250 Words on Accessible Style

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

When I set out to write and draw my first graphic novel, Mom’s Cancer, more than 20 (!) years ago,* I faced a decision.

My first thought was to render it in a Gothic scritchy-scratchy crosshatched art style saturated in grays and blacks. I can draw like that if I want to, and darkness seemed apt for a cancer story.

My second thought was to do the opposite. I realized that gloomy art would repel the readers I was hoping to attract. Instead, I drew it open and light, with panel layouts that were easy to follow. I wanted it to feel familiar, comfortable, like an old comic strip. I’d lure readers in and then hit them with my family’s story. 

(Incidentally, Mom’s Cancer is in landscape format because it began as a webcomic. Each page had the proportions of a computer monitor so visitors could read it without scrolling.)

If I’d ever had any doubts I made the right stylistic decision, they would have been erased at this year’s Graphic Medicine International Conference in Baltimore. More than two decades after I created Mom’s Cancer, medical schools still teach it and academic papers still cite it. When I thanked those teachers and scholars for using my work, many of them said something like:

“It’s so accessible.” “It’s a comic I hand to people who don’t read comics.” “It’s a great introduction to graphic medicine.”

To which, if I’m being honest, I can only reply, “Thanks. I did that on purpose.”

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* And I will take this opportunity to remind everyone that the 20th anniversary edition of Mom’s Cancer, featuring the entire original story plus 22 new pages, as well as new introductions and end notes, can be bought or ordered from your heroic local independent bookseller today!

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250 Words on Netiquette

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

An anonymous commenter on a recent post scolded me for not writing about a subject that’s very important to them. Anon seemed to consider my lack of interest an intellectual and moral failure, replying (with what I imagine to be a sneer), “OK, back to writing the Dave Barry stuff. Don't strain.”

For the record, I wish I could write the Dave Barry stuff. Unfortunately, Dave Barry has the market cornered. 

Occasionally, something I write gets a lot of attention. I’ve noticed that once a post catches on, unfamiliar commenters* swarm the discussion with so much nastiness that I have to restrict commenting because I can’t keep up with it. 

Different people have different reasons for being online. Mine is a mix of business and pleasure. It’s a way to keep in touch with friends and family, share my writing and cartooning, and otherwise promote my work. 

I regard my web homes—my Substack platform, Facebook page, and personal blog—as casual parties at which I hope to cultivate friendly and thoughtful interactions with interesting people. Commenters are welcome to critique or disagree with anything I post, but a crasher who poops on the rug, insults my guests, and demands that I cater to their whims will be escorted from the premises. 

I’m not infringing on your free speech. Say whatever you want on any of the hundreds of outlets available to you. Why pick a fight with me? I have no time for your nonsense. Host your own party. 

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* Yes, I know they’re probably bots, automated to attack anything vaguely political or socially relevant. Sometimes I look them up out of curiosity. It’s amazing how many pretty girls in bikinis or hulky special forces veterans have strong opinions on the issues of the day that they share with their five friends and followers. 

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Review: The Odyssey

No one has been eagerly awaiting my thoughts on The Odyssey, but I have some anyway. Reaction I've read has been polarized--some very positive, some very negative--so I kept an open mind as I went to see it with my daughters this afternoon. 

I liked it very much. It's an adult film with ideas that is about something. That in itself makes it interesting and worthwhile these days.

I am not a classics quibbler. One of the great strengths of old stories like The Odyssey, Beowulf, Shakespeare or religious myths is they carry universal themes that can be adapted for the times. If Romeo and Juliet can be molded into West Side Story, I have no problem with director Christopher Nolan playing a little fast and loose with Homer.

Odysseus has an interesting character arc. In this version, he is a soldier consumed with guilt for sins he and his army committed in their siege of Troy that broke the laws of god(s) and man. His 20-year voyage is penance for those crimes, and he only gets home when he surrenders his hubris and puts his fate in the hands of the gods. It's almost Zen. 

I loved the movie's treatment of the Greek gods. We don't see much of them except Athena, whose resemblance to Zendaya is explained late in the film. Otherwise, they're forces of nature too transcendent for humans to comprehend. A stormy sea is Poseidon's wrath; a clap of thunder punctuates Zeus's disapproval. Much better, I think, than Laurence Olivier pontificating in a toga.

I'm very glad I saw it. My classics-loving daughters liked it, too. It'll stay with me. Your mileage may vary.

250 Words on 26,000 Words

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

Today begins my third year of writing and posting one 250-word essay per week. Because each is exactly 250 words long, the math is easy: 2 years x 52 weeks/year x 250 words/week = 26,000 words.*

That adds up to a respectable novella’s-worth of whatever’s on my mind. As I wrote a year ago, when I only had half as many pieces under my belt, each may be a bite-sized appetizer but they add up to a surprisingly robust meal. 

As probably one of the few who read all three thick volumes of Mark Twain’s autobiography (honestly a bit of a slog), I appreciated that he structured it as a series of short essays he dictated to his secretary. Some were anecdotes from his life and times, others were reflections on random current affairs that caught his eye. His notion, as he explained in the introduction, was that a reader would get to know him much better that way than they would through a dry recitation of biographical dates and events.

I didn’t set out to do likewise, but it has occurred to me that my 250-word pieces cumulatively serve the same purpose. I try to space out the topics so I don’t post two pieces in a row on comics, or writing, or science, or pop culture, or memoir, or whatever. But sooner or later, everything I know and care about will make an appearance. 

It’s an exercise I’d recommend to any writer—or, really, anyone. Thanks for reading!

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* I also did one post promoting the release of my newest book, the Mom’s Cancer Anniversary Edition, but I don’t count those 164 words. Also, footnotes (like this one) don’t count. My house, my rules. 

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PLEASE SUBSCRIBE! I am sharing these little "250 Words On" essays via Substack, which will email a new one to your In Box every Tuesday morning. Just follow this link and enter your email address. It's free, and I promise to never use your address for evil purposes.