Instead, I spent the last ten days transforming 12 point Comic Sans into 14 point DIGITALSTRIP 2.0 in 2600 word balloons. This also meant adjusting the little line that goes around each balloon. I'm glad that's over!
Now I'm ready to return to the tasks of turning Draft Three into Draft Four which, if all goes according to plan, will be the card stock draft on which I'll draw the pictures. My check list of tasks now includes:
- Eliminate hyphenated words in each word balloon.
- Read this "easy to read" draft in one sitting to see how the thing flows. I suspect I repeat myself at times.
- Ferret out the non funny pages, of which there are many. To move the plot along some pages are sheer narrative with theological and philosophical import. But my inclination is to pay more attention to humor than content (given the somber nature of the text). Tina Fey is my inspiration this week.
- Trace each character to see how they change over time: do they stay "in character?", is their development contrived or organic?
- Pay attention to the scientific materialist (atheist) guy. I think he gets more lines than any other character. This might be a problem. I just watched The Gray with Liam Neissen (an atheist). The plot was, "Where's God?" It was a very Ecclesiastes-type movie although unlike Ecclesiastes, the film's ending was hopeless.
- Pay attention to timing. A typical college class is 12-15 weeks. How will I mark the passage of time?
- Pay attention to thought units. Now that I've got 428 loose pages (no more stapled sections) I'll be unshackled from traditional chapter and verse and I can let the text fall naturally into discreet units or paragraphs (identified by forthcoming background colors).
- Play around with page design. I can combine 2 and/or 3 panels for variety's sake. That's a drawing task and I'm not quite there yet. Still gotta get those words nailed down.
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