Bob's note was really interesting. It was sort of a macro note, but instead of giving the lame version (don't quit on your ideas, or take another pass, or bake these suckers until they're done), he offered a really solid methodology for taking that next pass. I've never met a comedic or writing hero of mine, but I'm certain I'd turn to useless goo if I did. Question for you. And I know nothing about drawing. I can't even draw stick figures. But do you sketch each iteration of a cartoon, or do brainstorm a bunch of possibilities and then sketch a few? Like, I'll write out some ideas and some jokes and if I see a few key scenes, I know I have a story, and then I go to a draft and then I rewrite the draft until it's done, or I'm done, or the deadline is here. But I'd be curious to know more about your process. I really enjoyed seeing these "very dumb drawings," btw! It's fascinating to see inside someone's craft, so thank you for sharing!
Hi Michael! Yes, his feedback was legit! He even gave me more feedback than that, which I feverishly wrote down in a notebook ✨somewhere✨.
It really felt like he authentically wanted to help me out, which warmed my heart because he by no means needed to set aside this time for me. It was extremely nice of him. I've heard he's a big ally for cartoonists, so it was really nice to see in action.
A: I doodle very loose ideas in my sketchbook (like what I shared in this post), then if any of those ideas feel good enough, I'll take the idea into my iPad/Procreate app and start drawing something a bit nicer for submission.
I like to brainstorm on paper because I've come to learn that drawing digitally really triggers my perfectionism since you can undo any tiny dot or line and I get REAL neurotic when I have that power! Also brainstorming on paper makes me feel like a kid again, where I'm drawing for me and no one is looking and I can draw the dumbest, ugliest shit and it doesn't matter. I try to iterate the caption idea on paper too, sometimes I end up with full pages of text-- just iterating one line over and over with little tweaks. My sketchbooks are quite chaotic, which I kind of love.
--Thank you for sharing a bit of your own process too, Michael! I'm actually working toward becoming a humor writer as well and that world is so much murkier to me. I feel like a total n00b, but I'm having such a good time writing. I feel silly I've even waited so long. It scratches a different but similar itch, which is so exciting to me.
Really appreciate that answer! I know what you mean about paper vs. digital. I actually scribble notes on a physical notepad, even though I have trouble reading my own writing. There's something really liberating about not being able to hit delete and make it perfect.
As for finding your way into humor writing, please feel free to email me, or hit me up the next time there's an LA substack meet up (I think Alex mentioned that at some point). I'm always happy to help.
Yus! I want to attend one of these LA Substack meet-ups! Do you know the best way to stay in the know on when those will be happening? I'd love to meet you both!
There was a Substack for LA meet-ups, but I don't see it anymore. I think there were only one or two meet-ups through that Substack, so maybe it's not a thing anymore. Once a year, Substack was organizing local meet-ups, and Alex was one of the hosts last time around. Bottom line, we're gonna figure this out. Stay tuned!
Hahaha just last night my google chrome voice remote thing misheard my "Watch Banshees of Inisherin" and actually wrote "Watch Banshees of Ed Sheeran". Amazing. For the record, we had the splash page up on the TV for about half an hour while we looked at our phones and played with our cat, and then went to bed. We're not very good at watching movies.
HAHA! Omg, I feel so validated by your Google Chrome!
Even though you didn't end up watching the movie... still kind of sounds like a great night. Mat and I live a very similar existence. If you ever do get around to watching it though, I do actually adore the movie-- almost obsessed actually. It does require subtitles imo though. It's just dark comedy gold. It's so strange and funny and the landscape is so beautiful. It really makes me want to go to Ireland and cut off all my fingers, lol.
I was a small-time actress in another lifetime (20 years ago lol, now I'm a visual artist), and I once got cast in a lead role for a short film, and the other lead was a veteran actor in Singapore (where I'm from). I was so star-struck that I could barely manage more than a barely-audible "hello" in my attempt to make conversation with him for the entire four days on set 😅 I think even if I ran into him now I'd still be just as tongue-tied, and he probably won't even remember me anyway since I had made such an impression LOL. Anyway I love seeing your half-half-half ideas, and I admire your courage to share them. I have tons of half-half-half ideas too, and your blog has been an inspiration for me to start my own here, which I'm still working up the courage to do so 🙈
Oh my God, MaryAnn! Thank you so much for the compliments. I do absolutely agree it takes courage to share art. I've only recently broken through this mental block. Please do start your own Substack if you feel any inclination!
