The Website of Brandon M. Easton, writer - Archives

Precarious States #4 -- "The Fallout: Bush vs. Kerry" The Death of Pluralism. December 1st, 2004

I won't join in on the cacophony of complaints, boasting, and general sounds of ill will being tossed about since the concession of John Kerry.

I personally am sickened by the state of this country in terms of how politics, morality, and religion have joined with a foreign policy determined by petroleum-refining corporations. This is more than just a "Red" state vs. "Blue" state kind of thing, this is laying the groundwork for the complete deterioration of a common good that needs to be a part of the framework of a nation.

In the final weeks of the election, I have heard the same phrases and tired predictions about electorates, gay unions, youth voting, turnouts, blah blah blah... and the one thing that I have not heard anyone talk about is the absolute definition of humans based solely on their political parties.

For example, people (pundits I should say) immediately cast all Democrats as "Liberals" -- and the American definition of liberal seems to mean that you are AUTOMATICALLY: pro-choice, pro-immigration, peacenik dove, pro-urban, anti-business, pro-bigger government, pro-welfare... and whatever else is supposedly liberal in terms of social and economic policies.

I don't understand if people understand this or not, but there are Democrats (like myself) who are not big on immigration/outsourcing, who likes a strong military, who might not be in total support of gay unions, who would like something to work alongside welfare, but doesn't mind expanding government services and raising taxes to pay for them.

Does that make me a conservative? Or a liberal? The current definitions of political identity doesn't seem to allow for folks like me who would never in a trillion years vote for someone like G.W.B -- but also found Kerry not strong enough to topple a Republican administration that is clearly making a ton of mistakes that Americans will be paying for for generations to come.

I know Republicans who tend to not be hardcore, right-wing, lunatic Christian conservative Klansmen (although, we sure do know enough of those who are out there) but so much of our political dialogue will also not permit that level of diversity to exist betwixt and between these two opposed parties.

And what I see is that the average joe American seems to be falling into this trap. Suddenly, politics and policies have ceased to matter, and labels have become the language of the day. No one attacks Kerry on his record per se, they call him a "big Liberal" and that becomes a scarlet letter. No one attacks Bush on his record directly, they speak on his moral crusade.

What happened to politics? What happened to the discussion of actual issues and the realization that there are many different ideologies that exist in our two party system? Bush and his guys were able to distract large numbers of voters with issues of religion and fear rather than discuss politics and policies.

Could Bush or Kerry hold a candle to Nixon, LBJ, Carter, Kennedy, Ike, Truman, or FDR? HELL NO! Those guys were politicians who knew how to talk politics and they could wipe the floor with both of these guys.

Those presidents realized that there wasn't just ONE Republican party or ONE Democratic party -- they knew that people had many beliefs in their consituency, but could rally under the banner of their party's ideological frame -- DEMOCRATS post WWI = expansion of government, moderate handling of international affairs, progressive domestic policies with the goal of stimulation of economy ---- REPUBLICANS post WWI = loosening of restriction on banking/business, aggressive military policy domestically and abroad, conservative social ideologies with fiscal caution

Now, we have Republicans and Democrats not falling anywhere close to either of these frameworks. Democrats are afraid to stand up without checking first to see if Republicans will be offended and Republicans refuse to break ranks and say that Bush is clearly making some errors in terms of finance and foreign policy.

The state of BOTH parties is a mess. Democrats have not been able to reclaim the center/left position Clinton vacated when he pulled the party to the right, and Republicans -- in an effort to appear less Democratic -- have went so far right that soon they will appear to be fascists to even the most open-minded conservatives (I know that sounds strange, but they do exist).

America is in a much more fragile place than people realize and since so few people actually READ about issues and react emotionally, it may be too late to reverse a downward spiral for our nation.

Precarious States #3 -- "I know strange people." November 26th, 2004

Do any of you know or have friends who are a bit bizarre? I don't mean in our individual quirky differences, but I mean folks who would make other people do a double take at their appearance or general behaviors?

Let me give you an example from my personal life:

A few years ago in Boston, Massachusetts, I worked in a store called Anime Crash in Harvard Square (Cambridge) and met a lot of people who were into the whole anime/manga scene before it became fashionable. We were a hot spot in the days before Best Buy or Tower Video carried Japanese Animation and HK cinema.

