Title Reassessment--March 2007

I'd said previously that I thought of the title Vitamin Femme to describe the exploits of Bridgett, genetically deficient citizen of a future world populated almost entirely by homosexual women. I ran this title by a few people and, while they approved, they also voice concern that I would gather the "wrong audience" with such a title.

In all fairness, the audience for this story is predominantly female itself. I think of women who read odd literary books, as well as dabble in the reaches of science fiction. Women such as these are the most likely audience for the story I intend to tell.

The biggest criticism of the title as listed above comes from the word "femme." There is a connotation coming with that word that implies subcultural context. While I do intentionally touch upon some of these subcultures with this story, I can't limit the story to those confines alone. This is part of the reason why I developed the investigator character, Oriane--to provide mainstream audiences with something more recognizable.

Also, I should note that there is another fine line I have to avoid crossing comes from the codename some of my friends have given this project: SNIKT. There's an odd reference there and I won't explain it in detail. I will say that, much like Wolverine's claws, external organs really shouldn't go *snikt* in sudden, comical ways.

This isn't supposed to be a joke and it isn't supposed to be some subculture thing. As functional as it is, I can't really use the title I thought of. However, I can use something similar...

So how does Vitamin F sound? Granted, I'm sure you know what the "F" stands for, but I think that it's much more mysterious this way. This new title touches upon all the same notes as the other one, as well as making a scientific reference.

Years ago, there was a Vitamin F. This substance was found to be in many food that people ate--and still eat today--and was labelled "F" due to its presence in many fatty tissues. Today, we call these compounds "fatty acids." So, in science, Vitamin F is a label describing a physical compound that in a completely inappropriate category.

Vitamin F. What do you think?

Vitamin Notes

I've been assessing a few things--with some help--and I thought I should make a list and see what others thought.

--In the world Bridgett lives in, shorter hair usually confides a note of submission, while longer hair denotes a trend of dominance. This isn't necessarily a rule for their world, but it's a trend that, when asked about, I did notice.

--Just because something is a Greek institution called a sorority, with sorority sisters as members, doesn't mean that this was always the case. Another question posed to me concerned the sorority that Penelope, and later Bridgett, are part of. The answer I gave was that it was initially a fraternity.

--The subject of religion in this screwed up, mostly female world has come up. At first, my thought was something in the vein of Wicca (partially because I've known a few Pagans in my time and Wicca isn't too far from that). As I reassess this, I wonder if this really works. What should/would the predominant religion of a female culture be? Keep in mind that no population is going to kneel to a deity of a "nonexistant" gender for very long.

Creative Numbers Crunching

Even in writing, numbers are the definative way of tracking progress. After 40 days of working on Vitamin, I've come up with a few numbers to chart my progress.

I've typed around 23,700 words. The mark of a short novel's word count is 60,000.

Using 12 pt., Times New Roman font with single spaces, I've written 44.1 pages.

Proper format--same as above with double spaces--comes up to around 78.5 pages. This doesn't include any sort of chapter spaces or breaks, nor mid-chapter breaks.

The good news is that the framework of this story is really coming together. Something that didn't really exist in my mind two months ago has a detailed plot and story progression. It has characters that, in my mind, are just as real as Hokairu Itobe, or Commander's nemesis Kadium. I should also point out that I'm fairly certain that by February 2008, I should have a draft of this book done. If I don't finish the draft sooner.

Storytelling, Death, and Torment

This has been spurred by the editorial ignoring and killing of the character Captain America.

It's been a theme of mainstream comics (Marvel and DC) over the past few years to highlight their big events with "significant" deaths. Superboy in Infinte Crisis. Banshee in Deadly Genesis. The Question and Booster Gold (among others) in 52. And now Captain America as a result of, if not in the pages of Civil War.

Death is the placemarker in mainstream comics. The examples I just listed are only the merest tip of the iceberg. But what other stories are predominant right now? The unmasking of Spider-man. The expansive decrease in the number of mutants. The reformation of the multiverse.

I'll tell you in three words what these stories really are: POINTLESS SHOCK VALUE.

There's no real reader loyalty involved with shock value. All the reader intersted in shock value has to do is wait for CNN to have a story about an event, buy that issue, then go back to his/her video games and wait for the next shock event. There is an inherent flaw with this; it doesn't generate consistent new readership, it condenses a greater percentage of the niche market onto a single issue or title.

If I were to make a guess, I'd say there are probably 1.5 million comic book readers in the US. It sounds like a lot until you realize that there are more than 260 million people in the US. Comic readers make up less than 1% of the population.

Each week, the show Heroes manages to get 9.9 million viewers. Both are seeking out the same audience, the same demographic market, so why aren't more people reading comics? I think it's because the comic book industry sees superheroes as these constantly fighting engines, all fighting for different ends or purposes. The TV industry sees superheroes as some odd child of science fiction.

