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My writing process for this scene was unusual. Usually, my process goes something like this: think, think, think, think, write, delete, think, think, cry, write-really-fast, deliver to Al at the last minute. In other words, I spend a lot more time thinking about what I’m going to write than actually writing. (And I know this is a really bad habit; occasionally, I can make some progress by forcing myself to write, even if I don’t like what I’m producing, and then cleaning it up later. But that often doesn’t work for me.)
But for this scene, I thought inspiration had struck early, and I actually wrote a couple of pages weeks in advance. But then I tried to finish what I’d started, and I realized that I didn’t like my first attempt. I ended up writing and re-writing pages several times, and the scene kind of got away from me. This page is a good example of something that didn’t work out quite like I’d wanted it to. I had intended for Mark’s last line (“That’s my special power.”) to come at the end of last week’s page, where the “special power” talk had started. But I ended up with way too much stuff in between to fit on one page, and so the punchline got separated from the setup.
I know it’s not a tragedy, and I think it still works pretty well, but it shows what can happen when I ramble (like now!).
In case you missed it the last couple of weeks, we’re going to be at Denver Comic Con May 31st to June 2nd. You can get all the details here.