Copywrite

The golden age of children's comics - Rare Dan Dare film

2009-11-12T22:31:58Z

Following yesterday's post on the changing world of story papers and comics, I have to share this video with you. British Pathe recently started to release archival footage on their website, giving us glimpses of extremely rare clips and film items from half a century ago.

One gem is this colour footage of Dan Dare creator Frank Hampson at work in his studio. Dan Dare, for those of you who don't know, was the lead character in the greatest British comic of all - Eagle, launched in 1950, and a perfect example of the mix of comic and story paper I discussed yesterday (history).

Eagle was created in direct response to the American horror comics that so concerned parents at the time. But, even though it strived for wholesome values and education over cheap thrills and chills, it managed to do so in a way that enthralled young readers. Dan Dare's space exploits were supported by biographical comic stories on the life of Winston Churchill or the story of Jesus. Children today would be horrified if their parents bought them such a values-laden, squeaky clean comic now, but back then every issue sold out. It is a testament to the creators who truly understood how to inspire children, rather than merely entertain. They weaved the educational material and a sense of community throughout the pages without it ever seeming to pander or lecture or patronise the reader.

To view the video, click below.

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Hampson's work on Dan Dare went far beyond any other creator before or since, as this video shows. This was the heyday of British comics. Can you imagine anyone putting so much care and detail into comics for children these days?

A century of comics and story papers

2009-11-12T03:22:01Z

Shelley and I just returned from a few days away in Kangaroo Valley. There, we discovered a wonderful second hand book and antique store that sucked the time from our day and the money from our pockets as we sorted through ephemera from past decades. I walked away with a pile of fascinating old comics and 'story papers' dating all the way back to 1901 and representing a wide shift on childhood reading.

Childhood reading and literacy is a topic that never seems to go away. Why do kids today read less than we did? Why can't we get them interested in the classic books that enthralled us? Is there any one of us who isn't horrified every time a child chooses to watch the Narnia movies while refusing to go near the wonderful novels?

Regular readers will know I adore comics and always have done. Far from being the lowbrow and worthless wastes of time our teachers insisted they were, comics were a way into reading and storytelling that shaped me and my imagination. A previous post - A lament for children's comics - discusses my personal experiences and the value they had to me as a young boy growing up in Stockport.

Today, the comic industry is near dead, except for the superhero juggernauts published in New York, serving an audience almost entirely made up of older fans that never put away childish things. Any comic shop will tell you that it is rare for a child under ten to venture within and that the average customer is more likely mid twenties or older.

Looking through these old, browned and chipped relics of early twentieth century childhood, a story is told that illustrates that downward path for the humble comic while revealing the changing reading habits of our kids.

(If you want a closer look at any of the images in this article, click to enlarge.)

Schoolboy japes and ladylike behaviour

One of the earlier examples I picked up wasThe Girl's Own Paper from 1901, with it's prim but charming cover (with a light colour touchup on the girl's cheeks. How cute.) This weekly paper ran for many years (this is Volume XXIII, number 1146!) Inside, an eager young girl would find articles on Chinese sayings and American poison oak interspersed with poetry and serialised stories like Barty's Star. Fifteen pages of dense prose (plus cover).

The Girl's Own Paper ran from 1880 to 1950 (history), before being incorporated into Heiress. I particularly love the Answers to Correspondents page on the back cover, where the writers respond to the letters received, but without ever printing the letters or questions they respond to. Hence, one response simply goes:

FRANCES.- February 10th, 1865, fell on a Friday. I think your handwriting is fairly good. It is very legible, which is a great point.

Devoid of all context, such comments form a fractured and random assortment of unconnected facts, leavened with opinions and comments with no relevance to anyone, save the original letterwriter.

I nearly picked up a 1919 edition of The Magnet - featuring Billy Bunter on the cover - but it was in such poor condition, merely opening it would have probably turned it to dust. Instead, I brought home this 1921 edition of The Gem, a similar title that also focussed entirely on schoolboy adventure and boarding school larks.

Every Wednesday, boys up and down the UK would part with one penneth ha'penny for the latest instalments of life at St. Jim's School for Boys. With one complete story, backed up by a couple of one page serials and the obligatory letters page, The Gem represents hours of weekly reading for young boys every week. The type is small and cramped, which makes me wonder about the eyesight strain readers would have suffered, reading by lamplight.

The Gem lasted 1711 issues from 1907 to 1939 (history), when the ink and paper shortages that reduced production on many UK comics and magazines during the Second World War most likely made continued publication difficult. It presents a wonderful look back into the idealised boyhoods of the '20s, with adverts proclaiming fretwork as a boy's ideal hobby, and offering an accordian for sale on easy payments of 8 shillings a month for six months. Model steam engines, Meccano, pea pistols and Vikwik Liniment ("Instantly kills pain of gout and lumbago") shill themselves to eager readers. Meanwhile, the stories themselves betray a literacy level most children of today would baulk at.

With that monosyllabic rejoinder, Arthur Augustus D'Arcy disappeared down the staircase.

I've yet to see the phrase "monosyllabic rejoinder" ever pop up Batman or Mighty Morphin Power Whatsits. The Flesch-Kincaid readability test suggests that sentence, and many others in those pages, requires a level of literacy comparable with a university education! Yet these story paperswere written and intended for young lads, no older than their early teens.

Fewer words for your pennies

Over the years, the American comics had begun to appear in Britain, and these had an influence on the future of these titles. By the Second World War, British comics such as The Dandy and The Beano were being published weekly.

