OK, so this comic strip from December of last year isn’t exactly “rare.” It’s Arlo and Janis sitting on the sofa, for cryin’ out loud. However, there is something out of the ordinary going on here. Can you tell what it is? That’s right! In the third panel, Arlo’s dialog runs to four lines. It is an unwritten rule here (where all rules are unwritten!) that dialog in a comic strip not run for more than three lines. You’d be surprised how easy this really is. Dialog tends to be terse and to the point, and much of what I write is dialog. I believe punchy dialog actually lends authenticity; remember that, would-be comic strip artists, and writers of all stripes.
I bring up dialog, because I periodically get emails from readers who complain (always nicely!) that they have a particularly difficult time reading the text in Arlo & Janis. I don’t doubt they have problems. Newspapers so reduce all comic strips these days that they’ve become almost impossible to read, particularly for the demographic that is keeping newspapers afloat. I do wonder, though, if A&J is particularly unintelligible. I look at other strips in the newspapers, and I don’t see many of them being any easier to read. I like to think it’s because Arlo & Janis is the one they want to read. Anyway, I have two points about this subject. 1) I am aware of the problem. I have gone to a thicker lettering pen, but I think this sometimes makes me squeeze the lettering, which probably is the worst thing I could do. I have experimented with computer fonts made from my own lettering. This is promising, but I haven’t been able to develop one yet that really pleases me. Perhaps I need to expand the three-line rule to four lines. In short, I am working on it. 2) I would like your observations and suggestions on this matter. It might help.
316 responses to “A Rare Arlo & Janis”
GR6, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yAW1daYXD4
TBB was at the gym again this morning, skimpily clad as usual, but I made a new friend, too. She was on the treadmill beside me while I did my hour, but she did 40 minutes, half of it walking and half running, then went and did some other stuff. Impressive stamina; must have one big lung in her chest. Of course, she’s a few (ha!) years younger than I. Great legs, naturally. Cute without makeup, likely adorable with. She said she liked my t-shirt, anyway. It’s a start 🙂
TruckerRon, check this out: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/samsungs-clear-truck-aims-make-roads-safer/story?id=31942097
Looks good to me, and to anyone else who has been stuck behind an 18-wheeler.
Oops. From the looks of the Radarmaschine, Royal Oak and other places in the Detroit area are about to get pounded by some weather. Hope Steve and everyone else is keeping their heads down.
Looking at the radar map reminded me of a geographical oddity someone pointed out to me a few years ago…that there are places in the Detroit area where one may look *south* into Canada.
Truckstops could turn in to drive in theaters. 😉
You can tell what I’ve been reading, Ghost, when I tell you that your quote instantly reminded me of the Piecemaker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Discworld%29#Detritus
It did come down like a cow wettin’ on a flat rock, Ghost, but only for about an hour. Metro Detroit appears to be safe and secure. And yes, some Michiganders can point south to Canada. We still point at our hand, though, to indicate the spot in The Mitten we call home. (At least, those in the Lower Peninsula do, although you can make a passible Upper Peninsula by hand if your viewer has an active imagination.) Oh, and Wisconsin? We own that whole state-shaped-like-a-mitten thing, so you can just stop using that in your advertising. 😉
Denise in Michigan
Read Tom Holt’s “My Hero” -While the characters are not on duty they go home.
He also has them moving from one story to another. Much of the humor comes from
knowing literary characters.
Speaking of Terry Pratchett, I just finished reading a collection of his non-fiction pieces called A Slip of the Keyboard. Lots of discussion of how he came to be a writer (reading, reading, reading) as well as his thoughts on his Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
Among my favorites of his comments is this description of an ideal school (from 1997): “First, you build a library, then build the school around it. You make sure that the kids can read adequately, write coherently if simply, and at least have a good enough grasp of simple maths to know when a pocket calculator is lying. Then you show them how to use the library, and you DON’T let them loose on the Net until they CAN read and write and have grown up enough not to confuse data with information, otherwise they’re just monkeys in a banana plantation.” [had to substitute caps for the original italics]
Of course, how could I not like a guy who said this (in 2009): “After all, if you have a choice, why not call yourselves Shining Acolytes of the Sacred Flame of Literacy in a Dark and Encroaching Universe? I admit this is hard to put on a button, so why not abbreviate it to: librarians?”
When it comes to librarians, I have one word to say: Ook?
Jackie, you weren’t the only one getting blood drawn this AM. I expect when the results are back I will be put on insulin. Sigh.
In case people don’t immediately know GR6’s “latin” expression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegitimi_non_carborundum
I’m using the link so (hopefully) I don’t get rejected or thrown into moderation.
Popping back in to say that I’ve always thought Minnesota looked like the profile of Paul Revere with his hat on. Any other candidate for “That state looks like….?”
Putting Holt’s “My Hero” on my reading list, Old Bear.And Terry Pratchett, Ruth Anne (ashamed to admit I’ve not read him at all, to date).
Texas looks like a side view of a western saddle. Luck or what?
Mark
I foresee a possible problem with that camera system for some people.
