Daily Cartoon
Entries Tagged as 'writing'
Christmas Cartoon Ideas
I’ve done this tiwce already this year for both Halloween and Thanksgiving, but I’m going to do it just once more for Christmas to A) give me something to look back on next year, B) to give you an idea of how I generate ideas, and C) to see if there’s anything I missed. So, here’s my list of ideas for generating Christmas gags:- Santa – elves, Mrs. Claus, North Pole, sleigh, St. Nick, reindeer, sack of toys, chimney, stockings, plate of cookies, sitting on lap, roof, naughty/nice list
- candy canes, mistletoe, window decorations, wreathes, wrapping. gingerbread house
- 12 days, Christmas Carol, Scrooge, Grinch, carols/caroling
- snowmen – coal, carrots, melting, Frosty
- snow – plows, snowblowers, snow globes, snowballs
- ice – icicles, skating
- trees – stars, bulbs, lights, ornaments, tinsel
- up early, toys, shopping, sales
Did I miss anything?
Wanna Be a Better Writer?
Write. Then write more. Then write more.
So says Bradbury. And he’s write! (Ha! See what I did there?!)
Enjoy:
Thanksgiving Cartoon Ideas
As I mentioned back around Halloween, every year when I do holiday gags I create a list of topics/words/whatever to jumpstart the ol’ noggin. And this year instead of recycling it again, I decided to put it up on the blog A) for my own reference, B) to give you an idea how my head works, and 3) to see if there’s anything I missed: Thanksgiving -
- Turkey – defrost, giblets, drumstick, death, deep fry, trot, tryptophan, stuffing, presidential pardon, national bird, flightless, basting, hotline, tofurkey
- Pilgrims & Native Americans – Indians, feast, buckles, harvest, cornucopia, farming
- Feast – cranberries, centerpiece, green beans, recipes, leftovers
- Family – football, parades, recipes
- November
- Black Friday, Cyber Monday (added 11/21)
Anything else I forgot?
Dave Barry Reveals Secret To Being Funny
Lately I’ve been reading And Here’s the Kicker: Coversations with 21 Top Humor Writers on their Craft by Mike Sacks, and I ran across this little gem about writing funny via Dave Barry:
It’s a lot like a magic trick, in that there’s a very mechanical way in which it’s done. There are a lot of obvious and basic structural things you do with a sentence and with a joke and how you set it up on the page. And the trick is to do it in such a way that it doesn’t look like there was any effort involved–that it’s somehow magic.
He continues:
There’s a certain amount of inspiration, but there’s also a fair amount of work and repetition and practice and mechanics that are involved…
I’ve never seen it put that way before, but he’s exactly right! While cartoonists know the work involved in crafting cartoons, to pretty much everyone else it’s magic.
Cool.
Halloween Cartoon Idea List
Every year when I sit down to write my Halloween cartoons (usually around June) I create a list of Halloween stuff to help generate ideas. And every year I think "I should keep this so I don’t have to do it again next year!" And then I never do.
But, this year I’m putting it all down here in this post. Partially for my own reference, partially to give you an idea how my head works, and partially to see if there’s anything I missed.
OK here goes:
Halloween -
- Pumpkins – jack o’ lanterns, seeds, carving, knives
- Costumes – masks, pirates, hoboes, superheroes
- Trick or treat – candy, apples, x-ray, bags
- Witches – brooms, cauldrons, spells
- Frankenstein – bride, bolts, bodies, scientists, fire, angry mob
- Vampires – blood, bats, fangs, coffins, mirrors
- Werewolves – moon, howling
- Mummy – wrappings, tombs, arms in front
- Zombies – brains, decay
- Ghosts – sheets, Casper
- Skeletons – bones, medical
- Devil – horns, pitchfork, tail, hell, fire
- Haunted Houses
- Spiders – webs
- Graves – tombstones
- Scary movies
- Bobbing for apples
Lemme know if I missed anything…