Knockout was one of these new titles and I was able to pick up a 1945 issue. Knockout ran from 1939 to 1963 and a total of 1251 issues (history). Interestingly, The Magnet - that story paper competitor to The Gem - 'merged' with Knockout in 1940, again falling victim to the paper shortages of the war (history). Billy Bunter moved from book length text stories to a hybrid form of text and comic, popular during this period. Combining the comic illustrations with paragraphs of text in order to tell a story, the action was stilted and was no more than an overly illustrated short story.

Knockout (and Magnet) billed itself as "The Victory Comic", even though the war was rarely mentioned in its pages. The pride of a nation stretched everywhere, even to children's comics, as the final months of the war promised an end to the rationing, horrors and fears that Britain had contended with for so long.

The internal pages mix full comic strips with text stories, demonstrating a middle gound between the old story papers and what was to come. Television was still a few years away and children were accustomed to spending long hours indoors or in shelters as the blitz made playing in the street increasingly unsafe. Comics filled that time, but it interesting to note that the time needed to read one had now shrunk as text gave way to pictures.

I suspect this is partly due to the importation of American comics, creating a demand for locally produced versions, as well as the economies that would come with a far smaller word count. Although more illustration was needed, they filled up pages quicker. Stories became one or two page vignettes, rather than long serials - bite sized chunks with a punchline instead of complete short stories. Cheerful, quick and easy to read and, most of all, comparitavely cheap to produce.

Some of the other story papers transformed into comics during this period. Wizard, Hotspur and others swapped long text for quick laughs and comic strip adventure until, by the 1960s, all-text pages were increasingly rare. (Have a look at the incredibly racist stuff that passed for front page funnies on this 1949 Wizard cover!) This coincides with the rise of television and the beginning of a trend that saw more and more distractions and alternative forms of entertainment made available to children.

The last big UK comics boom was in the 1970s. Over the last thirty years, comic sales have declined sharply. No longer does every kid have a subscription and an allegiance to their favourite title. No longer are there schoolyard arguments over whether Desperate Dan is better than Dennis the Menace. No longer do kids trade comics like currency, extending the reach of each issue and intriducing even more to the joys of simple reading.

Looking back at those old issues of a century ago, it strikes me as sad that something as basic as childhood reading has been eroded. These children's weeklies demonstrate very clearly the changes in reading habits over the last one hundred years. They make me wonder whether we're not missing something by ignoring the simple joys of spending your hard-earned pocket money on twenty pages of exciting adventure to read by the fire with a jam sandwich and a glass of milk.

Movember: week one update

2009-11-07T05:32:23Z

Have you sponsored the mo yet?

Seven days in and we have a shape and the beginnings of something reasonably spectacular. Need to bush it out over the next three weeks and I'll have something ready to scare the ladies.

The scary part is, Shelley says she likes it!

If you don't know what I'm talking about, everything is explained in last week's post launching my participation in Movember 2009, raising money for the fight against prostate cancer and male depression. Movember started six years ago when an Australian marketing agency hit upon this fantastic way to raise awareness. Raising humongous bags of cash every year, while at the same time turning us blokes into 1970s throwbacks, Movember has now launched similar campaigns in the UK, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and the US. Various other countries are jumping on board to celebrate the mo while raising the dosh. If you're not sure if Movember is running where you are, check the international website. Movember has been hugely successful.

I wasn't able to participate last year due to the wedding, so my mo needs to be particularly memorable this time around!

To get everyone in the mood while my stubble tries to pick up speed, this is the video created to launch this year's campaign!

Go on. Just a few clicks and a few dollars will make me feel less ridiculous about the mo and make you feel better having helped a worthy cause. To sponsor this sculpted piece of bewhiskered art, visit http://au.movember.com/mospace/259738/.

Movember: when whiskers attack!

2009-11-01T23:00:00Z

Anyone who knows me is aware that I'm a reasonably hirsute individual. But this month, there's going to be even more hair than usual - and you guys get to watch!

Yup, it's Movember time again and this year Netregistry is putting in a team to sculpt the best mos money can sponsor. My top lip is not going to know the touch of a razor for thirty days.

Every year, Movember aims to raise awareness of prostrate cancer and male depression. Money is raised and donated to The Prostrate Cancer Foundation of Australia as well as Beyond Blue - the national depression initiative.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm a big believer of being open about depression. There is still a great deal of stigma attached to it, particularly amongst men, which is usually due to a misunderstanding of what depression is and how it transforms a persons life.

I know I will be on medication most likely for years to come. Maybe forever. I know I have to manage my mental faculties with greater care than most people to avoid symptoms impacting on my day to day. But I also know that the alternative is a form of living hell that is completely indescribable to an outsider whose brain chemistry still works okay.

1 in 8 men will experience depression in their lifetime. What is sad is that so many still view it as weakness, not an illness. Almost 80% of all suicides in Australia are men, an astonishing statistic. Are we really that bad at seeking help or understanding what is going on? Well it seems so. Beyond Blue reports that, although male depression is at a lower rate than it is for women, over 70% of men suffering from depression don't seek help. Many choose to 'self-medicate' with drugs or alcohol. Anyone want to draw a line between those two stats?

You can help change this by sponsoring my mo. I'll give regular updates here on the blog so you can have a giggle. Will I go for the Magnum PI look or maybe a waxed creation? What about a toothbrush or a handlebar? So get clicking and donating - whether you give one dollar or fifty, it all helps enormously.

Moon: Out of this world!

2009-10-25T09:23:34Z

It took a while to be released in Australia, but finally I've seen Moon (imdb) - one of my most anticipated films of this year. It's usual with highly anticipated films to feel disappointed as the final result can very rarely live up to the expectations that grow in the imagination.

Moon is not one of those films.

