So, here we are, aspiring comic book
writers.
It's kind of quiet around here these
days. I think I may have seen a cobweb over there in the corner. I
can definitely write my name in the quarter-inch of dust that coats
the Running Up That Hill copy desk.
So, yeah. It's been a little while.
 7 Months Ago, in Running Up That
Hill...
For my last column, in June of 2007, I
copied and pasted Kristen
Simon's Top 10 Writing Tips for Comic Book Writers
into the nifty CMS thingie and presto - instant column!
The column before that, I
interviewed a Top Secret Bigshot Editor.
What's my point in telling you that?
Simply to out myself as either (a) a lazy and pathetic excuse for a
columnist or (b) a remarkably motivated and industrious columnist
who's not afraid to share the spotlight with others.
You decide... I'll go get a Natural
Ice while you do.
I Am Back, Ice-Cold Natural Ice
Beer* in Hand
Okay, now that I've run off the faint
of heart and/or snooty import-only beer drinkers, we can get down to
the business at hand. Namely, the
REBOOT!
RELAUNCH!
NEW STORY ARC!
GREAT JUMPING-ON POINT!
column that you demanded.
 For Those Skimming To See Where The
Actual Column Starts, It's Right Here
Two or three years ago, when I first
became interested in writing comic books, Scryptic Studios was one of
the first and most important sites I discovered in my quest to learn
anything and everything I could about how to write comics.
There was a lot of activity on the
message boards back then, and some great columns by folks like Drew
Melbourne and Elizabeth Genco that educated, encouraged, and inspired
me in my quest to become an actual writer of comic books one day.
If it hadn't been for Scryptic
Studios, I don't know if I ever would have gotten more than one or
two wobbly steps down the road, frankly. I certainly would never have
reached the point where I am today.
And Where Are You Today, Ecto?
I'm Running Up That Hill, don't you
know, far enough up from where I started to be able to look over my
shoulder and go, "Wow! I'm actually doing this!"
And in a way, I feel a duty to myself
of three years ago, and to all the aspiring writers out there right
this minute, trying to figure out how in the heck to get started
writing comic books, to stop slacking off and taking this column for
granted, and actually Do Something with it.
Elizabeth's column about the
incomparable power of Butt
in Chair, and Drew's column about - well, actually most all
of his Think
Like Tomorrow columns - really made a difference in my life, in
my development as a writer. I like to think this column can do the
same for somebody else, today or next month or next year.
Calling A Spade A Spade
This current incarnation of Scryptic
Studios is in some ways a shell of its former self. (Or maybe it's
just me, and I don't know where to find stuff because I've never
spent the time to look for them.)
Elizabeth's columns are gone, lost in
the translation to the new server many moons ago. But Drew's are
here, and Caleb Monroe's Making
Good column (featuring interviews with a plethora of pro writers)
is here, and that's just scratching the surface of it.
The audience... I don't know, my
impression is the lack of fresh columns the last several months has
led the majority of our one-time audience to look elsewhere for the
kind of information and tips and advice and camaraderie that Scryptic
was once known for.
The point being, the whole thing now
feels tremendously liberating. No audience, no expectations, no need
to second-guess myself. It's like I snuck into the Apollo Theater
after hours, and the stage is mine, all mine, with nary a chance of
getting booed offstage.
 An Audience of One
So here's what I've decided to do.
I'm going to pretend that I have an audience of one here, and that
audience is YOU, dear reader.
It's also me, the "wow, it'd be
so cool to write comic books, I wonder how you get started doing
that" me of three years ago.
So it's like me, but I'm a
different person, and I'm you, but I really understand where you're
coming from and what you're here for, which is to learn something
about writing comic books from someone who, at least in theory, knows
a little bit more about it than you do.
And that someone is me.
Pleased to Meet Me
Hi, my name's Elton Pruitt, and I write
comic books. I'm married, have a 2.5-year-old son, and live in Little
Rock.
Notice how I said, "I write comic
books" rather than "I want to write comic books." It
dawned on me at some point over the holidays that, ummm, I actually
am a writer of
comics, as opposed to an aspiring writer, which is what I was when I
began this column in the fall of 2006.
I'm no Jason Aaron, now - let's get
that straight right off the bat.
(Because, you know, I'm often mistaken
for Jason Aaron, and in fact Will Dennis called me the other night
with some feedback on the latest Scalped script. And I had to
once again remind him that, no, I'm not Jason Aaron, even though we
both have possibly watched more Yo Gabba Gabba than any sane adult
should, so I can see how one might get us confused.)
I'm by no means where I want to be in
my comic book writing career. I want to have an ongoing series at
Vertigo, and miniseries galore at Shadowline, and more, more, more
("how do you like it, how do you like it?").
But at the moment, I'm pretty happy
with just how far up that darned hill I've gotten. In the last year,
I've had stories published in two awesome indie anthologies: 803
Studios' Sequential Suicide and J.S. Earls' Frameworks: A
Study in Sequential Art. These were my very first publications,
and wow, did I need them!
Last fall, I managed to pull off the
fabled Negative Burn hat trick, in which I had stories
published in three consecutive issues (13 - 15) of the Eagle, Eisner,
and Harvey Award-nominated anthology.
At the moment, I'm working on stories
with Mario Cau (a talented artist from Brazil) and Renzo Podesta
(aka Mr. Soon to be Discovered Stateside) that will hopefully be
published in Negative Burn and elsewhere later this year.
I'm also on tap to have stories
published in Postcards II: California Dreaming and an
anthology titled Dear Santa, Let Me Explain... that James W.
Powell, assistant editor of Postcards: True Stories That Never
Happened, is putting together.
And, just between you and me, I'll be
submitting the winning entry in Shadowline's Who Wants to Create a
Super-Heroine contest on January 20! (It's important to fake
confidence until you actually have some for real. But that's a topic
for a future column...)
 The Point Being:
I'm doing it - I'm writing comic book
stories and getting them published.
I think I've learned some things along
the way that could help you in your personal quest to become a comic
book writer.
So, I hope you'll join me next week,
and every week, and we'll go Running Up That Hill together. Who
knows, maybe a year from now, you'll be writing a column right here
at Scryptic, or pimping your recent publication in Negative Burn,
or polishing off the script to the most poignant story you've ever
written, your personal love letter to Southern rock, Lynyrd Skynyrd,
and falling in love when you least expect it.
Stranger things have happened.
Pleased to Meet Me (a
stream-of-consciousness aside)
Damn, I loved the Replacements. Let
It Be... was there a better album, ever, to listen to all summer
long when you're 18 years old?
Next Week in Running Up That
Hill:
I generously compile all the helpful
hints and tips Kris Simon and Jim Valentino have posted on various
message boards regarding the Shadowline Who Wants to Create a
Super-Heroine contest, and distill it all down to the absolute
essential What You Need to Know if You Want to Write a Winning Pitch.
But please don't read it, because I
want to win myself!
In The Weeks Ahead:
Look for these (and other) columns in
the coming weeks:
- The key to defeating blank pages
- The courtship of an artist
- Dialogue Last: the best thing
ever?
- My magical Boston Red Sox cap
- "By the Southern Grace of God"
actually IS a lovely and wonderful story, and how it got that way
(for Drew, who loves my long column titles!)
______________________________________________________________________
* Ice Brewed for a Naturally Smooth
Taste. 5.9% Alc./Vol.
** The Romanian Revolution of 1989,
Dick and Jane, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
______________________________________________________________________
Elton Pruitt is a comic book writer in Little Rock. He loves Saturday Night Fever and wishes he could reincarnate as Tony Manero one day.
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