What the Hell Am I Writing?

I'm Gayle (Gayle Francis Moffet if you're looking to read my work). I write. I grew up in Yellville, Arkansas, spent some time in Springifeld, Missouri, and then moved to Portland, Oregon with that guy I married. When I'm not writing, I read, crochet, and hope for the day the Sci-Fi channel will release their terrible made-for-tv movies onto Netflix Instant Streaming. I keep a newsblog at gaylefmoffet.com, and I have a digital store where you can buy selected works. You can see my full publication history here.

[ruckawriter-deactivated20200128]

I was reading your author bio and noticed the part where you have two tattoos--if they're not too personal, can you tell us what they are? I am also curious about the state of the motorcycle. Has it yet been revived?

The motorcycle remains the world’s most expensive paperweight, likely with gasoline that has turned to gelatin in its tank and gummed up its fuel hoses beyond relief. I have missed riding it, though; hopefully I’ll be able to get it repaired soon (or better, sell it and get a new bike — I really want a new bike).

The tats, oy. Left arm, Rick Burchett’s Harley Quinn. Right arm, a tribal band bound with roses, surrounding (I am going to either lose or gain so much geek cred with this…) the runic symbol for the WoD werewolf clan, the Black Furies.

Let the mockery commence.

[whatthehellamiwriting-blog]

As far as tats go, those sound pretty rad. Says the woman with a dolphin on her lower right abdomen (oh, 18-year-old Gayle, if you'd only known); a sunflower between her shoulderblades (family in Kansas, yo); "writer" on my right wrist (subtle); the NaNoWriMo running guy on my right inner forearm (got mentioned on the site for that one); Ramona Quimby and Howie Kemp on tin can stilts on my lower left back (because fuck yes Ramona Quimby); and the "The cogs are falling" panel from Watchmen down my right thigh (as a reminder that while some things seem so very important at the time, they do not rule how I later define my life). I like tattoos, is what I'm saying. They're neat.

[whatthehellamiwriting-blog]

There has been some question this week about when it is appropriate for a man to send a woman a dick pic. I made a chart. You can also find it on medium. Please share to better help people understand the proper rules for dick pics.

[fuckheadwitha]

Shout out to every shitty circular conversation everyone on the planet is having about depression today. If I ever hang myself I’ll try to make it look like it was really autoerotic asphyxiation so everyone will just think I died trying to cum in innovative ways instead of psychoanalyzing every decision I’ve ever made and concluding I’m a coward.

[matthewbogart]

Wow, what a crazy first day! My Kickstarter is so close to 25% funded it’s amazing! Thank you so much to everyone for sharing posts and saying nice things to their friends about it. It’s incredibly helpful and I can’t properly express my gratitude.

If you haven’t already taken a look at it you can find it right over here.

[whatthehellamiwriting-blog]

No, but seriously, it’s a great book. Throw a couple of bucks over to it if you’re so inclined.

[thechrishaley]

Does anyone know who drew this/where this is from?

[whatthehellamiwriting-blog]

#ben grimm#the thing#lonston wallace#?#or#mike weringo

Got it on the first one, Schkade.

It's credited to Lonston Wallace here with a link back to his website.

[whatthehellamiwriting-blog]

So, I have these files at work. They're huge. They take about 20 minutes each to export. If I do anything else while the export is happening, my computer freezes, and I have to start over. Sometimes, I doodle while I wait.

[whatthehellamiwriting-blog]

I'm writing out of order. This is an odd sensation; I usually have to write start to finish to get anything finished. But I loosely outlined what needed to happen, realized where the emotional point of the story was, and realized I needed that down on paper first in order to properly sell the rest. 

It's an odd sensation. I don't quite know what to do with it except keep writing.

[vampirejubilee]

Jubilee from Uncanny X-Men 258

[danschkade]

Jubilee is awesome.

[whatthehellamiwriting-blog]

No, but seriously, that with vampire powers is an amazing private detective.

[whatthehellamiwriting-blog]

And yet again, this old song.

Me: I think each section of this comic will be 8-10 pages.

Brain: Ahhahahahahahahahahahahahaha!! OH MY GOD YOU ARE SO CUTE!!

Me: Shut up.

Brain: Oh, look, we're on page 12 and have four pages to go.

