Script Scramble

I knew one job was ending…

Up until a few weeks ago I was juggling projects from three clients:

I knew that the Spotlight story would be ending soon, and I was winding up another two-pages-per-month project to replace it. However, I finished a book for Orot around the same time, and I did not know that they didn’t have another book lined up for me.

Panic time

I knew that without a solid work schedule I’d go bonkers and waste days and days writing out plans how to subsistance farm in my attic while getting a delivery blimp business off the ground.

So I wrote out a few directions I could go with my free time, and what ended up making the most sense was to just write a book of my own for Orot!

Battle Business plan:

The only comic I write is SCP. The others are written by talented writers. The scripts come to me as a fait accompli, and often stick to certain ‘tried and true’ subjects and styles.

But once we’re speaking in italicized French, part of my professional raison d’être is to explore the untapped potential of Frum comics. So this opportunity to plan and write my own story is extra exciting for me, and I really want it to work out!

Here’s the breakdown:

Stakes:

If I complete this project and it’s a hit, my client might trust me to do it again, and I can start to expand the horizons of Frum comics!

On the other hand, there’s a lot of weariness of new, untested ideas. I’ve already felt some pushback on my proposed story, as unobjectionable as I think it is. And because of that my client is pushing his other writer to finish a new book quickly so I can put most of my time into that, and use my “spare” time for my own writing project.

I drain my creative energy very quickly when I’m putting it into the same old same old, and I’m scared that once that other book has even a few pages ready for illustration, I won’t have the inertia to see mine through.

Strengths:

I’ve been writing professionally and as a hobby for a while, so I’ve developed a process that works for me.

I came to this opportunity with a stockpile of ideas, because I’ve built a habit of writing down those “you know what would be cool…” moments.

I have my story template all ready to go from other writing projects, and even a google doc template for script writing!

And, baruch Hashem, I’ve had a chance to illustrate many comic books over the years, so I feel that once it gets to the drawing, routine will take over.

Pitfalls:

They say that perfect is the enemy of good. It’s very tempting for me to spend the rest of infinity doing research for the setting of the book, finding perfect reference images, perfecting the plot… But, from past experience, that’s the perfect way to never write the book.

I’m going to try to allow myself to move to the next stage of writing as soon I feel that I’ve gotten the stage I’m on to ‘good enough’, and pretend that I can always go back if I think of something better.

I’ll also have to muster the courage to stick up for my idea when facing scepticism from my client. Maybe the Wizard of Oz has something to help me with that…

The main issue is the headline up top: I’ve got to get this out quick! Once other projects and responsibilities start pilling up, I’ll only be able to keep this going if the major writing work is already done. I’ve set myself a wacky goal to finish the whole script within five weeks. (Trust me, that’s wacky.)

And to that end I’m going to end this post and get to work!

(Let me know if any parts of the process of script writing interest you, and I’ll be happy to write about how I’m going about it!)