A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO I GOT A VERY NEGATIVE NOTE ABOUT THE FRONT PAGE OF MY SITE

[matt_zimmer]

As I do with every single note I get, I ignored it. It's amazing how pissed off this makes people.

The note was about how I warn on the very front page that The Un-Iverse is structured like a novel and needs to be read in its entirety in the proper order to properly be digested and appreciated.

This person, this published writer, thought that was an asshole thing to say. People sample comic books in and out of their runs and that specific "demand" will chase people off.

First of all, people can "sample" other comic books because they are NOT structured like a novel. And an Author wanting their work to be read as intended is in fact a reasonable want from a creator. I'm sure there are plenty of people who think Stephen King is an asshole for basically calling every single person who reads the last page of the book first an utter monster and a bad person. But he's allowed that opinion. And while my view is not nearly as extreme regarding spoilers (although I avoid them, I get why other people eat them up) I am confident people picking up the saga midway through will get almost nothing from it. It will not just be hard to follow. The character moments I've spent years building will not land and mean nothing.

As for scaring and chasing people off? Dummy, that's why the note is there! I'm warning people ahead of time that the saga is NOT for casual readers, and requires an alarming amount of commitment up-front. Does that chase people off? Yes! Deliberately! I don't want people to waste their time on a huge sprawling saga they'll need to pay attention to and reread several times without knowing that's the deal ahead of time. I would guess the front page of the site chases off a LOT of readers, especially casual ones. I am perfectly okay with that. The readers who are willing to delve deep after that specific warning are my kinds of people, and who this is actually for.

This person, a published author, they reminded me, was annoyed I refused to take notes, or change my story or approach via feedback. Almost all other writers do this, I'm told.

And you know what? Most fiction sucks ass. There are very few creators who are consistently confident in their own visions, at least enough that I actually trust them at the time.

I LIKE the way I do things. I LIKE that my saga is a mess. I LIKE that some people hate it. Hell, I LOVE that last bit.

I could be way off base here, but I always get the sneaking suspicion Jasper Hansen also utterly ignores notes and finds them useless, no matter who they are from. He can correct me if I'm wrong, but it's something I dig about his work, and it's why I feel our stuff vibes in spirit, if not content.

Comments

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I think it's a valid warning. Comic books are often open to casual reading, but some have such massive backstory that they really aren't, even if they are ostensibly episodic. Graphic novels, in the literal sense, are books told in visual imagery, so like other novels they don't lend themselves to picking up just one chapter. It's good to let potential readers know what they're getting into.

My audience and I have built up a generally familiar set of warnings. Some of them are things I've specifically been asked to indicate like "Asking for help and getting it" or "This includes graphic descriptions of delicious food you may not be able to find or make." Once in a while, someone bitches about it, but the approach fits my audience and I'm not giving it up. Same with my footnotes. I have readers who are from different cultures, the whole QUILTBAG, had a deprived childhood, etc. and they need those references. About 19 times out of 20, people appreciate it; as for the other one, it's not addressed to you, just skip it, but don't diss what other people really do need.

[jasonderoga86]

Okay, long post warning here.

First off all, anything "Platinum' about a Sesame Street soundtrack is 100% win. 👍🏾

I LIKE the way I do things. I LIKE that my saga is a mess. I LIKE that some people hate it. Hell, I LOVE that last bit.

And this is why I value your work. These days many people, including published authors, still think there are standards that every writer must abide by to be "successful". Well, pardon my French, but... who the hell has the right to make that judgement call? That's like saying the famous painters of old -- like Rembrandt, Da Vinci, van Gogh, and Michaelangelo-- got famous because they followed trends. Well, reality check for those ignorants: they DIDN'T. Michaelangelo didn't care what he painted, he just loved the act of painting. And van Gogh took his own life because he wouldn't conform to standards and he painted stuff that nobody valued except himself. Yet both painters are now household names in museums.

It's par for the course that a published author would take the time to leave such a stuck-up, conceited note on your front page. Lest anyone forget, I was a published author/artist once, and I found out personally just how not-grand such status can be. Don't get me wrong; I'm immensely grateful for the time I had with Alterna Comics, but in hindsight I can tell that if I stayed with them Lil' Hero Artists likely wouldn't have survived beyond the first issue (and Nick Vollmer would certainly have had a hard time keeping up with deadlines, since at the time he was managing a martial arts studios AND a position as a swim coach/lifeguard -- and we were around the same age at the time, in our mid 20s). But my biggest beef with this published dude who acted a prick on your site? That he DAMN sure isn't a creative soul.

The moment you sign a contract to work with a publisher (or if you self-publish with the sole intention of running your stuff like a business and making profits), I don't wanna be blunt here, but... you're a sellout. You're a sellout to trends, and to the idea of publishing for business. The comic book industry is in the shitter right now because it's mainly desperate hopefuls selling their souls to grease the corrupt machine that is "The Market". Statistics prove that working in this biz is a crapshoot; so many hopefuls walk into this biz hoping to strike it rich and "live their dream job", but the sad fact is that for its entire ninety-plus years of existence, the comics industry has mostly been contracts signed in blood and souls sold. So many creators (except for the rare indie creators who have more say in how their intellectual properties are used) get into the biz to write a comic / novel for an established publisher only to find that they get only lunch money in profits while their publisher pockets the lion's share form sales and basically ALL profits from licensing deals for merch, films, video games, and other media. It's nothing to brag about, especially when it's your main source of income (a mentality that even the pros suggest any hopefuls drop right away to save themselves a TON of heartbreak). And to your point about living Gilda And Meek and the Un-Iverse as it is because it's YOUR creation, YOUR baby, I'll just paraphrase a line from Captain James Kirk at the end of Star Trek Beyond:

"Comic book artists who sign up for this industry biz don't get to really tell THEIR stories and be happy with them, do they?"

*No. They don't.*

"Well, with all due respect... where the hell's the fun in that?"

I rest my case.

Keep it up with what you do with Gilda And Meek, Matt. At least you're staying true to yourself and are truly happy with how the story flows. And personally, it exemplifies the authenticity to your vision, which basically nobody in "the biz" can ever truly claim for themselves. 👍🏾

[jasperhansen]

Making people uncomfortable is a sign that you're onto something. It's not the goal but it's an important part of the process.