4/8/08
Sometimes I wish that I was illiterate. When I review past things written here at heptapod.org I usually wince because I am making it so abundantly clear that my personal vocabulary is severely limited and how my writing style is criminally repetitive and predictable by even the smallest heptapod.org enthusiast.

On the bright side I can say that I simply have certain phrases that I really enjoy using on a regular basis. When I do use big words, I believe that I am actually using them correctly rather than coming across as a rhyming pastor given to malapropisms and using a word simply because it has more syllables than 'motherfucker'. Finally I constantly engage in the act of writing, sometimes it's just typing to echo the words of Truman Capote or actually authoring something which may be considered greater than a mere pastiche.

Reckon I oughta be proud that I wrote more on the subject of good things yet my crazy side argues that brevity is the soul of wit.

Besides the preceding diatribe, I believe one of my great weaknesses is not being able to create believable characters, write dialog or actually understand what people are feeling or would feel in certain situations. One of the things I've learned over the years is that my reactions and emotions are either irrelevant or are completely and theatrically overblown to the point of comedy.

I used to read a comic called Love and Rockets. Mostly because I wanted to see tits, lesbos and stuff. Now and again I'll pick up the handful of oversized issues that are laying around the apartment and flip through them realizing that both of the Hernandez brothers are writing good stories with developed characters. Recently I found an interview with Jaime Hernandez.

Why do you think the vast majority of acclaimed "independent" comics are written in a memoir style? From R. Crumb to Gabrielle Bell to Chris Ware to Chester Brown, "indie" comics tend to be written from the vantage of the author, about the author. Why, in your opinion, is this the trend?
They must really be in love with themselves.

Furthermore, why do you not ascribe to it?
I dunno, I guess I’ve always enjoyed using my imagination more than putting my boring lame ass on the page.

Damn.

The closest I have come to actually creating good fiction was my ill-fated Asbury Park by Night campaign. Yeah, I kinda cheated where I just wrote the plot and the players just breathed life into their undead characters. Still I had fun making NPCs, populating the Jersey Shore but I still wonder if I was simply portraying characters as, "That's spivak with peyots" and "That's spivak as a creepy 8 year old infernalist".