Just a brief update on a couple of small but significant developments.
In relation to Practice in Context; Paul Gravett – one of my aforementioned professional contacts – unexpectedly got back to me and it looks like there’ll be an opportunity for a face to face in the near future! As someone whose written books I’ve referred to on several occasions and had in depth involvement with comics publishing for over two decades he’ll definitely be an invaluable source in my studies. In the meantime I need to make sure my planned questions are as concise and pertinent as possible.
Of less exciting but still fair importance; I received additional feedback on my script from a good friend (thanks Xellun!). I’m sure this would appear to suggest bias but I’m confident the criticism was honest, particularly as the positive and negative points identified are very similar to last set of feedback I got. The growing consensus appears to be that the final act of the story has too much superfluous dialogue, while a key antagonist’s reveal has been described – to quote the professional terminology used by both sources – as a bit of a “Scooby-Doo”…
It’s thankfully all fixable with no severe structural problems requiring drastic narrative alterations. There will certainly be tweaking aplenty before the pages are drawn, but it’s reassuring to hear the narrative basis is as sound as I’d hoped.
Growing Branch 