Penny Arcade and Writing

For those of you who don’t know, Penny Arcade is a gaming comic. It is, in fact, the largest gaming comic on the web. I’m not going to be directly referencing the comic here, but it’s important to know that nearly all of these comics are three panel gag strips.

Penny Arcade is important for a number of reasons. It is very popular, and more than that it has grown a large community of gamers around it. In the years since the comic started, the artists have used their influence to create one of the biggest gaming conventions in existance. More importantly, they have created a charity, called Child’s Play, that helps to provide entertainment to hospitalized children across the globe.

Whether you like or dislike Penny Arcade itself, the artists have proven themselves to be exceptional human beings, and great organizers. They are also very good at what they do, and are interested in artistic exploration. A number of times in the history of the comic, they have gone out of their way to do something completely different, often eschewing the video game themes they are so familiar with to create interesting oddities.

One other thing that you need to be familiar with is the concept of speed art. The idea is that you film someone making a piece of artwork, and then speed that film up so that the creation is shown in the space of a few minutes. This can give you a view into the techniques that were used to create the piece, and gives you a chance to see the creation process in full. It’s this later benefit that I think is most valuable. Professional artists may get a quick understanding of a technique applied for a certain effect, but you can get a lot more out of it as an amateur artist. You can see how the artist lays down a basic outline, how they begin with large strokes and move downward until they are at small details. You can get an idea of the process.

For amateur writers, it’s a little bit harder. We are told the steps of writing. They are emphasized over and over. But we rarely get to see them in action. It’s a similar process to other kinds of art, but because a film of someone writing would convey very little of what they were actually doing, it would be hard to present the process in a small amount of time.

While video is not a good medium with which to present writing, audio can do the job. Penny Arcade, in order to give more insight into their process, have released a series of Podcasts in which they record their writing session. These podcasts can give aspiring writers an overview of the writing process.

There is a caveat: Penny Arcade is often somewhat profane. If you are offended overly by swearing, then you may want to look somewhere else. But if you are so offended by words, I have to wonder what you’re doing writing.

The podcasts are recordings of Mike and Jerry, the creators of Penny Arcade, writing comics. They tend to be 30-45 min, although times vary.

Each episode usually starts out with Mike and Jerry brainstorming. They go over recent gaming news, and try to find an idea that entertains them enough to write a comic about them.

This is where the writing process begins. Once they have the idea, the first version of the comic is written almost immediately. It only takes them a couple of minutes for them to throw out enough dialog to fill the three panels. You might think that this is because they have a lot of practice at it, and they do, but that isn’t what should be taken from this first stage. There are two main lessons to be learned here: that they get a first draft out as fast as possible, and that the first draft is never, NEVER, funny.

This surprises me every time I hear it. I generally read the corresponding comic before listening to the podcast, and it’s somewhat shocking to hear that the hilarious comic that I’ve just read started out as this rather boring set of dialogue. The dialog is often long, excessively so, and is usually only tangentially related to the final comic.

That’s the way it happens, though. The first draft is a sketch. It’s supposed to bring together ideas, give you a framework for what will come later.

The rest of the time is spent editing the comic. This process involves Mike and Jerry bouncing ideas off of each other, with Jerry constantly rewriting the script. The original dialog is pared down until it’s only a fraction of the length. The ideas are reshaped, and a punchline emerges.

All of these steps of writing can be heard in one sitting, making it easy to see the entire flow. Again, even if you aren’t a fan of Mike and Jerry’s specific brand of humor, if you’re interested in the writing process, you owe it to yourself to give it a listen. Hearing the entire composition of a written piece is not only educational, it’s inspirational.