100,000 words
I think this is the last scene. After that, the story arc will be complete and the ruthless pruning will begin. I'll make a quick second pass to knock out any obvious false starts and wooden notes and to add anything that feels missed. For instance, the young girl's mother went from 'introduced and all but forgotten' to 'major force at bitching things up', while a third villain I'd been setting up early didn't work out as planned.
Some would say my first drafts are really long outlines. James Ellroy style long. I guess.
But it has nothing to do with my geekitude, so whatever.
I had a great time yesterday. It was a small and intimate con, fitting in such a small and intimate city. Some old friends were there and some new. I ended up watching the table for the two other Kiwi cartoonists so they could grab pizza, comics, beers, whatever. Sold some books, did a little bit of charicature and mostly had a fine old natter with others who like comics.
There were heaps less comics than usual, though. Those rows of long boxes full of cheap back issues (in which I spent many a happy hour of my youth hunting) are gone. The three (!) comics dealers brought a few graphic novels and a box or so of regular ones, using their space mostly for toys (Kurt Cobain figurine, pretty neat!) and Japanese manga.
It makes sense. Those long boxes go largely unsold, they're heavy, and they cost more to ship, even if 'shipping' is throwing them in the back of the ute. Toys are light, expensive, and flying off the shelves yesterday.
The sea change was evident. In a roomful of hardcore fans, comics and graphic novels are vanishing. They're just not as worthwhile for the direct market retailers anymore.
And that might be a good thing. Mainstream retailers are selling a lot of the graphic novels now, and mainstream publishers have been jumping in with both feet. It might just be that the medium's coming out of its little self-imposed ghetto.
It's a warm thought on a cold gray day, and I've got a stack of new comics!
2 comments:
New stuff to read. A gray day. Sounds close to heaven. I'm not as sanguine as you are, however, about the fact that they sold more toys at the con than comics. I know at cons I go to there seem to be fewer and fewer books and more merchandise like toys. It means less of interest to me.
Glad you had fun. Congratulations on hitting the 100K mark.
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