Date:         Fri, 7 Jan 1994 10:35:15 CDT
Sender: COMIC Writers Workshop <[COMICW L] at [UNLVM.UNL.EDU]>
Comments:     Originally-From: John Ostrander <[72717 453] at [CompuServe.COM]>
Subject:      Re: Volume 4 Issue 1 Part 4

Here's John Ostrander's second column on comic book writing. Yea!
Bill...
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Dear Bill --
Here's a new segment on my occasional series on writing for comics, if ya wants
it. A spare will be parked in the CIS Comics Forum Library.
-- John

The Way I See It -- Occasional essays on writing comics
 by John Ostrander
~1994 by John Ostrander. All rights reserved. Contents may be downloaded but
may not be copied without express permission of the author.
PLOTTING 101
Sources
 The most constantly asked question of writers is: "Where do you get your ideas
from?" I used to reply that there was a little shop in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to
which one could subscribe and that, once a month, they sent out a listing of
story ideas and you simply checked off the ones you wanted to use.
 Unfortunately, in one teleconferencing situation, one hopeful typed back,
"Could you give me the address of that subscription service? I could really use
it." Thinking my inquisitor was being facetious, I typed back that you usually
got the address when you got your artistic license. "Where do you get that?"
came back the inquiry; "I live in a small town and am not quite sure." My
inquisitor was taking me seriously and I should have been gentle but I couldn't
resist so I typed back that I didn't know how it was in HIS or HER town but I
got my artistic license where I picked up my dog license.
 My inquisitor started to smell a rat and, sure enough, the rat was me.
 The problem is -- I don't think most writers KNOW where their ideas come from
and they don't really want to ask. There seems to be a magic involved and too
much questioning of the Muse might scare the Muse away. I have found many
different sources ignites my imagination -- an item in the news, a piece of
music, something I see out of the corner of my eye, a joke I hear. I once read
that the sword-and-sorcery genre of fantasy was actually a combination of two
OTHER genres -- the swashbuckling adventure story and the horror story. That
intrigued me; I liked the idea of creating a "narrative alloy", by seeing what
other genres could be mixed. I combined sword-and-sorcery with another form I
loved, the hard-boiled detective, and came up with the concept of a hard-boiled
barbarian. This, eventually, became GRIMJACK.
 (There are obvious dangers to this practice as well -- combine the bad musical
with the Grade-B Western and you got the Singing Cowboy. Update the Singing
Cowboy with POSSE and you'd get -- the Rap Cowboy?! Eeeuuuhhh!)
Premise
 What happens is that you EXPERIENCE something that resonates within your
imagination and you start to EXTRAPOLATE from it. It's the game of "WHAT IF. .
." on which not only Marvel Comics but a great deal of speculative fiction is
based. It may not even be a verbal idea -- you come up with an image, or a
piece of music creates a feeling within you and that feeling in turn engenders
an image. I call that starting point, that primal experience that resonates in
the imagination, the EVENT.
 I then take pen and paper (I write with my computer but I like pen and paper
-- my journal -- when I'm just developing an idea; there's something more
direct about ink and paper that helps me think) and I take that event and
INCARNATE it into words. Until you've written the idea down, it is just a
vague, shapeless mass. Better to see it in black and white in front of you.
Think with a pen in your hand. WRITE IT DOWN.
 The result of these musings are the PREMISE from which you then construct your
character and your entire story.
 If your reader (and that includes editors) is not willing to concede the
premise to you, they will not accept the story. And there are different
criterions demanded for premises in different genres. PREMISE: being bitten by
a radioactive spider can give a human the proportionate abilities of a spider.
They might concede that in comics or horror but not in SF or as the basis of a
high-tech thriller.
 Even within a genre, what might make an acceptable premise can change over the
years. Being given a transfusion of mongoose blood that results in giving a
character super-speed MIGHT have been a (barely) acceptable premise 50 years
ago but don't try to sell it today. Likewise, some premises have been so
over-used (my loved one(s) -- parents, parental surrogates, wife, family, lover
-- was/were killed an so I will don a mask and exact revenge and/or fight for
justice) that you might find it a very hard sell.
Creation
 I always try to take my premise and then create as real a world as possible
around it, and that involves thinking the concept through. The CONTEXT in which
you place your premise must seem real to the reader; if it is totally alien,
then they have nothing to identify with. If they can't identify with the
premise or its setting, if they can't suspend their disbelief, then people
won't bother reading your stories. Fantasy needs a basis or reality if we want
the reader to believe in it. The realer the fantasy the better the story.
