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This is an excellent writing advice from Chuck Palahniuk. This was first seen on tumblr. Unfortunately, when I clicked on the link, it no longer existed. But, I still think it’s worth sharing. writingadvice: by Chuck Palahniuk In six seconds, you’ll hate me. But in six months, you’ll be a better writer. From this point forward—at least for the next half year—you may not use “thought” verbs. These include: Thinks, Knows, Understands, Realizes, Believes, Wants, Remembers, Imagines, Desires, and a hundred others you love to use. The list should also include: Loves and Hates. And it should include: Is and Has, but we’ll get to those later. Until some time around Christmas, you can’t write: Kenny wondered if Monica didn’t like him going out at night…” Instead, you’ll have to Un-pack that to something like: “The mornings after Kenny had stayed out, beyond the last bus, until he’d had to bum a ride or pay for a cab and got home to find Monica faking sleep, faking because she never slept that quiet, those mornings, she’d only put her own cup of coffee in the microwave. Never his.” Instead of characters knowing anything, you must now present the details that allow the reader to know them. Instead of a character wanting something, you must now describe the thing so that the reader wants it. Instead of saying: “Adam knew Gwen liked him.” You’ll have to say: “Between classes, Gwen had always leaned on his locker when he’d go to open it. She’s roll her eyes and shove off with one foot, leaving a black-heel mark on the painted metal, but she also left the smell of her perfume. The combination lock would still be warm from her butt. And the next break, Gwen would be leaned there, again.” In short, no more short-cuts. Only specific sensory detail: action, smell, taste, sound, and feeling. Typically, writers use these “thought” verbs at the beginning of a paragraph (In this form, you can call them “Thesis Statements” and I’ll rail against those, later). In a way, they state the intention of the paragraph. And what follows, illustrates them. For example: “Brenda knew she’d never make the deadline. Traffic was backed up from the bridge, past the first eight or nine exits. Her cell phone battery was dead. At home, the dogs would need to go out, or there would be a mess to clean up. Plus, she’d promised to water the plants for her neighbor…” Do you see how the opening “thesis statement” steals the thunder of what follows? Don’t do it. If nothing else, cut the opening sentence and place it after all the others. Better yet, transplant it and change it to: Brenda would never make the deadline. Thinking is abstract. Knowing and believing are intangible. Your story will always be stronger if you just show the physical actions and details of your characters and allow your reader to do the thinking and knowing. And loving and hating. Don’t tell your reader: “Lisa hated Tom.” Instead, make your case like a lawyer in court, detail by detail. Present each piece of evidence. For example: “During roll call, in the breath after the teacher said Tom’s name, in that moment before he could answer, right then, Lisa would whisper-shout ‘Butt Wipe,’ just as Tom was saying, ‘Here’.” One of the most-common mistakes that beginning writers make is leaving their characters alone. Writing, you may be alone. Reading, your audience may be alone. But your character should spend very, very little time alone. Because a solitary character starts thinking or worrying or wondering. For example: Waiting for the bus, Mark started to worry about how long the trip would take…” A better break-down might be: “The schedule said the bus would come by at noon, but Mark’s watch said it was already 11:57. You could see all the way down the road, as far as the Mall, and not see a bus. No doubt, the driver was parked at the turn-around, the far end of the line, taking a nap. The driver was kicked back, asleep, and Mark was going to be late. Or worse, the driver was drinking, and he’d pull up drunk and charge Mark seventy-five cents for death in a fiery traffic accident…” A character alone must lapse into fantasy or memory, but even then you can’t use “thought” verbs or any of their abstract relatives. Oh, and you can just forget about using the verbs forget and remember. No more transitions such as: “Wanda remembered how Nelson used to brush her hair.” Instead: “Back in their sophomore year, Nelson used to brush her hair with smooth, long strokes of his hand.” Again, Un-pack. Don’t take short-cuts. Better yet, get your character with another character, fast. Get them together and get the action started. Let their actions and words show their thoughts. You—stay out of their heads. And while you’re avoiding “thought” verbs, be very wary about using the bland verbs “is” and “have.” For example: “Ann’s eyes are blue.” “Ann has blue eyes.” Versus: “Ann coughed and waved one hand past her face, clearing the cigarette smoke from her eyes, blue eyes, before she smiled…” Instead of bland “is” and “has” statements, try burying your details of what a character has or is, in actions or gestures. At its most basic, this is showing your story instead of telling it. And forever after, once you’ve learned to Un-pack your characters, you’ll hate the lazy writer who settles for: “Jim sat beside the telephone, wondering why Amanda didn’t call.” Please. For now, hate me all you want, but don’t use thought verbs. After Christmas, go crazy, but I’d bet money you won’t. (…) For this month’s homework, pick through your writing and circle every “thought” verb. Then, find some way to eliminate it. Kill it by Un-packing it. Then, pick through some published fiction and do the same thing. Be ruthless. “Marty imagined fish, jumping in the moonlight…” “Nancy recalled the way the wine tasted…” “Larry knew he was a dead man…” Find them. After that, find a way to re-write them. Make them stronger.

