How to Avoid Writer’s Block when Creating Comic Strips

A Cartoonist’s biggest fear – WRITER’S BLOCK

I have a confession to make. I have NO idea what it is like to experience “writer’s block”. I usually have 5 or six ideas for my strip or “directions” for which I can go with a series of linked, continuing storylines for a few comic strips. I rarely have the gag prepared because my comic strip seriously appears to “write themselves”. I doodle up the first panel and add a little dialogue and the next three panels just appear in my head. My preparation before writing is the key to a healthy writing session.

THE CURE FOR WRITER’S BLOCK

I have one word of advice for anyone who suffers from writer’s block. Preparation. I have notebooks and pens all over the place. I have a stack by my bed. I have two by my comfy chair in the living room. I have one in my car. I have one on my desk at work. I tried keeping one outside in my gazebo but it kept getting wet when it rained. As ideas come to me randomly, I write the thought down. If I do not record these tidbits, the tiny ideas would vanish from history.

PLEASE NOTE: ALWAYS KEEP TWO PENS OR MECHANICAL PENCILS NERA THE NOTEBOOKS. NOTEBOOKS ARE POINTLESS WITHOUT A WRITING UTENSIL.

How can someone forget great ideas? These little flashes of genius are just starting points. Obscure, fractions of an idea are easy to lose, especially when you have a highly stressful day job. My mind is more focused on launching new product lines… and managing production issues… and looking into future product lines as well as complementing existing lines. By the time I am ready to use a weekend for writing, my brain has been drained.

So how does Davy Jones keep up with such a creative and fun comic strip? Easy. I use my tidbits of brilliance written in my notebooks. I have one tidbit here which reads “Charmy is out picking his nose” and another here which reads simply “Big game hunter”. Oh, this one is a fun starting point. It reads “Annie Maytor gives the gang a make-over for their animation pilot”. See, some ideas are thoughts while others are a bit more detailed, just as we are seeing with that last one. The more detailed ideas are usually visions I use to create a series of comic strips which tie in a storyline.

SO, WHY DOES THIS TECHNIQUE WORK?

Again, I have never experienced writer’s block so remember, this advice may or may not work for everyone. That said, I truly believe this technique works over time, and here is why. I write an idea or two down every single day. Getting into this rhythm keeps your brain’s imagination in shape. As with any form of daily exercise, your body’s health is improved. By using a few minutes to plop out an idea or two, even if it reads “Charmy explain his new black eye”, you have a bunch of starting points to run with. After a month of working your brain daily with simple little blurps of probable situations, your healthy, creative will be ready to run with a few of these starting points.

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NOW YOU KNOW MY SECRET!

Anyone of the artists who know me from artists alley in the various comic cons around Texas knows how I love to share my knowledge and my “tricks of the trade” with my fellow creators. Please try out my method for a few months and LET ME KNOW IF IT WORKED. Contact me HERE. If my technique, known as the “Okra-Dokree Block Crusher” is something you’d like to share, PLEASE DO!!! Just be sure to give me a little credit and share my comic strip, Charmy’s Army.

-Davy

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