This small budget little-film-that-could is destined to be referred to as a classic of the sci-fi genre and is easily my top film of 2009, although most of that could be because there is so little true sci-fi in movies these days. Yeah, this isn't ray guns and robots plastered over a story that could as easily have been a western or action flick or whatever. Most films use the sci-fi genre merely as a backdrop to tell conventional tales - and yes, I include Star Wars in that comment. After all, isn't it the same white hats versus black hats story, complete with a princess to be rescued, that has been at the centre of storytelling since the very first bard said "Once upon a time..."?

True sci-fi is not just a futuristic setting or a collection of cool gadgets. True sci-fi is about ideas, about exploring who we are now by imagining where we may be going and what we might become. The best science fiction stories are those that could not be told in any other genre. In that way, Blade Runner is true sci-fi - ironically superimposing the film noir genre onto the story in much the same way as other films superimpose the sci-fi genre on theirs (See my previous thoughts on Blade Runner). 2001 is a true sci-fi film as the story could not be told in any other genre. Even Wall-E is a more deserving pure science fiction piece when compared to the usual blockbusters like Transformers and others.

For those yet to see it, cue trailer.

Moon is so obviously a film that has been crafted by artisans, not constructed by Hollywood committee. The entire budget was approximately $US5 million - pocket change for movies these days. Yet every cent is visible on the screen. Director Duncan Jones has achieved a more convincing world than many other big budget movies I could mention. You really feel this place. The authenticity of the lunar landscape, the technology, vehicles, everything sucked you into a fully believable world. I am sure our first lunar bases will look something like this.

Jones' direction is flawless, with the beats of the film happening just where they should. The screenplay, by Nathan Parker and Jones resists the temptation to use the ingenious plot as an excuse to make it a 'twist' film. Instead, the solution to the mystery is treated as less important than how the character, Sam, deals with it. This enables the film to focus on the human element, prompting questions of identity, of what it means to be human and issues of perception versus reality. As such, Moon is reminiscent of some of the works of Philip K Dick, who was also fascinated by the idea of reality and perception being two separate things - and what happens when everything you perceive is revealed to be false.

I must also make special mention of the incredible soundtrack that so carefully evokes the loneliness and sadness of the distant moonbase. Scored by Clint Mansell (yes, Clint Poppie of Pop Will Eat Itself fame, music trivia fans), it has been a while since I have seen a soundtrack so well matched to a film.

And Sam Rockwell is incredible in what is a very difficult role.

The tragedy is, of course, that Moon is showing on only a handful of screens in Australia. Relegated to the arthouse cinemas, it won't reach the mainstream audience who continue to be fed stodgy, unimaginative and and unsatisfying celluloid experiences. In a month when queues will be lining up to see the next Twilight film or the latest Vince Vaughn unfunny shambles, a film like this gets overlooked. Yet, in ten years time, this is the film I still expect people to be talking about on DVD as a genuine classic while Partners Retreat is bundled as a two-for-one with an equally unfunny Adam Sandler flick.

Moon is still on limited release in Australia and is out on DVD in the UK next month.

It is a fine wine in a world of Coke. Shelley said it perfectly as we left the cinema together: "That was a genuinely satisfying film". And isn't that rare these days?

Medieval Bumper Stickers

2009-10-18T22:40:00Z

Anyone whose checked out my other blog this weekend will know I've been thinking about memes. Firstly, by looking at how a potentially great idea for a new meme (Google Wave Cinema) was killed at birth by its creator not understanding how viral video works. Secondly, by playing with the granddaddy of memes, Hitler's Downfall, to comment on how they work.

For those of you unsure what I mean, memes are ideas that spread virally, with others adding and creating variations - usually for comedic effect. A normal viral video or joke for example isn't a meme as it doesn't change. Something like the Kanye West "I'mma let you finish" fad is a meme as people created their own versions of the joke, spreading the idea further and evolving it over time.

One I've enjoyed greatly over the last few days has been happening on Twitter - Medieval bumper stickers. Here are some that particularly tickled me.

@thornae: Myne WIF wenden to Caunterbury, and alle she yeven me weren thys lousy tayle.

creativechai: Magna Carta--Change you can believe in.

Jimjar: Who Will Rid Me of This Flatulent Beast? (3 groats o.n.o., including nosebag and oats)

@johnrshanley: Templars do it Knightly

@Colvinius King Arthur's Camelot. For all your Camel needs.

@graywave: My other cart is also a cart.

@Kimota: If you can read this - well, it's statistically unlikely really, isn't it?

@Kimota Magic Happens. So Burn The Witches.

@oliyoung: The Crusades: Mission Accompished

@GadgetGuySite: Terra Australis. Where the bloody hell are you?

The great thing about memes like this is how everyone joins in and plays. There's no scoring, nothing to be won, no earthly reason for participating in a meme except play. Yet some of the most creative and clever ideas can result. The Medieval Bumper Stickers have now been going for about three days with people dipping in and out whenever they have an idea.

Literary slang

2009-10-10T00:34:31Z

Even I'm having trouble believing I said it. This morning I awoke after a luxurious lie-in: early to bed, late to rise. Boy, did it feel good. I turned to the wife and said "Wow, I really needed that Raymond Chandler".

What did I mean? A big sleep! My mind works in mysterious ways and had created a new form of slang in an attempt to show off my literary mind. But it set me to thinking of other bits of literary slang I could use.

