And Now For Something Completely Different...

Which also has nothing to do with Monty Python.

Started a novel recently. I've written a novel's worth of contracted work for the year so far so I figured hey, why not?

What I'm realizing:

1) This will not be just one novel. At least 3. I hope three...because more than three or so seems excessive in a lot of ways.
2) Despite what I originally suspected I think it's better as a novel and not a comic
3) The multi-character perspective novel is a crazy beast. It keeps growing as I add characters who I like or hate.
4) and this is probably the biggest revelation that sometimes I write things that I have no idea what they are, except I know they are important.

For example, when writing up some background for the setting which may or may not appear in some appendix or something I was writing the following:

War in the Shadows

In reality, while the press and public was deluged with scores of masked heroes and mystery men by the1930s organized crime had beat the forces of law and order to the punch by several years. Not at all squeamish about employing children with bizarre talents in a variety of criminal enterprises, various syndicates and gangs built powerful criminal empires before adult wunderkind and their non-powered allies rose to challenge them. Criminals like the Face, Headsman, and the Little Dutch Boy were working making the streets safe for crime, corruption, and graft for years before the forces of law and order had any notable superhuman allies. By the 30s, many of these now adult criminals were running their own gangs or were infamous freelancers charging a small fortune to work as assassins, enforcers, and muscles for various outfits.

Note the bolded names. I have NO IDEA who these guys are. None. Especially the Little Dutch Boy. But as I was writing he demanded to be put in my work. I'm still not sure of his real name, or his physical appearance or what crazy abilities he has which has earned him that nickname. I know he's a gangster of Dutch/German origin...but that's it. Note that this whole section doesn't even really relate to any of the main characters as far as I can tell right now. It's just background stuff about some crazy pulp mystery men things going on in the setting. But while writing it a character created itself out of the crazy stuff in my head and demanded to be included in the book, at least in some form. The Face? He might not make it. He seems less concrete and sometimes is replaced in my mental rewriting with some fuzzy names and concepts that haven't quite taken solid form.

Another example from a footnote in my setting stuff:

The bulletproof Robert Baker a.k.a. the Untouchable was recruited in 1927 by J. Edgar Hoover. Within a year, Baker was leading a team of four other costumed adventurers the press dubbed “the Gangbusters.” The other four members were Damien Price, Leonard O’Malley, Vincent Stone, and Frank Nestor.

I have no idea what any of these guys can do but here they are. But I knew their names right away (still not sure if they have aliases). Except for Damien might change. Maybe to Darren or something. I also know at least two of these guys die messy bloody deaths...but I don't know how.

So it's a funny process and a funny thing...sometimes what you write isn't really under your conscious control. And again, this isn't even the character or story I'm telling. These guys are mostly in the background, but they screaming at me from the bleachers to make them cooler and in some cases make them at all.

Funny old world.