Page 17

This page marks the end of day two in the classroom. I've divided Ecclesiastes into discreet sections defined by paragraphs of text, each representing one day. I shudder to think there are 48 days to go. My motive for drawing this graphic novel is to deal honestly with despair and existential dread in the Hebrew scripture. My motive for blogging about this experience is to study the ebb and flow of enthusiasm for this project. I'm notorious for not finishing projects. Reflecting on the creative process will, I hope, give insight into ADD, boredom, faith, optimism, grief, subjectivity, and delusion. Investing hours and hours (years!) in a project that may never gain popularity is a huge gamble. Two things egg me on: the pleasurable distraction it affords while my wife's health deteriorates; the buzz I get when I think this project may be of interest to readers other than myself. Fantasy plays a crucial role in creativity as does the approach/avoidance syndrome when facing trauma. It's art therapy.

What Readers Will Not See

Readers of this graphic novel will not see three things.

1.  Dr. Q silent while students riff on his memes. He makes his appearance in the first panel of every page and remains out of sight for the next 5 panels. Time freezes for Dr. Q. He begins a sentence, time stops while students jabber among themselves, then the camera swings back to him while he finishes his sentence. Because of this my script wouldn't work as a stage play. What audience wants to watch Doc Q stand mute while students chatter?

2.  The time lapses between panels. What occurs within each panel is real time; what occurs between panels are momentary, day, or weekend breaks. The empty space between panels could contain tests, attendance, announcements, or other lectures. We don't see Dr. Q or the students entering the room, taking their seats, or leaving the classroom. 

3. Dr. Q's other lectures. I acted the part of Dr. Q and read his lecture (using my most professorial voice) and it took about twenty minutes. In the graphic novel Dr. Q gives his lecture over the course of twelve weeks. Since I’m recording only what Doc Q says in Ecclesiastes, and since that text does not fill twelve weeks, he must say things not covered in the graphic novel.

This stretching and squishing of time is tricky. Time is linear, clocks and calendars tick away as time passes. Alert readers will wonder what Doc Q says that isn't recorded in the novel. But I’m counting on this not happening. Most readers will focus on what they see and not what they don’t see. 

Making this book cover only twenty minutes of time isn't an option since that’d be too boring. I want students to change seating arrangements, change clothes, change moods, and eventually change attitudes about faith, despair, and hope and I need weeks for this to happen.

Somebody in ancient history divided Ecclesiastes into twelve chapters. One commentator divided it into twenty-four sections. I got creative and divided it into 52 separate lectures (discreet thought units), each of which will cover one day. This means 52 changes demarcated by changes in background colors, seating arrangement, and clothing. Let's hope it works. 

Word Balloonology

Ten days ago I finished Draft Two and began work on Draft Three with high ambition--designing characters, drawing profile sheets, editing dialog, checking the development of the characters, etc.

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:

1. Eliminate hyphenated words in each word balloon. 
2. Read this "easy to read" draft in one sitting to see how the thing flows. I suspect I repeat myself at times.
3. 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.
4. Trace each character to see how they change over time: do they stay "in character?", is their development contrived or organic? 
5. 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.
6. Pay attention to timing. A typical college class is 12-15 weeks. How will I mark the passage of time?
7. 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).
8. 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. 

What They (whoever they are) Don't Tell You about Creativity

Creativity isn't all bolts of insight. There are hours of tedium. I've spent the weekend changing fonts and font sizes. There has been lots of mouse clicking.

Once the font is correct I rearrange the text boxes in each panel. I'm finicky that the boxes be uniform, aligned 3/16s of an inch from the top of the panel, and centered.  There has been lots of mouse rolling around.

Between hours of tedium I tried in vain (apropos of Ecclesiastes) trying to download audio books from the library and then from iTunes. I also spent three hours trying to figure out if Publisher allows me to link text boxes and change them all at once. I'm actually pretty sure it can be done but I failed to crack the code. It has to do with Font Schemes and Style and Formatting. Failing these techy tasks I return to the tedium of tweaking thousands of boxes. I'm up to page 168 (there are 428 pages).

I want to maximize the drawing space in each panel so this means shrinking the text boxes as much as possible. I thus edit like crazy. One line is best, two better, three = max. Text boxes with four or more lines are the exception. 

