“The Need To Write…”

By Tony Lee

So today I’ve finished a script that needed to be finalised and sent off a revised pitch to another publisher, and I’ve come to a startling conclusion –

I have nothing left to finish off this month.

Now this is quite concerning to me – as in over a year, I don’t think I’ve ever been in this situation. I’ve been spending so much time ensuring that my name’s out there, that my product is out there – that I have made sure that I’m constantly on the go, be it a 22 pager, an adaptation or two, shorter pages for UK magazines or full 150 – odd page graphic novel scripts. For an example – since the beginning of the year I’ve written two issues of Starship Troopers (that’s 44 pages), I’ve adapted Anthony Horowitz’s Evil Star into a 170 page graphic novel for release in 2009 (yes, I’m working that far in advance), I’ve written Dodge & Twist for AiT/PlanetLar, another 145 odd pages – and that’s just the guaranteed stuff I’ve done. Add to that a variety of 6 pagers and 8 pagers for things like Wallace & Gromit, Bloodbourne and some other things I can’t mention, and I’m hitting almost four hundred pages of comic script written in the last three and a half months. That’s a hell of a lot of writing. And that doesn’t even take into consideration the pitches I’ve gone for, the treatments I’ve written, the columns and the Markosia PR I’ve put together and the nightmare that Starship Troopers – Damaged Justice became when we changed artists.

And suddenly – nothing. I’ve gone from mainlining caffeine while eating chocolate covered coffee beans, washing them down with Red Bull and Lucozade to… well, caffeine free tea.

And this is where you know you’re a writer, my boy. Because already I’m looking for the next story. The next quick fix. I’m not looking for the next cheque, the next salary, as I’m already sorted for a few months on the work I’ve already done – but I need to write. I need to tell more stories.

A couple of weeks back I was in a pub with an artist I’ve respected for a great number of years, and after talking about our lives (we both grew up around the same decade about ten miles from each other) a germ of an idea was formed. And I’ve found myself watching every British gangster flick I can get my hands on because of this. I have dreams where scenes of the story come to life for me. I drive down motorways listening to epic classical tracks, visualising the most gruesome set pieces. And I can see amazing stories to put to paper. But that’s not to be just yet. For although I’ve stopped my active scripts, I still have things happening.

Starship Troopers is running late. So late, that we’ve got pretty much three issues coming out in the space of a month. I have Dan Boultwood sending me daily pages from Hope Falls to letter. That’s right, letter. If you’re a writer of comics, I seriously urge you to learn to letter, or at least attempt to letter one of your finished pages. You may subscribe to the Alan Moore, or the Bendis school of ‘words per panel’ – but it’s only when you actually have to put the sons of bitches onto the page yourself that you truly gain the insight on exactly how many words should go on that page – or, if the artist hasn’t given you enough space, how to make sure when you describe a page the next time – how to make sure he/she does. I also find it incredibly therapeutic. So I have pages to letter. And the convention trail is starting, and I need to prepare. I suddenly find my inbox is filling fast with emails from creators with new projects for Markosia – projects that I cannot look at, as they’re unsolicited.

And then there’s the non-comics work – I have a novel I’m waiting for a greenlight on. I have a television pilot in the works. I have an agent I’m courting like a schoolboy on his first date. All these things take time.

So you’d think, that with all these hassles off to stage right, I’d be happy to have that break, to have two weeks to recharge? Well, you’d be wrong. Writers write because the stories need to come out. I’m known for being a writer who, when he has an idea for a new story will write the first issue to see if it works. I wrote all five issues of Hope Falls a year before I even had a publisher. I wrote the first issue of Imposter with no clue as to what to do with it, I still don’t – likewise Crowtown. Likewise Mythlands. I wrote the first issue of a Sage five parter for Marvel back in 2004 when it looked like it might happen. Why did I do this? Because if I hadn’t, they would still have been there. They would still have whispered to me while I was asleep, they would still have haunted me.

And so I look for my next thing to write, my first real break, and my first real holiday in years around the corner. And it’s an interesting coincidence that next week marks the fourth anniversary since I returned to comics, when I visited both DC and Marvel on the 17th April 2003. Four years in comics. And where has it got me? If I could go back to the Tony of 2003, even the Tony of a year later – would he look at me and think that this was a place he expected to be? Probably not. In 2003 I had no illusions – I was just happy to look at the Marvel Bullpen and Mike Carlin’s office. So what about 2004? The year after that? What has each year shown for me?

April 2004. A year after my first visit to New York. I had a story in Trailer Park of Terror #4, but bigger than that, I not only had my first Marvel story published in X-Men Unlimited #1 (still my biggest ever seller – in four years. How sucky is it to have your first mainstream book outsell everything else…) but I had also just been signed to write three graphic novels for Mongoose, based on Starship Troopers. In fact, I was writing the first on my anniversary – Blaze of Glory, I was going to call it. I was looking to do a Sage story to follow on from the short tale I did. I was having conference calls from Marvel. I thought I had made it. Big time all the way, baby!

April 2005. Well, the Marvel work never happened, as we all know. Editors move, and with them projects get shelved. In fact, I had spent most of the year concentrating on Starship Troopers. It was only a chance meeting in London with Rich Emms of APC that had me meet Dan Boultwood, and combine our forces. So by April, I had book one of the Starship Troopers books come out to lacklustre response (Mongoose had advertised it to a roleplay audience, and 80% of the comic stores out there didn’t even know it existed), a comic called The Gloom ready to come out the following month, and I was working on a new idea called Midnight Kiss. But anything else? I had a five page story in Digital Webbing Presents #18. Apart from that, no, not really.

So then we have April 2006. A year ago. And this was the point where I had almost thrown in the towel so many times at the end of 2005. The Gloom had failed. APC’s collapse had placed a nail in the coffin the size of a railway spike. Midnight Kiss had just been cancelled due to delays all over the place. But then in late 2005 I’d had a shot in the arm with a second story for Marvel. Markosia offered me Shadowmancer to adapt – and in late 2005 I was offered Brothers – The Fall of Lucifer to adapt with old friend Sam Hart. And in early March I had been offered both a story with Doctor Who Magazine, and an adaptation of Anthony Horowitz’s Raven’s Gate. These two items alone gave me the money to see the summer through and keep me on track. And most importantly? Starship Troopers was finally coming out as a monthly, 12 part maxi series.

And so we have today. April 2007. So, what’s happened since then? Well, Starship Troopers ended up coming out as three four parters, and the bloody awful Brothers was cancelled after issue #1, thank God. But as I look at the work I’ve done over the last year, I see a lot of things to look ahead for. I’ve written graphic novels – Raven’s Gate, Robin Hood – Outlaw’s Pride and Evil Star, all for Walker Books. I’ve written Dodge & Twist for AiT/PlanetLar. I’ve started a Starship Troopers ongoing. I adapted pages from The Tizzle Sisters with Dan Boultwood. And the next year? Well, Hope Falls will be out later this year, as will collected editions of The Gloom and Midnight Kiss (from different publishers) and in 2008 we collect Dashing Tales – for Young Chaps. I’ve written Wallace & Gromit. I’ve been interviewed in the press, the internet, on TV, Fanboy Radio and one of my comics is now a daily on Newsarama. I’m nowhere near the place I expected to be when I first started writing comics again, four years ago – but you know what? I’m content in where I am in the scheme of things, I’m finally optimistic about the future and I’m looking forwards to a relaxing summer. So much so, that I’ve bought myself a swanky new laptop.

Now all I need is something to bloody well write on it…