One Great Concept
Sometimes you just need a great idea. Oftentimes I know I have a great idea, but I have to marry it to the right situation, or more often than not the right charatcer/s for it to completely sing off the page. It’s about having a hook, something to grab the audience and shove in their pocket to take home that they’ve never seen before. Something they’ll want to hide from the world and pull out when the lights are off and covers shield them from the world and experience all over again. A great concept is all you need.
I was looking through my old short stories last night and found a few real gems of ideas that I had jotted down, but they lacked the drive of a main character, they had no one’s head to hang their hats on. I think I may have a couple to slot into the stories, so I am going to give them a little rewrite. I am kind of looking forward to it. The concepts always held my attention, I just couldn’t see the stage that the stories took place upon. Now I’ll have a little meat around the bones as I stew. Is that enough metaphors? It’ll have to do now.
I’m in between novels, happily, and work on a few shorts will be just what I need. It’s been far too long. It’s like having been in a long relationship but now I get to just go out with the boys and have a few crazy good nights, but they won’t be the rest of my life. They’re just a distraction while I wait for my true love to wake back up. Until then, let the good times roll.
Another great concept sadly isn’t mine. This concept belongs to AJ Lieberman and Riley Rossmo. The idea is that patients with multiple personality disorders have been turned into secret-spy-agent-killers by giving them three distinct personalities and skill sets. Hence, also, the title.
Something like this is either destined to be a great concept shilled out for a quick buck, or possibly a work of art that pushes a few boundaries and tries something different. I am going to opt, and pray, for the latter option. When I first heard about this I didn’t really give it the time of day. I figured it was someone who had looked at the trends on Facebook groups and games and swilled it all together in a pig trough. I didn’t think of it again until the preview pages came to me. Riley Rossmo did Proof, a series that I really like, and so I could at least give him the time to look at his free preview pages, he’s got that many credits in my bank, at least. So, I looked, and I really liked it. The scripting was also pretty sharp, and seemed to show the tone and feel of the series very quickly. I was won over, so, looking at the following excerpts gives me hope. The main character, Duncan, is everything you wish you were. Cowboy. Ninja. Viking.
And he don’t take no shit from no one. I absolutely love the idea of the captions representing his personailities. Gun = Cowboy - Katana = Ninja - Axe = Viking. Geddit? Little things like this excite me because it’s someone pushing the boundaries just that little bit further. Creativity will always breed more creativity. This alone is one of the main draws for me to go and pick up the first issue.
Duncan will go up against other triplets, the first one being a gladiator/pirate/oceanographer. See, little things. Check out the other covers.
Yeah, that last one does appear to be some sort of fencing/barber/loser. Now that’s a win kids, that’s a big ole dubya. This series will also be shipping in the oversized stock, I assume just like Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein’s Viking does. The good news just keeps on coming. I say let it rain, and get out my fucking umbrella.
Posted on October 12th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under: Writing, comics
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