Consumers of this project will never know (unless they read this blog) what goes on behind the scenes. I'm making mental notes for where breaks occur, what the panel arrangements will be, and what the characters look like. Because character coherence isn't on the top of my to do list at present I store that (and 100 other) tasks in my brain along with other random questions:

1. Will readers think the author (me) was angry? I don't feel angry.
2. Is this graphic novel a subconscious reaction to living alone? I don't feel lonely.
3. Is it true when Ecclesiastes says envy motivates all toil? I don't feel envious. 
4. Are students' reactions to Dr. Q legitimately funny or just snarky on my part? I don't feel snarky. 
5. After editing a joke five times it loses it's edge. I imagine future readers laughing. But I don't feel funny. 
6. Where can I put this quote, "Ecclesiastes University sardonically skewers the Dostoevskian sense of despair and anxiety that faith in a scientific world creates."

The Tasks of Creation (theology of creativity)

In my men’s group this morning one of the participants gave a summary of Jamie Buckingham’s books, Strength Finder and Stepping Out. I self scored low on eight strengths but relatively high on creativity. Here’s why: I have a theology of creativity based in Genesis 1. I describe it here, applying the tasks of creation to Ecclesiastes U.

The Universe	Ecclesiastes University
In the beginning God created heaven and earth with a big bang	On December 15, 2011 I began creating this graphic novel with a big burst of enthusiasm
The earth was without form …	I’ve completed two drafts of this book so far and they are without (much) form. My ambition with Draft Three is to impose form on this mass of paper, words, and faces
And void…	As I peruse the 428 pages of Draft Two I see plot holes, glaring inconsistencies, and a Milky-Way-sized humor void
And darkness…	The subject matter in Ecclesiastes is dark, gray, and ambiguous
Was on the face…	Into these 428 pages I’ve scotch taped approximately 2568 faces frozen in time
Of the deep…	Qoholeth is so deep I’m afraid I’m in over my head. I want to shine a light on the profundity of skepticism
And God separated…	My big task with Draft Three is to separate (see below)
And God put them in the garden…	Once I tease out all the tangled threads of Draft Two I hope to reweave them into the tapestry of Draft Three
Humans were created in the image of God	I believe humanity has been endowed with the God-like ability to separate and then reconnect

This will be difficult but in combing though (separating) the tangle of Draft Two I hope to end up with the following discrete and tidy threads.

Separate certainty from faith from doubt

Separate individual characters from each other

Separate characters’ earlier selves from their later selves

Separate students' responses to what Dr. Q is saying from their misunderstanding of what he's saying

Separate boomerisms (there are many) with Gen-Y-isms (there are too few)

Separate panels into one, two, three, or more per row

Separate the texts into smaller sections distinguished by different background colors

Once all separated into tidy piles I hope to then reconstruct them so they look like jazz: improvised and complex yet organized.

Revised Time Line

In a previous post I mentioned I'd like to be done with Draft Two by May 15. That's only two weeks away. My self imposed deadline was overly ambitious!

Today I'm finishing EU17 (Ecclesiastes 7), page 272. I've still got 144 pages to go. Editing Draft One has been a fun but massive project since it was atrocious. Here are the challenges of creating Draft Two:

1. Characters: I wrote the words first and am now figuring out who said them. This task is sheer bliss but it's time consuming. God invented people in seven days. It takes me a little longer.
2. Character depth and consistency: My hope is to create characters readers care about. I gotta keep them "in character" and hopefully multidimensional (as if comic book characters can have depth).
3. Staging: who is on stage (in the panel), what's the fewest number of characters necessary to complete a thought unit, how often do I reveal a new character, and have characters storm out of classroom?
4. Text: the rough dialog in Draft One had potential. In Draft Two I'm sharpening the philosophy, theology, psychology, and humor sometimes eliminating the dialog entirely and rewriting from scratch.
5. Word balloons. I'm putting Publisher's Basic Shapes boxes around each text box. Six boxes per page times 272 pages (so far) is 1632 boxes too many! Again, highly time consuming. But this will save me having to hand draw them. Uniform and crisp text boxes will add a touch of gravitas and hopefully will subtlety accentuate the words; hand drawn boxes will be distracting.
6. Cutting and pasting. Rifling though my file of 20 characters, cutting out each face, scotch taping them to Draft Two is all very time consuming. 
7. Emailing. I do all this work on my lap top which is not hooked up to a printer. I therefore email finished files to my desk top (in the next room) and print hard copies there. 
8. Mulling. These first seven challenges are peppered with my ongoing inner dialog, "What's the time line of this thing? Do the characters change clothes? How do I get drop outs back into the classroom? How will Mr. Q respond when challenged by students? How will I divide the printed book? 416 Publisher pages will become 208 Paint pages. But there's no 208 page graphic novel. Do I print this as a four part trilogy? A ten part mini comic? Do I print hard copies at all or is it pure digital? Who will I get to proof read this? Do line editing? Evaluate the plot, humor, coherence, etc?"

Despite all these challenges...I'm still shooting for the May 15 deadline to complete Draft Two. 

I suspect I'm going to print a hard copy Draft Three on which I'll draw penciled layouts. (I'm anticipating the joy of designing pages, getting creative with panel shapes, and drawing detailed spreads of the whole class room). I dare not ink/color Draft Three however. That will be Draft Four. I'll give Draft Three to some folks for their feedback. Sigh....that puts me months behind schedule. Oh well. 

Progress Update and Boomer Reflections

After a difficult week slogging through EU5 (Eccl. 3:1-15), I finished touching up the gen-y-affirming script, carefully positioned and outlined each word balloon, and attached appropriate characters to all the word balloons. 

Sample page from EU5 (page 74)

Then this weekend I finished EU6 (Eccl. 3:16-22) with script and characters. I'm happy with the results, confident that another edit or two will make a good script even better. 

Sample page from EU6 (page 96)

I've printed EU 7 (Eccl. 4:1-12) and EU 8 (Eccl. 4:13-16) with placed and outlined word balloons awaiting dialog editing and assigning speakers to each word balloon (my delightful project this week). 


What slowed me down last week was the realization that the dialog I'd created was straight from my boomer brain and too antiquated for my intended audience (20 somethings). Thankfully, I've got a character (working name: Aging Hippie) who will be my voice concerning all things 60s related. 


Interestingly, I watched The Way this weekend. The main character, Martin Sheen, is a man in his 60s who traveled to Spain and he met a woman in her 20s (?) who was angry and said to Sheen,

"Hey Boomer! You know, as in Baby Boomer? You have all of the signs of that desperate generation taking its last breath trying to screw the rest of us over one last time. The only thing missing from you, Boomer, is one of those stupid looking pony tails and collection of James Taylor songs on your ipod."

He said, "I love James Taylor, and I don't have an ipod."

I was somewhat taken aback by this jab. Either I'm naive, or blessed with friendly acquaintances in their 20s. I'm not used to being the butt of another's animosity. With no recollection of any attempt on my part to screw anyone over I feel I've been unjustly criticized. (Maybe I'm being too sensitive; after all, she didn't say it to me).


On my next edit I plan on expunging all gen-y, off-putting comments from my ancient brain. To replace them perfectly I'd need to interview current university students but do not plan on doing so. This project is growing in size and I'm going to sacrifice perfect dialog in favor of completion. A graphic novel with less than perfect dialog is better than no graphic novel at all. 


First draft: 68 or 69 large pages with hand written dialog.
Second draft: Publisher pages with six panels and typed dialog.
Third draft: Publisher pages with polished dialog and Scotch taped characters (EU6 brought me to page 97).

Dividing Chapter 9

According to that 1919 commentary (A Gentle Cynic by Morris Jastrow) section 20 is comprised of ten verses, 9:1-9:10. Since I'm using his outline I get out my scissors, scotch tape, and large sheet of paper (# 54) and begin cutting and taping those verses on the left hand side. I do this while sitting in my living room, cushioned lap board on my lap, coffee cup, cell phone, and fountain pens on the small table next to me. I'm comfy, serene, in a meditative and contemplative state. My task today is to divide each verse into smaller chunks for the students to respond to. Let the dividing begin.


