Comics & the Craft of Writing. It was the 1970s; I was in my early 20s, and a freelance assistant editor on Tammy, a girls comic published by IPC Magazines. I’d already written numerous serials for girls and boys comics.
respect to you Pat. A major influence on my growing mind & followed your work through the decades. Still relevant (still think Torquemada's plans have been taken on board by the WEF!) and glad to see you passing on the real-deal advice as creative careers become ever more out of the reach of people without connections or money. Especially glad to see you call out the kool-aid journal which is The Guardian keeping many of minds you once opened firmly shut in a cosy middle-aged consensus
Yeah, I think internships have put publishing out of reach of many young people. But on the positive side, we have self publishing now which was not available when I was young. We had vanity publishing, but self publishing is very different. I'll get into that later
Weirdly I’m applying some of these ideas to art. When you start painting it can be daunting seeing some of the fabulous work out there, but like pat says, you have to work from the gut and find your own voice or you might as well paint by numbers.
So there is Life on Earth. Great to read your skewering of The Guardian as the propaganda mouthpiece it is. But that seems true of most, if not all, media outlets at present. No wonder people are a little batty as a result and heading for the margins (which are themselves peopled by puppet 'alternatives' - extreme, in order to justify more state control?) Thank Goddess for the Muse ... and the many Snakes, traps and challenges we have to overcome in this existence might be a kind of assault course for the Spirit ... Just remember, before they do a cover story on it, the Guardian don't have exclusive writes (or rites) ...
Propaganda endlessly fascinates me. And how the media has been gotten at. The Guardian is arguably the worst because of its holier than the others attitude.
About your friend who was put off writing early on and never recuperated the skill. I don't know what education is like now, but certainly encountered teachers in times gone by who seemed bent on deforming the student's abilities and undermining potential - creating mutants suitable only for menial work. Some of these individuals had obviously been scarred themselves by failure and rejection, so it's mutants begetting mutants ... Luckily, I understand from The Guardian that everything is fine now, apart from a few rude men, and apocalyptic fire & flood. Though he is part panto villain, I think Grauniad secretly admires Blair for being a 'feminist' and Rock Star Messiah figure, who selflessly sacrificed his reputation as a sort of peace-loving bank-manager (with a groovy past! And how!!) to become Brosnan-era bond Action-Christ figure who has made War clean and of a good home. But much as the Upper Classes of yore looked enviously upon Jazz etc., I hope and that the slave class will break out of the present yoke, laugh at the myriad false-alternatives foisted upon us, and cultivate vibrant heresies that will needle and irritate the powers-that-be. We have a good time, taht's our greatest strength
There's an energy about 'working class' and 'resistance' writers which is often lacking in establishment writers. The smarter establishment writers know how to appropriate that energy and insights - I think that's what happened on Shameless. Same with music - Ragtime, which was seen as 'too earthy' and 'too black' was successfully hi-jacked by white artists. Ditto all the music that followed. I think self publishing - and Substack - open up great new possibilities for creators, although AFAIK Lisa and I are the only two Brits in comics making use of Print on Demand. Commercially, it works, but I don't know any other comic professionals who've gone for it. They prefer the original model of the benign publisher which is a complete myth. I'll get onto Marketing later in Pageturners because these myths need shooting down. There's far better alternatives. Blair's groovy past is fascinating - from what little I know of it - hope it wasn't used against him by the Deep State. I don't care what he got up to as a student.
respect to you Pat. A major influence on my growing mind & followed your work through the decades. Still relevant (still think Torquemada's plans have been taken on board by the WEF!) and glad to see you passing on the real-deal advice as creative careers become ever more out of the reach of people without connections or money. Especially glad to see you call out the kool-aid journal which is The Guardian keeping many of minds you once opened firmly shut in a cosy middle-aged consensus
Yeah, I think internships have put publishing out of reach of many young people. But on the positive side, we have self publishing now which was not available when I was young. We had vanity publishing, but self publishing is very different. I'll get into that later
(later) in the marketing section of Pageturners
Love your work, but I'm now embarrassed to be an English teacher.
I think my English teacher was very different to teachers today!
Weirdly I’m applying some of these ideas to art. When you start painting it can be daunting seeing some of the fabulous work out there, but like pat says, you have to work from the gut and find your own voice or you might as well paint by numbers.
Finally, I'm getting a real education! Looking forward to the rest of this, Pat!
Great! This is the book I was hoping you would write. Looking forward to every chapter.
This looks both useful and interesting.
Excellent, Pat - thank you. Such a refreshing voice to read. Very helpful already, on the Muse. Look forward to more.
Very informative, Pat! I shall be looking forward to many updates!
So there is Life on Earth. Great to read your skewering of The Guardian as the propaganda mouthpiece it is. But that seems true of most, if not all, media outlets at present. No wonder people are a little batty as a result and heading for the margins (which are themselves peopled by puppet 'alternatives' - extreme, in order to justify more state control?) Thank Goddess for the Muse ... and the many Snakes, traps and challenges we have to overcome in this existence might be a kind of assault course for the Spirit ... Just remember, before they do a cover story on it, the Guardian don't have exclusive writes (or rites) ...
Propaganda endlessly fascinates me. And how the media has been gotten at. The Guardian is arguably the worst because of its holier than the others attitude.
About your friend who was put off writing early on and never recuperated the skill. I don't know what education is like now, but certainly encountered teachers in times gone by who seemed bent on deforming the student's abilities and undermining potential - creating mutants suitable only for menial work. Some of these individuals had obviously been scarred themselves by failure and rejection, so it's mutants begetting mutants ... Luckily, I understand from The Guardian that everything is fine now, apart from a few rude men, and apocalyptic fire & flood. Though he is part panto villain, I think Grauniad secretly admires Blair for being a 'feminist' and Rock Star Messiah figure, who selflessly sacrificed his reputation as a sort of peace-loving bank-manager (with a groovy past! And how!!) to become Brosnan-era bond Action-Christ figure who has made War clean and of a good home. But much as the Upper Classes of yore looked enviously upon Jazz etc., I hope and that the slave class will break out of the present yoke, laugh at the myriad false-alternatives foisted upon us, and cultivate vibrant heresies that will needle and irritate the powers-that-be. We have a good time, taht's our greatest strength
There's an energy about 'working class' and 'resistance' writers which is often lacking in establishment writers. The smarter establishment writers know how to appropriate that energy and insights - I think that's what happened on Shameless. Same with music - Ragtime, which was seen as 'too earthy' and 'too black' was successfully hi-jacked by white artists. Ditto all the music that followed. I think self publishing - and Substack - open up great new possibilities for creators, although AFAIK Lisa and I are the only two Brits in comics making use of Print on Demand. Commercially, it works, but I don't know any other comic professionals who've gone for it. They prefer the original model of the benign publisher which is a complete myth. I'll get onto Marketing later in Pageturners because these myths need shooting down. There's far better alternatives. Blair's groovy past is fascinating - from what little I know of it - hope it wasn't used against him by the Deep State. I don't care what he got up to as a student.