First Real Post!

Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Process (maybe a paragraph about this max, but you can't pass up a Kubrick reference)

Hello All!

Nate here—bringing you the first official post from the Narrative Shack!

I promise, my goal isn’t to take over any inboxes. I don’t have the time nor the excitement in my life to warrant a daily newsletter. But I wanted to write and send out a more normal post today—both to show what one will look like, and also to figure that out for myself.

I’m gonna be honest, I seriously decided to start a Substack about an hour before I actually launched this Substack. This wasn’t some carefully long-calculated move, as much as it was an abrupt decision based on several comments from various people around the same time. Then I saw a close friend of mine, Nick, post on his Substack, as he does so amazingly and regularly. I have some stuff in the works and had been considering making an indie banner to put some of it under, so it seemed like a good idea that was worth giving a shot. So…here we are! Guess now I’ve gotta pass it on and pressure another writer friend to post on Substack, carry it forward <cough>Lana<cough>.

I’m looking forward to trying this out, though—even on this small of a scale to start. I’ve learned at this point that, at least for me, it’s best to just jump in and start the process. Get as much done as possible when there’s still that rush of excitement, so when it inevitably plateaus a bit you’ve got that momentum going already. It’s why I’m not a planner as a writer, it slows that momentum for me—I find that if I know the general plot and first moments I can jump in and see where it all ends up. You’ve gotta just find what works for you and do it, even if other people you talk to do things differently—like how a writer friend of mine recently said he’d be lost trying to just jump into a story, and I said I wouldn’t even know which way of outlining would be helpful for me. Lately, though, I’ve been working on some stuff that does need heavy research and planning—so it could be good to try things out that way, as well. I’d say I’ll let you know how it goes, but if you’re subscribed the whole point is that I already will.

So let’s get to what (I think) these newsletters will look like…

What I’m Doing:

I’ve been home from college for winter break for a few days now—though I’d say break didn’t officially start until I turned in my last paper of the semester last night. So I guess I’m free! Though with those drones flying above my area in New Jersey, who knows? (hoping it’s aliens, personally)

This winter, the goal is to get as much comic/writing work done as possible while I’m home—which I’m ecstatic about. I just checked my to-do list and I’ve got at least three scripts to write in the coming weeks (more on these below). It’s my senior year, though—one semester left. My last winter break from school ever, and the last time it’s really acceptable to have a whole month just doing whatever with nothing going on, begrudgingly having to become an adult soon (he says while eating the cookies his mom made and writing comics/about comics in a Captain America t-shirt…literally from his parents’ basement).

What I’m Writing:

Okay, so I know what I’m doing in comics isn’t that huge or important (besides to me). I’m not working on some secret big two project with a dozen-page NDA and a coordinated release plan. But humor me as I give my various projects codenames, partly because it’s fun and also because some don’t have finalized titles yet.

Project Facade: A project that means so much to me, and is the first fully-made comic I ever wrote. It is 100% finalized and, almost a year since I first started the script, I just learned today that it’ll finally be “announced” in its current form in February. Oftentimes, I think the things I write are terrible once they’re done (and before that too), but with this one, I’ve had time to sit with it all and I’m really proud of the final product and the work my collaborators and I put into it. The great thing about comics: there are so many different skill sets and perspectives put into a story that it becomes so much more than just the story or script I wrote, and possibly think is bad. The incredible work of my collaborators alone makes it something great. Guess I went more into the process, after all. There shouldn’t really be too many updates I’ll even get until it’s put up, but if there are you’ll see them here!

Project Mindset: I’m not gonna lie, I sort of accepted the fact that this one was just gonna be a portfolio piece. I’m really happy with it and heard good things from people who’d read it, but there wasn’t really an anthology or publication that seemed to work for it. That is, until I heard on Friday that it’ll be put out somewhere early next year! I’m excited to get to release it, because it’s a story that evolved so much as I was writing it and my collaborator was drawing it—to the extent that I decided to rewrite an entirely new ending before the last two pages were drawn yet. It’s got some elements that I love and found exciting to play around with, even for only 10 pages. It turned out so well—I love the work I’ve done with Nicolò Arcuti, who is also the amazing artist of Project Facade, and samples of his work can be seen across this Substack already. More on this soon!