Me: Damn. It.

[comicquotations]

Artists are not helper monkeys; they’re not in it to visualize ‘your’ story, because it stopped being ‘your’ story the moment you engaged in a collaborative medium. From here on in, it’s also the artist’s story, and if you’re working with an illustrator who’s any good at all, you as a writer have to tamp down any control-freak tendencies you suffer under and relax into the process.

Mark Waid (via comicquotations)

So, so, so important. A few tips if you are a writer who works with an artist: 1. When you get images, review them. 2. Walk away for a couple of hours and think on those images--especially on the ones that don't match what you were picturing. 3. Go back and review the images again. 4. Take another break. Say, a day. 5. Review them a third time, and provide feedback THEN. Really take some time to think about the point of what you need done in art. Think about the emotions and sense of place you want to evoke. I have a knee-jerk reaction to getting pages where I just want to send LISTS of tips and such. By taking the time to let the artist's work settle in my head, I find I have very, very few notes because I work with people who are very talented and better at visuals than I am, and so, in the end, I tend to have maybe 1 or 2 notes per page that aren't compliments on how good it looks. Critique and feedback are very important for any creative. But it only really does its job if it feels like the response is coming from a place of consideration and mutual respect. Your artist is your best ally in telling your story. Treat your artist with the level of respect and appreciation you would like your artist to treat you with. Mutual appreciation gets so much done. It's so good.

[danschkade]

rugbyslut went and bought the last copy of San Hannibal #1 I had at Denver Comic Con this weekend.

It was serious business.

[whatthehellamiwriting-blog]

Dan asked me if he needed a trim before Denver. I believe I recommended a minor clean up. I am so glad he didn't have time for it. If I'd known he was wearing that blazer, I never would have suggested it. Sometimes, the clothes make the hair. (Also, good job on that selling thing! San Han is rad as hell.)

[simplydevin]

This though! #tumblr #feminism #girlsrule

[i-should-be-writing-deactivated]

Fuck yes.

[whatthehellamiwriting-blog]

I feel my dad would greatly appreciate this shirt. This is the man who--as he painted my nails for junior prom--asked if I had a form of birth control. "Dad, I'm not having sex tonight." "Oh, okay!" "And even if I did you don't think [friends I was going with] are going empty-handed, do you?" "The reminder never hurts. Where do you think your brothers came from?"

[writingquotes-deactivated201509]

When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a work of art.’ I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing.

George Orwell (via writingquotes)

[aaaleciaaa]

the best part of a new month

[whatthehellamiwriting-blog]

That last panel should be your driver's license.

[uppercut]

I’m turning my thesis into an article, and so far I’ve found 3 typos and 1 sentence that makes no sense. I mean, it’s literally just a collection of words in a seemingly random sequence. Can you guess which parts I wrote at 4:30 the night before it was due? 

[whatthehellamiwriting-blog]

When I do that, I end up with sentences six lines long, and I can never figure out why I thought it was a good idea.

[popgoestheicon]

SAN HANNIBAL #3 cover by Ibrahim Moustafa. Issue drops Aug. 20, 2014. Pre-order NOW at your local comic shop using the Diamond code JUN141385.

[danschkade]

It sure was nice of him to fit us into his busy calendar of shattering the shadows of funnybook mediocrity with his Kryptonian shine and being an actual Disney prince, but then, that’s Ibrahim for you. Heck of a cat.

[whatthehellamiwriting-blog]

jesus christ that's lovely.

[whatthehellamiwriting-blog]

In response to my tweet of the following:

#yesallwomen because "Wow, you know a lot about comics for a girl" is an acceptable phrase for some people.

I have shared many instances of the violence/degradation/dismissing of women in the tag. This is, in fact, my third time contributing to the shared narrative.

And it's this that pisses people off. This. The acknowledgement that women get treated like shit by some people for liking comics. 

Not this tweet or this tweet or this tweet or this one or this one or this tweet or jesus christ what about this fucking shit here.

Nope. None of that is important. I had the fucking nerve to point out the casual, awful sexism slung at women who enjoy comics, and that, THAT is what pisses people off.

Being harassed and dismissed? Doesn't piss people off.

Calling out sexism and dismissal? Pisses people off.

Fucking yes all women