By Nelson \u2013 When Ian Fel\u00adler asked me to do an article about things I\u2019ve read that have had an effect on me, I really had to sit down and think about the things that really left a deep impression. If they say we\u2019re a product of our environment, I guess everything must shape us in one way or another. Nowadays, with so many other forms of communicative media, like television, radio, and\u2014God forbid\u2014the Internet, reading seems to be almost obsolete in today\u2019s \u201cmicrowave\u201d generation. Still, faster doesn\u2019t mean better.<\/p>\n
I never thought of the writing profession as something that would actually be a fun thing to do. That was until I read a book by Kurt Vonnegut. It was during my freshman year in high school, and I think it was a choice on a list of books that we were required to read. God knows that just about every literary treasure a student discovers was basically forced upon him or her. You know what I mean. It\u2019s sort of like those vacations your parents would plan, the kind you would be dreading up until the very morning you left. But as always, upon returning home, you\u2019d realize that you really did have fun after all.<\/p>\n
Anyway, thank goodness for required reading, because I truly enjoyed that first Vonnegut book. I think it was Gal\u00e1pagos<\/em>. It kinda made me realize, for the first time, that a respected writer could, and chose to, write these rather odd, but very intriguing stories. With a vivid imagination, tremendous writing skill, and a pretty darn good sense of humor, he brought us stories of weird things like ice-nine<\/em>, nerds who have affairs with the store owner\u2019s wife, and poor saps who accidentally kill pregnant women with one stray bullet (Deadeye Dick<\/em>). This really got me thinking that writing could be a hell of a lot more fun than I thought.<\/p>\n Looking back on it now, I realize how these guys must really have a blast writing down what pops into their head. Take Stephen King, for example. Dreaming up those terrifying stories must be more fun than throwin\u2019 watermelons off the Empire State Building.<\/p>\n Still, all I ever wanted to do was draw comics. To me, there\u2019s nothing else on this planet that\u2019s more satisfying (including throwing watermelons off of the Em\u00adpire State Building).<\/p>\n When I began creating the Eudaemon back in \u201992, I started out just designing the visuals of the character. My attentions soon turned from those visuals to the character\u2019s name, then his background, and soon I found myself devising a plot. Next thing I knew, the artwork took a back seat to the story. I found myself actually doing something I thought I never would. I was writing fiction that would be read by a rather large audience. Was I becoming a legitimate fiction writer? Hmmmm. I don\u2019t really consider myself a writer. I mean, although I script my own comic, that\u2019s about it. I never could picture myself writing the \u201cGreat Ameri\u00adcan Novel.\u201d That really isn\u2019t me.<\/p>\n When you think about it, writing a comic or two isn\u2019t a big deal, but everything has its own humble beginnings\u2014fiction writing included. Don\u2019t forget that the engaging story of The Outsiders<\/em> began as an English class assignment when S.E. Hinton was just 16. I wonder if she ever thought, just for a moment, that her story\u2014which she probably figured was no big deal\u2014would be read and loved by millions? Did she even in her wildest dreams think that Francis Ford Coppola would turn her homework into an endearing film?<\/p>\n I\u2019ll never forget one day, about five or six years ago, I was sitting in my car with Carmine Infantino on the corner of Forty-Ninth Street and Second Avenue in New York City. He was nice enough to give me some background work. Boy, I really needed it at the time. He was going over some drawings with me, when lo and behold I saw this familiar fellow with shaggy hair and a beard walking down the street. I new in an instant that it was none other than Kurt Vonnegut! \u201cYeah, that\u2019s Kurt,\u201d Carmine calmly explained. \u201cHe\u2019s a neighbor of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s pretty obvious his work has had an effect on me. If not [solely] as a writer, it\u2019s at least as a fan. I\u2019ll let you in on a little secret: Every time I went into Carmine\u2019s building after that day, I kept an eye out to see if I could catch him in the lobby. I just wanted to thank him. He helped make passing freshman and sophomore English a lot more enjoyable.