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A Glimpse Into the Mind of Matt Fraction |
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Written by Caleb Monroe
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Tuesday, 27 February 2007 |
Matt Fraction writes comics. Comics like Five Fists of Science, 30 Days of Night: Bloodsucker Tales, and the currently-running Casanova, Punisher War Journal and Immortal Iron Fist (with Ed Brubaker). If you aren't reading these books, i recommend that you do. And if you're interested in becoming a comic writer, I cannot recommend the back matter in Casanova higly enough, where Matt gives pages of insight direcly into his creative process. This back matter won't appear in the trade, so be sure to snatch up the single issues. They're only $1.99. I know you can do it. Issue #7, the last of the first story-ar, is in stores now.
What was the first comic you ever read?
Batman #316. Crazy Quilt shoots rays out of a hat. "Watch out for Crazy Quilt -- 'The Man Who Stole His Eyes!'" It makes even less sense now that I'm not 3.
When did you first decide to write comics, and what was your first project?
If I dug around in my sketchbooks I could find the exact date, but: it was sometime in the early spring of 1997. My first project was a, uh, big interlocking thing about people that worked and shopped at a comic book store much like the one I worked and shopped at. Write what you know, right?
Who are your influences?
Oh, man. I'm influenced by everything that happens all around me, all the time, everywhere. That's not much of an answer, is it?
Fritz Lang and Orson Welles. Kurt Vonnegut. The Pixies, the Velvet Underground. Picasso and Basquiat. Noguchi and Giacometti. John Coltrane. Walter Murch. Godzilla movies. My mom and dad. My wife, my life. David Bowie. Everything.
Can you describe your creative process, from first idea to completed pages?
It tends to change from project to project Sometimes it all happens at once and I see the whole thing (Five Fists of Science arrived in my head, nearly fully formed) and other times it's an exercise in faith and intuition (Juarez, some Casanova bits) and other times it's a matter of meticulously preparing and then executing (some of the Marvel stuff, 1864, Casanova stuff, etc).
I know an idea is an idea when it feels right. Sometimes it's just a thought, and sometimes it's a bright and sexy thought, but there's a difference between a thought and a thing, an idea and a project. Imperceptible, perhaps, but very real to me. It's like the difference between getting hungry and being hungry, maybe.
From there, the process reveals itself. There tends to be some degree of research in whatever I do, even if it's reading or watching or listening to something that I know I can either learn from or need to avoid. Then the work starts. Notes get taken sometimes. Outlines are filled in, maybe, but I hate doing too much of that. Sometimes I sketch, sometimes I do layouts, sometimes I just noodle around. Some books live on paper, by hand, for a long time. Others are all digital. Some books demand a certain kind of page and panel grammar that needs to be discovered before I start. Then I start, and write, rewrite, or polish until it's done, which is a wholly subjective line to cross.
Man, that's no help at all.
A book trying a new format (Fell) can be called an experiment, but a second book in the same format (Casanova) is something more. How did you come to be one of the masterminds behind the second series to be released in “Fell format?” (or “Image Slimline”, as I’ve seen you refer to it)
I just sorta showed up, I think. I had Warren Ellis and Joe Casey acting as my advocates behind the scenes, and I hit it off with Eric Stephenson. He responded enthusiastically to what I proposed and...yeah, I dunno, I just did it. There was never a grand plan, per se, it just... all worked out this way. I thought, rather foolishly, that I'd be able to crank out 16 pages a month and not feel its effects too much.
This was before I knew what it meant to write those 16 pages.
Has the process of pitching a comic series changed for you the longer you’ve been working in comics? What’s the difference between pitching something of your own creation versus pitching for something company-owned?
Yes, but that's a really qualified yes. The longer I've been working in comics, the more of a known quantity I've become, so the act of pitching is not the hostile assault on an editor's time it once was. Sometimes they even ASK me to pitch. And, the longer I've been working in comics, the more pitches I've written, so I've learned some of what I can get away with leaving out, what must absolutely be in, and how to tell the difference. So it's changed, but not because I've necessarily gotten any better, just that I've become a little known and a lot more lazy.
There's no real difference in pitching my stuff vs. wfh stuff. It's all stuff, and the thinking is the same. I suppose if I'm pitching a creator-owned thing, I might be way more detailed in a pitch only because it's an unknown quantity, but not really. I tend to use the same format, except when I don't.
Any personal pitching secrets to share?
I fucking hate it.
On average, what percentage of your writing time on any given project is spent on research? Plotting? Scripting? Communicating with your artist(s)? Promoting the book?
I don't know how to quantify that. It's always different. An issue of Casanova took me months to plot. Literally months. Then another one took me an afternoon. I love talking to my artists, I love collaborating and making one another look smarter and more talented than we'd look on our own.
I don't spend enough time promoting the book, but promotion not only means time but money in a lot of instances.
How, exactly, do you as a creator go about promoting your own work?