It's a nice day out. Let's take the kids to the George Orwell - Animal Farm
The garden's a bit John Wyndham. Time to get weeding - The Day of the Triffids
So, what's your Robert McKee? - Story
My bosses are such Michael Moores - Stupid White Men
I know it's got enough bedrooms, mate, but it's too Charles Dickens for us - Bleak House
The weather has postponed play here at Lords Cricket Ground. There's too much Kenneth Graham about - The Wind in the Willows
Dammit, my hat is Margaret Mitchell - Gone with the Wind
I'm too tall. I don't date Louisa May Alcotts - Little Women
Nuts, this thing never tells the time properly. I need to take it back to the Alan Moore - Watchmen
I just need to go do an AA Milne - Do I really need to spell it out?
If you don't tidy your room, there'll be Fyodor Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment
Horrible day. I feel terribly Victor Hugo this morning - Les Miserables
My ex wife has a Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness
I'm a bit of a horticulturalist myself. So what's the Umberto Eco of this one? - The Name of the Rose
Lads, I'm sure the wife will let me out to the pub if I try a bit of Jane Austen - Persuasion
Wow, is that a Herman Melville in your pocket? - Moby Dick
...and then he dropped his trousers. It was so disappointing seeing his Charles Dickens - Little Dorrit

Of course, some authors may have two meanings. Charles Dickens appears twice in the above examples, but the context determines the answer. However, some authors would have problems regardless of context. Imagine the following...

I'm bored. Why don't we occupy ourselves with Irvin Welsh? - Is it Trainspotting or Porno? A major social gaffe hangs on the answer!

Can you come up with any more?

The top 50 Australian blogs on writing - September update (late)

2009-10-02T22:39:03Z

Finally, it's here. Originally planned to be released a week ago, the latest update to the list has been delayed due to the upgrading of the site. So yes, this is September's update to the Top 50 Australian Blogs for Writers, with all the figures collated on September 26th.

There is a lot of movement on this list, including the continued rivalry for the number 1 spot. The biggest rise is a leap of 67 places - 67! - for Karen Tyrrell's blog. Unfortunately, it still only got her to #51 on the list - one pesky spot short of the coveted Top 50. Two other massive leaps that did see new blogs enter the Top 50 were; a jump of 56 places for Simmone Howell's Post-Teen Trauma and a leap of 55 places for We Love YA. Regular posts, and content people want to link back to, have helped these two blogs rise spectacularly.

Of course, what goes up must come down, and there are others that have dropped in the rankings just as spectacularly. Blogging is a constant treadmill to maintain an audience. A couple of months off can kill momentum, lose readers and subscribers and make it harder to generate 'buzz' around your words. As always, there are blogs that have been removed from the list for over three month's inactivity. If your blog is one of these, drop me a note once posts start up again or I won't become aware and won't be able to re-add you. (I can't check every dead blog in Australia in the hope someone might have posted something after months).

But the good news is there are some great new blogs added to the list. These are (in no particular order):

Now, before anyone says anything, I know there will be some minor errors. I'll bet there's a typo here and there, maybe a broken link. Transferring data over in this migration has forced me to drink and I wouldn't be surprised if some things have shifted along the way. I think I've got everything fixed, but - hey. If you see something that's not quite right, please drop me a line in the comments so I can correct it.

However, the new numbers for Technorati, PageRank and Alexa are correct - as they were all checked manually last weekend. These numbers can change daily, so what you see today may not be what was there a week ago. It is only practical to pick one day to benchmark everyone on the figures, so I won't be adjusting numbers for anyone who provides different data from a different day.

As always, if you have any questions, complaints or issues, check the FAQ page first as it's most likely dealt with there.

I hope you enjoy the new look and continue to discover other fine blogs and writers out there.

(Re)launch day: please work, please work, please work...

2009-10-02T09:59:26Z

Talk about long overdue! Welcome to a new look, a new focus and hopefully fewer problems.

Hopefully.

Alternatively, in launching this live, I could have completely ruined everything. Never let me near your website code - I know just enough to be dangerous...

The CopyWrite blog was originally created purely as an experiment, nothing more. Back when I joined Netregistry in 2007 as their copywriter and marketing communications tzar, I was placed on a steep learning curve. Therefore, the blog was created purely as a practical tool to help me understand the concepts of SEO, online marketing and content marketing by doing rather than merely reading. The only way to become an authority is to get down and dirty in the trenches and that's exactly what I did. It also allowed me to keep my writing muscles supple and honed, allowing me to experiment with a wide range of content styles while thinking aloud.

The success the blog has achieved in the last two years has continually surprised me, but as it was only ever an exercise, it lacked a focus. It tried to keep feet in two different camps; writing and marketing. Unsurprisingly, some readers subscribe for the marketing posts but unsubscribe if there's a run of posts on writing - and visa versa. It became harder to define exactly what this blog was about and that is no good when trying to market yourself to new readers.

Also, the old site had become over-complex and choked with browser issues and bugs. I may fool many of you (or maybe I don't), but I have the design skills of a bomb in a paint factory and the coding skills to match. Therefore, the new template strips everything back into a cleaner, simpler and more efficient design that I hope will reduce issues going forward.

So, as of today, the blog is relaunched as two separate entities. Copywrite will stay here at the same address, focusing on my love of words, and the pain of creativity. Copywriting, screenwriting, reviews and personal observations will continue to be covered - uninterrupted by digital marketing.

It will also allow me to focus more on some of the many Aussie writers who have reached out to the blog over the months. I hope to provide a better outlet for your press releases and commentary and support more of you as you achieve your literary milestones.

However, if it's marketing you're looking for, Atomik Soapbox (atomiksoapbox.com) is now open for business. All the previous marketing posts have been migrated over (and urls redirected - so don't panic about your inbound links). Here I will continue to rant, analyse and pontificate on social media, digital marketing, SEO, brand marketing and more. To subscribe to Atomik Soapbox, click here. Otherwise, you can subscribe for email updates here.

Some of you may want to subscribe to both blogs, others may wish to update your subscription to the blog most relevant to you. Subscribing to either blog is, of course, free.

