Delirium City

Four years ago, I set out on a journey. I had no idea it would take me this long to follow the path that it created for me. The August before my senior year of high school started, I sat down in a Starbucks in Cool Springs, and wrote the words, "I was born on an air force base in Midwest America." With that, I had something to tell. I shared what I had with people, and I was proud of the work I had been doing. Things were progressing well. I knew that what I was creating would obviously need some work. It definitely had some kinks to work out, but I persisted, just trying to get down this story.

Then, in December, over Christmas break, I hit wall. And I hit it hard.

What I had at the time was amateur. I didn't really feel that way as I was writing it, but looking back, I can see that I was way too caught up in trying to be edgy. I wanted to create a facade of being this darkly contemplative writer. I wanted people to like me. I was not really writing for myself. I had been writing around a specific scene. A scene that only exists in my memories now, but was extremely vivid when I crafted it.

Work stopped for about a year. I moved on to another project for a class. And then I wanted to focus on that story. I worked at expanding the beginnings of something cool I had crafted for my Film as Lit class, but that was beginning to give me problems. I really liked the characters I had created for this movie, but I didn't really know how to make them live.

So, work slowed down on that. Before I had started college, I started reading comics. Mainly in trade paperback form (aka graphic novels though there is a distinction). I got a couple of SIN CITY books that had not been translated into the movie, and I read them. And something clicked. I had wanted to resume work on my original story, but nothing had really brought it back for me. Nothing helped me break through the writer's block. This, however, did it. Like it was something magical.

A series of things I experienced during my freshman year contributed to the story that now started flowing so freely from my fingertips. LOST. ALIAS. The trailer for HALO 3. SIN CITY. All of these things began to shape something in my head that got me genuinely excited. I began talking about it again. My friends would hear me talking about this story, and for all I knew, they probably didn't think about it much.

But I did.

The first thing I did was start reinventing the original characters who would be crucial to the story. THE HERO. SOPHIE KING. I began reshaping ideas I had about the plot. Most things changed completely. One only slightly. THE NECRO DISTRICT. I realized at one point that I had 2 perfectly good lead characters, and 1 supporting character in the project I had done a year before. CLARENCE HENRY. FRANK. ALICE PIERSON. I began to shift things around. Sophie slipped to a supporting role, and her cousin AUDREY KING was brought into the picture. I needed another character to serve as the first gatekeeper for my hero. From that, SOLOMON MYERS was given life. I had one more character I was going to pull from the original drafts, and redefine him, and his purpose. JAMES PRIME.

I was well on my way to something I could be proud of. I began meeting with David Blumberg to potentially add art to my story, like a comic book in my mind. He got me to start thinking outside the norm though. From his meetings emerged four important pieces of the puzzle that is I, HERO. I had a name for my setting. DELIRIUM CITY. I had a surname for a crucial villain. FRANK FALLOW. I had an object to set the story into motion. THE ARCHITECT. And, most importantly, I was able to finally name my hero. JACK HEART.

The puzzle was coming together quite well, and I was getting even more excited.

Two-and-a-half years later, after several rewrites and spells of writer's block, I am making a vow to finish this story. It is difficult knowing everything that heppens later, to write the essential pieces to progress the story, but it has to be done. I have to do this because I feel like it is a story worth telling. If for no reason other than it will provide entertainment to one person. I would be willing to live with that. My deepest hope, however, is that it does that for more. That people become invested in my story, and truly care for the characters.

So, there you are. That is the story, to some degree, of I, HERO. I want to be able to share it with all of you, but it will be hard for me to sit down and work on it sometimes. I would reall appreciate it if you would ask me how it is going, or to talk about it with you, or something. Anything to get my mind on it, and keep me working. If you made it this far, I appreciate your patience. Also, I would appreciate your keeping me accountable in the future with this. That's it for tonight.


You can't stop the signal...