Welcome to the R.F.D. blog, where I'll be sharing my creative process for producing R.F.D.
along with other stuff about the strip.
It all starts with...
WRITING
Using yellow legal pads I write and rewrite and rewrite until I get an idea boiled down into the fewest possible words that will get the gag across. I don't have any secret writing formula, I just sit and think about things - seasonal themes, the news, stuff going on in my own life - I kind of noodle and doodle and work them into R.F.D. gags. Sometimes an idea will pop out fully formed while others require several rewrites. In some cases I even do a rewrite when I'm penciling the lettering.
I have certain times scheduled for writing. Sometimes I can sit down and rough out two month's worth of solid ideas and at other times it may be all I can do to squeeze out one usable gag! If I'm having a good writing session I slip into what I call "the zone" - ideas just pop and flow. I may think of ideas at any time so I keep pads around to jot them down.
I find it best to let ideas for gags steep for a bit. I put them away for a couple of weeks and when I come back to them with fresh eyes I can immediately tell if a gag works. At this point I edit out the duds and polish up the keepers.
I generally work on one month of strips at a time. Once I've polished the writing of a month's worth of strips then I begin lettering and drawing, which I will get to in future posts.
-MM
along with other stuff about the strip.
It all starts with...
WRITING
Using yellow legal pads I write and rewrite and rewrite until I get an idea boiled down into the fewest possible words that will get the gag across. I don't have any secret writing formula, I just sit and think about things - seasonal themes, the news, stuff going on in my own life - I kind of noodle and doodle and work them into R.F.D. gags. Sometimes an idea will pop out fully formed while others require several rewrites. In some cases I even do a rewrite when I'm penciling the lettering.
I have certain times scheduled for writing. Sometimes I can sit down and rough out two month's worth of solid ideas and at other times it may be all I can do to squeeze out one usable gag! If I'm having a good writing session I slip into what I call "the zone" - ideas just pop and flow. I may think of ideas at any time so I keep pads around to jot them down.
I find it best to let ideas for gags steep for a bit. I put them away for a couple of weeks and when I come back to them with fresh eyes I can immediately tell if a gag works. At this point I edit out the duds and polish up the keepers.
I generally work on one month of strips at a time. Once I've polished the writing of a month's worth of strips then I begin lettering and drawing, which I will get to in future posts.
-MM