Musings

Just this moment I was going through my "Slipping Through" sketchbook and I realized how jumbled and out of order the pages are. I suppose this is because I tend to sketch things out as I think of them, regardless of when they take place in the story.

For example, when I rebooted this comic I started off with Maggie standing in a nightclub looking deeply annoyed. How did she get there? I wondered, Why is her hair a mess? And why is she wearing a cape? Then I realized she must have just come off work, that is, she had just had a throw down with some villain. So then I had to go and draw that bit and change that to the beginning.
Later on, in stuff you haven't seen yet, I got frustrated drawing Maggie's apartment so I skipped to drawing stuff with her at work. Now I've had to go back and fill in the gaps.

It just struck me because I've started coloring some pages that are next chronologically, but I drew them months ago. It's getting quite confusing. Especially since in some of the older pages I went back and reworked some of the panels. So in some pages there are bits that I know are ages old, but there's some stuff which I only thought of recently so it's got to be new.

Well, back to work.

Unbalanced Scales

I was doing a little writing this weekend (sparked by my ponderings of Mary Sue-ism) and I realized I really need to work on my villains. I have over a dozen ideas for stories typed out on my computer, some of them even have a chapter or two written. Then they sit there. Every so often I go in and add a couple more lines of dialogue. It continues to sit there, unwilling to budge. I stare at it and it stares back with an unblinking gaze. The heroes laze around, generally being awesome and deathly bored because they have nothing to do.
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A hero is not a hero without a villain to match him/her. It's like the Batman stories are always saying about Batman and Joker being two sides of the same coin. Equal and opposite. The reason why Lex Luthor never dies (permanently, anyway), because what would Superman be without evil plots to thwart? The conflict of the opposing forces is what creates the story. Whether Batman caused Joker or the Joker caused Batman, doesn't matter (though it makes for heroic internal conflict), just that they both exist and play off each other.
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So now I'm working on channeling my dark side. When I'm not working on homework, anyway. I don't think I'll go the way of the method actor, however . . . Just seeing what pushes me to the edge, what pushes my buttons. Take that info and multiply it by . . . evil.
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I notice a trend, relating to the "two sides of the same coin" thing. If the hero is humorous, than the villain is deadly serious. The hero takes himself too seriously, then the villain is mocking/comically insane. (See Batman vs. Joker). I kind of like the villains who are laughing up their sleeves, but since most of my heroes have a well developed sense of humor the villains are automatically solemn.
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The picture on this post doesn't have anything to do with the topic. But I put it in before I began writing, so I'll just leave it be.

I Think I May Have Created a Monster

Mary Sue, sometimes shortened simply to Sue, is a pejorative term used to describe a fictional character who plays a major role in the plot and is particularly characterized by overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as wish-fulfillment fantasies for their authors or readers. Perhaps the single underlying feature of all characters described as "Mary Sues" is that they are too ostentatious for the audience's taste, or that the author seems to favor the character too highly. The author may seem to push how exceptional and wonderful the "Mary Sue" character is on his or her audience, sometimes leading the audience to dislike or even resent the character fairly quickly; such a character could be described as an "author's pet".
"Mary Sues" can be either male or female, but male characters are often dubbed "Marty Stu", "Gary Stu", or similar names.[1] While the label "Mary Sue" itself originates from a parody of this type of character, most characters labeled "Mary Sues" by readers are not intended by authors as such.

So spake the great Wikipedia. I was reading the descriptions of various Mary Sue characteristics on Tropes.com the other day when I was struck with a horrible realization. I have written a Mary Sue.

I swear, it was entirely unintentional. Then again, it usually is. At the age of fifteen I began to write a story.

• Of course, it was fantasy set in a Medieval-ish world and the main character was fifteen years old.


• Beautiful, smart, a powerful magic user, and actually hundreds of years old.


• No one could beat her in a fight or argument.


• She always knew what to do in any situation.


• Always cheerful even though her Past haunted her.


• Of course, she was a master sword fighter.


• Supermodel looks. Exotic, supermodel looks. Purple eyes with gold and green in them, namely.


• Even though the story was technically about three girls new to their magical powers everything turned out to be about HER.

Oh, yeah, her name was Vanessa. Drakesin. That she chose the name herself probably says something about the character/author/me.

Any event that occurred in the story she could deal with her right hand tied bed her back (she was probably ambidextrous, too) and without breaking a sweat. The only reason any other characters got any action was because Vanessa had to go off on convoluted quests for vague reasons. Her quests usually ended up being more important.

Fifteen is just too young to have a Tragic Past, so while she looked (and effectively was) fifteen she was actually a powerful enchantress centuries and centuries old. In the past she had saved the world on multiple occasions. People even talk about her previous incarnations. Usually she was around, grinning smugly in the background when they discussed this.

Her actual strength and power was poorly defined as: anything-that-needs-doing-or-that-the-author-ever-wanted-to-do. And do it better than anyone else. Little teacher's pet.

It has been several years since I created this evil and I have rewritten her story several times. However, the vestiages of her Mary Sue-ness still lingers. I recognized her in almost every Mary Sue catagory listed online. I do think the character has improved, however. She is no longer omnipotent, for one, and she is often wrong about things. Other characters get equal amounts of spotlight. I think Vanessa has stopped being my exclusive favorite.

I was reading through the story just recently and realized how much my writing skills have improved. The characters actually feel like real people sometimes. I also realized that several of the best characters reflect certain aspects of my own personality.

I'm not talking bravery, intelligence, or that sort of thing, either. The most obvious example is the character Selina whoe is constant Silly Mode. The kind when you're with your friends and you do very silly things to make each other laugh. It's so funny everyone does sillier and sillier things. Selina acts like that, only she is being serious. And she never stops. Ever.

Also, Vanessa's last name is Jackson now. Vanessa Jackson. Much better. She still has Mary Sue eyes. I quote myself:
"She had these amazing eyes, something like hazel, but with purple instead of blue and amber sprinkled at the edges. "
That won't make the final cut. We'll take it down to hazel, shall we? I didn't even realize that was still in there until I checked just now. I had been writing under the assumption that her eyes were hazel for a while now.

I blame Eragon. I was writing before I read it, but after I did it caused delusions. If this guy could write this epic book at the age of fifteen, then so could I. If Eragon could do everything, so could my character.
Hurm. I think the author is about my age now. Maybe older. His latest book proves that he still can't write. Darn good thing my parents weren't publishers. His were. Thus, got published. And, apparently, decided he didn't need to learn anything else about writing.