Finally, just a heads up that the delayed September update of the Top 50 Australian Blogs for Writers will be released tomorrow (Saturday October 3rd).

Don't interrupt - creative genius at work!

2009-09-08T05:18:55Z

Writers are a solitary breed. We hide in dimly lit rooms, our features cast into dramatic relief by the flickering monitor light as we continually tap tap tap our RSI addled fingers against besymboled (is that a word? It is now!) squares of plastic. This is where we live, undisturbed (if we're lucky), only rising and engaging with the wider world to make a sandwich or reheat old coffee from the gargantuan pot.

That part of us we force to the surface at parties and family gatherings, dancing on the coffee table after one too many whiskeys, is not us. We would much rather be alone with our thoughts, formulating ideas and developing prose. Left alone.

You may protest. You may disagree, convinced that you are the extroverted party animal, able to befriend large rooms of strangers in a single anecdote, with a social calendar too long to pin to the front of the fridge and a first name relationship with every barman in town. Yet I am convinced that all writers share a tendency for seclusion and introspection. We may hide this trait, we may construct a facade of ebullience, but a true writer dreams of those quiet early morning hours alone with their words and ideas.

Be honest! How many times have you been at a party, social gathering or similar occasion only to become distracted with an idea that enters your head. Suddenly, you're not listening as much as you were, your mind already composing and preparing for the keyboard instead of exchanging pleasantries with Barry from accounts. How many times do you find yourself observing events and watching people, rather than being the centre of attention?

To be able to write effectively, there needs to be a part of us that wants to be on the outside, looking in. We can't comment on the world if we don't analyse, study and observe and we can't do any of those things if we are at the centre of things.

So we end up slightly disconnected from our surroundings. Later, alone and shut away with half-formed plots and coalescing insights, wrestling with linguistic conundrums long after our partners have gone to bed, we make sense of our observations. How could an extroverted social whirlwind ever feel comfortable confined to a creaking office chair with only a flashing cursor for company? Who would choose that life unless they found comfort in blotting out the surrounding world and living inside the imagination for hours on end?

Leave me alone!

I work in a busy office for eight hours a day, writing articles, honing copy and crafting content. The challenge for me is staying focused with the continual interruptions that come with an office. The phones, co-workers needing answers, the unending meetings! Rarely do I find myself able to write more than a few sentences without an urgent email winking at me for immediate response or another task encroaching on my attention.

I resort to blocking out the distractions with movie soundtracks on the iPod, only for other members of the marketing team to end up waving at me furiously to distract my attention when they're... Damn, how was that sentence going to end?

For brilliant writing doesn't happen in two minute bursts. Stop-start creativity results in stilted, functional but bland copy. Any writer will tell you that the first words they write in every creative session are rubbish. It takes a while of plugging away, getting into 'the zone' before the true creativity takes over, inspiration explodes and genuinely arresting lines appear on the screen. Those first few tentative paragraphs usually end up deleted, merely the warm-up exercises as the linguistic muscles began the workout.

So imagine the struggle when a writer doesn't have the luxury of focusing for a long period to reach that highly productive and inspired state? This is why interruption - no matter how innocent or trivial - is like a bucket of cold water. We're snapped out of the creative trance, the thoughts scattering in the harsh light to hide in the various dusty and cluttered niches of the mind. Trying to coax those ideas back out when we return to the screen can sometimes be frustrating - we know we were on the cusp of brilliance, the few words that would elevate the prose to greatness. But it's gone - lost; the vague impression of an idea left behind, taunting our imagination with the sense that whatever reaches the page now will not equal what could have been.

This is why writers are solitary creatures. This is why we stare into space and ignore those of you trying to catch our eye. This is why we sometimes don't answer the phone when you know we're at home. This is why the IT person who just sat next to me to discuss the marketing computer system as I was typing the last sentence got a very slow and disinterested response from me.

Damn, what was that perfect last line I was going to finish on? It was so much better than this one!

(Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amypalko/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Without story, you have nothing

2009-08-11T23:42:09Z

As writers, we often obsess about words: grammar, usage, style, and more. As marketers, we often obsess about the production: the printing stock, the design, the colours, the medium. But none of these things are important if we don't have a strong story at the centre.

The following video, from Ukraine's Got Talent, has already been getting some mileage online. I first came across it yesterday over at Jye Smith's blog and then again today at Servant of Chaos. What it demonstrates to me is that medium means nothing. This amazing video uses sand - not words, not printing, not a webpage or any other kind of traditional medium - to tell a story.

Without a strong story that connects with an audience, this would just be a bunch of sand pushed around a table, no matter how pretty. Yet too often we see pieces of writing or marketing ideas that are the equivalent of just pushing words around or playing with neat designs or online gimmicks without that strong idea and message underneath.

If the story is strong enough, the medium no longer matters. A good story will be powerful and emotive whether conveyed in a book, on screen, in a marketing pamphlet or even in sand. Don't get blinded by the medium and forget the story underneath.

Three meetings with the black dog

2009-08-06T00:50:29Z

For some reason, discussion this morning on Twitter revolved around experiences of depression, prompted by my mention of medication. Blog posts were swapped and questions asked of each other as we shared our experiences with the black dog. I took the decision a while ago that I would not treat my depression as a personal secret. Hiding this illness is why it is still largely misunderstood in the community. Therefore, I continue to talk candidly and openly about my experiences, unashamed and certainly unafraid.

Last year I posted my experiences in detail in an entry titled A Blue Day.

Asking a 'normal' person to understand what is going through the mind of someone suffering mental illness is like asking a cow to understand the point of view of a budgerigar. The two sides are so completely different to make mutual understanding very difficult indeed.

