On Guitar Heroes, Web-comics: Getting your idea off the ground, and then some.
Ian Z IM-ed me yesterday about collaborating on a web-comic. Now, it should be noted that as far as my prediliction for fiction is concerned, prose is more my turf than comic book-writing. But his idea was interesting. Very, very interesting.
It's about a young guitarist who owns an old guitar that contains gems that form a weapon for war. A war for peace. It's fantastic, I know -- but I'm a fantasy fic aficionado, and what could be more seductive to someone who idolizes Eddings, Salvatore, Goodkind and Pratchett (not necessarily in that order) than to be asked to collaborate on an adventure of fantastic proportions?
Needless to say, I jumped on the chance without rolling the dice. So to speak.
We've been friends for three years now, Ian and I, and this story -- this idea -- goes back as far as ten, fifteen years ago, says Ian. Apparently, he's been carrying it around, looking for the right opportunity, for the right impetus, to present itself. Why I was picked to be the lucky contestant is beyond me. But on with the story...
This guitarist, this young maudlin who has no idea of the power he's holding, comes from a long line of musicians who have been tasked to guard the instrument. When he first told me the story, I could picture Val Halen, from The Justice Friends (that superhero cartoon spin-off of Dexter's Lab). I scoffed at the idea, at first. But then it got interesting. It had elements of high fantasy -- gods doing war with each other, using humans as their agents in this unending battle between good and evil -- to quote Travolta.
Then Ian relates the backstory of his heroic character. He's a member of a garage band, trying to get things started for the band. But he's not getting it done. One day, this old guy saunters right by his house, carrying a guitar. The old guy, sits by the curb, and starts strumming a song. Our hero is drawn to the tune. He takes out his guitar and starts playing with the old guy. And then --- better read the web-comic before I start revealing too much.
What is it that makes a story interesting? What makes an idea start out and turn into something interesting to read and compelling to follow?
My wife is caught up with Gossip Girl these days. Since we don't get the episodes in regular programming in Cebu, she shops for the DVD version, or video-streams it as soon as the next episode is ready for streaming on the Internet. I sat down with her on one or two episodes and discovered that the idea behind the story is: For all their riches and comfort, what makes New York's high society children tick?
It's a simple question -- a rather inocuous idea, really -- to start with. But it's spawned a season and a half in the States and seems to be going strong.
I've recently taken up rereading the Forgotten Realms. It's as compelling as ever. In between Gossip Girl and the Forgotten Realms, Tolkien holds the same fascination that gripped me when I first opened The Hobbit in my freshman year in DBTHS. What makes a story so interesting? What makes an idea so compelling, you just have to give birth to it -- to quote Ian -- and see to its fruition.
People are brimming with ideas all the time. And that's good. But the real geniuses are those who dare to think these ideas and actually do something about it. In fact, Apple's done something to encourage that; their latest marketing idea, if I'm not mistaken, offers a big prize to the person whose big idea helps the most people around the world. Not bad at all. Not bad at all.
And what of our hero with the magical guitar? He's no spellsinger, definitely. Alan Dean Foster needs not worry about spellsinging and Jon-Toms popping up in this story, that's for sure.
It's an idea that's been ruminating for years, and truth be told, I've been wanting to read it. And when ideas are turned into fantastic stories about what you love most, like what Ian Z is doing, it's bringing it into reality that counts.
Being invited to collaborate is not bad, too. Not bad at all.
