Decompressed Storytelling and You

In recent years, a plague has infested the comics industry and has even moved into screenwriting. That plague is decompressed storytelling, which essentially using prolonged segments of dialogue in the bulk of the narrative to evoke a more emotional response. The norm, before this trend, was to have a meaty chunk of dialogue contained in one panel or to use very snappy and concise dialogue sentences that got the point across with a few jokes, or emotive phrases. The dialogue would then be followed by a hearty serving of action to keep the reader in the moment. Rinse and repeat through the three arcs of a 20-page issue.

The compressed method would pound out the plot rather quickly and in an easy to follow manner then reward the reward the reader with some sweet eye-candy and art focused panels that evoke emotions themselves. While the decompressed method drags the reader through a muddied or often over-simplified plot through two pages for details that could be established in one panel.

I have recently noticed that season two of Daredevil uses a decompressed method which actively detracts from the dopeness that is Jon Bernthal's Punisher. I really want to like this show, but the pacing is making it real hard.

This is my call to action. If you are a writer and you want to tell a decompressed story, don't. - Cheers.

On the Subject of Word Turd

The best gift a writer's mind will give to said writer is insomnia causing self-doubt that makes one believe that one's work is a steaming heap of turd. This crippling self-loathing causes a writer to rewrite the ever-loving poop out of their work until it resembles something that they are not entirely ashamed to put out into the world. When this doubt meets the nerve shattering panic of deadlines, a writer then has the proper motivation to revise their trash until an editor might not reject their submission, crushing their soul.

To all my fellow writers, recognize that your work is absolute garbage and let that mix with your anxiety, motivating you to produce something that is decent. - Cheers

A Message on Brevity in Writing

Get your point across in as few words as possible.

A Writer's Thoughts on The Mondays

Something that I've noticed in this year of 2015 is a sudden acceptance of Monday by several influential people. Say what you will about the Illuminati, but when people aren't content with the status quo they try their darnedist. Personally, as a writer, Mondays don't matter. They have always not mattered. I'm sorry Monday, I'm not trying to be rude.

Writing is an interesting profession, since you can do it everyday. I usually do a lot of writing on Sunday, because I'm bored, and go skateboarding on Monday. Not dreading any day of the week is pretty awesome. I can just flow from thing to the next, but then again I also loose track of the days, months, years, millennia etc. Spreading out work across several days is super helpful when it comes to stress, in general, so do that.

If some of you still hate the idea of Monday, here is a tip: don't. Also stop procrastinating, clean your house on the weekend, and yes the milk is spoiled, so get some more on Saturday. - Cheers

Screenwriter Plus Is A Hellhole

Screenwriters now have the ability to work on set, and during post in order to make to maintain a synergy between the script and the director's vision. While it is nice being able to see after the creative path of your baby project, it also leads to hours of pain and suffering. As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in a energy drink and cigarette filled editing office, learning about the "wonders" of working with raw footage in premiere. I don't mind the previously mentioned items, in fact I welcome them, but good lord, it's three in the morning,  and we haven't even got this thing looking like the short it's supposed to be. I plan on sleeping for the entirety of Monday, and just letting every DOP ever just destroy my beautiful babies. For now, I will flood my blood stream with Monster. Cheers, or whatever.

Screenwriting Torture

Over the last week, a group of colleagues, and myself, wrote, shoot, and is currently editing a short. It was traumatic. The short is just one torture scene, in which, essentially, I batter a friend of mine with brand name products. Somehow, he ended up being more okay with everything than the rest of the film crew. It probably had to do with us blitzing takedown to make it to Joe's Crab Shack. The theme of the project is horror comedy, and I sincerely hope the finished project makes you both laugh and vomit (ideally at the same time). I know that we sure did during production. I'll keep you updated and when it gets published! - Cheers!