Comics Week continued
Christie Golden has done everything: fantasy novels, short stories, tie-ins, novelizations, comics, playwriting.... Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it! She's won the Colorado Author's League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel of 1999 for her pseudonymous novel A.D. 999. Today she's talking about working in the different styles.
Christie Golden:
So, I didn’t really set out to be a novelist. I set out to be a
playwright. And before that, a musical theater actress, but that’s
another story.
Getting back to playwriting-I’ve always been most interested in creating
characters and giving them things to say. I know my strengths, and I’m
good at this. That to me was the fun stuff. I was more than happy to
leave the costume, prop and set design, blocking, fight choreography and
other stage directions to others. Give me some interesting characters,
the spoken word and a good story, and I was in heaven. I took a few
courses in playwrighting, produced a musical that is probably best never
heard or seen again, and then moved into novels and short stories. Alas,
my thoughts were accurate-when you write a novel, you are everything. I
found myself having to, gulp, describe places! Write detailed action
scenes! Man, scriptwriting seemed so much easier. I got better with
practice and now enjoy being able to manage it all, but I did miss
scriptwriting.
So when last year I was approached by fellow Warcraft author Richard
Knaak about writing Warcraft Manga for TokyoPop, however, I felt those
old stirrings for just dialogue and action again. And was it a blast! I
wrote the first script, “I Got What Yule Need” (out in Legends 3 in
March) in four days. It all just came together-the angles, the
characters, the storyline. The second, “A Warrior Made,” was a bit more
challenging, but no less exciting to do.
My editor seemed very dubious that I had never written manga or comics
before. I guess those classes in playwriting, and a natural love of a
story told visually as well as with words, came in handy.
It was wonderful to see the artwork and see how the artist had captured
my ideas and vision and yet added his own unique flair. It’s a
fascinating collaboration, and one I hope to do again some day.
You see, I have this musical, and I think it would be a great graphic
novel...
Christie Golden:
So, I didn’t really set out to be a novelist. I set out to be a
playwright. And before that, a musical theater actress, but that’s
another story.
Getting back to playwriting-I’ve always been most interested in creating
characters and giving them things to say. I know my strengths, and I’m
good at this. That to me was the fun stuff. I was more than happy to
leave the costume, prop and set design, blocking, fight choreography and
other stage directions to others. Give me some interesting characters,
the spoken word and a good story, and I was in heaven. I took a few
courses in playwrighting, produced a musical that is probably best never
heard or seen again, and then moved into novels and short stories. Alas,
my thoughts were accurate-when you write a novel, you are everything. I
found myself having to, gulp, describe places! Write detailed action
scenes! Man, scriptwriting seemed so much easier. I got better with
practice and now enjoy being able to manage it all, but I did miss
scriptwriting.
So when last year I was approached by fellow Warcraft author Richard
Knaak about writing Warcraft Manga for TokyoPop, however, I felt those
old stirrings for just dialogue and action again. And was it a blast! I
wrote the first script, “I Got What Yule Need” (out in Legends 3 in
March) in four days. It all just came together-the angles, the
characters, the storyline. The second, “A Warrior Made,” was a bit more
challenging, but no less exciting to do.
My editor seemed very dubious that I had never written manga or comics
before. I guess those classes in playwriting, and a natural love of a
story told visually as well as with words, came in handy.
It was wonderful to see the artwork and see how the artist had captured
my ideas and vision and yet added his own unique flair. It’s a
fascinating collaboration, and one I hope to do again some day.
You see, I have this musical, and I think it would be a great graphic
novel...