Shadowgirls

Oh balls... I'd better not send you my 8-page treatments for My Shadowgirl, The Mermen of Madison County, How Charon got her Groove back, and Shadowlands II - this time with more magic powers and waterbreathers! then

Cheers for the clarification.. no danger of me doing comedy, either. I'm with you 101% about bad comedy, and I know my idea of funny gets confused looks. Little bit happy, little bit sad, little bit sexy, little bit dangerous, and at least one explosion... that's where I'll aim for

Any list of what is considered "public domain characters"? The list on Wikipedia seems to be incomplete.
Do we have to adhere to the continuity of the public domain character?

Use your best judgement.

bl**dy hell! I have a LOT more respect for DRod's role in this after deciding to take a stab at this competition.

I've worked my arse off and I've only got the first page of 5 panels and 2 panels into the second page so-far. I'm sure some of the better writers such as Mondo Kane and Inara have probably already got a story submitted and are busy working on a second.

How far is everyone else out there?

Don't want to give too much away... I'll just say I'm not finished yet as I'm finding dialogue much harder than I expected and the little story I told has so far spawned five different endings in my head for the last page. Gonna be a few days of brushing up to come, and then opting on overall sentiment vs. personal desire for a twist in the plot.

I love writing with all my heart, but sometimes I hate it with a passion

Rule of the thumb with dialogue is, if YOU feel silly saying the dialogue aloud, then your characters will too.

Me? Writing a piece for this? What makes you think I could come up with a story that anyone would want to read?

Thanks for the compliment, but you give me way too much credit.

I think I've got the dialog sounding correct, only problem is I keep thinking I need to keep it to a minimum to fit in the comic, but when I look over the previous issues of Shadowgirls, you can fit a hell of a lot in there and I can tell much more story than I'm thinking in 8 pages.

Probably the best example of what 8 pages can get you in a single scene/sequence is from Charon leaving Lucky's bar to her de-shadowforming as the cops arrive (of course, we don't have to stick to the same scene in all 8 pages).

Inara: YOU'RE NOT WRITING A STORY!!?? Don't sell yourself short. While we've been stuffing around in the Insider with our own characters and various missions, etc. You've created a small farm community with steadily growing relationships and events, etc. I reckon you could do a decent piece given a mother-daughter relationship scenario. Heck, give it a shot just for the sake of seeing how far you get if nothing else. I'll PM you some ideas a bit later, which should be right up your ally.

Well, half the reason for my posting here is just to raise the contest blog back in the portal window.

BUT. I also thought I'd gloat that I've managed to get the first draft of two stories that I'm co-writing with a couple of others here, off to them for the weekend.

I think I've had great progress on them and while the story I'm working on alone hasn't progressed much as a result, I've got the weekend ahead of me. Anyone out there who's made a full submission yet, has a few initial drafts or managed to outline the story they've planned?

Actually just been working on it (hence me not being in bed despite it being gone three am and there being nothing to listen to but Liz Phair... headache)... doing the awkward write-and-rewrite part after drafting. Remember Stephen King's rules on drafting, stop and go to sodding sleep

Need to sort the last page (still not quite there... dangerously cuppy-cakes normal, needs a hint of potential wrong-ness), sort some of the awkward dialogue, blow out some candles on a cake... so far I managed everything I promised, except the explosion.

Mondo Kane wrote:Actually just been working on it (hence me not being in bed despite it being gone three am and there being nothing to listen to but Liz Phair... headache)... doing the awkward write-and-rewrite part after drafting. Remember Stephen King's rules on drafting, stop and go to sodding sleep

Need to sort the last page (still not quite there... dangerously cuppy-cakes normal, needs a hint of potential wrong-ness), sort some of the awkward dialogue, blow out some candles on a cake... so far I managed everything I promised, except the explosion.

I shall only vote if there is an explosion.

Just cleaning the dialogue up a bit - visually she's all done. No explosions. Ah well

I've been wondering about the descriptions of the pictures in the panels. I notice the sample script of DRod's for Page 10 of Season 1 Issue 6 (which I'll put a copy of below) gives very little description and leaves much of the artistic interpretation up to DRey.

Is that how you guys would prefer it? Describe only what's needed in the frame for story or atmosphere and let DRey fill in the rest? Or do you like detailed scripts that would put Alan Moore to shame, and you'll just adjust/edit as you see fit?

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PAGE 10

PANEL 1

They are back in the entry way of the apartment. There is a Bloodwatch Whitecoat standing there.

1 WHITECOAT: The Bloodwatch is the intelligence arm of the EOD, my dear.

2 WHITECOAT: Our job is to keep you and yours in the dark.

3 WHITECOAT: We erase, rewrite, reroute, and when necessary…

4 WHITECOAT: …reprogram.

PANEL 2

Lindsey has moved into a protective position in front of the M.E.

5 LINDSEY: I guess old-fashioned belief wasn’t cutting it for you guys.

6 WHITECOAT: We’ve suffered too many setbacks over the years due to human fallibility. And where mysticism has failed…science prevails.

7 LINDSEY: Doesn’t it make it kind of meaningless? What good is a brainwashed follower…that’s not real faith.

PANEL 3

The Whitecoat is cocking an interested eyebrow at Lindsey.

8 WHITECOAT: All religion is brainwashing, poppet.

9 WHITECOAT: A series of guidelines programmed into your brain from the moment you are born, designed to regulate your behaviors over the course of your lifetime. Simply choose your pantheon and preferred lifestyle…and start scrubbing.

10 WHITECOAT: All we’ve done is streamline the process to produce the same result in seven days.

11 WHITECOAT: You should be very impressed now.

PANEL 4

Focus on Lindsey, at the far left of the wide panel and on the far right we see his hand holding a “tranq gun” loaded with some sort of chemical.

12 LINDSEY: Oh, I’m all sorts of impressed. Don’t let my panicked expression fool you.

PANEL 5

CU on the Whitecoat.Looking appropriately sinister.

13 WHITECOAT: I’ll call for another bed, Poppet.

14 WHITECOAT: Welcome to the EOD.

First thing,

D-Rey is not going to be drawing this story.

Second thing-

The level of my description when writing is entirely dependent on the person I am working with and how important it is that the panel say EXACTLY what I want it to say. After this long, I can be pretty sparse with description and give Dave free reign over what he's doing in a true collaboration.

You might not have that luxury so make sure your script says everything you want it to say.

Cheers for the advice, D Rod... tweak, tweak, tweak...