Just as a one-legged man can't get up and walk, a depressed person can't perceive the world and emotions in the same way as a healthy person. Depression completely changes a person's world-view. Their logic is completely different from yours and therefore reasoning with them is difficult.

@Warwraith (Warwick Rendell) sent me an exceptional post from earlier this year - Depression in my own words.

But occasionally, there are those days. Days where the mask is tissue-paper thin. Surviving the day is an act of will that leaves a lingering exhaustion that seeps into your bones. Like a drowning man in a flash flood, you wrap yourself around the hope that the waters will recede soon, and you'll be safe and dry again.

At least until the next deluge.

Warwick concisely sums up how each day can seem like a marathon, expending energy to maintain the facade of normality. He accurately describes the exhaustion that infects every cell, despite having done nothing to merit it. We cling on. And we keep clinging on, because we know what will happen if we let go.

Andrew Barnett forwarded me a link to a quote he had salvaged from a friend's now defunct blog. Antonio, according to Andrew, "suffered epilepsy, severe depression, narcissistic disorder and yet was such a generous, if sharp, presence online." The black dog does not discriminate - the best among us can encounter the blackness. Antonio's description opens up the pain and torment experienced by all who have encountered the black dog.

Depression, probably the most obvious condition leading to suicide, is a prison filled with repeat offenders, and the crime of melancholia has a startling recidivism rate. But it is not a prison in which rights are respected, nor is humane treatment the standard fare. Rather, the jailer is a fickle torturer who punishes his charges without mercy. The depressed person inhabits a cell with a tiny window and iron bars, is beaten, burned, electrocuted, and flayed by the guards, left shivering and in pain, while relatives and friends may visit, blind to both the unbearable wounds he suffers and to the bars which hold him. Bewildered, they cannot understand why he doesn't rise and walk through the empty doorway; they do not understand his pain; and they may inflict guilt or further torture by sneering at his condition or offering pointless advice ("What's the matter with you? Just leave!") which only exacerbates his suffering. Because they do not see the bars, the walls, the jailer, the prison grounds, they cannot take his pain seriously. It is an enigma to them. They can give him little, if any, comfort.

Antonio Savoradin

Those of us who recognise Antonio's prison know that we are only on parole, probably for the rest of our lives, with the threat of a return to that barred cell always hanging over us. It is a tough reality to know that we stand that much closer to the edge of the precipice than our friends and family who can't even see the cliff.

Yet there is a positive to all these meetings with the black dog. When we leave behind the jail cell and piece together reality in a way that makes sense, we appreciate the good things all the more. Depression gives a scale to happiness.The love I feel for my wife is more powerful than I can describe because I have experienced the other, darker extremes of emotion. The lows place the highs in perspective, the difference so great that happiness seems like riding a massive wave. The world is a wonderful place. There are great things in every single day.

The black dog gave me that.

Writing dialogue: Saying more with less

2009-07-27T09:58:26Z

Dialogue is one of the most challenging skills a writer has to develop. Producing words that sound natural and - above all - human, takes real talent and hard work. As discussed previously when analysing The Assassination of Jesse James, people rarely say what they actually mean, necessitating the writer to imbue dialogue with subtexts and subterfuge.

Yet, people are generally lazy in their speech patterns. We are immensely economical and will never use five words where one would do - less if possible. Tony Jordan is one of the great writers behind Life on Mars and Hustle. Here, interviewed by Charlie Brooker for the Screenwipe program, he explains what makes good dialogue.

It is such a common mistake to write verbose, overlong dialogue because that's how we write down ideas. but verbal communication is far more tied up in the expressions, tone and actions, allowing to convey meaning with far less. A look, a sigh, a gesture - coupled with the right word can say the same as an entire paragraph.

Next time you're watching a film, pay attention to how economical the dialogue is.

(The above clip is copyright the BBC from Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe program. No infringement of copyright is intended - just a clip to make a point. Follow Charlie Brooker on Twitter.)

It's a miracle - Marvelman is back

2009-07-25T00:54:13Z

Regular readers know I blog, tweet and otherwise participate on the web under the name 'Kimota'. Some have assumed it is some anime reference or obscure Japanese word. But those who recognise it will know why today I'm as excited as a teenager in Angelina Jolie's bedroom.

Joe Quesada - editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics - announced just hours ago at the San Diego Comic-Con that Marvel has bought the rights to Marvelman from creator Mick Anglo. If you're not familiar with Marvelman, or the US version reprinted as Miracleman, then you have no idea why this is momentous. It finally brings to an end about 15 years worth of legal wranglings, court battles, name calling and - more importantly - Marvelman/Miracleman out of print.

"Marvel has purchased the rights to Marvelman," Quesada said. "It is arguably the J.D. Salinger of comic book characters. Arguably one of the most important comic book characters in decades."

Why should I care?

Marvelman is the lost classic of modern comics. Charles Dickens' died before finishing The Mystery of Edwin Drood, but it remains in print in numerous editions. But imagine if the book was never published. Not only that, but imagine that because of the legal fight over the rights to publish Edwin Drood, all other Dickens' novels were kept long out of print. Well, we wouldn't let that happen, would we. Yet that is exactly what happened to Marvelman.

You might think me to be overstating the value of Marvelman by comparing him to Dickens, but in every genre and every medium, there will be those creations that surpass the form. In the world of superhero comics, Alan Moore's Watchmen raised the form to literary heights and is recognised as one of the great novels of the Twentieth Century. Neil Gaiman's The Sandman equally stands as a notable literary work beyond its superhero comic roots. Marvelman sees Moore and Gaiman work on the same character to create something that - in my opinion - surpasses both their individual works.

