More on Writing from fan faves...
May. 15th, 2012 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatI'm beginning to think everyone remotely interested in Joss Whedon that is also on lj has seen The Avengers now, but me.
Anyhow...speaking of The Avengers and Whedon - here's a nifty interview I found of Stan Lee (the original creator of The Avengers) interviewing Jane Espenson (with a perky and somewhat annoying assistant).
What interested me most about this interview was two things:
1. Stan Lee states that people always ask who he writes for, and he says that he writes for himself. Espenson wholeheartedly agrees. She writes things she wants to see and read.
And it's what all successful novelists have stated.
[If you want to write a story that will appeal to others...make sure it's one that appeals to you first, that you want to tell, want to read, that it is your fantasy, your adventure, something you can't find anywhere else, that you have to get out of your own head - and you are writing it because you can't find it out there. Otherwise the writing feels empty and lacks soul.]
2. Villains. Very important to create a great villain.
Stan Lee: If you don't have a good villain...you have a hero wandering around not knowing what to do.
Jane: My favorite villain was Spike, because we turned him into a hero. He was this evil villian, horrible, a big bad, and we over time turned him into a great hero, who sacrificed himself to save the world and save others.
Lee: That's amazing. Because it's new. People don't tend to do that.
Anyhow...speaking of The Avengers and Whedon - here's a nifty interview I found of Stan Lee (the original creator of The Avengers) interviewing Jane Espenson (with a perky and somewhat annoying assistant).
What interested me most about this interview was two things:
1. Stan Lee states that people always ask who he writes for, and he says that he writes for himself. Espenson wholeheartedly agrees. She writes things she wants to see and read.
And it's what all successful novelists have stated.
[If you want to write a story that will appeal to others...make sure it's one that appeals to you first, that you want to tell, want to read, that it is your fantasy, your adventure, something you can't find anywhere else, that you have to get out of your own head - and you are writing it because you can't find it out there. Otherwise the writing feels empty and lacks soul.]
2. Villains. Very important to create a great villain.
Stan Lee: If you don't have a good villain...you have a hero wandering around not knowing what to do.
Jane: My favorite villain was Spike, because we turned him into a hero. He was this evil villian, horrible, a big bad, and we over time turned him into a great hero, who sacrificed himself to save the world and save others.
Lee: That's amazing. Because it's new. People don't tend to do that.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-16 03:05 am (UTC)Thing about Stan is, he allowed his characters to evolve, which is something that's often missing in comics these days. Today, it's like the writers are scared to have any character even remotely move out of the niche other writers have put them in years ago, and by freezing characters like that, you lose an essential part of what used to make a character great. (just look at how Quesada destroyed Spider-Man, just because he was scared of making Spidey look 'old')
no subject
Date: 2012-05-16 10:31 pm (UTC)A lot of the modern writers...just like to throw insane plots at the characters, as opposed to evolving them.
They forget the readers actually do know what happened 100 issues ago.