Now you're getting the idea, Chuck!
Follow Us!
Vote For Us!
Polls
Loading ...Concocted by Lab Reject Studios
Latest Comics
-
#124. 119 – Gotta Laugh Or Cry
13 Apr 25, 2012
-
#123. 118 – Brewing And Stewing
35 Apr 18, 2012
-
#122. 117 – Crazy Like A Phoenicopterus
45 Apr 11, 2012
-
#121. 116 – The Lawn Ranger
41 Mar 28, 2012
-
#120. 115 – But Beer Itself
41 Mar 21, 2012
-
#119. 114 – Smoke, Noise, And Hollerin’
32 Mar 14, 2012
-
#118. 113 – A Moment With Suzie
13 Mar 07, 2012
-
#117. 112 – A Fence Situation
17 Feb 29, 2012
-
#116. 111 – Pushing For Decisions
13 Feb 22, 2012
-
#115. 110 – Staring Is Caring
17 Feb 15, 2012
-
#114. 109 – I’ll Make You Famous
14 Feb 08, 2012
-
#113. 108 – Second Prize Is First Loser
16 Feb 01, 2012
-
#112. 107 – Show Don’t Tell
14 Jan 25, 2012
-
#111. 106 – …There’s Ire
15 Jan 18, 2012
-
#110. 105 – Where There’s Smoke…
18 Jan 11, 2012
-
#109. 104 – Do You See What I See?
15 Dec 28, 2011
-
#108. 103 – Reply Hazy, Try Again
15 Dec 21, 2011
-
#107. 102 – Chaos Theory
19 Dec 14, 2011
-
#106. 101 – Panem Et Circenses
50 Dec 07, 2011
-
#105. 100 – Santone
53 Nov 30, 2011
It’s dialogical, Captain…
So I believe I’ve mentioned that Dawn’s been (off and on) trying to write some comic scripts of her own, and this is where I’ve discovered certain faults of mine as a coach. Writing, especially writing dialogue, just seems to come naturally to me, and any time that’s the case it can be difficult to explain to someone else for whom it’s not as simple. I want to equate it to how it would be if I asked Dawn to teach me to draw faces.
But then again any pro or semi-pro artist I’ve ever talked to, including Dawn, will tell you that drawing isn’t a matter of talent but of lots and lots of practice. Is it the same with writing? I’ve been in love with words nearly all my life but it’s not like I’m going through every paragraph I type over and over…
Except, just now I backspaced and retyped that sentence about three times, and also realized it’s not really a sentence but evaluated the use of ellipses and decided to give a middle finger to Strunk & White because hell, it’s still a perfectly coherent thought being communicated.
That’s a lot of thinking about a few words, isn’t it? I also have a habit of going back and editing things as fleeting as Facebook posts as I think of better ways to get my point across. Meanwhile one of the big reasons I never got into Twitter much was the inability to edit after the fact. Everything on Twitter is a first draft. It can be figuratively crumpled up and deleted (assuming no one has screenshotted it in the meantime) but it can’t be revised.
I just went back and edited that second paragraph because on re-reading it I felt it had one too many uses of the word “over.”
These blogs are something I consider highly informal, even disposable. Now try to imagine what I do with a composition I feel needs to be as perfect as it can be.
The more I think about it the more I realize what an immense lifetime’s worth of prose I’ve composed, even if most of it will never see publication. Before the advent of graphical MMORPG’s I was an active participant in text-based multi-user roleplaying and I’ve recently poked at some old log files of play all the way back in 2002, and you know what? They hold up. I’m impressed with that Clint guy’s writing, much of which was improvisational and needed to be typed in real time within the span of a couple of minutes so that your scene partner(s) didn’t get horribly bored with you.
I was having a great time, too, but now I’m wondering if it’s part of why I can rattle character dialog for Zombie Ranch off my keyboard with nary a hesitation. No secret method. Just practice, practice, practice.
2 thoughts on “542 – Catching Up”
Keith
Some friction, but yeah. IRL, I’d like these two…they should have kids. 😉
ConcordBob
It is really hard to have a favorite character, as there are so many good ones. But I think Rosa is my favorite. Chuck is a good accomplice in sneaking work, but not much for romance. Uugh.