Friday, October 16, 2009

*bodkin and the bear* update

after a long break, i've started working on *bodkin and the bear* again, my strip from the DFC.
whilst various DFC strips are reportedly being made into books, plays, tv shows, hollywood movies (i may have made up that last one), *b&b* seems to be the unwanted runt of the pack.
i suppose it didn't really have a very long run before the comic folded, perhaps not enough to really get a good foothold.

however, having re-read what i've done so far, my enthusiasm for the project has been reinvigorated, and i'm determined not to leave it unfinished, dangling for eternity. so i have resumed work, on the script, to begin with -- i've decided to write the whole of the rest of the story before i do any more drawing, rather than continuing to make it up as i go along (which the DFC schedule rather demanded)

when finished, it will see print -- if random house (who at this point in time still share the copyright with me) do not wish to add it to their forthcoming *DFC library*, then after a given time the full copyright will revert to me and i will self-publish and/or seek another publisher for it.

our heroes can't be left dangling forever! (a detail from one of the last pages i drew before the demise of the DFC)

15 comments:

  1. Great news! Can't wait to read more B+tB, in twhatever form it ends up being.

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  2. I can't imagine Random House would pass up a brilliant strip like B&tB. The only trouble is, since book publishing follows Ent-like schedules, it might not appear until Christmas 2011! Still, we might not have to wait 2+ years because some DFC Library strips will also appear on iPhone.

    I admire your discipline btw, Will, in writing the whole story through to the end. After the DFC folded, Leo and I decided to plug on with our strip anyway and I suppose I should have done it that way. But I'd got used to the week-by-week approach so we continued to block it out in 5-page episodes through to the end. (The experience left me with even more respect for Dickens, who often locked down a 120,000 novel 3 chapters at a time with only a page of scribbled notes to guide him!)

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  3. thanks a lot, chaps, you're most kind.

    xmas 2011? hmm, might have finished it by then...

    dave, in many ways i like the making-it-up-as-you-go-along approach, and i think there's a lot to be said for it. it's somewhat akin to improvisation in the theatre. but you have to have a lot of faith that it's all going to turn out well in the end -- in a way my deciding to do the script first is probably more an act of cowardice than anything else.

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  4. The main thing I discovered was that I'm not Dickens. I thought that, having run role-playing sessions off the top of my head every week for decades, I might be pretty good at improv storytelling. But we were just coming up to the last 30 pages and I suddenly had a major brainstorm, chucked out everything I'd done and rewrote from scratch. And then I had a good few sleepless nights worrying that it might've been better the first time :-) Hence my favourite quote from Graham Greene: "A writer is one who knows the long despair of doing nothing well."

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  5. hee hee -- i look forward to the dfc library edition of mirabilis!

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  6. Great to hear you're working on more Bodkin & Bear, Will. Look forward to seeing it wherever it appears in the future. Don't worry, you're not the only cadpig!

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  7. thanks faz
    cadpig -- nice reference -- had to look him up though!

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  8. I always liked Bodkin and the Bear. It's not the only strip that Random House seemingly have no plans for, so don't feel too left out on that score!

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  9. I loved B&tB... would be very happy to see more.

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  10. aw thanks, guys -- it's always nice to hear that people were enjoying the strip.

    as for r.h., well at the moment it's frankly unpublishable, because it's only half a story.
    the ball's in my court, really, to finish it.

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  11. B&B is a tv show if ever I saw one :-) Start pitching it

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  12. d'you think so, andrew?
    heh -- pitching it? -- wouldn't have a clue where to start!

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  13. I agree with Andrew. First step is to team up with a production co (or start one, but you probably don't want to do that). Why not try sending a few pages over to King Rollo Films, for instance, and see what they say. Good luck!

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  14. thanks for the input, dave. so it's as simple as that, just send a few pages over to a production company? that's handy to know.

    i'm not sure where things stand re the copyright, though, at the moment -- i might wait a while, carry on making the book, and see what random house do next.

    but it's certainly something to bear in mind for the future.

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  15. Hi Will, great guns you're popular!! :)

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