Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for November 10, 2022

Writing is hard…. for G+K!

This arc is slowly going off the rails. If Luann doesn’t have any stories in mind, she shouldn’t be trying to complete with Tara on who can write the quickest. Good stories take time. Rushed stories usually aren’t very good.

What’s up with all the Big Eyeball stuff with Luann, lately?

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Any chance we can join Tiff and Ox in the back? Sure to be more exciting that seeing Luann in a trance lol

Writer’s block sure is a curse.

Writing comments is hard sometimes, too. ✨

As somebody who writes a lot of his own material, I have to say the best time to write is when you actually feel inspired to write, and not when you feel obligated to do so: when you’re under that sort of pressure, it stunts your creativity; you have to let the inspiration come to you naturally, even if you have to take a break from it for a while, it’ll come to you eventually, and when it does, it can sometimes pour out of you faster than you can write it down.

Nothing to see here. Keep moving… Keep moving…

Just free-associate, and write it down.

Does she have any sort of talents or marketable skills? Even Tiff has left her in the dust.

writer’s cramp Luann?

What seemed like a promising start of a new story on Monday has by now proved be a massive disappointment, We’ve had three days with the same punchline — Luann doesn’t have any ideas for a story. She should just pack up her laptop and be honest with Tara “I’ve got nothing.” and go home.

Please. Make it stop. Nobody wants this.

You have to have this:(1) Compelling topic (2) excellent Execution (3) An Audience.

This is too sad for me. I’ll try again next week…

Luann. Forget writing. You only can write short diary entries from your recordings because it was not writing – just transcribing. Your talent is in the theater and stage design. Go back to that. I think you walked away from it to forget your Aussie ex boyfriend (sorry, I forgot his name). It’s been years so move on and go back to what you do best.

Writing well isn’t so much hard as it is painstaking — making the effort to craft a structure as well as grammatical phrasings. What is hard is thinking of something worth writing about, having something to say. Some folks will say or write any sort of nonsense that they find in their heads, just to hear it or read it to themselves. This narcissistic self-stimulation is not what produces good writing. The technique may be successfully employed at times to get a running start toward hurdling a writer’s block, but it is not a likely source of good material. A writer needs good input if he or she is to produce any output. This may come from reading source materials, observing people and events, listening, and analyzing whatever one cares about sufficiently to find the motivation to interact with its ideas. Even if the goal is merely to tell an entertaining story that serves some imagined body of readers by enabling them to while away a few hours enjoyably, it is only accomplished by caring about it.

We haven’t seen any of the stimuli that motivate Tara to bubble over with ideas that she cares to write, nor the sources from which she draws her material. Luann seems to have set herself down with an empty pot — wondering, then, how she can make a stew. In the final panel she is depicted with wide-open eyes and in something of a stupor. What she needs is to turn those eyes away from her typewriter and toward the people nearby who are an untapped source of much that could be turned into various kinds of stories.

Those following the antics of this comic strip have been engaged for some time with the story of Tiffany’s recent experiences. Only yesterday or the day before Tiffany appeared to drop a hint that Luann would find much to write if only she would pay more attention to her friends. We were primed to see that story play out to resolve a number of tensions. Perhaps Luann would do well to learn about what the readers have already seen, directly from the characters.

After reading “Luann” for 25 years, I’m about to say, “See you in the funny papers!”

(formerly Airman until I forgot my password and lost my logo) Anyway, I believe I’m in some sort of minority because I’m the only person that I know that hasn’t written a book. Some kind of verbage virgin, I guess.

Luann used to have a diary. Why can’t she pretend her laptop is a tape recorder? She can write about her uneventful life for hours!

Now Luann is fully aware of how difficult it is to write. She can’t continue after a sentence and she feels terrible. Yet,she’s s still sitting trying to do it. Luann doesn’t want to give up, but she needs advice and I hope Tara will help her with tips and ways to relax, focus and find inspiration. The only other character who could help her is the now established novelist Mr Fogarty, I would love to see him again. Or maybe she needs a muse… after all, her first story was written following Bernice’s suggestion.

Is G & K having the same problem right now?

Luann typed a few “seed words” into her computer, but nothing grew. Tara’s seed words sprouted into a huge beanstalk reaching high into the sky. Luann needs to trade those seeds back for the cow. Basically, go back to her teaching aspirations – I think she would be a great teacher for kindergarten to about third grade. She is really good with kids, as we have seen in the past. Just do not let Tara into class with her bow and arrows…

Others have said it in more words, but nobody has said it better and more succinctly than William Stafford. “Lower your standards and keep writing.”

When i was young i tried writing. I could come up with good story ideas, but my writing was cliched, awkward, and my dialogue was much worse. It always seemed like the best lines were things i had read in other books. Eventually i gave up because I lacked faith in my ability to improve.

It was a dark and stormy night… it was a dark and stormy night, and… (15 minutes later) it was a dark and stormy night aaand… DARN IT!

Writing IS hard.

I can’t just sit and pop out a story. I need inspiration. When it hits I write and write well, but it comes when it chooses to do so.

Where did Tiffany go already with her idea?

18 minutes? Didn’t The Beach Boys crank out songs at that pace (but while under intense pressure from their father)?

How about a story of Luann’s losing her virginity to Quill??

Wait, I wanted to see Tiffany’s idea! Was it…you can go jump in the lake?

Stephen King is your standard? That should be easy to meet

Writing is hard for comic strip artists.

She could always resort to writing a story about how much trouble she’s having writing a story. Because that’s never been done before, right?