<\/p>\n I believe that all things, no matter how trivial, affect us. To me, it\u2019s just a question of how<\/em> they affect us that really counts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Nelson \u2013 When Ian Fel\u00adler asked me to do an article about things I\u2019ve read that have had an effect on me, I really had to sit down and think about the things that really left a deep impression. If they say we\u2019re a product of our environment, I guess everything must shape us in one way or another. Nowadays, with so many other forms of communicative media, like television, radio, and\u2014God forbid\u2014the Internet, reading seems to be almost obsolete in today\u2019s \u201cmicrowave\u201d generation. Still, faster doesn\u2019t mean better. I never thought of the writing profession as something that would actually be a fun thing to do. That was until I read a book by Kurt Vonnegut. It was during my freshman year in high school, and I think it was a choice on a list of books that we were required to read. God knows that just about every literary treasure a student discovers was basically forced upon him or her. You know what I mean. It\u2019s sort of like those vacations your parents would plan, the kind you would be dreading up until the very morning you left. But as always, upon returning home, you\u2019d realize that you really did have fun after all. Anyway, thank goodness for required reading, because I truly enjoyed that first Vonnegut book. I think it was Gal\u00e1pagos. It kinda made me realize, for the first time, that a respected writer could, and chose to, write these rather odd, but very intriguing stories. With a vivid imagination, tremendous writing skill, and a pretty darn good sense of humor, he brought us stories of weird things like ice-nine, nerds who have affairs with the store owner\u2019s wife, and poor saps who accidentally kill pregnant women with one stray bullet (Deadeye Dick). This really got me thinking that writing could be a hell of a lot more fun than I thought. Looking back on it now, I realize how these guys must really have a blast writing down what pops into their head. Take Stephen King, for example. Dreaming up those terrifying stories must be more fun than throwin\u2019 watermelons off the Empire State Building. Still, all I ever wanted to do was draw comics. To me, there\u2019s nothing else on this planet that\u2019s more satisfying (including throwing watermelons off of the Em\u00adpire State Building). When I began creating the Eudaemon back in \u201992, I started out just designing the visuals of the character. My attentions soon turned from those visuals to the character\u2019s name, then his background, and soon I found myself devising a plot. Next thing I knew, the artwork took a back seat to the story. I found myself actually doing something I thought I never would. I was writing fiction that would be read by a rather large audience. Was I becoming a legitimate fiction writer? Hmmmm. I don\u2019t really consider myself a writer. I mean, although I script my own comic, that\u2019s about it. I never could picture myself writing the \u201cGreat Ameri\u00adcan Novel.\u201d That really isn\u2019t me. When you think about it, writing a comic or two isn\u2019t a big deal, but everything has its own humble beginnings\u2014fiction writing included. Don\u2019t forget that the engaging story of The Outsiders began as an English class assignment when S.E. Hinton was just 16. I wonder if she ever thought, just for a moment, that her story\u2014which she probably figured was no big deal\u2014would be read and loved by millions? Did she even in her wildest dreams think that Francis Ford Coppola would turn her homework into an endearing film? I\u2019ll never forget one day, about five or six years ago, I was sitting in my car with Carmine Infantino on the corner of Forty-Ninth Street and Second Avenue in New York City. He was nice enough to give me some background work. Boy, I really needed it at the time. He was going over some drawings with me, when lo and behold I saw this familiar fellow with shaggy hair and a beard walking down the street. I new in an instant that it was none other than Kurt Vonnegut! \u201cYeah, that\u2019s Kurt,\u201d Carmine calmly explained. \u201cHe\u2019s a neighbor of mine.\u201d It\u2019s pretty obvious his work has had an effect on me. If not [solely] as a writer, it\u2019s at least as a fan. I\u2019ll let you in on a little secret: Every time I went into Carmine\u2019s building after that day, I kept an eye out to see if I could catch him in the lobby. I just wanted to thank him. He helped make passing freshman and sophomore English a lot more enjoyable. I believe that all things, no matter how trivial, affect us. To me, it\u2019s just a question of how they affect us that really counts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[46,47,48],"class_list":["post-378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recommended-reading","tag-august-1997","tag-issue-31","tag-nelson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":409,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions\/409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}