Match to Flame 215

Speaking of story arc weaving, if I may be permitted, this teachable moment calls for a major digression. I take flack now and then from fans(?) who are perplexed and flummoxed by the fact I deliberately try not to engage in linear storytelling. More and more I wanted the stories to stop, only to reemerge at some point down the line, and newspaper comic strips are a beautifully open-ended format for that type of work. Nothing that happens in life resolves itself in a linear fashion. Nothing. The one overarching thing I wanted to accomplish with the writing going forward was to have things unfold slowly and unevenly, just as we all experience them in real life. A fellow comics pro I was talking with at a convention told me how clever it was that I would turn away from a story without resolving it, only to return to it at a later point. Really? You mean like the way they do in novels, plays, TV shows, movies, and basically any other form of narrative presentation? I’m fairly sure that’s why the word “meanwhile” was invented. Heck, they even used to do it that way in the old comic strips, and, to illustrate that, I’d like to present a cogent-on-point post from my blog. Please excuse the liberties I take in the writing. It’s not as academic as the material presented here. (May I have a rolling eyes smiley face please, good and gentle editor?)

From the introduction to The Complete Funky Winkerbean Volume 13