot and a thrill, from start to finish. I'm a big fan of that stuff, and so it was a relief to find that I could outfly Willingham and Williams when I needed to. I'll let the other guys chime in with their thoughts, but the incessant round of conversation was invaluable to me (and, I think, to everyone else, too) as we re-affirmed what we liked, what we wanted to write, and the idea that we could, in fact, write it.

And, if that's not enough, I made a friend. This is Oney, the dog of the folks I stayed with for part of the retreat. We got along famously. I petted him. He let me. Sometimes the simplest relationships are the best ones. Thanks, Mike and Stacy, for letting me borrow your dog. He's a keeper.

Okay, that's enough of that. As per usual, I've come back from the retreat with a stack of notes, things to work on in the next three months, and some pitches to polish. Thanks for the tough love, fellows. I appreciate the support, more than you can know.

The Gang's All Here

It's the first Official Day of Work (as opposed to the Day of Travel and the Day of Prep) here at t he CWSB Retreat. So far, the air has fairly bristled with rapier wit, sharp observations, and the oh-so-useful recalibration of our critical yardsticks. This was mostly done over food and drink.

The Fire Pit was christened in a suitably glorious fashion. We've already had some amazing food. I'm taking pictures, of course.

More on this as it develops.

The Annual CWSB Workshop Week is Nigh

Bill Willingham is desperately trying to get his library set up before we all descend on his new digs. I'm deep in revision mode, and Chris, Williams, and Matt are all making more pitches than Nolan Ryan right now.

Despite all of that, I get these weird bits of prose that come to me in the middle of the day:


"We got chicken!" Boles yelled over the roar of the Humvee's engine. "Half-click out, south by south east!"

Gabe whooped and popped up into the turret. Hays checked the horizon where Boles had indicated. He could see a small cloud of dust and a mass of undulating humps.

"It's honkers," he said, banging on the roof of the Hummer to get Gabe's attention. "Come on down. Nothing to shoot, here."

Gabe remained in his harness. "Come on, L.T. I'm going batshit here. Let's just cruise over and scatter 'em."

Boles had his binocs out and was checking the herd of parasolophuses out. "Where there's honkers, there's usually rippers."

Hays shook his head. "Nope. See out there? Flat and dry. Only thing out there is gonna be a Rex, and we'd know if he was within a mile of them things. They'd be running for their lives." He banged on the roof again. "We're not shooting, Gabe."

"Man," Gabe said, backing out of the turret and flopping heavily into the back seat, "I'm never gonna shoot a dinosaur."

research question

Guys,

For a brand new project, I need to find some reference on Austin from 1975. What is the best place to go for archive/ newsy stuff from then?

The Austin American Statesman has a very long list of obits from the time. I'm more interested in the behavior of the living.

Thanks,

Bill

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360 Degree Character Reviews

Over on his blog Kung Fu Monkey, comics scripter and screenwriter John Rogers shares some terrific advice for developing well-rounded characters.

Occasionally, LEVERAGE writer Albert Kim will regale us with stories of the horrible traditions and kabuki of his previous corporate life. He recently explained the idea of the 360 degree job review. You are reviewed by:

1.) Your bosses
2.) Your peers
3.) Your underlings.

I started doing this as a way to develop characters, and I have to admit I kind of dig it. How does Indiana Jones's boss at the university feel about him? Other archeologists? His students? How about the bad guys? "Major Arnold Toht is the best commandant I've ever had. He never sends us into dangerous situations without also taking the same risk. He is very organized and makes sure we have the tools and resources necessary to serve the Fuhrer. We always go to interesting places, and he really encourages individual initiative. His determination is an inspiration to us all ..."

More fun is a recent bit of development I've been doing for villains and heroes -- flip them. Take a page and write about the villain as if he's the protagonist. I don't mean the anti-hero protagonist, I mean the "I admire this character and want to see him succeed"protagonist. Doing this with even minor characters can open up new interactions. What this does is force you to come up with virtues for your bad guy, even invent some -- otherwise, he's not a hero, is he? (I recently psyched myself out of using a character as a villain, because I wound up becoming too invested in his non-villainous personal life.).