 Given the premise and given a realistic world around it, I then proceed to
INFER and EXTRAPOLATE from the premise. If the premise is the given FACT of my
creation, then it's existence INFERS other facts. If X exists, then Y must also
exist. Likewise, you can infer that certain other things must follow from the
very existence of the premise. (If A exists, then B MUST happen.) Essentially,
you're being Sherlock Holmes with your own creation. This fact infers that fact
which in turn infers other facts. If this event takes place, then other events
must follow from it.
 Every act has implications and repercussions. One being hits another -- what
events LEAD UP to that blow and then what are the REPERCUSSIONS of that blow?
Explore it not only in the physical sense but in the psychological and moral
aspects as well. If, in your story, you want Captain X to do such-and-such,
then it is necessary for you, as a writer, to figure out what paths bring
Captain X to that moment and then what are the repercussions of that moment.
And it must seem PLAUSIBLE to the reader that this all would happen in the
manner you've described. They have to be able to believe your story at least
while you're telling it.
Storytelling
 When you get right down to it, comics is really all about STORYTELLING. The
reader must be made to ask, 'Yes. . .yes. . .And THEN what happened?" Pretty
pictures are not enough; a comic book artist must have a narrative sense. They
must be able to tell a story using a sequential series of panels and one panel
must lead to another and it must seem effortless.
 Storytelling starts with the writer, with the same process I described above.
You have an idea, an image that you want to develop. That image may occur at
the beginning, middle, or end of the story. The writer's job is examine that
image, infer and extrapolate from it, and construct a story. The stories tell
us something about the characters and the characters, in turn, tell us
something about ourselves.
 Whatever else a story may be or do, it HAS to at least be ENTERTAINING. If you
want to preach, get a pulpit. You can talk about very serious matters within a
comic book, but first you must tell a story, you must entertain the reader.
That is the PACT you create when the reader picks up and, hopefully, buys your
work. In general, readers are a generous lot -- they will listen to you, follow
you almost anywhere PROVIDED you tell them a story -- a REAL story.
 Unfortunately, these days being entertaining means virtually the same as being
mindless. Konstatin Stansislavsky, the great Russian acting teacher and founder
of the acting system that, on these shores became The Method, talked in a
speech about how the Theater had to be entertaining above all else. His point
was that a tragedy (such as, say, HAMLET) is entertaining in a different way
than a light comedy piece, but both had to entertain. They had to involve and
immerse the viewer in the action -- the STORY -- that was being presented.
 One of the reasons I love Shakespeare so much is the mastery of his craft. In
MEASURE FOR MEASURE, a young man has been condemned to death under an ancient
and recently invoked law against unmarried sex. His sister, a nun, has been
trying to bargain for his release. The night before he is to die, the young man
is visited by a seeming friar (actually, the true ruler of the place in
disguise for reasons that aren't pertinent here) who urges him to be "Absolute
for death; either death of life shall seemed the sweeter thereby". The "friar"
goes on to argue for death, so convincingly that the young man seems at peace
and resigned.
 Then his sister, the nun, comes in and says the guy holding you will let you
go -- if I sleep with him. The kid is all for it. She is appalled; he begs,
"Aye, but to lie in cold obstruction and to rot. . .!" and makes an eloquent
plea for life.
 In this one scene, Shakespeare argues the concept of life and death
brilliantly BOTH ways. Its absolutely appropriate for these characters to being
talking about these matters in this manner -- THEME is directly tied to PLOT.
He makes strong points while advancing the story. It's brilliant work -- AND
highly entertaining.
 Go ye and do likewise.
Plot
 All the elements of a good comic -- art, writing, coloring, lettering, even
editorial -- should combine to make a good story. As far as the writer is
concerned, the fundamental element of storytelling is PLOT -- what happens in
what sequence.
 All plot is derived from CONFLICT but, by conflict I do not necessarily mean
COMBAT. Character A wants to accomplish some task or achieve some goal; the
obstacles he or she face in achieving that goal or accomplishing that task
creates the conflict.
 You face it every day in the most mundane tasks: your front doorbell rings at
the same time your phone does. Which do answer first? Conflict. How do you
RESOLVE that conflict and what is the outcome, the ramifications, of that
choice? Plot. You are trying to get somewhere in a hurry and your way is
blocked by another person. Conflict. Do you try to get around them, ease
through them, or bull your way through and knock them over? Plot. You have a
power that makes you better than the common man and you have a really fabulous
idea to make some money off it. Some flaming liberal with powers of his or her
own tries to prevent it. Conflict. Do you outfight them, outsmart them, or go
think up another plan? Plot.
