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Tales of Maora

Stories, podcasts, and thoughts by Adam Casalino

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Where Do Writers Get Ideas?

June 25, 2019 by Adam Casalino

What inspires you to be creative?

Part 2: The Things that Inspire you to Write

For some reason, writers don’t like to talk about where they get their ideas. And to the outside observer, it seems like writers magically get their ideas from the thin air.

In this series of posts, I hope to break down some of this mystery and maybe help you stop worrying and start writing.

In my previous entry, I said that writers don’t like to answer this question, because they’re busy doing harder tasks. Writing a story—that’s both entertaining and coherent—is far more difficult than coming up with an idea.

But to newcomers who want to jump into the craft of writing fiction, getting a fresh, original, and interesting idea can seem daunting.

So, let’s start out simple: what do you love?

I’m not talking about big things like family or God, but the things that inspired you to write in the first place.

Many accomplished writers started out very young. Long before they published a book, they were writing as children. They’ve been writing for so long, they don’t even think about how they get ideas. Their creative subconscious is so used to churning up new combinations of things, it’s second nature.

But you have to start somewhere. You might as well start out with the stories you already love.

[Read more…] about Where Do Writers Get Ideas?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: advice, comics, fiction, writing

Comics Worth Reading: All-Star Superman

August 20, 2013 by Adam Casalino

comics_header_supes

Comics Worth Reading is where I highlight a series, graphic novel, or single comic issue that I feel is so good, it must be read by every comic fan. This week I’m going to talk about the modern classic All Star Superman, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely.

By now most of you regular comic book readers have heard about All Star Superman, but I’m sure there are plenty out there who are unaware of this series. It’s been published, republished, repackaged and re-released in many formats. You can hunt down the original 12 magazine versions, buy the trade paperbacks, or break your bank on the massive Absolute hardback gigantic version for around $100 (I managed to snag this version for half price years ago when it first came out, thanks to a now defunct discount website called Thwipster). Warner Bros even adapted it into an animated movie that was released on Blu-ray and Netflix. Why is this series so popular? Why after six years since its first release is this series frequently re-released, mentioned and referred to?

There’s a very simple reason: it’s Superman at his finest.

Read On

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: all-star, comics, recommendation, superman

Comics Worth Reading: the Bone Series by Jeff Smith

August 6, 2013 by Adam Casalino

Comics Worth Reading: Bone

Comics Worth Reading is where I highlight a series, graphic novel, or single comic issue that I feel is so good, it must be read by every comic fan. This week I’m going to plug the epic series Bone, by Jeff Smith.

 

Read On

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: bone, comics, jeff smith, recommendation

Comics Worth Reading: The Hobbit Graphic Novel

July 23, 2013 by Adam Casalino

Comics Worth Reading

Comics Worth Reading is a new segment for the site, where I will highlight a series, graphic novel, or single comic issue that I feel is so good, it must be read by every comic fan. This week I wanted to start out strong, so I’m going with the 1989 graphic novelization of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

Adapted from the original text by Charles Dixon and illustrated by David Wenzel.

 

Read On

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: comics, fantasy, graphic novel, hobbit, recommendation, review

The state of comics at large

February 10, 2011 by Adam Casalino

Blog

For those of you visitors who are not regular comic book readers, you may not be aware of the drastic changes being experienced in the industry.  I wanted to post my own thoughts, and some predictions, and see if they come true.

About a year ago I predicted (to myself) that the music genre for video games was going to stagnant and die, due to lack of innovation.  Today we got an announcement to that effect, that the Guitar Hero franchise was no more, with Rock Band probably not far behind.  So I want to see if I am as insightful about comics as I am about video games (call me narcissistic if you will, but I might just be right).

A brief history: the comic book industry has been in a slump since the mid 90’s. After a short lift in the early 2000’s (due to movie successes and–believe it or not–9/11) it has resumed a depressing decline. Now the main comic book publishers are realizing the potential for growth through selling comics digitally (mainly through devices like the iPad, but also on their websites).  This is proving to be a lucrative venture, but it poses some problems.

Right now the majority of print comics are sold through locally own comic book stores.  If the trend to sell comics digitally grows to the point of digital music, we could see those stores going out of business (the same way Virgin and other CD stores went out of business in the last decade).  It also creates a danger to Diamond Distributors currently the only company that distributes comics to stores (yes that is a monopoly, but no one seems to challenge it), because they will go out of business if everyone starts to buy comics online.

