Writing Comics 1 - Getting Started (how I got started)
Unfortunately, people sometimes ask me questions. Simple questions. Questions like, “Hey Ahmad, how did you start writing?”
Then, I clear my throat and begin. A very lengthy backstory that starts with, well….. My older sister Rahilah and her friends were the great storytellers of my childhood. We lived in an extremely humble and rural community in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. We’d carry drinking water home from a natural runoff, split firewood to keep warm, cook our meals on cast-iron wood burning stoves and light the wicks of our oil fueled argand burners to see the night through. All of this is to say that even though it was 2002 Television was not our reality. The works of Faraday and Franklin had yet to illuminate our lives with the basics of modern electricity; never mind the entertainment of TV. But none of that had any bearing on me because in my mind the storyteller reigned supreme.
The electrical shortage in this community had made emperors of its storytellers. They garnered respect and wielded a soft power with each pronounced word. As emperors they’d trade minutes of orations involving protagonists of great renown battling some imposing force of evil for the completion of difficult chores like chopping a cord of wood or carrying 5 gallon water buckets nearly half a mile from the nearest runoff to their respective homes. At times this meant an enchanting story was only a few hours of hard labor away from being heard. While at other times the sum of these back breaking chores rose like an insurmountable wall to my listening. But somehow, without hesitation I’d muster up the courage and make that difficult trade every time.
Usually, at this point during my rant the person who’d initially asked, “Hey Ahmad, how did you get started writing?” says something like, “Wow, that’s interesting but I was more interested in your process”. And at that point I respond, “Not much to that. I just try to stay put and write”.
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What price would you pay for a good story?
Comment your thoughts.