Schlock Mercenary Has Come to an End

Surely the author won’t mind me using the logo of his comic to promote it, right? Right?

If you’ve perused my website a little, specifically the links page, you may have noticed that one of the links I’ve had around since the very beginning leads to the most-excellent webcomic Schlock Mercenary, by Howard Tayler. Schlock Mercenary has been a long-time favorite of mine since checking it out in … 2005, I think (?), after I saw Howard present at a few panels at a convention and speak on two topics, one of which would go on to play a vital part of my future career. The first was about how comedy writing was really hard, which I noted. But the other, the big one, was how to take something independent, like a webcomic, and make a living at it.

‘If you can get 5000 people to be fans who will buy and watch your stuff,’ Howard said. ‘You’ll make it. That’s what you need.’

And he knew what he was talking about. See, Howard had left his middle-management job to pursue being a writer (and artist) in the webcomic sphere full time, selling books, prints, and as he once noted with “dark scatological undertones” … maybe even Schlock-in-a-cup.

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Being a Better Writer: Knowledge and Inspiration

Welcome back readers! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

So, thanks to Friday’s gargantuan news post—which you should check up on if you haven’t, as it basically announces all my projects for the rest of the year—all the news that’s worth mentioning is already out in the open. So there’s no need to repeat it here. Which means … we’re diving right into today’s post.

Knowledge and inspiration then. Let’s get down to it. What, with a title like that, am I getting at?

Well, probably not what you expected. See, today’s post isn’t about the tiny details of everything, from character to voice, or specific writing techniques. No, today is about a different—but no less important—bit of writing: acquiring knowledge of subject.

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