24 Hour Comic Book Challenge

I'll be doing my third 24 hour comic book this weekend. I do this every year with Squidworks and whomever else shows up. The other two years had about 30 people attend. The process of staying up for over 24 hours, because I have to drive there from another city, is extremely painful, but very rewarding.

I get a lot out of it, but most of all I can feel good about accomplishing what normally takes more than a month, in 24 hours. You stop worrying about all the little details and focus only on the whole story. You can see the story form right before your eyes. Even a small 9 page story takes awhile and once it's finished you can finally look back and say, "Okay, now I get the full picture." Where as a 24 hour comic you're seeing the full product in one sitting.

Another thing I've noticed is what you learn and how much better I got at laying out pages once I finished one of these. It's not like anything else. You can spend hours drawing and finishing pages, but once you've finished a 24 hour comic you realize what's important and what can be left alone to come back to if you have time.

This year I'm doing something different than the other two years. I'll be taking an hour or more to write a good script...well, better than just making it up as I go. I'll write it much like a do any story, using the three act play format. I'll come up with all the right elements that make up a good story and I'll try to end it on a note that will entice the reader to inquire about more stories. Who knows, it might become a new series.

I don't think about what I'm going to write until I sit down and begin the challenge, which is something I haven't done on the other two challenges. I had the main character thought of before hand, but this time I'm just going to go all out and come up with it right then and there.

Here is the link to Squidworks 24 hour page: http://www.squidworks.com/Events/2008d24hcc.html