Thanks Hiraku! (via wingedbeastie)

Still great

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Go Si! And Andre... Jeff.

The Eisners and the Spire: pondering.

So Jeff and I, and our amazing team, were brainsploded last week by some unexpected news. The Spire, our weirdo book about gay cops, immigration and hovering fart goblins, has been nominated for an Eisner Award (specifically: best limited series). 

Which is, clearly, lovely. Suddenly we find our work listed alongside our favourite books and the best creators in the field. We are, as Uriah Heep would have it, ‘umbled.

I’ve been thinking about it a lot since hearing the news (you would, wouldn’t you?) and I’ve decided to go ahead and keyboard-think my way through Next Steps regarding the comics industry, awards in general, and the Eisners in particular. 

Prepare for some awkward honesty.

The TL;DR version of what follows is: if you’re an industry pro who intends to vote in the Eisners, but you haven’t yet read The Spire: drop me a line. I’ll send you a pdf. 

I don’t intend to lobby for your vote, but I do want you to’ve had the chance to read this book before you cast it. See below - or skip to the end - for How and Why.

Keep reading

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Really excited to have time for this project again, and can’t wait to see what becomes of it.

WORKED ON VICE VERSA THIS LAST WEEKEND WITH KRAM…THIS BABY IS COMIN ALONG SLOWLY BUT SURELY AND I CANT WAIT TO RELEASE MORE ABOUT IT!!! CHEERS!!!

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FOLLOW MY BUDDY ON THE INSTA... HE’S MORE LEGIT THAN ALL OF YOU PUT TOGETHER!

YALLZ CAN FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM NOW!!!

@COUNTPAGAN 

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Can’t wait to put some work in on this again.

One day, Chud… One day.

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Put out a new pair of videos from #bWreck playing their original Raised Hammers. And their @AfghanWhigs cover #Hated #AfghanWhigs check 'em out! http://youtu.be/TQBjSHQe-Nw

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Peep the Dad Booty Buffet. #DadButt #childrearin #Dad #Butts #booty

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Real happy to be working on a few of these!

LET ME JUST SAY I LOVE DRAWING ALL THESE PEEPS…MOST OF THESE GUYS ARE COMPLETELY MY OWN WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS…STORIES ARE IN THE WORKS FOR ALL OF THEM THOUGH…AND I CANT WAIT FOR THE DAY WHEN I CAN REVEAL ALL OF THAT WORK TO THE WORLD!!! CHEERS!!!

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Stoked for this!

sneak peek at a WIP page from DRUNK WIZARD. This comes in the middle of a nightmare sequence in chapter one called ” Lousy Drunk Nightmares”

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FUTURE CITY!!!!!

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If you don't like it then we're not really friends!

This is the opening panel of my comic book DRUNK WIZARD. With the help of coffee and a cursed monkey paw I got from the swap meet…issue one will be ready by January 2015. 

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New pair of songs up on www.vimeo.com/songsfromacouch featuring Jane Astronaut. Check it. #Songsfromacouch #JaneAstronaut

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First pair of songs from our new webseries #songsfromacouch The Moving Pictures play their original 5am, and their #thenational cover Blood Buzz Ohio. Check is out and support. http://vimeo.com/102893177

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A TALE OF LOVE

These are the first two pages of a four page story printed in Archaia's The Reason for Dragons by Chris Northrop and Jeff Stokely.

I wrote, and Michael Dialynas did ALL THE ART AND LETTERS. He is also the artist on Amala's Blade and currently, The Woods.

If you'd like to read the other half of this you'll have to pick up the book. The story is a fantastic one and there's other great things included in the book like sketches, other shorts, pin-ups and a foreword by Sean Murphy

Enjoy!

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Longbaugh Short Story PART 2 of 2

This is a story I’ve had completed for some time now. It is the backstory to a character in a longer western that I’ve been developing with Jeff Stokely for a while.

Written by Me

Drawn by Kevin Castaniero - http://countpagan.tumblr.com countpagan.deviantart.com

Colored by Andre May - http://andremay.deviantart.com

Lettered by Julia Fung

Please enjoy!

