Welcome to the "boredom-killing" business
Published: Mon, 05/24/21
He’s been writing comics for some 30+ years, and probably his main claim to fame is his 12-year run on the Incredible Hulk in the 80’s and 90’s — where he went deep into how the Hulk is essentially a guy with multiple personalities, writing several wildly popular takes on the character that have been heavily used in the recent Marvel movies. And when I decided to start converting my “Enoch Wars” novels into comicbook scripts last year, one of the first books I bought on the subject was his excellent book:
“Writing Comics & Graphic Novels”
I found this book extremely helpful.
Not just for comicbook writing, but copywriting, too.
Take, for example, this snippet:
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“There is no one way to tell a story well. There is, however, only one way to tell a story badly: bore the reader…to quote Howard Beale in Paddy Chayefsky’s Network, “We’re in the boredom-killing business.”
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“Boredom-killing business.”
A very good way of thinking about copywriting.
And, really, marketing as a whole.
Every sentence should be written with the question:
“Is this sentence boring?”
And sometimes it’s not a “writing” thing as much as a structure thing.
More on how to structure boredom out of an ad in the coming June “Email Players” issue.
Here’s the link:
https://www.EmailPlayers.com
Ben Settle