Hey everyone. So now that everyone that isn’t our key demographic has stopped reading this blog we are going to continue on with trying to write. Now I understand that it is difficult to come up with a description of a new character off the cuff considering how there are so many good characters out there already, but thing of the characters that aren’t made. Everyone in your life is essentially a character in the grand scheme of things.
Now let’s test your writing skills. I want you to pick someone you know that you think is an interesting character and I want you to write about them. Wait, I see that you are clicking on Microsoft Word, yeah. No. Put that away. Pick up a notebook, a pencil, a thesaurus and a dictionary.

Now, instead of starting off with a superhero, we will begin with describing a real person first. I know that if you’re a really good writer, right about now you are groaning and saying “What is this? Why do I got to do this? I thing this is ridiculous!” Some of you out there who are not great at writing may be thinking this could be insanely difficult. Just remember that saying practice makes perfect. That is partly true for writing, but I would like to interject editing makes amazing.

Now lets get started on this:

1. Describe someone close to you. Include: physical appearance/features, others’ impressions, personality, and be sure to write something about them that jumps out at you.
   1. Write them in your own words
   2. Go back over your own words and search for descriptive words that are overly used (i.e. fat, skinny, happy, sad, etc.)
   3. Use your thesaurus to look up a better sounding word to replace the over used word with
   4. Look up the better sounding word in the dictionary to make sure it fits
   5. Change the word if it works, but look up a new one if it doesn’t
2. When finished put notebook away
3. Twenty-Four hours later reread your description
4. Ask yourself “Is this really who I say it is?”
5. Show this to people who know the individual described. What do they think?
6. Look at it again. Are you satisfied? Why? Why not?

Do you feel comfortable writing people? Try writing someone else, someone you feel strongly towards (hate, lust, etc.) and see if you described them. Practice, practice, practice.

Is your head is filled with amazing characters you could find in comic books, but you can’t draw to save your life? Well that’s okay. Have you ever looked at the names on the cover of a comic book or a book that involves several illustrations? Go take a gander at the cover of a comic titled Ghost Rider: Road to Damnation and you will see the names Ennis and Crain at the bottom. You may think “Well those guys drew the comic,” but then who wrote it? In truth only one of them, Garth Ennis, wrote the comic; the other, Clayton Crain, is the artist. You may be thinking “Oh you are a liar, go home,” but think about it this way; an artist, say Frida Kahlo, paints a portrait with an intended meaning, but nothing to go with is the meaning found? Just as well, if you have a good writer, say Fernando Pesso, writes a book, but people don’t like to read his long, drawn out chapters, will his work be important if nobody reads it? The truth is you need a writer to make a comic as much as you need an artist.

Well you can’t draw yourself out of a hole, but you can write somewhat. Let’s get some of your creativity out there. First, you will need a few supplies:

• a pencil
• a notebook
• a pocket size notepad
• an eraser

No you may be wondering a few things, but I will go through the necessity of each of the supplies. The pencil, fairly obvious, is to write down any idea that comes to mind. The eraser, I find may not be necessary, not only because the pencil will have one, but also because it is good to keep all of your ideas. It is mainly in case you need it. Now a good question here is “Why do we need a notebook AND a notepad?” The answer is simple: it is the difference between a desktop computer and a laptop. You wouldn’t carry your desktop to a coffee joint to write just as you can’t save the same amount of stuff on your laptop that you can on your desktop. If you need to quickly describe a girl in a nightclub you wouldn’t be carrying your notebook with you, nor would you wake up at 2:45 in the morning and write about your epic dream in your notepad. The notebook is more for large ideas and at home while the notepad is more for on the go to jot small notes.

Over the next couple months I will give tutorials on how to write a superhero. The tutorials will range from beginner ( for those whose writing is like their drawing) to advanced so you can start giving people like Stan Lee a run for his money. I will also give a few activities to help you hone your skills as well as have fun with writing. We will get to writing soon, but until my next post I want you to keep all your good ideas in your head.