Ariana, Some More, On POD and SHIVERING SANDS
November 20th, 2009 | people I know, researchmaterial, shivering sands
Ariana got the shouting out of her system in re: whining about how making stuff and showing it to people is too hard.
Now she’s moved on to: how to start thinking about making a project.
…if the feedback I’m getting is any indication (and I’ve got comments disabled here because they don’t suit me, but I do pay attention to Twitter and I read everything on Whitechapel) — there are a LOT of you right. on. that. cusp. of taking the first step. So look, I know I’ve been giving you lot a hard time about “just getting it done,” but before I get into my list of Stuff What I Learned Working With POD sometime tomorrow, I wanna back up a step and talk to you.
Here’s what you need to do, right now, tonight. No, NOT tomorrow morning, or this weekend, or once your work rush has let off a little, or after the holidays, or sometime in the New Year: Right. Fucking. Now….
And from there to book-specific notes and observations about working with a POD system:
…how you go about putting your book together is completely up to you, and what you’re comfortable with. The Lulu templates will give you a bit less control over what the finished product looks like, but it’s a really good place for the people that are just starting out. Do you already understand why your inside margins need to be a titch wider than your outside? If that question just kinda terrified you: that’s all right, but you probably want to start with the templates. Trust me, your book is still going to be lovely, the important thing for you is just getting your content into a pretty and readable format.
And, today, the begininngs of how we run FREAKANGELS the way we do.
Wil’s been all over Ariana’s THIS IS HOW WE FIX SHIT WITH WRENCHES posts during this week, and has a distillation of what he’s taken from them at this link here:
This is incredibly inspiring to me, and I hope that it’s just as inspiring to indie artists everywhere. Why not take a creative risk and see if it works out? Unlike the old days, when we had to purchase a lot of stock ahead of time and hope we could sell it, we can just Get Excited and Make Things, knowing that the very worst that can happen is that nobody likes that thing we made as much as we thought they would…
is the award-winning creator of graphic novels such as 
I’m following W.E. and A.O. as they trundle through their P.O.D. experiment. What amazes me: the strident little voices begging off conducting similar experiments because “I’m not Warren Ellis.”
I’m not Warren Ellis: I’m Henry Quirk (perhaps one of the best writers you’ve never heard of, by any name)…why the hell do I want or need to be Warren Ellis?
What I write is mine…the way I write is mine…what I publish is mine…and the business of getting (or not getting) readers is mine.
I’m inspired to try P.O.D.: I have roughly 300 pages of disjointed, fragmentary, material (written over the course of several years, for fun, not profit) to wade through, hone down, streamline, write new connective tissue for…once done: I should have a nice 200, or so, pages to dump into LuLu or something similar.
Having finished one project and being unwilling (at the moment) to start something new: taking this raw material and shaping it for P.O.D. is just fun…at the least: a way to recharge my head for new work…at most: a nice way to bring in bucks for coffee and cigarettes.
And: if the biggest ‘cost’ for me is writing (already done!) and editing (not a chore, but a joy!) then how the hell do I ‘lose’ in P.O.D?
My anonymity (which I like) is not a hobble stone…it simply is.
Sure: if fame and fortune were my motivators then turning my nose up at P.O.D. might make sense. Working the ‘mainstream’ like a whore might be the road to slink across.
But: since I turned my nose up at the fictions of fame and fortune a long time back, ‘I (now) sing,’ as Stirner wrote, ‘(solely) because I am a singer. But I use you for it because I need ears.’
One pair of ears…twenty…100…one million…who cares?
I write what I do (broken as it may be) because it pleases ‘me’…because I have the temerity to believe what I write has meaning and weight. If you like it too (or hate it!) then the transaction, the circuit, is complete. The number of ‘you’ is less important than that the work exists, it stands apart from me, and it continues to ‘be’ even if I get brain-leprosy and expire.
If I secure a tangible existence for my words and thoughts in the world — through the ‘mainstream’, through something like ‘Fugue State Press’, through P.O.D, or though handing out handwritten copies on the street corner — what’s the freakin’ difference as long as the work ‘lives’ and is read by at least one other?