So, in light of those realities, digital comic books sales have been executed in the most absurd fashion.  Instead of mirroring iTunes and other music stores (which allows the purchase of MP3 or simillar files to download to your computer and sync with your devices), the current crop of digital comics are only available through certain apps, and can only be viewable through this app on your specified device.  Yes, if you happen to have this app on a second device (iPod, iPhone, etc), you can read the comics there, but if something happens to the company which created the app–say they go out of business–your comics are gone and all the money you spent on them ($2.99 a piece adds up folks) is lost as well.  NOT a good business model (and one of the reasons why “the Cloud” concept has its own pitfalls).  Add to that the fact that new releases of comics (which come out every Wednesday) are NOT available on these digital apps, you begin to see a digital ‘revolution’ that tries to keep the old system in tact.

This sort of set up cannot last for long.  The demand for digital goods (including comics) is going to rise in the coming decades and industries that are not transitioning to provide their content in these ways are going to suffer.  The traditional comic book industry will implode if they don’t–right now–aggressively transition to a digital platform.  This will hurt comic book shops, something even I personally regret.  I am a big fan of comics.  I’ve grown up visiting my local comic book shops, chatting with the owners, pursuing the walls of colorful new issues.  I’ve spent HOURS shuffling through long boxes looking for back issues.  I understand what’s at stake.  But change is unavoidable.  With all change there will be casualties.  What do we want to do?  Prop up an old system and ignore where the market is going (and die)–or adapt and require comic shops to adapt as well?  Some will go out of business.  Some–like many in my neighborhood–will adapt and sell other merchandise to keep their shops open.  It’s not a perfect solution, but nothing ever is.

If in the coming years, Marvel and DC and the rest don’t start providing comics in a method similar to iTunes, the industry will collapse (not completely, but in many irrevocable ways).  Sales are declining; long time buyers (like myself) are getting tired of giant boxes of mags cluttering up our homes; and new readers are slow to come to the game.  If the publishers refuse to change (really change) then there could come a day when there will be no comic book industry.  The traditional publishers will go belly-up, their intellectual properties will be absorbed by their larger owners (Disney and WB) who will not know what to do with them, and individual creators will have to find new ways of earning money.

As it stands now, like it or not, the only people who are in a good position are creators.  We have more opportunities than ever to creator meaningful work and get it out to the masses, side-stepping traditional publishers completely.  Everyone else is in a position to suffer, unless they are willing to change.

And, as I said before, change doesn’t come easy.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: comics, digital, industry, prediction

Comics, comics, and more COMICS!

October 25, 2010 by Adam Casalino

BlogI’ve been in a bit of a graphic novel fad lately (neglecting all the books I had intended to read), and I wanted to blather on about them for a bit.  I don’t know why I’m finding them so attractive lately, probably because it’s the only way I can read really old comics (since the original copies are out of print).

First up is Bone.  Bone is an indie hit from the 90’s, created by Jeff Smith.  I don’t know why it took me so long to get into Bone; I was aware of it for a long time, but for some reason I never picked up a copy.  I’ll just blame it on the fact that it was indie and therefore hard to find, yeah that’s why.  But it’s an amazing story.  They say its geared for children, but I still like it!  Then again, I’m a bit of a child.  There is a giant single volume that collects all 10 years, as well as a 9 volume set that features stunning colors of the original artwork.

I’ve also recently read the first book from The Walking Dead.  There’s a bunch of different volumes and collections of this series, so it’s sort of hard to figure out which one to grab.  Luckily I found the regular trade paperback.  Now, I’m not usually a fan of “zombie” stories (or horror in general), but The Walking Dead has a very compelling story.  Sort of like Lost meets zombies.  The artwork of the first trade is really great, even in black and white (though I’m told the artist changed after issue 6).

The last one I’ll comment on is Daredevil: Battlin’ Jack Murdock, by the team who created Spider-Man Noir.  While looking for the trade of the latter–and coming up empty (I don’t know why Marvel isn’t reprinting that book)–my local comic guy recommended the Daredevil book.  It’s a short volume, but it tells a gripping story.  It looks back at the life of Matt Murdock’s father, a down and out boxer forced to cow-tow to local mobster scum.

I have a few other books sitting in a stack by my desk.  Hopefully I’ll get to them, somewhere between work, drawing/writing, and playing Wow.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: comics

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  • I AM HADES: Outline finished, time to write
  • “How to Write With Style,” Part 4
  • I AM HADES: Gaining Perspective through Outlining
  • “How to Write With Style” Part 3
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