How did I become writer?
2016-2018 - Where it all began
To be honest, I’ve always enjoyed writing, since high school. I loved the ‘creative writing’ tasks but absolutely LOATHED doing comparative studies. Don’t get me wrong, I love and appreciate other people’s work, BUT I would always struggle to find the words or language to use to tell my teachers what the author was trying to achieve.
I just loved creating my own work in my own (very weird and slightly worrying) imagination. However, it was only last year (2021) when my writing flourished from being a side hobby I barely did, to a job* I basically do everyday.
*I say job because I have been writing something really special and something that is close to my heart that will hopefully come into fruition soon and become a reality. I’ll probably announce it after I’ve finished the first few scripts 😉. So, watch this space! What!?! You say you’re not subscribed?!?!?! Lemme fix that for you
And if you enjoy this! Please share this with your friends, it’ll mean the world!
2020 - A Spark Flickered
Now the first “project” I did was writing a fanfic game design for the Marvel Ultimate Alliance Games. It is titled “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 4: Cosmic War.” A direct sequel to “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order.” I wrote plots, level designs, sub-missions, DLC and so much more. I worked on it for about 6 months back in 2020. And it clocked over 20,000 words.
At the end of that project I was genuinely shocked with myself. I had no idea I had such a creative outlet in writing, especially for superhero related content. Too bad it will never see the light of day AHA.
Then, as one does, my brain started moving into high speed gear. I wanted to harness this creativity, make something.
I know! I’ll make a comic!
2021 - A Flame Ignited
Boy, did I have so many questions!
How do I make a comic? I had no idea, so I started to google. Scripts. Comics are written as scripts, and instead of stage direction it’s art direction. GENIUS. What does a script look like? I’ve never looked at a script before, let alone read one. Back to google…. they look confusing, maybe I’m out of my league for this.
Yeah… that’s right. I almost gave up until…….. in mid 2021 I somehow found out that my university was doing a script writing class. That’s PERFECT. What’s a better way to learn how to write comic scripts than in a script writing class?!?!?!
The teacher was incredibly helpful. I learnt so much and it was at this point in my life where my passion for writing had re-ignited. She said I couldn’t write comic scripts because she’s never marked them before and therefore wouldn’t know how to critique them. But, she said “I wouldn’t doubt the technique and elements of writing screenplays can be beneficial to comic scripts”.
Of course at the time, I didn’t believe her, but she couldn’t be more correct. The importance of story telling and plot and characterisation and subplot and dialogue and monologue……… I had no idea. I definitely learnt a lot in that class and once again was surprisingly shocked at myself with the material I produced. Which was really good and surprisingly dark.
For our final assignment, we had to write a 10 page screenplay for a TV show of our own making. Naturally, mine was a superhero one…. and voila “The Weather Prince” was born. I kept that screenplay hidden from most of my friends because I was somehow embarrassed of what I had written, when I should’ve been proud. I guess I didn’t know if it was GOOD good you know?
Fast forward a couple of months I DM’d one of my favourite writers Kelly Thompson! (I promise I won’t mention her in every newsletter >.<) I asked her for advice as I was an aspiring writer, and she replied!!!! AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I was ecstatic. In which she mentioned her own Substack , which you should definitely subscribe to. It was there where I discovered how comic scripts should be written (the general format). I fell in love with the comic writing process. It was so intriguing to me.
I wanted to write, I really did. But I didn’t know what to write. My work has never been critiqued before. I thought to myself “what if I’ve been going in the wrong direction this whole time?” I don’t think I wrote for about a month, and to be honest, I felt lost, like I wasn’t myself.
It wasn’t until late November where I went on a field trip with the best people I know today. Where, for some reason, wanted people to read “The Weather Prince” (I guess that goes to show how much I trusted this amazing group fo people), and not a bad review. Could you believe it?? Not going to lie, my ego got pretty big, and my head even bigger.
So, when I got back home I showed my local comic book store manager, not one bad review. Showed my friend (who will soon) major in English, not a bad review. There’s a pattern here. People are either to scared to tell me it’s shite orrrr this has some potential to be actually going somewhere.
Okay, so, I really want to do this.
To avoid this getting too long, I’ll talk about the wonderful Comic Writing Class by the Amazing Scott Snyder (author of Batman, Detective Comics, DC Death Metal, Nocterra etc) called Comic Writing 101.
If you’re still here, thank you! For your reward I’ll give you a snippet of “The Weather Prince”
Thanks so much for reading Billy Writes and I hope you all have an amazing day!
Stay safe and be kind x
B