They may get so mesmerized looking at the screen they miss other dangers.
And if people drive the way they should, so they/you/we can see the cab mirror and far enough back so you know the truck driver can see your car there should be enough visibility to pass
safely. But most people don’t drive – they just point the vehicle.
Then there are those that think “I can make that” and can’t. And the on coming traffic
is not driving either – and is distracted.
Denise: I know we have discussed Pratchett here before, with some of us suggesting good starting points for his many books. I recently came across a copy I had printed of a chart – made by people with more time on their hands than most of us have – showing suggested sequences. You can find it at http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/ My favorite starting point remains Equal Rites.
Gary, I am being retested because I am still dropping blood sugars like crazy, even with eating regularly and right and reducing insulin already. I won’t say I will get off it but I doubt I will need as much either. Exercise is probably doing that, more than food intake.
And I love both Ghost and Sand and Kris Kristopherson’s Don’t Let the Bastards Grind you Down.
Thanks, although I had heard both before and forgotten I think.
Ruth Anne, thanks for the Terry Prachett title, I lost my note to go to Barnes and Noble to buy it. Since I will be gone for a month, the library isn’t an option. I totally love his nonfiction writings.
Among my many adventures in travel last month was sitting for three hours of engrossing conversation with Mark Z. Danielewski, author of “The Familiar” and several other best selling fantasy fiction epics. Mark and I shared seats (he in his, me in mine) all the way to Denver where he had a book signing but for one hour I had no idea who he was, just that we loved cats, whales, shared similar ecological and political views, loved so many of same things.
Finally I asked him what he did that he’d been in Tulsa and he asked what did I think he did? I said, you’re a writer. Which he was, of course, I had just seen The Familiar in B and N the day before. He said he had same agent as Terry Prachett and was weirder than Terry or The Confederacy of Dunces author and I said that’d take some doing!
Ended with us hugging and kissing each other in Denver and him wanting to come to BC with us to cruise and look at marine life and waterfalls and glaciers. Instead he went to sign books.
Love, Jackie
Put me down as a no on the screened truck. It has been proven people will watch something on a screen over the real life counterpart right in front of them. People will watch the screen and either rear-end the truck, or pull out anyway because they’ve forgotten the projection was in real time. No thank you.
Off to bed. The next 72 hours are going be hopefully-controlled chaos. Night!
Lastest numbers on the OPM scandal, the Chinese hacked 18 million records.
In related news. Taylor Swift, upon hearing the news, has demanded the Chinese owe her the usual and customary percentage.
Anonymous (Ruth Anne?), yep, I promised myself then to read some Pratchett and haven’t yet. I do have “Good Omens”, so I’ll might start there, even though it’s co-written. Thank you for the reading order guide—that’s terrific!
Holy Moses, sand, it does look like a saddle!
Sweetest of nights, Mindy, and better days!
Earlier, there was some discussion of book conversations while no one was looking. I suggest reading the “Thursday Next” series by Jasper FForde. Here’s a link to the author’s website.
http://www.jasperfforde.com/subindex/tn_index.html
The books are available on Amazon or possibly at your local library.
Well, even if Samsung’s idea doesn’t work out, they’re definitely addressing a real problem. So, kudos for trying.
I wonder why we humans prefer images to reality?
As Jackie and Denise correctly surmised, that last Anonymous was me. I thought I had posted something after that but I guess I didn’t hit submit – no links and nothing controversial so I don’t think it should have gone to moderation limbo.
Anyway, for those of you who are interested in the process of writing/publishing and who venture into Facebook-land, I recommend reading Sharyn McCrumb’s latest posts. She has a new publisher and thus a new copy editor for her next book. Usually it takes her a couple of days to review comments/corrections but with this one it has taken two weeks – and many, many uses of STET. Her account of “Copy editor wars” would make a funny story if it weren’t true. It seems she is dealing with someone who has a firm grasp of formal English grammar but no understanding of normal conversation, regional dialects, or history.
Steve in Royal Oak, MI: Has your wife ever had to deal with anything like this?
Denise – Good Omens is a good choice.
David in Austin – So is Jasper Fforde 🙂
Denise in Michigan, other good reads by Tom Holt: Expecting Someone Taller, Flying Dutch. I was reading those before I ever heard of Terry Pratchett. Sorry it took so long to get to him, but I was pretty busy when he got going and I had a limited book budget.
If you like mysteries too, try the Garrett series by Glen Cook. Also good is One Foot in the Grave and related books by Wm. Mark Simmons. Interesting take on vampires, werewolves, zombies and Cthulu.
sideburns, and Ook-oook-ook back at you. Pratchett seems to have liked orangutans, making one a central character in his books.
Whoever recommended Pratchett to us, thank you. I have worked through the Rincewind books and have gotten to Soul Music in the Death series.
TruckerRon, good question. My non scientific take is, images allow focusing on a subject without intrusion of surrounding noise. A great image brings the subject into the foreground while pushing the rest away. Reality is full of distractions that keep us from focusing for long periods; an exception might be GR6 who seems to be highly focused.