How to Use Someone Else as a “Sounding Board”
Added 2024-02-26 08:00:03 +0000 UTCSome weeks, I have a clear idea what I want to make a comic about.
Other weeks, I have to go through my notebook of unused ideas and find one that jumps out at me as something I can write a comic about.
But sometimes, I can’t find any idea that works well enough on its own to carry a comic, and I’m forced to find a way to glue together a bunch of weird, smaller ideas, hoping to create some kind of humor-Voltron that’s more than the sum of its parts.
Guess which one this comic was?
The idea about Hercule Poirot came from the fact that I’m currently reading a book about Agatha Christie. You might be wondering if it wouldn’t be better just to read a book by Agatha Christie, and yeah, it probably would. Still, the book I’m reading is interesting, and full of surprising facts that are food for thought.
For instance, later in her career, she settled into a rhythm of publishing one new book every year, which her publishers would put out in time for the holiday gift-season, with the suggestion of getting someone on your list, or yourself, “A Christie for Christmas.” It’s brilliant marketing, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I tried to think of a way to adapt it to sell my own novels next year.
Unfortunately, the best slogan I could come up with was “Have yourself a Meyer-y little Christmas.”
