{"id":1799,"date":"2015-10-20T12:44:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-20T19:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=1799"},"modified":"2023-12-20T12:46:10","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T20:46:10","slug":"devourer-of-words-032-query-as-folk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/devourer-of-words-032-query-as-folk\/","title":{"rendered":"Devourer of Words 032: Query as Folk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MARC BERNARDIN’S DEVOURER OF WORDS<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Devourer of Words 032: Query as Folk<\/h1>\n\n\n
Marc Bernardin<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Toucan<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Marc<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of the great parts of living when we live is, when one is searching for a topic to write about for a column, he can just turn to the Internet for help. Which is exactly what I did. (Ideas are ephemeral creatures who, occasionally, don\u2019t show up when you need them to.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when I broadcast to the Twitterverse that I was looking for questions to answer, I got a bunch. And these three were the most interesting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From @Nerdimus<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

As a writer, is there a perfect ratio of producing content and consuming others’ content on a given day?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not to rely on a clich\u00e9, but your mileage many vary. For me, it depends on the kind of thing I\u2019m working on at the time. If it\u2019s a research-heavy project, like the one I\u2019m currently embroiled in, I will try and absorb as much as possible as I can on the subject. Naturally, most of that will be stuff created by other people. But the plurality of voices is necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it\u2019s fiction set in a familiar arena\u2014for example, espionage\u2014I\u2019ll watch\/read a bunch to calibrate my idea towards subverting the audience\u2019s expectations. What feels like a spy story? What are the signifiers that will automatically put the reader in the mindset I want them to be in? What are the clich\u00e9s I can play with? And then, once the actual pen-to-paper happens, I won\u2019t inhale any more on the subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t read nearly as much as I should. A failing of mine, I know. In order to be a writer you need to be a reader. Then again, if you\u2019re a real writer, nothing can stop you \u2026 not even your failings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From <\/strong>\u200f<\/strong>@NAMBwriter<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

What are some examples where your writing had the opposite intended effect on the audience, positive or negative?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putting aside the \u201cI intended for this to be received positively and critics hated it\u201d instances, the thing that was most misunderstood was Genius<\/em>\u2014which was about a young urban revolutionary and her war against the LAPD. One of the most amazing responses we got was, \u201cIf I wanted to be in the real world, I\u2019d watch the news.\u201d Which was really the nicest thing that \u201chater\u201d could\u2019ve said about a book that was very much about the conditions that brought America to a place where something like Ferguson could happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genius<\/em> was a divisive book. And everyone who aspires to create art should hope for work that forces people to take sides, to examine the way they feel about previously held beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But some people saw Genius<\/em> as a polemic screed. Occasionally a call to violence against police officers. Which wasn\u2019t our intent. It was to make people look at the reasons WHY someone would take arms against a sea of troubles and, by opposing, end them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From <\/strong>\u200f<\/strong>@egattignolo<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Will Eisner and Jaime Hernandez are masters. Using their work as examples, does form shape content, or vice versa?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I might be wrong, but I can\u2019t imagine the storyteller who thought to his or herself, \u201cI really want to tell a story on a six-panel grid \u2026 now, what\u2019s the best story?\u201d I think, especially for cartoonists like Eisner and Hernandez, it\u2019s always a swirling well of inspiration, and it likely begins to coalesce simultaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Granted, I\u2019m a writer, and for me, character and story always come first. It even trumps medium. \u201cWhat is the story I want to tell?\u201d is the first question. Then comes, \u201cwhat\u2019s the best medium for it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as form on the comics page goes, for me, it is all about serving the story. What will allow the most effective communication of your idea? If that means you choose to impose a 16-panel grid on your entire story, as Frank Miller did in The Dark Knight Returns<\/em>\u2014which allows him to give the story a rigidity of form as well as the capacity to control time with a deft precision\u2014go for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But form should follow function. And the function of a comic book, of any storytelling medium, is to tell the story. And whatever lets you do that the best is what you should do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marc Bernardin\u2019s Devourer of Words appears the third Tuesday of every month her on<\/em> Toucan!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Marc Bernardin<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n