I have a seldom-used email list that I need need need to get into the habit of using more, to keep in touch with my core readership. I have a core of stores in a database that supported Casanova and continue to support it. I make it easy to get in touch with me. I communicate most to the most friendly audiences, and keep the folks that are enthused about what I do in the loop first and foremost. All you can do is show retailers what you're doing as soon as possible so it can influence their orders.
Do you have “office hours,” so to speak: specific set times during the day or week when you write, or is it a more fluid situation? Have your years as a writer taught you any secrets to budgeting writing time?
I try to, yeah. I like to be working by 10 and wrapped up by 6, then take a few hours to spend with my wife and dog and then wrap up whatever's left until it's done.
Here's what I know about budgeting time: I tend to need 5 or 6 hours if I'm gonna get 2 or 3 good hours out. I don't have much more than that in me. Obey your instinct to get up and get away from the machine when it's not happening. You can't get blood from a stone.
And write every single day. Don't make any excuses, just sit down, shut up, turn off AIM and close the browser and pound your fingers on the keys until something happens.
It’s been said that to make writing a career you have to sell more than just your script: you have to sell yourself. Do you agree, and do you have any insight to share on how to go about such a thing?
I think that's a loaded question. There are a lot of borderline psychotics that work in comics: spend twenty minutes at a convention and you'll think you've crash-landed on Planet of the Aspergers. You have to not make an editor, editor's assistant, publisher, or artist think you're going to stab them if they ignore you. That tends to be about as low as the bar gets set in comics. Like-- really, if you don't radiate CRAZY STABBING GUY then you can probably get your work read or looked at. Sometimes that means not talking about comics, you know? Just talking.
But, you know, be patient and understanding. Everybody's got work to do, and everybody's got a limited amount of time to get it done. Never, ever take not getting a prompt reply or getting something picked up personally. It's all just business.
But mostly, don't be crazy. That goes miles.
What would you say is the #1 mistake you see aspiring writers making?
Not respecting the time of other writers, and writing too big.
By the former, I mean that if you're lucky enough to get paid for writing comics, it tends to mean you've got at least one deadline at least once every month. If you're like me, you've got four. If you're like Bendis, you've got ten. I'm flattered and overwhelmed when I get contacted by aspiring writers, but I can't always devote the time and energy to critiquing a writing sample that, honestly, a writing sample legitimately deserves. To say nothing of the possible legal ramifications that might follow. So: if you send a writer samples out of the blue and don't get what you're looking for in return, understand that it's because, you know, life is hard, deadlines are unforgiving, and we're all just trying to get by. Maybe other guys feel different, I dunno.
And by writing too big I mean, you know, those introduction letters to Vertigo that start off "Hi there! You don't know me, but I'd like to present you with this proposal for a 300 part science fiction epic I've been developing since 10th grade..."
It's great to think big. It's great to think huge. It's great to think Kirby-huge. But even he didn't start off doing New Gods, you know?
Oh! And there's a thing were some dudes just don't think they need to pay their dues. Shut up and pay them. Everybody's gotta eat some shit and earn their place at the table. I wrote a couple hundred pages of pitches, proposals, and pages for Marvel that never saw print. Two series proposals and numerous pages of scripts (two entire issues in one case) for Image. Multiple graphic novel proposals and pages. And none of it saw the light of day. NONE of it. We're talking LITERALLY hundreds and hundreds of pages.
Nobody in comics is an overnight success. You gotta earn it. Comics don't owe you anything. Don't complain, write better, write more, and nurture your relationships.
What’s the best advice you could give someone looking to break into the comic industry as a writer?
Write well, write often, and write small. The first is clearly subjective, but get yourself honest opinions and critiques and perspectives on your work if you don't have it naturally. The second is straight discipline: don't be the most gifted writer in the whole Burger King. You gotta get it done every single day. The last one is a matter of practice: if you can't pull of a good 8 page story, then you can't pull off that 300 part science fiction epic you've been developing since 10th grade either.
I assume you’ve been to your share of conventions. How can an aspiring writer make the best use of their con experience?
You know, if you're paying for a table, look like a professional and set up like a professional and show up on time and work your space as much as you can. Say hi to people, answer questions, shake hands, make friends, and understand that nobody likes the hard-sell. All you can do is help convince people to consider your work.
In terms of GETTING work, for me the most important day of a con is the day after, when you follow up on cards and handshakes. This goes back to the "don't be psychotic" thing, but hopefully you've met folks and shared drinks and maybe a laugh or two and have a pile of cards at the end of it. Follow up.
What advice would you share with other writers about finding a balance between writing and other aspects of life, like family or friends?
Just that, you know, the fire needs fuel. Get out and live some. A hermetically sealed writer that isolates from life is no kind of writer at all.
Any final advice on the life or craft of writing in general?
Scrutinize your process and obey it. Nobody needs another tourist. If you're in it, get in it and dig in deep.
Do you have any current or upcoming projects you want to plug?
Nah. Let's keep this plug-free.
Thank you, Matt!
Caleb Monroe bought Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #16 when he was 11 years old and it was all over after that. You can learn some more about him here.
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