4. A Matter of Opinion on Editing
"What can I say? I’m a mischievous scamp." – Loki, God of Mischief
Howdy Brave Being,
Welcome back. You’ve made it to today. I think that deserves some congratulations. It’s hard to get though life and these strange times, so I hope you do something to celebrate this thing we call living. I’ll be celebrating this weekend by laying on the couch like a cat but for now, let’s get to the latest. There’s no interview queued up for this week so I hope you enjoy what I do have for ya!
What I’m Working On
I’ve started editing a new project with a new collaborator. I wish I could talk about it but alas, confidentiality comes first.
I received an invite to see an advanced screening of The Green Knight, the fantasy epic starring Starring Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, and many more. It’s a tastemaker-only screening so I guess I’m a tastemaker now?! I’m both excited and confused but I’ll take it.
Writing about Marvel characters is what I do most often, but I recently got to write about Yelena Belova, another character who holds the Black Widow mantle.
How best to self-publish DEAD DREAMS: THE LUCID CHRONICLES #1. I’ve already got a special date picked out later this year, so stay tuned.
Tips & Tricks of the Trade
While I write most often for my day job and occasionally for myself, I’d like to talk about my other role as a comic-book editor and offer some tips. I started editing comics in 2011, first copyediting and proofreading and then moved into developmental editing. When I started offering developmental feedback, it was all within Microsoft Word, but it was too much information for any one person to untangle. So, I started to include an editorial letter that sums up overall feedback with notes on narrative flow, character- and world-building, and language. I still note feedback in the form of comments and showing track changes within Word. It’s an easy-enough application to deliver feedback and better than Google Docs since those are live documents and the risk of other collaborators going in before editing is complete is too great in my experience. My word of advice is to stick to Word when editing comic-book scripts. ;)
My word of advice is to stick to Word when editing comic-book scripts.
When it comes to editing comic-book scripts, the question that I get most often is, "Does this work?" It can be easy enough to answer with a yes or no but the thing I've found helpful when I’ve received feedback is when the editor notes why something works or doesn't, with the latter justifying the edit(s). As a writer, that's the most helpful feedback for me, not necessarily a retooling of the work itself. Whenever I receive explicit examples or edits beyond grammar, punctuation, and spelling with the intention of improving it, I'll always think, "Well that's a heck of a lot better, I'm not going to top that" and I give up. It's a personal problem really, haha!
I call these editors Script Surgeons, and there are times when I appreciate that style of editing, especially when I don’t have a lot of time. No matter what when it comes to editing, it’s important to weigh what will serve the story best and how to convey feedback that inspires the writer. So, I'll include why something isn't working and ask probing questions to help improve narrative flow, dialogue, or to amp up a particular feeling that maybe isn’t landing well, so that the writer can decide how to implement improvements, such as:
Is there another way to end this issue that leaves the reader wanting more?
Does this dialogue match with the character’s voice throughout?
How could you make this part scarier?
Sometimes I’ll reorganize sentences or dialogue if it improves the structure, grammar, etc., but I do my best to keep the intent of the original writing in-tact without changing the words the writer used. I've learned this approach by doing as well as receiving edits from my editors.
No matter what when it comes to editing, it’s important to weigh what will serve the story best and how to convey feedback that inspires the writer.
Editors have taught me so much and so much of their work goes unseen. Be sure to thank your editor today, especially those who review your email and newsletter drafts because even those people are editors. Taking my own advice, special thanks go to my frequent editor Heather, email draft reviewer and husband Ross, and friends Rick Quinn, Renton Hawkey, and Milton Lawson). Also, here’s a little recognition thread when I was feeling grateful for my editors over the years.
Things I'm Digging
So real talk: I’m not much of a podcast listener, but This Week in Marvel is worth checking out! I recently listened to it because one of my tweets got read aloud on it (at 01:00:34). The tweet was related to the recently released Black Widow film and how I participated in a flash mob back in 2016 in D.C. demanding equal representation in the films and merchandise. It just so happened that one of the pod’s hosts, Lorraine Cink, saw my tweet because I used a relevant hashtag, proving that the hashtags actually work sometimes.
I also saw Black Widow and enjoyed it immensely. Don’t worry, there are no spoilers here just praise: The film does a fantastic job showing another side of Natasha, as a lead action hero versus a supporting character, and it was so awesome to see her in that role!
Also, I’ve been going back through the movie Doctor Strange (2016) to write about supporting characters for Marvel.com, and I caught something new. Two of Marvel’s lesser known characters appear twice as Masters of the Mystic Arts: Tina Minoru played by Linda Louise Duan and Daniel Drumm played by Mark Anthony Brighton. Spoiler alert: Drumm perishes in both this film and the comics, however under different circumstances but I’m hoping that his death comes up again in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. More specifically, I’m hoping they’ll introduce his brother Jericho, a.k.a. Doctor Voodoo. DOCTOR VOODOO: AVENGER OF THE SUPERNATURAL (2009) #1-5 is a great series to check out on Marvel Unlimited featuring both of them.
Back to Minoru, she can be seen front and center in the still above holding the Staff of One, an important relic that gets passed on to her daughter Nico in the show Runaways and comic of the same name. I may be the only person excited about spotting these things, but suffice it to say, it’s absolutely wonderful to see these characters sneak up in the background. I guess it’s not surprising when Marvel has about 8,000 characters (no joke) so they’ve got ample source material.
Last thing, and yes I know this is a Marvel-heavy section this week but I’ve been working 50-hour weeks for a while so that’s all I’ve had time for, haha! I absolutely adored the Disney+ series Loki and if you haven’t started it yet, there’s no time like the present … or the future or whenever you are in time reading this. (If you haven’t seen it, that reference will make sense when you watch the series).
It’s been a delight to see Loki thrust into different situations than we’ve seen the God of Mischief before. I also watched a video of Tom Hiddleston’s career in Vanity Fair, and it’s a blast to hear from the actor playing the titular character on how Loki has evolved over the last decade.
Plus, the cinematography is gorgeous and there are all kinds of newcomers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) making up a supporting cast that’s well, perfectly cast! From left to right below: Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Owen Wilson as Mobius, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Renslayer, Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15, Tara Strong as Miss Minutes, and Sophia Di Martino as Sylvie.
I loved the show so much that I actually purchased an absolutely adorable Miss Minutes enamel pin. See me wearing it here. If you watched Loki, let me know what you thought of it in the comments (without spoilers pretty please and thank you). :)
Next week, I’ll be chatting with Eisner-award winning editor of PanelxPanel and letterer extraordinaire Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (TIME BEFORE TIME) who will share lettering and self-publishing tips. Until then, take care out there!