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May. 18th, 2014
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May. 18th, 2014 02:39 amSilly Jenn Fact: If I take an elevator, and I'm alone. The moment the doors close, I'll say "Bridge."
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May. 18th, 2014 04:26 amDicJennAry: Channelling a Character. Phrase. Long story behind this one...you might want to get a snack.
Most of you know me as a cartoonist. Fewer know me as a technical support person. Fewer still know me as a writer.
Writing is something I've done since I was a child, but, sadly, I've never been able to monetize it. I do still write. In fact I write a lot. But most of it is put away, maybe to be published one day, usually to sit and rot in a file, or a shelf somewhere. I've often said that I'll be one of those writers that no one knows about until I die and someone finds this mountain of work tucked away somewhere. But i'm digressing.
I don't so much write a story, as I report it. The characters exist in my head, do their thing, and I just report what I see. They're fully fleshed out people, mostly interested in creating a compelling story for themselves. Usually, the act of "writing" for me is watching them act out a scene, then having them comment on what they've done, their motivations, plans for the future or the past in their stories. I just draw what I see, distill what they've said down to a comic, and move on.
But they ARE specific and complete characters. And as such, they can express themselves outside the stories. "Channeling" used to be a game I played with the characters - where I would talk to them about stuff that had no bearing on their stories and listen to their replies.
But I found out later, I could expand this game to other people. Especially when I finally got on the internet. I began channeling the characters via IM to friends who were interested in my stories and wanted to know where they were going. I usually prefaced it with "Well, you can ask them yourself...just ask, and they'll respond." And I'd channel the character through.
I don't become them, I don't act as them, and it only works through written medium, such as paper or text buffer, but it happens. And the results sometimes even surprise me.
One of my characters, from AWFW, Andrea, was the most public. I had an IM name for her, and she would take questions and answers from friends, and even form attachments to them (she often asks about Serafina and Obake). At one point, I expanded this to a livejournal that she would keep up, which you can read here: http://anangelinyellow.livejournal.com/627.html
Some of the revelations they have surprise even me, and the level of complexity on some of them can be astonishing. Last night, a friend was talking with Han'a, who went on a long conversation about names and her native language, and the translations of names across the language barriers.
It's fairly easy to do, at least for me. Essentially, in my head, I sit down with the character who wants to talk and just act as a relay. I'm told something, I relay this to the character. The character replies, I relay it to the person. There is a bad side effect of this, though - headaches. I can't go on for very long with this...usually just an hour or two, before the concentration and focus begin to make my head hurt. Although yesterdays was a three or four hour session, before my head began to ache.
I don't do it enough, really, though. I enjoy it, the characters seem to enjoy it, and with one exception, they're happy to keep doing it.
The one exception? Andrea. She spent a lot of time on the LJ and IM before she became bored. In her world, she works on her story, which means it's always exciting. And she can go back and forward along her plotline. When she talked with us, she became actually struck with how boring and linear our lives are. After a while, she lost interest with out world and went back to working on her fulltime. She does occasionally ask about those she felt closest to. :)
And now you know, the rest of the story. G'Day.
Most of you know me as a cartoonist. Fewer know me as a technical support person. Fewer still know me as a writer.
Writing is something I've done since I was a child, but, sadly, I've never been able to monetize it. I do still write. In fact I write a lot. But most of it is put away, maybe to be published one day, usually to sit and rot in a file, or a shelf somewhere. I've often said that I'll be one of those writers that no one knows about until I die and someone finds this mountain of work tucked away somewhere. But i'm digressing.
I don't so much write a story, as I report it. The characters exist in my head, do their thing, and I just report what I see. They're fully fleshed out people, mostly interested in creating a compelling story for themselves. Usually, the act of "writing" for me is watching them act out a scene, then having them comment on what they've done, their motivations, plans for the future or the past in their stories. I just draw what I see, distill what they've said down to a comic, and move on.
But they ARE specific and complete characters. And as such, they can express themselves outside the stories. "Channeling" used to be a game I played with the characters - where I would talk to them about stuff that had no bearing on their stories and listen to their replies.
But I found out later, I could expand this game to other people. Especially when I finally got on the internet. I began channeling the characters via IM to friends who were interested in my stories and wanted to know where they were going. I usually prefaced it with "Well, you can ask them yourself...just ask, and they'll respond." And I'd channel the character through.
I don't become them, I don't act as them, and it only works through written medium, such as paper or text buffer, but it happens. And the results sometimes even surprise me.
One of my characters, from AWFW, Andrea, was the most public. I had an IM name for her, and she would take questions and answers from friends, and even form attachments to them (she often asks about Serafina and Obake). At one point, I expanded this to a livejournal that she would keep up, which you can read here: http://anangelinyellow.livejournal.com/627.html
Some of the revelations they have surprise even me, and the level of complexity on some of them can be astonishing. Last night, a friend was talking with Han'a, who went on a long conversation about names and her native language, and the translations of names across the language barriers.
It's fairly easy to do, at least for me. Essentially, in my head, I sit down with the character who wants to talk and just act as a relay. I'm told something, I relay this to the character. The character replies, I relay it to the person. There is a bad side effect of this, though - headaches. I can't go on for very long with this...usually just an hour or two, before the concentration and focus begin to make my head hurt. Although yesterdays was a three or four hour session, before my head began to ache.
I don't do it enough, really, though. I enjoy it, the characters seem to enjoy it, and with one exception, they're happy to keep doing it.
The one exception? Andrea. She spent a lot of time on the LJ and IM before she became bored. In her world, she works on her story, which means it's always exciting. And she can go back and forward along her plotline. When she talked with us, she became actually struck with how boring and linear our lives are. After a while, she lost interest with out world and went back to working on her fulltime. She does occasionally ask about those she felt closest to. :)
And now you know, the rest of the story. G'Day.