Masters of Storytelling | Comic-Con@Home 2020

~"You just write about whatever is just burning to get out of you. Don't worry about writing something you think everybody wants to read. They'll wanna read the best thing that you can write, that you need to write, right then." -Ed Brubaker



~Try to write the best story that you can. Even if it's niche and weird if, it doesn't sell and no one likes it at least you made yourself happy. But if you tried to write what you think others want and it doesn't fly, you are left with nothing. You can't predict the market.

Whatever you do, someone's not going to like it, so who cares? (Alex de Campi)



~Do you tell people your story ideas?

Many creators do not tell friends and family about their story ideas or their work. It's not always easy for them to relate.

As for early story phase, the story is "pre-conscious" and it's uncertain if it's a thing and difficult to share and describe especially outside of the creator circles where others help, encourage, nurture and understand the process.

~Sharing your nascent ideas with others is a vulnerable place. It's too easy for your creativity to be killed by very little feedback. BUT must practice sharing ideas with other creators who understand process. (Emma Kubert)



~It's good to have a second project to "warm your hands on" when you're avoiding the work that's due. (Matt Fraction)



~"The best thing I've written is whatever's coming next and the worst thing I've written is whatever just came out." -Matt Fraction



~"Daydream about what you'll get right next time" -Matt Fraction



~Fraction keeps one physical notebook per project to keep his thoughts together and not forget things.



@~38-41 min
On plotting a story arc:

"The metaphor I always use before I get started is we're gonna take a road trip without a map but I have a general understanding of the geography. Say we're gonna drive from California to New York. If you get to desert you're going the wrong way and if you don't cross the Mississippi in two or three days you're off track. So I kind of have landmarks. It's infuriating because it always feels in the last third like it was disorganized or lazy and all I see is what I could have done differently and all that, but at the same time, you can call audibles and steer into the strength of a book and veer into Chicago (to grossly extend the metaphor). If I pre-wrote it before I got to see things and live in that world visually, I think I'd miss opportunities to write not just to the strength of the artist, but to the book itself. It's a tonal thing. There's a joy in the result of the collaboration where it's not just yours and it's not just your partner's. It's ours. It's always instructive for me." ~Matt Fraction



~Architect vs Gardener writing styles. Gardening= joy in the discovery, even though there is some intentionality in the layout and the selection.



But even people who say they don't outline or plot ahead are secretly working out things in their story always in their head- framing and outlining in one way or another.



Plan ahead, but also leave room for poetry and changes of mind. Joy of discovery.