Marvel's announcement

Quesada's announcement yesterday is a brilliant final blow by Marvel. Rumours that Anglo was reasserting his ownership of the character had recently begun to surface. Marvel going straight to Anglo and buying the character gives them by far the biggest claim over the various - largely bankrupt - publishers that followed. Whether Anglo did still have all the rights becomes a moot point as any dissenting voice would have to challenge the full weight of Marvel in court - and that would be plain suicidal. In effect, Marvel has enacted the Gordian Knot solution - if the knot cannot be undone, slice through it. The original creators will be looked after and McFarlane is left out in the cold.

It is an honor to work with Mick Anglo to bring his creation to a larger audience than ever before," said Dan Buckley, CEO & Publisher, Print, Animation & Digital Media, Marvel Entertainment Inc. "Fans are in for something special as they discover just what makes Marvelman such an important character in comic book history."

Marvel has also released a Marvelman t-shirt to coincide with the announcement, but it isn't available outside of the US and Canada. (Little help?)

The full Marvel press release is available here.

What does it all mean?

According to Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) over at Bleeding Cool, the Marvel deal will see reprints of the original Anglo Marvelman material starting in 2010.

Understandably, most interest is in whether Marvel intends to reprint the long out-of-print Moore and Gaiman storylines and allow Gaiman to continue his run. Marvel have been in talks with Gaiman over the character since at least 2007 and Mark Buckingham (artist on the Gaiman issues) appeared on the Comic-Con panel alongside Quesada. Reference was also made to Marvel contacting all the relevant creators of the 80s/'90s material to negotiate.

A brief history

Some of you reading this may already be all too familiar with Marvelman's convoluted history. If so, just skip to 'Hopes and Fears' at the end of this post.

Marvelman (Wikipedia) was originally created by Mick Anglo back in 1954 for British comic publisher L. Miller & Son. Designed as a replacement for the Captain Marvel comic strip that had run successfully for years, Marvelman shares a lot of similarities with that character.

Just as in the Captain Marvel comics, Marvelman was soon joined by sidekicks Young Marvelman and Kid Marvelman (modelled on the characters Captain Marvel Jr and Mary Marvel). Instead of Shazam, the magic word was Kimota (get it now?). Uttering the magic word transformed Micky Moran, Dicky Dauntless (don't laugh) and Johny Bates into their superpowered alter-egos for bright and fun adventures pitted against the evil Professor Gargunza - himself a shameless imitation of Captain Marvel's chief villain, Professor Silvana.

Knock-off or not, Marvelman built a loyal following and ran until the mid 1960s before cancellation. But not before the character had made an impression on the young Alan Moore, writer of Watchmen and one of the most lauded creators in comics to this day. When his career was starting off in the early 1980s, he was given the opportunity to revive Marvelman for the new Warrior magazine alongside his other new series, V For Vendetta.

Moore's reboot surprised everyone. It was thoughtful, intelligent, adult and genuinely treated the readers with respect. After Warrior folded, Moore's episodic tales were both still unfinished. DC Comics bought the rights to V For Vendetta, allowing Moore to complete it as a ten part miniseries. Marvelman had a harder time finding a new home before it was bought by Eclipse Comics. Objections from, ironically, Marvel Comics necessitated the change of name from Marvelman to Miracleman - something which the new announcement has reversed.

After Eclipse finished reprinting the Warrior material, Moore was able to continue and complete the storyline. Following his final issue #16, Moore handed creative control over to Neil Gaimain. Gaiman is now best known as the multi-award winning writer of The Sandman series and a number of best selling novels, including American Gods and Annansi Boys. Recently, his work has been adapted into brilliant films such as Stardust and Coraline. Miracleman was in safe hands.

But Eclipse Comics was in trouble. Issue #24 was the last before Eclipse went bankrupt. Gaiman had just started the second major storyline in a trilogy only for the series to be cut off yet again. Marvelman, despite being one of the most critically acclaimed comics of the day, seemed to be cursed.

A full account of the history of Marvelman and his eventful transition into US comics can be found here.

"I'll see you in court!"

For years, the character and the reprint rights have been in legal limbo. Various creators and publishers insisted they owned part or all of the rights to the character and the published material. Todd McFarlane - creator of Spawn - bought out everything Eclipse Comics had in a firesale and maintained that he therefore owned the rights to Miracleman. Yet the creators maintained the deal with Eclipse always kept reprint rights and control of the character with them. McFarlane, Gaiman, Moore, Dez Skinn (editor of Warrior) contended that they either still owned or previously had a portion of the rights to the character and had different ideas as to who they had passed those rights to. All the artists including Alan Davis, Gary Leach and Mark Buckingham also had stakes. What had started as a good-willed attempt at sharing the success around all those responsible for the character had devolved into a quagmire of confusion.

Law suits really started kicking back and forth when McFarlane tried to incorporate the character in his Hellspawn comic and released a truly hideous statue. Gaiman later responded by working with Randy Bowen to release a stunning and beautiful statue of the character, (can anyone help me track one down?) which again saw legal papers flying back and forth.

I'll spare you the detailed ins-and-outs. A more detailed account of the court case between Gaiman and McFarlane in 2002 can be found here. (Gaiman won on all counts).

Hopes and Fears

Marvelman - Marvel have consigned the Miracleman name to dust - doesn't come without a certain level of hype. The long absence and the high prices for back issues on eBay have created a mythic stature for these comics - one that any new material from Marvel will have to live up to. Starting with reprints of the Anglo material is an obvious first move, especially as this was undoubtably part of the deal with Anglo himself to get his material back into the marketplace. But fans are more concerned with the continuation of a story curtailed back in 1994.

