Sometimes I lie in bed and imagine myself being murdered.

I imagine the different ways it could happen. The various people who might do it. Usually in rather vivid detail. Maybe that sounds strange, but I actually do it quite a lot. And in some weird sense, I think that’s me working.

I don’t think writers see the world like normal sane people. Writers are always looking for stories. Even in real life. Especially in real life. The more real the better. Even as real life is happening around you, as you’re in the very act of living it, feeling it. Even then there’s something in the back of your mind that’s quietly just watching. Taking notes. Observing your life like an outside party, looking for inspiration.

Writers live fantasy lives. I know I’ve lived my share. I’ve been married, single, a rock star, a starting outside linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’ve been able to stop time. I’ve relived the past and visited alternate futures.

I don’t remember my dreams much anymore, and even when I did and wrote them down in a dream diary, I don’t think I ever got much of anything useful from them. But daydreams are another matter.

Some people might tell you that nothing useful can come of daydreams. Of wondering around in a daze, wrapped up in your own head, letting your imagination run wild. That it’s a waste of time.

But without daydreaming, I wouldn’t have a job.

Writing isn’t just the act of typing. For me, most of the heavy lifting is done before I ever even sit down at the laptop, before I ever get to the point of actually putting words on paper. The real work is done in my head. Bouncing ideas around. Chasing down different narrative leads to see where they take me. Little by little building a framework for whatever sort of story I’m going to tell. 

In other words, daydreaming.

Now of course, if you never get to the point of actually putting words on paper, then I suppose you’re just a dreamer and not that much of a writer. 

But on the other hand, if you’re sitting down to write without first having done a lot of work in your own headspace, without having wondered around your house for a while in a daze or zoned out at work, imagining all manner of weirdness and mumbling bits of dialogue to yourself like a crazy person…

Then I’d say you’re just not working hard enough.

How I write. In case anyone gives a shit.

– I build an outline for each arc with major story beats, some specific scene notes, maybe some important dialogue. For an issue, I start by just numbering 1 through 22 and writing a brief description of each page. Sometimes after that I’ll go through and breakdown each page into very brief panel descriptions and build from there. Other times I’ll just start at the beginning and build the whole thing as I go. It usually just depends on how long I’ve had the story in my head and how nailed down I’ve already got it. My best days of writing, when I can churn out 12 or more pages, are always preceded by several days of no writing at all, but instead just a lot of thinking, so by the time I’m actually sitting down to write, the story is already nailed down and all I have to do is get it on paper.

– The first five pages and the last five pages of any script are usually pretty easy. It’s always that shit in the middle that’s hard.

– I always aspire to have something memorable on every page, whether a line of dialogue or an action or what. I certainly don’t always achieve that, but I try.

– I write people throwing up a lot. I write sour looks and stern stares a lot. I use “fuck” a lot. Just making note of all that.

– I try not to dictate camera angles or set up shots. I always figure that’s best left to the artist.

– I can’t listen to music or watch TV while I write. I’m too easily distracted.

– I try to always talk my dialogue out, to say it out loud. Would sometimes make for an interesting listen, no doubt, if someone happened to be passing by the window.

– I break the supposed dialogue rules all the time, in terms of how many words you shouldn’t exceed in a given balloon or panel. Maybe I shouldn’t it, but fuck it, if the story needs it, it needs it. I don’t feel like I’m overly wordly overall though. Maybe I was a couple years ago when I was first starting out, but these days I truly appreciate a great silent beat. It may sound weird, but I love being able to take out dialogue or narration from a page because you realize that you don’t need it, that it’s all there in the art.

– I suck at coming up with character names. I’ve reused lots of the same names, usually of people I know. When I was in college I would always flip through CD liner notes to find good names, but these days all my CDs are packed up in boxes in the basement. I try to keep a list where I jot down interesting names I encounter. The sheriff in SCALPED takes his name from a road sign I passed years ago in Ohio for the town of Wooster. I used to also keep a notebook for jotting down interesting bathroom graffiti, though I’m not sure anything useful ever came of that.

Okay, enough of this. I should be doing actual writing now.