Ecclesiastes 9

 ¹ So I reflected on all this and concluded

I make this the first meme to come from Mr. Q's mouth in this section. Throughout Ecclesiastes Mr. Q describes in astonishing detail his "research." He was a thoughtful, intentional, empiricist, scientist. Not sure what new response I'll have students make to this comment yet but I am steering readers attention to the fact that this guy was no armchair scholar; it's almost (but not quite) like he was doing double blind control group experiments.

that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands

Well this certainly deserves comment by students. Soft determinism runs through Ecclesiastes although in this verse it looks like hard determinism to me. Is God responsible for what the righteous do? I don't know but being in God's hands is to me a comforting thought. 

but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. 

^{Mr. Q has dropped so many zingers like this throughout the text that I've lost count. It's Mr. Q's acknowledgement of the mysterious future that appeals to me.}

² All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

This is one of the lengthier verses I'll put into Mr. Q's mouth. The more words the larger the word balloon and the smaller the panel space in which to draw. I could make a separate page for each of these four comparisons but my initial thought is that doing so will bog down the flow. 

As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.

I feel the same way about these additional comparisons. It's possible to riff on all six of these binary characters but the bigger literary (and exegetical?) question, "What do I make of his assertion that there is no ultimate difference in the destinies of these twelve individuals?"

 ³ This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. 

It's clear from Mr. Q's previous comments what he thinks of this assertion: it's evil. If he were here I'd ask him several questions: "Why does this bug you so much? Are you sure the same destiny awaits everyone regardless of their virtue or turpitude? Didn't you say earlier that there are some advantages to being righteous? And by the way, why DO you keep contradicting yourself? Have you seen your manuscript lately? How much of what you wrote is still in tact and how many insertions have others made?" The questions never end!

The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. 

^{At this point in my cut and tape project I've kept the above text in one word balloon. I may later change this because Mr. Q makes two comments that beg for student reaction: "full of evil" and "madness in their hearts." The ANE notions of depravity and insanity deserve comment. I'm not sure yet if I'll address both of these in one strip or give each comment its own strip.}

⁴ Anyone who is among the living has hope


Mr. Q's positive comments are so rare I give them a place of their own. The overall tone of the book is pessimistic, glum, and depressing so I highlight every upbeat phrase that I can.

—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

John Stuart Mill said, "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question. The other party to the comparison knows both sides." I'm going to try to compare these two comments. 

 ⁵ For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; 


This verse irritates me; I've had to untangle his contradictions so often I'm getting bored. This concerns me. If I get bored readers will too.

they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. 


In an earlier chapter we batted around the existential quandary of extinction, obliterated memories, and the angst of pointlessness. I'll revisit that notion again. I've felt the sting of being forgotten since my wife contracted Alzheimer's dementia and her memories of me are fading. It's very painful. I'm scouring every word of Ecclesiastes looking for hope. I trust that some breakthrough awaits me, us, him.

⁶ Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; 


Here comes more of the pessimism. What a gloomy frame of mind. It's hard to say (as do many commentators) that this comment emerges from sarcasm, Satan, or disconnection from God ("under the sun" is understood by many as "secular humanism"). I reject all those theories....but have yet to come up with a theory of my own. Pondering continues.

never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.


Ditto.

⁷ Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, 


Another ray of sunshine amid dark clouds of doom and gloom. 


for God has already approved what you do. 


Another theological puzzle.


⁸ Always be clothed in white, 


For sheer comic relief I'm going to have fun with this one...Tom Wolfe, the Pope, brides, white socks.... It's Mr. Q's intent to affirm happiness despite all this doom and gloom...but the oddity of such a comment begs for response.


and always anoint your head with oil.


How does one apply this custom in the 21st century?


⁹ Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. 


Another long blurb from the mouth of Mr. Q, rich with provocative ideas.


For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 


<sup>"Lots" remind me of lotteries which remind me of randomness which contrasts with destiny and fate. Lots to untangle here (no pun intended). 


10</sup> Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, 


As gloomy as Mr. Q is, he was no nihilist. He apparently found enough oomph (by faith?) to get a stiff upper lip and make the best of a bad situation. Viktor Frankl did so in Auschwitz and David Livingston did this while suffering in Africa. 


for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.