Part of my strategy for convincing myself to share my art online is that there is almost literally nothing to lose. Even if no one sees what you share, it will make you feel empowered because you did it. From there you can just keep building your confidence. Share your art for you. The more I write and share my art online the more confident it makes me feel. It's exposure therapy 100%.
Before I started writing on here I felt like such a writer-imposter and now I look back at things I've written on this Substack and I'm like... "Hey, that's not bad, actually?!"
And I'd never have known if I never shared my writing.
I believe in you MaryAnn! Let me know if you create a Substack-- It's fun, I swear!
That's really interesting feedback you got. I appreciate your sharing it as I also have a tendency to move on to quickly without developing an idea (not that i have ideas to develop mind you - but maybe some of my 12.5% things could benefit from a more extended look).
The t-shirt could be fun.
Also, I really love the concept of Schrodinger's dishwasher 😆.
Oh and yes, I lose the ability to form words when I meet people I admire. I met a musician once and I was pretty much, "you music. Me like. Music good."
HAHA, yup! That's it! That's what I do too! I worked at a restaurant in Portland, OR one summer and Aidy Bryant came in and I said something extremely similar. I was like, "I love Shrill..." and couldn't think of anything else to say and I literally rehearsed the line all shift because her name was in the reservations hahaha.
I haven't come up with anything better to have said, but I have reimagined the scenario numerous times where Aidy responds to my generic comment with, "omg, thank you so much girlie! Let's grab a drink together tonight and talk hot goss and humor writing. Let's be best friends and fall in love?!"
Great question Scott. There definitely is no expiration date on ideas (unless it's a super topical joke), but the second I share any of my ideas or rejected cartoons online they are no longer within "first publication rights" for The New Yorker to buy. So sometimes I share my rejected cartoons online a little too quickly, when maybe I should have tried to iterate on them further before moving on.
That's honestly a big reason why the cartoons I shared on this post are especially early stage, because if I share them here I am likely losing my chance to submit the ideas again. I had a lot of extra half-ideas that I didn't share in this post because I still want to try to make them work.
Wait, what? You started getting all business talky on me 😆. Are you saying The New Yorker won't buy a cartoon if it's been published elsewhere first even if that "elsewhere" is a 1/12-baked version on your own blog? I mean it's not like The Atlantic beat them to it here or anything.
Yup! They only buy work that's never been published in any context including online in any form. If I share an idea on my Instagram, then try to iterate on it later I'm honestly not confident how much different it needs to be to be considered a new, unpublished idea.
The legal of it all makes me a bit nervous though and I don't want to shoot myself in the foot, so sometimes I hoard ideas because I'm not confident on where the lines are drawn on these things.
Wow! That's scary! Which makes it all the more brave of you to share your work with us. So, thank you! (And please do hoard your ideas - get yourself back into The New Yorker!)
I like the "R U Mad @ Me?" shirt, but it might remind me too much of Hayden Christensen playing Stephen Glass in "Shattered Glass," and that might break me.
I also feel the "half idea" idea. The best jokes tend to work twice (in two ways). Sometimes you really have to dig to find that extra dimension.
I have never seen or heard of that movie, but I just watched the trailer and now I want to watch it! What a cast!! How have I never heard of this. Should I watch it?!
I'm obsessed with watching movies from the 90's/00's that I've never seen because it feels both nostalgic and new at the same time.
Haha, thank you so much Mitchell. I did use a calculator for that math though. I'm too lazy to use my brain like that!
Oh yeah you're right! I forgot to mention Bob was the creator of the caption contest. I wouldn't doubt the contest is rigged. I trust no one! I'm barely certain we're not in The Matrix *looks around for floating binary code*
Bob's note was really interesting. It was sort of a macro note, but instead of giving the lame version (don't quit on your ideas, or take another pass, or bake these suckers until they're done), he offered a really solid methodology for taking that next pass. I've never met a comedic or writing hero of mine, but I'm certain I'd turn to useless goo if I did. Question for you. And I know nothing about drawing. I can't even draw stick figures. But do you sketch each iteration of a cartoon, or do brainstorm a bunch of possibilities and then sketch a few? Like, I'll write out some ideas and some jokes and if I see a few key scenes, I know I have a story, and then I go to a draft and then I rewrite the draft until it's done, or I'm done, or the deadline is here. But I'd be curious to know more about your process. I really enjoyed seeing these "very dumb drawings," btw! It's fascinating to see inside someone's craft, so thank you for sharing!
