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That Time of the Month, So to Speak

So, it's the first of February, and I'm coming off my BoM writing sabbatical. I've also got a new branch to publish. Let's start with that.

I wasn't sure what was going to be coming out today—I had been talking with Masktrix about giving him an exclusive publishing run—so I didn't post anything yesterday about what today would bring. Turns out, it brings "The Ally of My Ally" 

That is a sequel to "Friends and Anti-Friends" , and because that's part of a branch that wasn't in the Archives, readers of the Archives will find a bunch of new chapters have been posted, starting with "When Ambitions Collide"  and running through "The Ally of My Ally" . The background to these chapters:

Shortly after buying it, Will sold the grimoire to his friend Caleb, so he is surprised when he discovers that Chelsea Cooper, the head cheerleader, has somehow gotten ahold of the book. Will has started reinvestigating it, and has read it through up to the spell that empowers a kind of body-swap. Chelsea wants to use that spell for her own nefarious purposes, and Will has surrendered to the temptation to help her out. Without spoiling things too badly for reader of the Archives (who can get the details in today's published chapters), Will has taken over the identity of a junior girl as he searches for a possible girlfriend down in the junior class. But he feels sorry for the girl whose life he has borrowed, because she has major health issues.

And as today's chapter opens, Will has found out that Chelsea has already begun using the masks to make replacements around the school ...

This branch will run through February 9.

* * *

Meanwhile, how did last month go, with my "Superior Spider-Man" project?

Well, I discovered that I really hate writing scripts.

Okay, "hate" is too strong a word. Let's just say it was like banging my face into a wall.

Scripts are insanely demanding in terms of storytelling. For that reason they are probably very good practice, but man are they hard. The audience—particularly for a kids' action cartoon—are not going to stick around for any frippery, so every single scene has to do some work and has to land with a serious impact, which means you can't be creative by improvising and hoping that something eventually turns up. (Which is my preferred method.) You have to know what each scene needs to do, and you can't waste your time getting it done.

Also, it's hard to write action scenes. That really ought to be the province of the director or the storyboard artists (IMO), but at the very least I think a script should indicate some possible action. And you definitely have to provide dialogue, particularly if it is for a chatterbox like Peter Parker, so you need some action for the dialogue to bounce off of.

The result was that I spent a whole lot of January staring at my computer screen. And there were many days where I couldn't bring myself to do anything more. I was unpleasantly paralyzed for many days on end.

I did manage, ultimately, to force out two scripts, and I'm going to spend the first few days in February trying to force out a third, in addition to some q&d BoM writing. That will at least give me four scripts that I can show off, and they will round off a four-part storyline that is meant to open the thirteen-episode "Superior Spider-Man" arc that I still hope to get written.

But I'll start today by publishing my transcript (with slight revision) of the climax of the IRL series: "S02E13 "Revenge of The Living Brain"" . The commentary on it is in another post down below.

Now I've got to go catch up on some other BoM-related business that I've been ignoring.