Years ago another writer taught me a simple exercise -- describe a character, hero or villain, as his best friend would describe him while setting up a blind date. Then do it from the point of view of the co-worker who hates his guts and is unloading to his wife after work, or finally has a chance to sink him with a job recommendation.

I've used similar approaches in the past, but nothing as comprehensive as what Rogers is describing here. I may have to incorporate this into my outlining process...
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Words words words

Today was a pretty good day.

I banged out 2500 words on a short story. Maybe I can finish it tomorrow and send it out before I leave town.

And I had lunch with Kate.

WIN!

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Free Fiction Right There in Your Hand

Howdy folks,

There were several of you following the writing contest and you said you wanted to read some of our stuff. None of my work from that is fit for the outside world yet, but if you like detective fiction, I invite you to read something of mine. I have attached a link to a short story that you can read for free from www.shortcovers.com a new ebook site. And if you download the iPhone app, you can read me on the go.

I would appreciate some feedback on the story and the reading process using their interface.

http://www.shortcovers.com/shortcovers/Refrigerator-White/sc-waLMesKpqkWSuWDKsOHHVQ/page1.html

That is all.

Bill

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The Domino Chronicles

I'm in revision mode now, going back through the narrative of what I wrote this past February and looking for things in my notes that I may have missed, or stuff I intended to put in but didn't, or adding things that I realized would make more sense in the beginning. I like where the story is going, so far. For being more than somewhat distracted last month, I was able to get what I wanted onto the page. This is a good thing.

I've come to enjoy the revision process a lot. What's nice about it is that I get to use a different skill set to analyse what worked and what didn't work, and then I get to hammer it back into the shape I wanted. It's pretty liberating. We at the CWSB Bunker use the phrase "Kill your Darlings" an awful lot in workshop. Me, I'm fine with it. Paraphrasing Bill Cosby, "It don't matter to me; I'll make another one just like it." It's a rare thing when I find I'm so happy with a piece of prose that I don't want to cut the hell out of it. As good as I can be on the first pass, I am much better after sitting on it for a week and then trimming the fat.

The current plan is to hammer what I've got into shape, run a detailed plot synopis and outline of the rest of the novel, and then see if I can sell it as-is.

Day 29- A Slow Day

Day Twenty Nine. Wow, I had a slack day today.

The Blood of the Gods- 1095 words

I chipped away at the next scene when I wasn't reading twittered notes from Warren Ellis...


Hello...







What?







Okay fine. I finally developed a few good habits as a writer and I intend to keep plugging away on the novel. Joking aside, I'll keep posting here, after all, I'm not moving anytime soon.

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last gasp--1,942 words

Well, it's not last place, but on the other hand, I did get a good fourth of the way into this novel. With polish and my own tinkering, Part One will clock in at around 30k words. Not bad for a cold start with a full private schedule and a last-minute buy in.

I was hoping to give Frick and Frack a better run for their money. Oh, well, there's always next time. And the Retreat Loometh, so there's some funnery to be had there.

I'm going to dust and polish and then send my finished chunk out for private review before writing a pitch and trying to sell the puppy. Maybe, just maybe, after the polish, I'll post some finished stuff on our Boards. Anyway, thanks for watching and cheering. Hope you enjoyed the snippets and the sniping. For being so supportive of each other, we are also our own harshest critics. I expect some bloodletting, now that we can read what we've written.

Progress Report, Day 28

Comics pages: 11
Prose words: 0

I am here tonight not to concede, but salute the better man. Certainly we've had our differences since this contest began, but I want you all to know that I stand behind Barack Obama and I hope that . . .

Oh, wait. That's John McCain's concession speech. Here's mine:

Dear Bill: You suck, Mister "one point." I hope you rot in hell.

Um, or something like that. It was an honor just to be nominated. I demand a recount! Aw, I hate losing.