Hi Michael! Yes, his feedback was legit! He even gave me more feedback than that, which I feverishly wrote down in a notebook ✨somewhere✨.
It really felt like he authentically wanted to help me out, which warmed my heart because he by no means needed to set aside this time for me. It was extremely nice of him. I've heard he's a big ally for cartoonists, so it was really nice to see in action.
A: I doodle very loose ideas in my sketchbook (like what I shared in this post), then if any of those ideas feel good enough, I'll take the idea into my iPad/Procreate app and start drawing something a bit nicer for submission.
I like to brainstorm on paper because I've come to learn that drawing digitally really triggers my perfectionism since you can undo any tiny dot or line and I get REAL neurotic when I have that power! Also brainstorming on paper makes me feel like a kid again, where I'm drawing for me and no one is looking and I can draw the dumbest, ugliest shit and it doesn't matter. I try to iterate the caption idea on paper too, sometimes I end up with full pages of text-- just iterating one line over and over with little tweaks. My sketchbooks are quite chaotic, which I kind of love.
--Thank you for sharing a bit of your own process too, Michael! I'm actually working toward becoming a humor writer as well and that world is so much murkier to me. I feel like a total n00b, but I'm having such a good time writing. I feel silly I've even waited so long. It scratches a different but similar itch, which is so exciting to me.
Really appreciate that answer! I know what you mean about paper vs. digital. I actually scribble notes on a physical notepad, even though I have trouble reading my own writing. There's something really liberating about not being able to hit delete and make it perfect.
As for finding your way into humor writing, please feel free to email me, or hit me up the next time there's an LA substack meet up (I think Alex mentioned that at some point). I'm always happy to help.
Yus! I want to attend one of these LA Substack meet-ups! Do you know the best way to stay in the know on when those will be happening? I'd love to meet you both!
There was a Substack for LA meet-ups, but I don't see it anymore. I think there were only one or two meet-ups through that Substack, so maybe it's not a thing anymore. Once a year, Substack was organizing local meet-ups, and Alex was one of the hosts last time around. Bottom line, we're gonna figure this out. Stay tuned!
"After I finally grew some ovaries."
So perfect.
Thank you, Matt.
I love playing with language like this, it's empowering, I cannot lie!
Hahaha just last night my google chrome voice remote thing misheard my "Watch Banshees of Inisherin" and actually wrote "Watch Banshees of Ed Sheeran". Amazing. For the record, we had the splash page up on the TV for about half an hour while we looked at our phones and played with our cat, and then went to bed. We're not very good at watching movies.
Also, I'd totally wear an "R U Mad @ Me?" shirt
HAHA! Omg, I feel so validated by your Google Chrome!
Even though you didn't end up watching the movie... still kind of sounds like a great night. Mat and I live a very similar existence. If you ever do get around to watching it though, I do actually adore the movie-- almost obsessed actually. It does require subtitles imo though. It's just dark comedy gold. It's so strange and funny and the landscape is so beautiful. It really makes me want to go to Ireland and cut off all my fingers, lol.
I was a small-time actress in another lifetime (20 years ago lol, now I'm a visual artist), and I once got cast in a lead role for a short film, and the other lead was a veteran actor in Singapore (where I'm from). I was so star-struck that I could barely manage more than a barely-audible "hello" in my attempt to make conversation with him for the entire four days on set 😅 I think even if I ran into him now I'd still be just as tongue-tied, and he probably won't even remember me anyway since I had made such an impression LOL. Anyway I love seeing your half-half-half ideas, and I admire your courage to share them. I have tons of half-half-half ideas too, and your blog has been an inspiration for me to start my own here, which I'm still working up the courage to do so 🙈
Oh my God, MaryAnn! Thank you so much for the compliments. I do absolutely agree it takes courage to share art. I've only recently broken through this mental block. Please do start your own Substack if you feel any inclination!
Part of my strategy for convincing myself to share my art online is that there is almost literally nothing to lose. Even if no one sees what you share, it will make you feel empowered because you did it. From there you can just keep building your confidence. Share your art for you. The more I write and share my art online the more confident it makes me feel. It's exposure therapy 100%.