Quesada understands the need to maintain Marvelman as an elite comic. He cites Marvelman as one of the inspirations for him entering comics, meaning he is one of us - a fan. The character could never realistically be drawn into the Marvel Universe proper to star alongside Spider-Man and others. Creatively, it wouldn't fit. Ditto any other creative team. Buckingham's presence on the panel should be seen as an indication that he's on board. Gaiman's previous conversations with Marvel should hopefully mean his involvement is now merely a formality.

It is a miracle - Marvelman is back.

Kimota!!

Review: Torchwood - Children of Earth

2009-07-13T10:47:01Z

Warning: Contains spoilers.

Torchwood has had an uneasy run over the last three years. Originally touted as the 'adult' spin-off series from Doctor Who, the first series presented pretty ordinary storylines punctuated by swearing, graphic violence and oodles of sex. It wasn't so much adult as adolescent. Racy for those teens finally allowed to watch telly late at night, but with little genuine gravitas or dramatic weight to interest an intelligent adult. A comedy sketch based on the show appeared on the Dead Ringers program, accurately poking fun at the juvenile predilections of those early episodes.

The second series learned from the mistakes of the first. The gratuitous elements were toned down and the producers instead concentrated on trying to tell decent, character-led stories. Some worked and some didn't, but it was a definite improvement. It also moved onto BBC2, a promotion from digital channel BBC 3, and also followed each episode a couple of days later with a family-friendly edited repeat for all those Doctor Who fans too young to watch the real deal.

Then came the news that this year, series three would only be five episodes long, even though it would graduate to BBC1 in prime position. This decision was criticised, notably by John Barrowman himself. Yet, after having watched the entire five part Children of Earth mini series these last few nights, I would be strenuously arguing for any future series to follow exactly this pattern.

Finally, Torchwood learned how to present a true adult drama.

Pushing the limits

Stretching out the storyline over five hours allowed such depth - in plot, character and direction - that Children of Earth became more than just another sci fi show and became a worthy BBC drama in it's own right. Sure, the more fantastic elements occasionally crashed in to remind us that we're still in the shiny Doctor Who universe, and head writer Russell T Davies can sometimes use coincidence a little too often to move things forward, but this wasn't a series focused on the monster and sci fi trappings. This was a story about men and women placed in situations of such complete desperation that stripped characterisations away and left us with painfully honest portrayals of how real people behave.

Robert McKee, in his Story seminars, continually talks about how the true nature of a character is revealed when he or she is placed in extreme situations. How you choose to act when pushed to the limit is the real you - coward or hero, compassionate Samaritan or selfish monster - everything else is your mask of civility, unchallenged by ordinary events. These five episodes pushed every character to that line, and beyond, thereby revealing what each is prepared to do when faced with the unthinkable.

Children of Earth cleverly deflected us away from the monster, the 456, by never actually revealing the creature. Instead, it was revealed that the true monsters were the humans pushed to make the most horrible decisions and how each chose to deal with them. As such, the 456 served merely as the story mechanism to force the genuine conflict elsewhere. Episode four's government cabinet meeting, as the politicians decided how to select the 10% of children to sacrifice, is one of the most chilling and uncomfortable scenes broadcast this year. It is chilling because we know they have no other way out. It is uncomfortable as the situation leaves no room for political correctness or moralistic grandstanding. It is terrifying as it forces the audience to consider what would we do in that impossible situation. With no neat solution, no easy way out, the characters - and the audience - are faced with some pretty confronting personal truths about how we view our society and the value we place on certain sections of that society. As much as we may deplore how the Cabinet discussion devolves into talk of keeping the best and sacrificing the lowest and most needy, there is a painful truth at the heart of the scene. Thankfully - reality has never forced us to resolve such a truth so absolutely. This is where drama works best, confronting those truths we wouldn't normally experience and presenting them to us so we can understand ourselves better.

By day four, the entire world is painted into a corner so perfectly that Captain Jack's attempt to confront the 456 results in abject failure, the death of Ianto and the entire population of Thames House. His actions actually make things worse, instead of better, and the audience realises that there is no neat resolution waiting in the wings. Our hero turns out to be no better than anyone else - imperfect and incapable of finding a way out.

The undisputed star of the series is Peter Capaldi as Frobisher. Better known as Malcolm Tucker from comedy The Thick of It, Capaldi again plays a civil servant, but this time with a greater humanity and a far worse dilemma. Over five hours, we watched his struggles to balance his duty with his morals, only to see any chance of redemption dashed by a Prime Minister (a brilliant Nicholas Farrell) hellbent on avoiding culpability and a public backlash. Frobisher's last act, protecting his daughters from the 456 by killing them, before turning the gun on his wife and himself, placed the final episode in the darkest of dramatic territories. This truly was a drama determined to take the audience deep inside the characters and then push them - and us - over the edge. Truly terrifying.

Deus Ex Machina

Of course, this being a Russell T Davies script, there is a miraculous last minute resolution out of nowhere as, with seconds to go, Jack works out which buttons to push and which gobbledegook jargon to say to fix everything. Davies has a habit of writing such Deus Ex Machina endings - this particular resolution uncomfortably similar to the end of Doctor Who series three - but this time it isn't the perfect reset button he usually employs. Instead, Davies manages to find one more twist of the knife, making Jack's grandson the central cog in a scheme, sacrificed to save the world. There is no choice - we can see that. But that doesn't lessen the horror one little bit as we see Jack sacrifice his own blood for the greater good.

Drama rarely is as bleak, as harrowing or as dark as these five Torchwood episodes. Were it not for the Doctor Who connection, I am confident this series would be considered a classic to sit alongside Quatermass as intelligent, thought-provoking and truly chilling sci fi horror for adults. Sadly, the signs are that this may be the end of the Torchwood series. Such a shame after the producers finally discovered how to produce a genuinely adult, worthy and memorable Doctor Who spin off.