For greater contrast, look at the kinds of title that have been gaining momentum in comic book stores. Zombie comics, fantasy comics, westerns, and sci-fi tales. Superheroes, while having the largest slice of the market pie, are dropping crumbs on the floor. Everything else is getting bigger, while superheroes are getting smaller.

Superheroes don't grow, evolve or suffer anymore, so they have to die.

I think this is a way to look at the creators' view of superheroes. I think this view is bullshit. It's much harder to make a character suffer and toil, than it is to kill them. I write stories about wars and I don't have characters--named characters--dying left and right.

Last week, I was working on a section of Ashes of War where a prominent character was assassinated. I didn't want to kill the character, neither did the assassin. However, this character's death created a situation where one of the lead characters could face one of the primary antagonists and say "Your centuries of silent rule have ended as of today. I can find you and kill you. I can get this close to you and there is nothing you can do about it."

It'd be easy to make another character die here, but that's not what the story needs. It's a much harder decision to allow the antagonist to live, but that's what separates a hero from a killer.

If I were writing Cable, I know killing and death wouldn't be a constant thing. Cable is a soldier, his archenemy is a tyrant living by "survival of the fittest." And I'm not killing people. It's hard to make a character live and suffer defeat. It's easy to let them die. Sure, death happens a lot with violent lifestyles I the real world, but audiences of action/adventure (a key facet of comic books) want escapism. If they wanted the real world, they'd turn on the 24 hour news channels and nothing else.

Captain America shouldn't have died. Though he may have just lost a major war for personal freedom, it would have been far more interesting to see this man, a World War II veteran, struggle to find purpose in a world where democracy slowly embraces somewhat fascist ideals.

Marvel took the easy path and killed Captain America. I won't take the easy path with my characters, which is why I think I'll have a little more success than they will. I know that's arrogant, but shock value has little staying power. Strong storytelling is lasting.

Origins

The Present:
I've gotten a few sequences building the friendship between Bridgett and Penelope. I'm trying to get them to the dating stage quickly because most of the plot happens only after they have gotten to that stage. I think I'm running the risk of pushing them forward too fast, but I don't think it's going to be a huge problem. I just have to remember, this is just me getting to story down. I can go fool with it later.

The Past:
Managed to get a good handle on Bridgett's personality. She's the princess of insecurity, disguised conformity, and futile attempts at relaxation. Ah, it is wonderful tormenting characters.

The Future:
I must play in the Origins marquee tournament. I think it's this weekend, which, miraculously, I have off. Why must I play? The bulk of the set is made of "the T," or "the fucking T"--the JSA. I play this team as a merciless science. I'm also good at putting together a team on the fly. Finally, the games are ALL going to be played on the new map... the JSA brownstone. A fitting location for the JSA to show off its "T" formation once again. To my friends I play Clix with, I'd advise you to remember every other time I've played JSA, then copy it.

The Past:
I've been told that the word "Vitamin" should be part of the title of the book I'm working on. The word "Femme," not getting a lot of support.

The Present:
I keep seeing the one person who has a lot of superficial characteristics in common with the character Bridgett (namely hair and body plan). I'm reminded of some things I've read online about developing characters. It's been suggested that characters can be made of parts of different people--the face of one person, the mind of another, and the personality of a third.

A Note on Inspiration

After a bit of internal analysis, I've discovered that there are some subconscious forces at work with every creative idea, no matter how small or how original. Something makes us think the things we think.

For me, it might have been that initial image of Bridgett. Not her anatomy, just her face and her outline. One of the things that spurred that creative streak was having a friend mention that she was interested in reading some of my work. Another element was my continued exposure to a different girl, one who I initially encountered years ago and thought was interesting at the time. Both of these girls have cute features, thin (not skinny) bodies, long legs, and petite breasts. Something of all this came together in my subconscious and devised a character. Or not, I could be wrong.

Another character, Hokairu Itobe, is the product of the same subconscious addition. Initially, the inspiration for him was Zechs Marquise from Gundam Wing. When I decided he should be black, I wanted to keep that same kind of regal stature. There's a British actor named Chiwetel Ejiofor. This man is very talented, has a very confident, subdued presence that can give him a regal quality or an agressive one, depending upon the part. When I see Itobe, I see some odd fusion of Zechs and The Operative (Serenity). And that's what I want.

I think we can control the fusion of ideas, as in the latter example, and sometimes, the fusion of ideas happens quietly, all on its own. With the exception of plot progression, when I'm trying to think about what's needs to happen in a story or what that story should be, I'm performing that process of subconscious addition, over and over.