 I divide plot into two categories -- CHARACTER DRIVEN and EVENT DRIVEN. In the
former, the conflict stems primarily from the needs, wants, and desires -- both
internal and external -- of a set of characters. In the latter, an event occurs
and the characters must deal with it. HAMLET is a good example of character
driven plot while most soap operas, melodramas, and Tennessee Williams' plays
are event driven. Perhaps most succinctly put -- in one case, the characters
drive the events while in the other the events drive the characters. One is not
INHERENTLY superior to the other, although I have my own preference.
 A story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It may sound strange in this
day and age of the never-ending continued story or the crossover series that
wanders through more issues than anyone would ever care to read, but comics
should ALSO always have a story element -- a plot -- that completes in that
issue.
Terms
 Some technical terms, just so we're all on the same page. EXPOSITION is where
the information necessary to the reader in order to understand the plot is
given. It includes WHO we're dealing with, WHERE we are, WHEN (what time) it
is, and WHY everyone is gathered together. You have to be very clear in your
mind on all these points; how much and when you tell the reader is something
we'll discuss later. You have a PROTAGONIST and an ANTAGONIST; these are not
necessarily the same as the HERO and the VILLAIN. The PROTAGONIST is the person
whose actions initiates the story; the ANTAGONIST is the force in opposition to
the protagonist. The plot deals with the struggle between these two powers; at
the CLIMAX of the story, one side or the other reaches their goal. The
DENOUEMENT shows the aftermath of the story, dealing to some degree with the
REPERCUSSIONS of the struggle between the protagonist and the antagonist. It's
like the punctuation mark at the end of the sentence.
 Take an example: GROUP A attacks GROUP B. Group A is, therefore, the
protagonist and Group B is the antagonist. The exposition gives us needed
information to tell a specific story -- in this case, let's say Group A is a
bomber group (with fighter escort) during WW2. Group B are planes flying in
defense of the target. Exposition would further give details about which side
is attacking which, when it is, how difficult a mission, the odds on both
sides, and so on. Group A attacks, Group B defends. Aerial dogfight represents
the action of the story; the climax is when the bombers hit their target or are
driven off. The denouement are the planes from both sides landing on their
respective fields while the losses are counted and the success and/or failure
of the mission is evaluated.
Exposition
 How MUCH exposition is needed? Well, that's the essential question. You will
invariably know more about the characters and plot than the readers will -- at
least at start. But you don't need to TELL all that. You give them only so much
as is needed and then get on with the story. Stan Lee used to start a story in
the middle of some action and then tell the readers, "Hang loose, True Believer
-- all will be made clear as we go!" And it was.
 I like that. It gets a story up and moving. Basically, you want to grab the
reader by the eyeballs and not let him/her go. Del Close, one-time Second City
guru and my sometime writing partner, once said in a improvisation workshop
that he wanted stories that started in the middle and went on past the end.
Action
 When you plot for comics, you must think visually. You must give the artist
something to draw. The characters should always be DOING something, even if it
is an exposition of character scene (what is sometimes referred to as "talking
heads" scenes, because they usually bog down into two characters talking at
each other in medium to close shots). They are walking/running/flying/climbing
somewhere. What do people do every day as they talk? They drink coffee, smoke
cigs, lean forward. There's a great old adage used in theater that can work in
comics as well: "When in doubt, seduce." THINK how we use words every day. We
DON'T use them as "exposition". Comics is a visual medium; people DO things in
comics. As a writer, learn to THINK that way. There all kinds of action.
Define, understand, and USE them. Don't make your artist do it for you; a good
writer does their job so the artist can do THEIR job.
 Incidentally, if you make things easier on the artist by doing your job, you
get better work FROM your artist.
Climax
 Stop sniggering; the word HAS acquired a sexual connotation and for very good
reason. Forces build up to the point where release is necessary; the act of
release occurs on many different levels -- spiritual, emotional, psychological,
as well as physical. It is cathartic when done properly. And for stories, you
don't need a condom (although some writers DO seem to write that way, don't
they? They put something between themselves and direct feeling so you get a
rush but no real satisfaction.).
 It is a point of change and all stories are about change. Something MUST
change, even if it is only the bad guys plans being foiled. The better stories
are about the change in character and, if properly written, it produces a
change in the reader because they have been emotionally involved with the
character. They experience some emotion as a result, at least indirectly. It
may be simply adrenaline, or a sense of wonder, or a challenge to the mind and
heart but the reader should experience something. Otherwise, the story is
sterile, stillborn, however mechanically or structurally sound it may be.
 And that, folks, is bad writing. It wastes the reader's time and often their
money. The way I see it, there is no deadlier sin that a writer can commit.