Wikipedia, Wrestling & Marvel Comics.

Okay let’s get the laughter out of the way whilst I lose all my intellectual credibility. I do a LOT of the research for my writing on Wikipedia… Yes I take my information from a less than reliable source which can be edited by anyone and the facts are not checked properly if at all. I am aware of all of this.

I compare my use of Wikipedia with my love of Marvel comics and WWE wrestling. (Bear with me I may ramble) Many of my friends, reasonable people, often intellectuals and deep thinkers in their own right, watch shitty soap operas and reality TV shows. Can’t bear them myself but the principle is the same. WWE is my soap opera, everyone needs something where they can just switch off and kill a few meaningless hours, it’s how I unwind.

The story writing in WWE varies from just above average with enough genuine surprises to keep me interested to abysmal. But I watch it for the action, the slams, the big falls, the blood and the glory. (Before you start I am not an infant, yes the matches are scripted and they know how to fall but just because you know you are about to fall of a 10 foot ladder does not mean it won’t hurt. IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU THINK! Anyone who disagrees with me I challenge to take a bump themselves… No scratch that I challenge you to a match, name the place and time brother, because I am the best there is, there best there was and the best there ever will be. And that’s the bottom line cos Luke Warm says so… Ahem… Sorry)

Where was I? Oh yeah, After getting into one wrestling promotion I started looking at the others, WCW, TNA, ROH, CZW and other such acronyms, all of which with something different to offer whether it be well written story lines, more violent action, high concept main events, they all offered something different to WWE that made them worth watching and eventually WWE nicked the best idea’s… Because they could I suppose. It is all crap of course. But it is MY crap, and I love it.

By the same token Marvel comics have created some of the best, and worst, storylines and characters in comic book fiction. With Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, The Avengers and The X-Men Marvel had created heroes that were flawed and had real problems, whether it was partners, family or money, the villains were almost just a bonus obstacle to overcome whilst they were job/house hunting, whatever. This was so much better than the likes of the holier than thou heroes like Superman with their perfect lives. Oh, go stick some Kryptonite up your arse.

Marvel comics are far from perfect. Particularly in the 90’s the plots became convoluted and you were unable to just “dip out” and come back later. Often there would be “universe-wide” conflicts which would involve you having to get scores of comics starring all the heroes to be able to get the full picture of what is going on. Like with WWE, I went forth to see what else was out there.

If I had never started on comics I would have missed out on amazing graphic novels (comics if you must) like Preacher, The Walking Dead, Y the Last Man, The Watchmen, The Sandman, Powers… I could go on… And on… Ad nauseum.

I guess what I am trying to say is, like with WWE and Marvel, Wikipedia is my jumping off point for information. It is where I start when I need to learn more about any given subject. I am not daft enough to take everything on the site as Gospel, but it points me in the right direction of where I need to look to go deeper, and occasionally I find some real gems.

Right I am now off to fight against the evil demons that have my beloved muse captured in a pit of despair.

FLAME ON!

Affirmation

Hey all,

Soooo yeah, back in the swing of things now got a fair bit jotted down, expanding on themes, characters, plot and sub plots and felling pretty damn good about it too.

Problem being for each minor tweak I make, for each slight modification to character, I have to go back and rewrite what I have done so that everything measures up.

My habit of constantly re-writing my work has reminded me of the story of the never-ending novel...

"There was once a novelist who wrote a very long book. It took him ten years of hard work. When he reached the end and read back what he had written, he realized that he was no longer the person of ten years ago. His wisdom had deepened, his skill had increased. And so he sat down to rewrite the book. Ten more years passed. When he reached the end of this second draft, he read back what he had written. Again, he realized that he was no longer the person who had begun the rewrite. His wisdom was deeper still, his skill more profound. And so he sat down to rewrite it a third time..."

In an effort to stop messing about with my book I have put the first chapter up for consideration on enovella.co.uk. If you are feeling particularly curious you may see this first draft at http://enovella.co.uk/read.php?work=1701

There have been a couple of nice comments posted about it so far… Both from the same person but it still counts.

Hope you enjoy.