I’m lazy. Plain and simple. Often times I get great pleasure out of creative writing, but I hate to do it. I can’t really explain it. Trying to rip myself away from the computer, a good book/manga, the PS3, whatever to write down words often seems like too great a burden. As if after working all day the last thing I want to do is write. And because of this laziness I often find my stories about 95% snappy dialogue and 5% boring, stilted descriptions of their surroundings.
For anybody who wants to become a writer this is bad. Really bad. Most professionals will tell you that a good writer will spend hours a day honing his or her craft. Of course, anybody with a real job is not able to do this. Hell, even college professors often have to take time off to finish a book project, and they only work 12 hours a week, 8 months a year. For us 40 hour a week Joes and Janes, the profession of writing is probably not meant to be. Not that it’s impossible, just not always feasible.
These days even reading is becoming less and less of a sure thing. I still read blogs and the newspaper, but actual books? Short stories are OK, but sometimes a real, honest-to-God book is hard to read. I blame the emergence of image boards and a rapidly increasing love for manga for my brain turning to mush. But what a fun mush it is.
How does this tie in with my lack of writing motivation? Simple. My main characters I have been working on now for X number of years, Las Almejas, have many interesting stories to tell. Yes, I’ll break everybody’s heart and admit they don’t actually exist. I am not the manager of a hot, all girl grindcore band. Not now or ever. I’ve had many ideas go down the memory hole because I didn’t write them down when they were still fresh. And many more are going down the memory hole because I cannot draw.
The truth is, I always imagined a Las Almejas cartoon. Kind of like an R-rated Josie and the Pussycats. I also imagined a comic book, a movie and probably a line of figurines that will poke your eye out. The original series, circa early 2001, would have been heavy on the shock value and light on the humor. The characters circa 2010 would be darkly humorous, slice-of-life type stuff, with lots of “fan service” elements. Ands lots of godless grindcore music. Maybe even a bit of political satire if the story calls for it.
So, why post this here and now? This is me thinking out loud. Probably unknowingly making a call of sorts to anybody who might want to help draw a few stories of these girls. Their design isn’t 100% finished yet, though I obviously can picture them in my mind. I’m cheap, so the pay will probably be shit. No, not really. Stories will most likely get posted to the main site on this domain. I’d rather keep it local than put it on KeenSpot, or a service like that. I can’t imagine most stories lasting more than 5 or 6 pages. 4 panels each. I’m minimalist, yo.
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