Before I started writing on here I felt like such a writer-imposter and now I look back at things I've written on this Substack and I'm like... "Hey, that's not bad, actually?!"
And I'd never have known if I never shared my writing.
I believe in you MaryAnn! Let me know if you create a Substack-- It's fun, I swear!
That's really interesting feedback you got. I appreciate your sharing it as I also have a tendency to move on to quickly without developing an idea (not that i have ideas to develop mind you - but maybe some of my 12.5% things could benefit from a more extended look).
The t-shirt could be fun.
Also, I really love the concept of Schrodinger's dishwasher 😆.
Oh and yes, I lose the ability to form words when I meet people I admire. I met a musician once and I was pretty much, "you music. Me like. Music good."
HAHA, yup! That's it! That's what I do too! I worked at a restaurant in Portland, OR one summer and Aidy Bryant came in and I said something extremely similar. I was like, "I love Shrill..." and couldn't think of anything else to say and I literally rehearsed the line all shift because her name was in the reservations hahaha.
How many times since have you come up with something better?
I haven't come up with anything better to have said, but I have reimagined the scenario numerous times where Aidy responds to my generic comment with, "omg, thank you so much girlie! Let's grab a drink together tonight and talk hot goss and humor writing. Let's be best friends and fall in love?!"
Hi Scott! I'm glad you liked Schrodinger's dishwasher. I probably could have/ should have expanded on that idea more, hehhhh.
I find it weirdly hard to stick with an idea and keep iterating for some reason.
I struggle with impatience and sometimes I just want to start over with a fresh idea, but that's something I honestly need to work on.
I let my impatience get the best of me OFTEN. Curse you ADHD! But hey, at least it's a skillset that can be improved on. It's not hopeless.
It's one of my favorite parts of being alive honestly-- knowing I can always improve (as long as I don't stare at my phone all day).
Do you ever return to an idea you've left? What would happen if you did? (I mean it's not like they have expiration dates or anything. Do they?)
And you imply that staring at the phone all day is a bad thing...?
Great question Scott. There definitely is no expiration date on ideas (unless it's a super topical joke), but the second I share any of my ideas or rejected cartoons online they are no longer within "first publication rights" for The New Yorker to buy. So sometimes I share my rejected cartoons online a little too quickly, when maybe I should have tried to iterate on them further before moving on.
That's honestly a big reason why the cartoons I shared on this post are especially early stage, because if I share them here I am likely losing my chance to submit the ideas again. I had a lot of extra half-ideas that I didn't share in this post because I still want to try to make them work.
Wait, what? You started getting all business talky on me 😆. Are you saying The New Yorker won't buy a cartoon if it's been published elsewhere first even if that "elsewhere" is a 1/12-baked version on your own blog? I mean it's not like The Atlantic beat them to it here or anything.
Yup! They only buy work that's never been published in any context including online in any form. If I share an idea on my Instagram, then try to iterate on it later I'm honestly not confident how much different it needs to be to be considered a new, unpublished idea.
The legal of it all makes me a bit nervous though and I don't want to shoot myself in the foot, so sometimes I hoard ideas because I'm not confident on where the lines are drawn on these things.
Wow! That's scary! Which makes it all the more brave of you to share your work with us. So, thank you! (And please do hoard your ideas - get yourself back into The New Yorker!)
I like the "R U Mad @ Me?" shirt, but it might remind me too much of Hayden Christensen playing Stephen Glass in "Shattered Glass," and that might break me.
I also feel the "half idea" idea. The best jokes tend to work twice (in two ways). Sometimes you really have to dig to find that extra dimension.
I have never seen or heard of that movie, but I just watched the trailer and now I want to watch it! What a cast!! How have I never heard of this. Should I watch it?!
I'm obsessed with watching movies from the 90's/00's that I've never seen because it feels both nostalgic and new at the same time.
I really like it, but I also used to be a journalist and used the film in my journalism classes for a lot of years. Mileage may vary.
I love professional drama like this. It looks juicy. Imma watch it. I'll let you know when I do!
Haha, thank you so much Mitchell. I did use a calculator for that math though. I'm too lazy to use my brain like that!
Oh yeah you're right! I forgot to mention Bob was the creator of the caption contest. I wouldn't doubt the contest is rigged. I trust no one! I'm barely certain we're not in The Matrix *looks around for floating binary code*