ComicLab Ep 14 — Ryan North

Dave Kellett and I welcome Ryan North, two-time Eisner Award winner, creator of Dinosaur Comics and writer for Marvel Comics’ Squirrel Girl. We discuss his upcoming book, How to Invent Everything and his successful Shakespearean choose-your-own-adventure To Be or Not To Be. Along the way, we go deep on several topics involving writing — getting ideas, subconscious plagiarism, self-plagiarism, rejecting unoriginal ideas, creativity as a compulsion, juggling multiple projects, exorcising ideas, and much much more.
BUT FIRST — I explain how zinc is more precious than gold for your good health.

Show notes

  • 9:13 — How did Ryan first get into writing for comics?
  • 12:37 — Rejecting an idea if it’s not completely original
  • 16:30 — Creativity as a compulsion
  • 18:08 — Getting the idea for “To Be or Not To Be”
  • 19:10— Capturing ideas
  • 24:14 — Writing Squirrel Girl fro Marvel Comics
  • 30:06 — The “minced oath”
  • 31:51 — Avoiding subconscious plagiarism
  • 38:34 — Juggling multiple projects and how to decide which ideas get used in which projects
  • 41:57 — “Exorcising” ideas
  • 43:13 — Self-plagiarization on social media
  • 45:47 — Ideas are easy. Execution is hard.
 
by on April 5, 2018
Posted In: ComicLab, Writing