Now that the physical copies of “We Suck at Comics” have officially landed, I thought I would write a little about the short story of mine that appears within. There will be some spoilers, though I will try to avoid the big ones, so you have been properly warned.
Once they announced the theme of rejection for the book, I bounced through a few ideas before I settled on a simple story about a man who believes he is a shoo-in for a position which, of course, he does not get. I knew I wanted to represent different reactions to being turned down, so I added the other two gentlemen as conduits for different emotions. Our somewhat arrogant narrator goes through denial and frustration, followed by anger and a bit of desperation. Christian, or Hooter as he likes to be called, begins in a more accepting place, but he also turns to anger when the tables turn on him again. And Nick is in a state of naïve disbelief. It was also important to me that the narrator gets to find out why he is ultimately turned down; I think often we don’t get a clear explanation as why we are rejected – although other times the reasons are all too clear – so I really wanted him to have some sense of closure in that respect, even if it a moot point at the end.
There are a few nods to things that influenced me over the years. Some are more overt, like quoting Gene Roddenberry, and others are a bit more subtle. There are some autobiographical details in there too, some small nuggets of truth in a story that grows more absurd as it progresses. I even chose to make myself the narrator, since there was already a lot of me in him.
Tonally, I wanted it to be serious, but I left a lot of room for some levity; I mean, the name of the anthology is “We Suck at Comics,” and it really felt like the story needed a little of that irreverent humor. In the story, some of that comes from Hooter and his quest to be accepted, and some comes from the details, especially during the final interview. I had a lot of fun with the dialogue for the interviewer; there is some wry humor and some darkness as well, and I wrote those lines with a sense of directness that comes from someone who, despite their experiences, does not fully understand humanity.
The title of the story was originally Assume the Position, a play on words that relies upon the notion that the narrator assumes he will get the position he seeks. My wife didn’t like it and after a little reflection I agreed. So the title was changed to This is Not Happening to reflect the narrator’s words of denial and the story’s ending. I am so thankful to my wife for talking me out of that original title, because I think it would have been too confusing and it’s honestly not a good one for this piece.
I had a lot of fun writing this story too. It was a real shift for me in terms of genre and tone; I find humor very hard to write because I always feel like the ‘delivery’ of the lines does not come through properly, and I have a weird sense of humor as well. Originally, I was aiming more for a “twist” ending, but I decided to give that piece up a little sooner so that I could have fun with the more outlandish aspects of the story. Hopefully I kept the reader interested and wondering what was going on long enough that they felt invested by the time they reached that turning point of the story.
That is all I can say without spoiling the narrative and the weird place it goes. If you haven’t read my story – and the rest of this awesome anthology – I implore you to go get a copy and check it out. Obviously I want you to read my piece, but there are some brilliant short graphic novels in there and a few other short pieces of fiction too. It is available both in physical and digital form, so go check it out! But remember – you can’t have a digital copy autographed, so buy the damn book!