Ask Donovan anything

[Donovan]

I gather you're a writer by trade (and very good at it from what I can tell). What sort of subject matter do you cover?

I have drifted from my original interests which were mostly fantasy/spooky fiction. I still have good ideas in that regard but the actual fleshing out (well, except for zombies of course) has become difficult. I don't know if it was that I read too much good horror/fantasy, or read too much shitty horror/fantasy, but I feel that market is pretty glutted right now. As a result I have half a dozen plot threads that are doomed to die on the vine. Not to mention a wicked case of writer's block that has lasted more or less a decade while I let "real life" get in the way.

Truthfully, and this answers the question of why I came to TK as well, I have spent the last year or so in a concentrated effort to return to what I loved doing; writing stuff down that entertained me and maybe others. It's harder than it looks; I used to pound out a dozen pages a day when I was working solidly at it, six if they were quality work.

What has gotten my creative fire burning is the interaction I get here lately, and some historical research I've done on a local legendary figure. I expect his story will be my major project in this next year. And to satisfy the need to talk about ghosties and shit that goes bump in the night I'm working a short story/novella about a spot that draws bad events like a magnet.

And eventually I have some memoirs to write, but some people gotta die first. If they don't fucking hurry up I'm thinking of helping them...

 

[Fuddlemiff]

I think there's still room for more scifi/horror/fantasy stories, maybe try identifying all of the current trends and then doing the opposite? The movies at least are mostly about teens, so use elderly characters (but not too elderly, I thought Cocoon was a particularly terrifying horror movie, til someone informed me that the hideous mutants were just old folks). They're mostly about people with supernatural powers, so use normal humans (but they're battling people with superpowers, so that there's a cool superpowery image on the book cover). The main character always seems to be a British dude. Make yours an Antarctican.

 

[Donovan]

I just can't get past the hump. There will always be room for horror and fantasy stuff, and I am sure I'll wind my way back to it. It's just that in the current market we're saturated with Harry Potter type fantasy and Twilight type horror, or runaway zombies. I can't see past the crowd and my interest wanes. So I'm working other projects until Team Edward dies down a little lol.

 

[Tisiphone]

I used to love to read, but with all the same vampire hunter/demon hunter/ sex triangle (which I don't really mind) everything sounds the same. Plus, it didn't help that I reviewed books for the past eight years, and I think the plethora of shit I read kinda made me hate reading, and in that sense, have massive writer's block. I've got so many first chapters on my laptop or in spiral bound notebooks, but that's as far as I can get.

So, I feel your pain Donovan.

 

[Fuddlemiff]

Sounds like me with my digital paintings. I come up with a concept and composition that I really like, block in the shapes and colour palette, but before I know it I'm distracted by the next shiny thing and I don't have anything presentable left to show for it.

 

[Donovan]

I used to love to read, but with all the same vampire hunter/demon hunter/ sex triangle (which I don't really mind) everything sounds the same. Plus, it didn't help that I reviewed books for the past eight years, and I think the plethora of shit I read kinda made me hate reading, and in that sense, have massive writer's block. I've got so many first chapters on my laptop or in spiral bound notebooks, but that's as far as I can get.

So, I feel your pain Donovan.

Exactly. Then, at the other end of the spectrum, you run into the occasional book that's so damn good you think, "there's no way I can top this."

I've had to curtail my reading habits to stuff that is in no way related to my subject matter, for fear of running into a shitty version of my story or worse, a better one. Nothing derails a promising idea like reading a story with similar plot points that someone else did better. Or much much worse.

 

[Archibald Nixon]

Do you still read comics much?

Did you ever read The Comics Journal?

 

[Donovan]

Do you still read comics much?

Did you ever read The Comics Journal?

The Comics Journal always struck me as a self-congratulatory circle-jerk of comic book snobs who all sounded like this guy:

:ccg:

As for comics, one positive aspect of the crash of the comics market was the resurgence of creator-owned, story-driven comics work. Guys like Robert Kirkman, Mark Waid, Warren Ellis, Neil Gaiman, and Garth Ennis, not to mention numerous others, are doing fantastic work. I try to read and keep up with it, even though my desire to buy and collect comics disappeared years ago.

And since most of the current movie stock is being drawn from comics, it's not nearly the social stigma it used to be lol...the geek will inherit the earth.

 

[self stirring mug]

dc or marvel

 

[Donovan]

Are you asking preference? Of the two, probably marvel. But most indy work is under image or Boom or some other creative imprint.

 

[Tisiphone]

Exactly. Then, at the other end of the spectrum, you run into the occasional book that's so damn good you think, "there's no way I can top this."

I've had to curtail my reading habits to stuff that is in no way related to my subject matter, for fear of running into a shitty version of my story or worse, a better one. Nothing derails a promising idea like reading a story with similar plot points that someone else did better. Or much much worse.

Oh yeah. Nothing like having a great idea for a book, then see it's already being made into a movie from said book you were gonna write. BASTARDS