this counts as outlining (my other bluesky acct)

at this point, because john daydreams so frequently, the act 3 climax could/should be a NYC pigeon telling him that Tyler is his soulmate and that John needs to fulfill his character arc to be with him (#john: a pigeon on 10th avenue told me to make out with you #tyler: whatever mate works for me)

do y'all write like this? (this is for one chapter. I can only go chapter by chapter or I will lose motivation)

• outline, outline, outline
• write a version of the chapter that is “John went over here. John said this. John felt this. John wanted this.” Some flashes of usable dialogue/narration, but most of it is quite bad! I can’t skip this phase with stuff like “[something cool happens here].” I won’t write anything that way.
• revise revise revise
• basically, translate all of the “placeholder” narration into actual narration. (like isn’t that penultimate chapter of Persuasion by Jane Austen placeholder narration bc she died and didn’t get to revise it????)
• Filter words! Show not tell!
• Then put in bolded, highlighted notes that yell things like [SUBVERT EXPECTATIONS!!!!!] who tf am i yelling at
• print out the chapter to revise again. I print out everything. This is the Jokes Pass where I’m like “heh heh…how do i make this funny”
• I finish a chapter, but because I’m going chapter by chapter I know I’ll have to go back and go over the entire novel to make it cohesive
• revise it again like two weeks later to procrastinate working on next chapter
• i feel like i write like a comic book artist draws lmao. “Oh you gotta sketch the thing then refine it when you do pencils and then you ink it and color”

The overall plot of John Rich is…truly Bitty’s freshman and sophomore years of Check, Please!, which is a straightforward romance. Not re-inventing the wheel here! But because I’ve never written anything, it’s getting to the point that, if I feel stuck, I ask “okay what happened in omgcp” lmao.

Anyway, parallels and contrasts.

Jack does not like Bitty. Jack is so focused on hockey that he does not realize the love of his life has waltzed into Faber. Bitty represents team and heart, which is what Jack needs, and will result in his success. Because John holds on to his initial judgments of people, he refuses to see that his literal soulmate is desperately trying to reach out to him. John is an portrait artist, so if his initial observations of people are wrong then his skills would be called into question. So, it’s much safer to see Tyler as a hot but brainless celebrity and refuse to admit that the man might be sensitive, thoughtful, creative, funny, sweet, someone who will hold him and listen to him talk about reality tv while dutifully nodding.

Fortunately, Jack pulls his head out of his ass and Bitty is persistently…Bitty. huh idk if jack immediately absorbs “you’re a better player when you’re with Bittle” but Samwell’s playoff run during Bitty’s freshman year helps solidify Bitty as someone Jack understands and values. (For hockey reasons, obviously!!!) It also helps that Bitty never gave up? He didn’t quit the team and kept trying…proving to Jack that he belonged there.

LOL, in John Rich, the parallel here is John having FIVE MILLION people watch him and Tyler interact on Youtube and go “wow you guys have insane chemistry. interesting!” And then John’s EIC, Clyde, seeing potential in them working together on a series. TYLER IS SO OBVIOUSLY BITTY. He’s remarkably persistent. Tyler is attracted to John because John is adorable and witty and cool, but more than that, he loves John’s brain and talent and passion. Extremely moth to flame. DON’T GET OFF OF THAT TWINK TYLER. PHRASING.

Bitty falls for Jack and it is miserable. We do not get Tyler Hughes’s POV in this story, but wouldn’t it be devastating to find out that Tyler has been in love with John this entire time, but is resigned to being friends? Tyler’s “never fall for a straight boy” is “do not fall for someone out of your league.” He gets it—John wants a partner who is smart and artsy and cerebral. And not famous. Fine. He’d rather have John in his life as a friend than not know John at all. (I can picture Tyler moping around LAX, friend-zoned, thinking “NEVER FALL FOR A GENIUS.”)

Jack falls for Bitty and needs to do something about it. Uh, working on this. Jack Zimmermann is a man of action. John Rich is an anxious croissant who is always one C train delay from a nervous breakdown.

Kent Parson shows up. Shawn and Parse are both fuck boys, and they both want their exes back, and they’re both wrong for their exes because their exes have grown up. Parse is a rich, white, hockey player in his early 20s and has NEVER been to therapy, and Shawn is a successful Black stand-up comedian in his late 20s who got a LOT out of therapy, but is still not right for John. Jack rejects Parse. He sees him as trouble. John turns into goo because this new and improved Shawn Hendrix could be The One. He’s not, but John doesn’t know that!

Jack kisses Bitty. Working on this. Two hockey players kissing at graduation felt very climactic. How do you make a cartoonist and a movie star kiss, and how do you make that feel like fireworks. I know where/when it happens, but!

currently at 40k words on John Rich & The Big Picture

what if this blog pivoted into a writing blog this spring and summer as I attempt to finish this novel? I am a beginner and I’m learning, learning, learning.

so far, my biggest takeaway from writing a novel and creating graphic novels is (1) that both are incredibly difficult and (2) that, also, graphic novels take more time and require an additional skillset. It’s kind of the difference between writing a play versus writing the play, and teching the play, and also performing in the play. You simply need more time. It’s simply more stuff you have to do.

that being said, prose writing is a slightly different skillset from storytelling? I would like to think that i can tell a story by now… And the books and videos that i’m going through highlight the formal elements and the parts of the novel writing process that I didn’t know about. (Stuff like, okay you know what a paragraph does because you’ve read books, but what is a paragraph actually? How do you revise? But. Actually. Why.)

anyway read my m/m wip on ao3. I can’t wait to print out the entire thing when i’m done and revise it to hell.

love an oblivious anxious protagonist because tyler is fully ready to date john, and john is like “that’s awesome but that would involve me being perceived”

john: so, actually, having an actor call you “dramatic”? A little patronizing. [x]

john: he suspects nothing (immediately walks into a lamp post) [x]

the day that tyler gets a vintage garfield t-shirt and combines all of john’s interests (garfield, men he wants to have sex with) [x]

john rich, drawing, and most likely avoiding his problems (john rich & the big picture!!!)

Friendly neighborhood cartoonist. :)

i made a side bluesky acct because my main one is #professional and irl people follow it. please follow ngoobles and comment on my drawings of boys kissing (to come, coming)

Attention all art students, art teachers, hobbyists, and more—if you know anyone who would want to spend a week in Vermont learning how to color comics, send my workshop to them! Excited to teach this summer! Find out more here.

spending hours of my life putting thousands of words in order so everyone can imagine a beefy australian man kissing a skinny cartoonist and making him pass out

a nermal—I mean, normal—conversation with John

my goal is to post chapter 5