Foundational motivation, I think, is the crux.
If money (and fame) is what you’re looking for (and there’s nothing wrong with that!) there are easier ways to secure both than through the low, middle, or high arts.
If simply, as I say, securing a tangible existence for your words and thoughts is the motivation, then — again — how can you (or me or he or she or they) lose by trying P.O.D.?
*shrug*
I’m not Warren Ellis, either.
I’m just an upstart with an idea, who made something from that idea, slowly building her fanbase one reader at a time.
This is the axiom I follow: Why would I base my goals on decisions someone else has to make? So I made my own damned job. I researched, I struggled, I did the work.
I make stuff every day. It’s my life’s work, making stuff.
And there you have it folks: two ‘I don’t give a damn how the other guy does what he does’ individuals.
‘Individual’: such a nice word.
You don’t know us: so what?
What we do – as individuals – is mostly for ‘us’.
Join us for the rides we offer, or not: your choice…
This series of posts has helped me realize that I have put my own ‘thing’ on the backburner for too long. (you know how it is, other things with more tangible and immediate payoff took priority, and I never quite got back to it…) Er, a few things, actually, there’s these 2 theme calendars I keep meaning to finish drawings for, as well… anyway. I am now determined to get them rolling again, dust off my notes, get the outline done and get the first page up by the end of the year.
And to Henry: Well said. There aren’t many people that can claim to have the kind of recognizably that Warren has, but that’s no excuse to not even try. The only way you have a chance of getting known is to CREATE. If you don’t create, you never have a chance. The chance may not be great, but it’s better than none, right? And even so, my goal is not to reach X number of readers, it’s to get it done. Hopefully some people will enjoy it, but I am not too concerned about the actual number.
“There aren’t many people that can claim to have the kind of recognizably that Warren has…”
Let’s be up-front here, with no offense directed to W.E., the average guy or gal on the street has no clue who ‘Warren Ellis’ is.
The average gal or guy has no clue who Hubert Selby was…who Max Stirner was…and on and on.
Anyone, everyone, can be a big fish in a small pond at some time.
There are lots of small ponds to play in.
The few (it seems to me) who actually become big fish in big ponds (any ‘celebrity’, in any field, you care to waste brain time on) aren’t ‘real’ any more, but, instead, are just projections and fictions generated by p.r. shysters and other professional image-shapers.
My point: to shy away from creating with P.O.D because ‘your’ name isn’t known like ‘xyz’ is dumb and illogical.
Create (whatever you like)…get it out there (however you like)…keep creating…keep getting it out there. Or not…keep in mind: the world, as a whole, doesn’t really care what you do one way or another.
But: if you choose to create, remember, you may never become a ‘name’: so what?
Again: why do you want to create?
Again: there are easier ways to make a ‘name’ and a buck than the arts (low, middle, or high).
#
“I am not too concerned about the actual number.”
Wisdom
“There aren’t many people that can claim to have the kind of recognizably that Warren has…”
Let’s be up-front: the average guy or gal on the street has no clue who (or that) ‘Warren Ellis’ is.
Anyone, everyone, can be a big fish in a small pond at some time.
There are lots of small ponds to play in.
W.E. is big fish in small, and some reasonably sized, ponds…his ‘name’ is known…but he ain’t universally known.
The point: to shy away from creating with P.O.D because ‘your’ name isn’t known like ‘xyz’ is dumb and illogical…and indicative, perhaps, of the just the tiniest bit of laziness or conviction-lack.
Create (whatever you like, however you like)…get it out there (however you like)…keep creating…keep getting it out there. Or not…keep in mind: the world, as a whole, doesn’t really care what you do one way or another.
But, if you choose to create, remember, you may never become a ‘name’: so what?
Again: why do you create?
Again: there are easier ways to make a ‘name’, and a buck, than the arts (low, middle, or high).
#
“Hopefully some people will enjoy it, but I am not too concerned about the actual number.”
Wisdom!
Well hell!
How did that happen?
My fingers slipped, I suppose, and posted while still editing.
*shrug*
Either way: I stand behind the words… Henry ‘Anon’ Quirk