Sadly, I'm confronted with yet another conundrum. Did or did not Mr. Q believe in an after life? At times yes, at other times, no. Can't wait to see how I slog though this quagmire yet again without boring myself or readers.


NOTE: Each of those purple quotes will appear in the first panel of a six panel strip. Therefore, these ten verses have been expanded to 21 strips. No wonder the estimated size of this graphic novel is massive.

ETC (Estimated Time of Completion) and More Decisions....

1. Finish writing First Draft dialog for final 5 sections by April 15, 2012.
2. Reread and edit entire script Second Draft (450+ 6 panel strips) by May 15.
3. Create and draw character sheets for 8-12 key students by July 1.
4. Start printing Third Draft of all 8.5" x 11" pages on paper for thumbnails on July 1.
5. Scan and post these "roughs" on Ecclesiastes University blog as they emerge.
6. Finish thumbnails by September 1.
7. Start printing Forth Draft of 8.5" x 11" pages on card stock for pencil and ink: September 1.
8. Post those finished drawings on this site as they emerge. (Check for visual clarity, font sizes, word balloon placement, etc).
9. Post last page (450?) on this blog by Dec. 31, 2012.

Still to be decided: brush pen or felt tip? Black and white or color? Will there be section breaks? It's possible that I could simply number pages 1-450+ with no chapter/section breaks. If I do make section breaks, how? We'll see. Will I limit myself to six strips per page? I'm tempted to do several one panel drawings to fill a whole page (homage to Herge and a visual relief to talking heads). Do I identify in each strip verse references? If so, how to do so unobtrusively. Do I add footnotes at the end siting my sources? I'd rather not; any direct quotes I make are public domain (I quote Shakespeare a lot, the Declaration of Independence, various philosophers and comedians, etc without credit. Will revisit this; un-credited quotes could be thorny).

Finished Chapter Eight!

As mentioned, Ecclesiastes has 12 chapters. We know these were not part of the original manuscript but were added later by (we presume) well-intentioned scribes and amanuenses. In my research I came across a 1919 commentary in which the author Morris Jastrow made his own outline; he created 24 "sections." I found his division compelling and am using it. Not sure that readers of the final product will pay attention to this but smaller chunks of text are easier to manage. I have therefore just finished section 19 with 5 to go. Or by the old reckoning, I've finished 8 chapters with 4 to go. 5 is more than 4 but 19 is more than 8....so I'm tricking myself into thinking I'm far along and nearing the finish line!

If one counts verses, I've completed 158 with 64 to go. Technically, this doesn't tell us much because one lengthy verse could be broken down into 4 or 5 pages of text. How I divide verses will be the subject of another post.

As I ponder each section (usually 10 - 20 verses) I do not go back and reread the dialog I've written in earlier sections. I imagine I'm a student in Mr. Q's class without total recall of what he's said earlier. I face each verse and imagine how 21st century college students would react. The final three verses of this chapter are some of my favorites which was a nice gift since some of the earlier verses were my least favorite (because they are repetitious).

Here is the final verse:

"No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, humanity can not discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it." 

Some commentators chalk up this uncertainty to Qoholeth's lack of faith, unbelieving heart, and secular humanism. Goodness! I do not. I think Mr. Q is a man of faith and an honest observer of life's conundrums. What knocks his socks off is that those conundrums do not fit his theology of a commensurate link between righteousness and health/wealth.

In a fit of creative energy I put the following words into the mouth of the evangelical student in the class (set to the tune of that old Shaker hymn, 'Tis a Gift to be Simple).

'Tis a gift to be certain; I’ve a brain that’s doubt free.
‘Tis a gift knowing life has no ambiguity.
And when I have some questions I do not get up tight;
I ignore pesky facts with all of my might.
When happy certitude is gain'd,
My black and white brain will not be asham'd,
Avoiding counter evidence will be my delight,
Till by turning, turning I come 'round right.

I hope this graphic novel comes out right!

Random Questions About Drawing This Thing

Where do I make the chapter breaks?
Do I ink in black and white or color?
Do I use pen or brush?
How do I escape the boredom of creating a graphic novel of "talking heads?"

I'll add to this list as new questions occur to me.