About this episode
Dave and Brad welcome Ryan North , two-time Eisner Award winner, creator of Dinosaur Comics and writer for Marvel Comics' Squirrel Girl . We discuss his upcoming book, How to Invent Everything and his successful Shakespearean choose-your-own-adventure To Be or Not To Be . Along the way, we go deep on several topics involving writing — getting ideas, subconscious plagiarism, self-plagiarism, rejecting unoriginal ideas, creativity as a compulsion, juggling multiple projects, exorcising ideas, and much much more. BUT FIRST — Brad explains how zinc is more precious than gold for your good health. Show notes 9:13 — How did Ryan first get into writing for comics? 12:37 — Rejecting an idea if it's not completely original 16:30 — Creativity as a compulsion 18:08 — Getting the idea for "To Be or Not To Be" 19:10— Capturing ideas 24:14 — Writing Squirrel Girl fro Marvel Comics 30:06 — The "minced oath" 31:51 — Avoiding subconscious plagiarism 38:34 — Juggling multiple projects and how to decide which ideas get used in which projects 41:57 — "Exorcising" ideas 43:13 — Self-plagiarization on social media 45:47 — Ideas are easy. Execution is hard. Great rewards when you support ComicLab $2 — support the show $5 — submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast $10 — record an audio question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast $50 — Sponsor the show! We’ll read a brief promo for your comic/product and read it twice during the show AND you get the exclusive ProTips podcast Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the editor of Webcomics.com Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive . You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon $2 — Early access to episodes $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards. If you'd like a one-on-one consultation about your comic, book it now ! Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook . He is available for personal consultations . Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive . He is the co-director of the comics documentary, Stripped .