Chapter Two Inking: Expressions and "Acting"

Back at it, finishing a very "talky" sequence. We meet Vignelli, the Provveditore, who has just returned from a visit to Barathron, the island's other town. Alexandra dislikes him immediately and is confused as to why everyone else isn't as flagrantly repulsed by the man as she is. Do they not see what she is seeing? Whether they do or not, they are of course demonstrating the strange and exotic practice of Deferring To A Man's Station. It's a practice Alexandra has seen previously, of course, though like that oddly shaped kitchen tool that sits at the back of the drawer, she has not discovered a good use for it.

As previously mentioned, I get self-conscious about making "talking head" comics—sections like this that are primarily closeups of characters' head and shoulders—but I also really enjoy both drawing "acting" and trying to write good dialogue, and I feel like the accepted wisdom is that that authorial enjoyment is felt by the reader, so I try to cut myself some slack.

Cause come on, this is fun:

I love that grouchy, skeptical expression.

And this ho hum dismissive expression, then the turn into, wait what did you say? I'm especially happy with that first one.

As well as this sneer:

This section is nice, too. A wide shot to break things up (and I think the fwoosh of his cape is successful), and a pair of nice contrasting expressions.

I was worried this little sequence would have too many samey-samey pages. The visual equivalent of when a writer uses the same little word twice in subsequent sentences. I did make a little effort to avoid that and I'm pleased with the end results.

HOW'S THAT SCHEDULE COMING ALONG?

I was glad to get back to inking this week. The week before, our household schedule got shifted around leaving me with less work time than usual, so instead of trying to sneak in two or three inked pages, I took the opportunity to kill some assorted tasks that were hanging over my head. I got that "cliffhangers" post written (that'll teach me to complain about some writing trick). I tied up the "El Camino" short-story project (more on that below). I made some "watch this space" interstitial notices for the usual places I post this comic. I took care of a few important emails. And a whole bunch of other little admin things. Now all I have on my plate is baby stuff, tax prep, and inking. Blessed inking.

THE EL CAMINO PROJECT

You may have noticed that chapter six of the El Camino short story project has come to a reasonably conclusive conclusion. I had always figured that whole thing would be made up of one short story, then another, and so on, but I don't think I'll be starting it up again any time soon. It was too much to manage on top of DD4 requirements and kiddo business. I could feel burnout knocking at the door, and I really don't want that to affect DD4, so I'm putting short story stuff on the backburner for the time being.

I hope everyone had a good time following along. I think it turned out well, especially considering the strong whiff of First Draft. Meaning: I think it had good elements and tied together well, and if I were to revise it I'd only be looking to strengthen it, as opposed to knocking it down and rebuilding from the same pieces.

A friend (Hi, Friend) suggested making those posts publicly available, but since I can't promise to offer future interactive story things any time soon, I question the value. If you have an opinion on the matter, please let me know!

SPEAKING OF REVISING,

I had a thought the other day, and I include it here mostly as a note-to-self.

Revising writing is less about finding a way to make sentences shorter, it is about choosing which paragraphs to include. In the past when I've tried "editing down" my writing (on that novel project, and more recently while cleaning up El Camino posts), I focused too much on trying to be less wordy. That can be useful, but it's like trying to shrink a house by removing roofing shingles or baseboard molding.

WHO IS BECOMING A PRATCHETT DEVOTEE?

I guess it's me. I read (listened to) an extremely B-grade fantasy novel by another author this week and it made me appreciate Terry Pratchett's humour, his point of view, and his concise writing.

This comparison led me to that revising idea. I noticed it because while listening to the B-grade novel, if I fell asleep and missed fifteen minutes or so, I barely noticed. With Pratchett, if I'm not listening carefully, it's easy to lose track of what's happening. If I'm listening well, the writing is rarely confusing. I'm assuming that's because the writing is concise.

I suppose this observation lends weight to the old writing advice, "if you want to write well, you must read, like, probably a pretty decent amount of books."

I'm happy to see spring showing up. The dandelions are emerging and the honeysuckle outside my window is putting on new growth. And next week I'll be inking the final pages of Chapter Two before looping around to ink the first ten or so! I look forward to sharing them.

🌷
TC