Anyways, we would get a lot of the "underground" (indie rock) types to come into the store wanting anime and all the cool stuff -- the real gold of course were all the unreleased Sega Saturn or Sony PS1 games from Japan.

So, we had this one guy come in all the time -- I will call him "Chuck" -- who only wanted the Japanese dating simulation games (basically, role playing games where the point is to eventually get laid, in America, we have Leisure Suit Larry) because he felt that he needed to have "control" over his dates. And this guy wasn't kidding... which is why he never had any dates.

Eventually, he stopped coming to the store because he walked in while a particularly steamy PG-13 styled love scene from some old kung-fu flick was on a monitor and proceeded to get majorly offended that we dared to show bare human flesh in a public place.

Mind you, this is a guy who purchased all the hentai (anime porn) titles the minute we got something new in stock and went home to pleasure himself to pixelated images of cartoon chicks on an import video game! Yet a relatively harmless expression of adult sensuality sends him into moral outrage?

"Wow" is all I could say that day...

Precarious States #2 -- "I hate trucker hats!" -sorry, no excuse, been a busy year. October 18th, 2004.

I know trends are trends, and by their very definition means that people have to follow them. But god almighty, if I see another trucker hat on someone who is under the age of 30 and who DOESN'T actually DRIVE A TRAILER RIG or HUNT DEER for fun, I am going to shoot myself.

People, trucker hats were never meant to be fashion statements. They were worn by people who usually didn't have any fashion sense, and were purchased to keep sweat and the sun out of your eyes when you had a lot of work to do outside and couldn't afford a really good hat or visor. These hats were purchased at local convenience stores or bait/tackle shops throughout rural and suburban areas around the country. Not in URBAN OUTFITTERS, AMBERCROMBIE/FITCH, or OLD Fricking NAVY!!!!

I try not to thrust my opinions onto people but for christ's sake people, get a clue. I guess tomorrow if Ashton Kutcher (whom I blame for helping to kick start this foolishness) started wearing earrings made of donkey testicles on his ears, two days later, we would see half the kids out there wearing the same thing?

I had to get that out...

B

October 18th, 2003

PRECARIOUS STATES #1- "Who wants to be a writer?"

Some of you may know who I am, and a few others will have found me by mistake, and still, many others will wonder just who the hell is this guy? My name is Brandon M. Easton. I am a professional writer who loves comic books, science fiction, video games, and just about anything that is truly cool these days.

But at the same time, I am a nobody in the world of popular entertainment. Unless you count my work on ARKANIUM, one of the original titles that DREAMWAVE PRODUCTIONS (www.dreamwaveprod.com) put out last summer. It didn't last very long at all, but one of the great things about that title was that it was my first published work in the comic book industry as a writer. Since then, I am asked by at least 10 aspiring writers a month "how do I break into comics as a writer?"

There are quite a few good sites that deal with this question, and if this applies to you, please feel free to check these pages at your leisure: http://www.williamsullivanadvertising.com/joeedkin/writing.html AND http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/9925/.

Done? Those are possibly the best websites I have seen on the subject of how to refine your craft as a writer before attempting to submit your ideas to an editor. Those guys took the time to explain all the things you SHOULD DO in order to increase your chances at getting hired. Now, as someone who spent about 4 years trying to break in, let me tell you about all the things you SHOULDN'T DO and especially how to change your attitude about the nature of comic books in our culture as well as the business side of it.

Ready? Here we go...

COMMERCIAL FICTION IS NOT FAN FICTION:

Comic books, sci-fi/fantasy novels, and "genre" TV and film screenplays are usually created, published, and distributed by companies that are owned by large multi-media corporations who believe in one supreme being -- the God of Commerce. It all comes down to the almighty dollar. Please repeat the last two sentences twenty times or ad naseum, however long it takes for that message to seep into your brain. When this message becomes a part of your personal lexicon, get ready to acknowledge a harsh reality: most of you won't make it as a writer.