Part 1

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This is an excellent writing advice from Chuck Palahniuk. This was first seen on tumblr. Unfortunately, when I clicked on the link, it no longer existed. But, I still think it’s worth sharing. writingadvice: by Chuck Palahniuk In six seconds, you’ll hate me. But in six months, you’ll be a better writer. From this point forward—at least for the next half year—you may not use “thought” verbs. These include: Thinks, Knows, Understands, Realizes, Believes, Wants, Remembers, Imagines, Desires, and a hundred others you love to use. The list should also include: Loves and Hates. And it should include: Is and Has, but we’ll get to those later. Until some time around Christmas, you can’t write: Kenny wondered if Monica didn’t like him going out at night…” Instead, you’ll have to Un-pack that to something like: “The mornings after Kenny had stayed out, beyond the last bus, until he’d had to bum a ride or pay for a cab and got home to find Monica faking sleep, faking because she never slept that quiet, those mornings, she’d only put her own cup of coffee in the microwave. Never his.” Instead of characters knowing anything, you must now present the details that allow the reader to know them. Instead of a character wanting something, you must now describe the thing so that the reader wants it. Instead of saying: “Adam knew Gwen liked him.” You’ll have to say: “Between classes, Gwen had always leaned on his locker when he’d go to open it. She’s roll her eyes and shove off with one foot, leaving a black-heel mark on the painted metal, but she also left the smell of her perfume. The combination lock would still be warm from her butt. And the next break, Gwen would be leaned there, again.” In short, no more short-cuts. Only specific sensory detail: action, smell, taste, sound, and feeling. Typically, writers use these “thought” verbs at the beginning of a paragraph (In this form, you can call them “Thesis Statements” and I’ll rail against those, later). In a way, they state the intention of the paragraph. And what follows, illustrates them. For example: “Brenda knew she’d never make the deadline. Traffic was backed up from the bridge, past the first eight or nine exits. Her cell phone battery was dead. At home, the dogs would need to go out, or there would be a mess to clean up. Plus, she’d promised to water the plants for her neighbor…” Do you see how the opening “thesis statement” steals the thunder of what follows? Don’t do it. If nothing else, cut the opening sentence and place it after all the others. Better yet, transplant it and change it to: Brenda would never make the deadline. Thinking is abstract. Knowing and believing are intangible. Your story will always be stronger if you just show the physical actions and details of your characters and allow your reader to do the thinking and knowing. And loving and hating. Don’t tell your reader: “Lisa hated Tom.” Instead, make your case like a lawyer in court, detail by detail. Present each piece of evidence. For example: “During roll call, in the breath after the teacher said Tom’s name, in that moment before he could answer, right then, Lisa would whisper-shout ‘Butt Wipe,’ just as Tom was saying, ‘Here’.” One of the most-common mistakes that beginning writers make is leaving their characters alone. Writing, you may be alone. Reading, your audience may be alone. But your character should spend very, very little time alone. Because a solitary character starts thinking or worrying or wondering. For example: Waiting for the bus, Mark started to worry about how long the trip would take…” A better break-down might be: “The schedule said the bus would come by at noon, but Mark’s watch said it was already 11:57. You could see all the way down the road, as far as the Mall, and not see a bus. No doubt, the driver was parked at the turn-around, the far end of the line, taking a nap. The driver was kicked back, asleep, and Mark was going to be late. Or worse, the driver was drinking, and he’d pull up drunk and charge Mark seventy-five cents for death in a fiery traffic accident…” A character alone must lapse into fantasy or memory, but even then you can’t use “thought” verbs or any of their abstract relatives. Oh, and you can just forget about using the verbs forget and remember. No more transitions such as: “Wanda remembered how Nelson used to brush her hair.” Instead: “Back in their sophomore year, Nelson used to brush her hair with smooth, long strokes of his hand.” Again, Un-pack. Don’t take short-cuts. Better yet, get your character with another character, fast. Get them together and get the action started. Let their actions and words show their thoughts. You—stay out of their heads. And while you’re avoiding “thought” verbs, be very wary about using the bland verbs “is” and “have.” For example: “Ann’s eyes are blue.” “Ann has blue eyes.” Versus: “Ann coughed and waved one hand past her face, clearing the cigarette smoke from her eyes, blue eyes, before she smiled…” Instead of bland “is” and “has” statements, try burying your details of what a character has or is, in actions or gestures. At its most basic, this is showing your story instead of telling it. And forever after, once you’ve learned to Un-pack your characters, you’ll hate the lazy writer who settles for: “Jim sat beside the telephone, wondering why Amanda didn’t call.” Please. For now, hate me all you want, but don’t use thought verbs. After Christmas, go crazy, but I’d bet money you won’t. (…) For this month’s homework, pick through your writing and circle every “thought” verb. Then, find some way to eliminate it. Kill it by Un-packing it. Then, pick through some published fiction and do the same thing. Be ruthless. “Marty imagined fish, jumping in the moonlight…” “Nancy recalled the way the wine tasted…” “Larry knew he was a dead man…” Find them. After that, find a way to re-write them. Make them stronger.

Thanks Hiraku! (via wingedbeastie)

So good!

[bodiddles]

The first fuck. A short I found on my computer that I wrote a few years ago. Drawn by @Countpagan http://countpagan.tumblr.com/

I thought it was funny at the time, and I STILL DO!