Project Freefall: A script I love with a great artist, slowly but surely making progress. I’ve gotten some praise for the script from someone whom I greatly respect, so that was just surreal. I can’t wait to see it done and have this eight-pager be the first official project put out under the Narrative Shack. Here’s a sneak peek:

Art by Diego Lima

Project Nightingale: It’s absolutely surreal that I get to work on this! My pitch was approved last week, and it’s the first time I’m ever going to be writing a script with the project already going to be published somewhere before I’ve even started. It’s utilizing a mythos that I am such a massive fan of, so I’m doing my research to make sure I do it justice and let that passion shine through. After the script for Project Folklore is submitted (see below), this is next!

Project Scarlet: By far, the biggest thing I’ve tried to do thus far—a major step forward. This one will, as of now, be 100% under the Narrative Shack—though I may look into publishers as I get closer to see what fits it best. I’ve been writing out thoughts and ideas that come to me, and it’s all kind of taking shape in my head, but I’m mostly letting it all percolate until it’s time to get writing—which will be after Project Nightingale is submitted. This one, you’ll hear a lot about later on—and, as of now, it is going to be drawn by Diego Lima, the artist of Project Freefall and the incredible snippet of it seen above. It’s going to be dark, but I’m interested in getting started and seeing what form it all takes once I’ve gotten into the characters’ heads.

Project Folklore: This project will likely never be seen. It’s a script I’m currently in the middle of as an anthology submission, so nothing will come of it unless it’s accepted. I’m having fun with it, though—it took a bit to come up with a story for the concept, but once I cracked that things started to align in a cool way.

Project Concrete: I don’t think I’ve ever had as much unhinged fun writing a script as when I wrote the four-page one for this. It’s another anthology submission, which I recently wrapped up and submitted, so again it likely won’t be developed—but I’m hopeful. It’s something very different than what I usually do, more comedic and raunchy in ways, but I definitely had a great time working on it—even if nothing comes of it. It was the first four-pager I’ve written a script for though, so it taught me a lot about how the pacing of that works.

What I’m Reading:

I recently finished the Kurt Vonnegut novel Cat’s Cradle and it blew me away and is possibly one of my new favorites. Vonnegut is a writer several people have asked if I was influenced by, and so I thought I’d give his stuff a shot—with no disappointment whatsoever. I’ve already ordered two more books of his, and those are on my to-read list, after a couple of other things.

I’ve also reread some short stories by a particular author as research and prep for Project Nightingale, but giving away which stories and author will spoil it. But it’s a favorite of mine, which is no less brilliant on a reread.

Finally, I’ve unfortunately been behind a bit on my comic book new releases with finals stuff, but I just read Black Canary: Best of the Best #1 written by Tom King, who is my favorite writer in comics, and the incomparable Ryan Sook on art. Like all of his other work, this is simply brilliant. Just shows how cool and badass Dinah is and sets up an incredible plot for the rest of the series with insane action drawn by Sook, layered in with the depth and sentimentality I love of King’s work. I also read Justice League Unlimited #1 by another favorite writer of mine, Mark Waid, and Dan Mora—one of the best artists in comics right now. Of course, it’s amazing—captures everything I love about the DCU and superhero storytelling, and the feeling of the beloved cartoon of the same name. Mora’s work with writer Joshua Williamson on Superman #20 was also amazing—a great take on my favorite character in comics and his mythos, so quintessentially Superman while also shaking things up in fun ways.

What I’m Watching:

Again, finals, so not much time lately—besides some Doctor Who episode rewatches to unwind. But I am making sure to keep up with the shows Creature Commandos, Shrinking, and Star Trek: Lower Decks—all of which are incredible. I’m sure I’ll gab on about one or all of these—definitely Creature Commandos—in a future newsletter, so I’ll leave that for when I have less in other sections. All I’ll say about each, respectively, is G.I. robot is just the best, Harrison Ford is a joy to watch, and I can’t believe Lower Decks is ending this week because it’s just so good.

All right, that’s it for now. Sorry for the lengthy first newsletter, but this’ll be the general format I think, though shorter—once a week for now, unless there’s something in particular to talk about or announce. This one I made longer to put out all the projects I’ve got overall, but there won’t ever be updates on all of them going forward as they’re all different and moving at various paces.

All right, I’m off to finish up Project Folklore and maybe catch up on comics and TV.

NS