I don't wish to crush anyone's dreams or make you feel bad. After all, if you really want to be a writer, nothing I will say will change that. But, the light of truth needs to shine upon the ranks of comic and genre fandom once in a while. We need to face the fact that these corporations are not interested in your concept for a new RPG series you and your buddies dreamt up in your parent's basement, they don't care if you wrote a fanfic that will "save" the Star Trek franchise, or an outline for a prequel Transformers novel that alters the nature of those "robots in disguise." What those corporations care about is whether or not you can make them money.

How will they know? Well, if you have had previous publication someplace notable, garnered some critical praise, and broke even on the initial investment, then you stand a better than average chance of getting an editor to take you seriously enough to actually read your pitch. And then, your chances are futher complicated by the tastes, prejudices, and politics of the editor or the company he/she represents. Even if they LIKE your pitch, you still have to consider the health of the literary marketplace, the always declining number of people who read periodicals, as well as the fact that there will always be a more popular and established writer who is out of work who happens to be the best friend and/or lover of the editor.

My absolute BEST advice for those who wish to break into the writing field is to first create something new. Don't try to break in as a first time writer on an established property because 1) these companies will not trust characters that generate hundreds of millions of dollars to someone they don't know, 2) you will not OWN any of the work you do, each word you write will become the property of that company for as long as you live, 3) the majority of money made from that project will go back to that company, and 4) most new writers are simply not ready for the demands of working on a novel/comic book series/TV series without previous experience.

I understand the passion many of you have for certain properties. I happen to be one of the biggest Transformers fans on the face of the Earth. However, I would never attempt to write a Transformers novel because I know I could make up something equally influential if I gave myself the proper time and motivation. My point is that if you like Dragonlance, LOTR, AD&D or another Elf and Goblin epic, don't try to write a story in those worlds, simply MAKE UP YOUR OWN UNIVERSE. Why waste so much time, effort, blood, sweat, and energy on someone else's creation? Don't be bound by another person's rules, write your own.

DON'T BE A SLOB -- SERIOUSLY...:

If I seem a bit cruel or cold (and believe me, I am not trying to be, I just need to clear the air as clearly as possible) it might be because of the legions of lazy and arrogant wanna-be writers out there who make it harder for decent writers to get work.

Let me set up a scenario for you, let's say that you always dreamt of being a writer, you went to college (or took some writing classes), you kept a journal, you learned how to tell a dramatic story, you learned proper format and structure, you made certain to type your work, and check it for spelling and grammar, you researched all the companies you wanted to approach, learned their submission guidelines, their editor's names, you saved hundreds of dollars to go to a major convention where you heard editors were more open to looking at new writers, you spent many, many hours putting together the best pitches and samples you could imagine.

Then, suddenly, you find yourself in line behind about 20 other aspiring writers. There is an editor of your favorite comic book/genre novel/etc. series willing to look at new pitches. Sadly, there is a problem. Remember the 20 guys in line in front of you? Here is a breakdown of their level of preparedness: 10 of them will have HAND-WRITTEN pitches (which is the biggest no-no in the history of contemporary publication), 5 will have typed pitches that are neatly put together, but do not adhere to the submission guidelines of that company, 3 will have typed pitches that do adhere to the guidelines, yet these guys will be unshowered, rude, or just plain unpleasant, and then that leaves 2 other people and you, who will have all the things they need in order to make the editor's job much easier.

By the time an editor gets to you, he/she will have had to deal with 18 sloppy, incoherent, or incomplete submissions. This doesn't increase your chances at all because this editor will be burned out from the lack of professionalism and therefore will assume that any other work that comes his/her way will be of equally crappy quality.

It is imperative that aspiring writers (or anyone for that matter) present themselves in the most professional manner possible. This means being prepared. I am not a snob, but it does help to get a degree in Creative Writing, English, Film & TV, or even Sociology because these curriculums tend to help you focus in and discipline yourself in an artistic/academic situation. Trying to write a novel or a pitch for a comic book series and not knowing how to spell is problematic. What's worse, trying to break into writing without a general sense of how to write a story is practically suicide. And if you think there aren't people out there who try to break into a professional environment without the slightest professional training, I seriously suggest you check your favorite message board or fanfic site and pay close attention to those who want to turn their story into a professional sale. It's quite frightening to be honest. Its like someone believing they are qualified to be an emergency room surgeon just because their favorite TV show is ER.

*PHEW* Didn't mean to write this much... PART TWO COMING SOON... Feel free to drop me an email...