Grab a dictionary, open to two random pages, and point to two random words. Figure out a way to force them together.

you can can make the words flow Luann by just adding the word ‘because’ at the end of your sentence. you can then say things like ’ because ….I can’t think of…. experiences and phenonomena to weave into phrases that might become a story… I am pressured by the fact that…..yada yada… but at least you are writing…….. maybe I am worried that the words have to be perfect but right now they don’t….. Ok I am writing……..Once upon a time there was girl sitting at a table trying to write but her mind was a blank and then all of a sudden…….

Well, if you don’t have a life, there’s nothing to write about.

Quantity does not always equal quality. I’d rather read a well done 400 word flash fiction than a long, drawn out, thousand page novel. (Yes, I’m talking to you, Stephen King! The Stand, IT, Under the Dome)

Espresso, Ox, bag-o-ice, hilarity ensues…

Well, my prediction yesterday was all wrong, or really, was it? Yesterday was Wednesday, hump arc day usually, connective tissue to Saturdays, which more often than not goes off the rails from what we might collectively or individually think. The issue now is the apparent (to some people that is, I don’t believe that GnK, as a team, is throwing the name character under the comic toon bus) boring lack of movement for Lu, are to a lesser extent, Bern. My hilarity ensues bone is reinforcing itself because it senses that something is about to go boom.

ENOUGH.

Luann?

Remember that time when:

You and Tiffany got into fist fights on the volleyball court over something stupid?

Gunther got drenched by the sprinkler system and had to walk home wearing a worm costume?

Brad used to get beat up on a regular basis by his wife’s ex-boyfriend?

You had a slumber study party, but instead of studying, ya’ll got all dolled-up and Delta, Bernice, and especially Tiffany “pretend flirted” with Brad?

Puddles ran away and almost got hit by a car and you met Clay Aiken?

You pretended to be trapped after hours in the school library so you could spend time with your old “throb” Aaron Hill?

Gunther nearly strained his back rescuing you from a ravine but you treated him the way Tiffany now treats Ox?

And that’s just some of old stuff.

So instead of WASTING time at the Fuse with Tara, maybe you should spend time reading Luann Againn for “inspiration.”

Simple. They have talent.

It strikes me as sad that they have let the Luann character become so un-motivated, spoiled and depressed. Her parents should talk her into jointing the military. That would give her confidence and direction in life. Of course, that won’t happen here, but for parents who have a child in this condition, that’s what I would suggest. Even if it’s the Reserves. As for this comic strip, it’s really depressing every time Luann appears. Commenters say "have her DO SOMETHING but it just doesn’t happen, and she just gets more and more annoying. For some unknown reason Greg thinks it’s entertaining. Greg, it’s gotten really old, you need to fix it.

Good grief, Karen. Do you hate Luann so much that this is the best you can do? The story arcs you do for the other characters are much better. Stick to them and let Greg write Luann.

It’s not difficult, when you know what it is that you want to say.

Many writers I know tell me they rarely sit down and simply create. They keep old fashioned notebooks into which they jot down an idea that they’ll use later when they return to the work. One guy actually kept an old fashioned recipe box in which he had countless 3″ × 5″ cards, neatly filed, on which he had written a plot point, characterization, or scene description.

The strip has already pointed out you must be aware to write.

Engineering:

Found two drastically different approaches to engineering. We have two bathrooms, each with showers. We have two soap racks that attach to the shower heads. One is chromed steel and consists of three attachment parts. The ‘U’ shaped clasp drapes over the shower head upside down, has a rubber mat to go between itself and the shower head arm, and four small allen wrench bolts to hold it in place, but you can’t clamp it down until you hook the actual soap rack body over two larger allen bolts on the lower sides of the clasp arms. Then you position the clasp at the back of the shower head arm, tighten down the clasp’s four allen bolts, and can then tighten down the two allen bolt to lock the rack to the clasp. Finally the third piece, a plastic cover slips over everything and presents a shower rack with no bolts showing. Of course the allen bolts are two different sizes, appropriately, because they have different functions. The four small ones are headless and the two for hooking the rack have large heads to keep the rack on the clasp.

This brings us to the other shower rack. It is one piece aluminum and simply drapes over the shower head stem, and you hope it stays in place. Installation done!

Final engineering difference, the chromed steel rack rusts while the aluminum rack is immortal. This has been today’s lesson in diverse practical approaches to engineering.

Thank you for reading.

“Writing is easy. You just open a vein and bleed.” Variously attributed in multiple versions.

For your entertainment and enjoyment…

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/09/14/writing-bleed/

The tutor needs a tutor …. In writing.

Brad became a firefighter and married Toni. Frank & Nancy bought the Fuse. Puddles is still a happy puppy. Will Luann every be written the same way? Back in the Quill days – she had good arcs.

Skip the first page (come back to it later) and pick up on the second.

My composition teacher in senior English class had us start each class by writing for 5 minutes – usually with no topic given. The first couple of days there were a whole lot of kids sitting around looking like Luann. After a couple of weeks most of use were begging for more time ‘cuz we couldn’t get it all down in 5 minutes.

Keep in mind that during his most prolific years Steven King was in the middle of a raging cocaine addiction. Luan doesn’t want to emulate that.

tl;dw

Luann needs to read some Stephen King, specifically On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Stephen King writes stories with the same theme over and over.

Any chance we’ll see anything worthwhile here?

Romeo and Juliet were not the first two people whose families were enemies while they loved each other. Here is a story of 2 very different people, who fell in love, and decided to live with the consequences. A time of conflict before Middle Earth, when the races were all fighting for a place in the Land, when Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, were more dominant, and Man was still crawling around. One day, when a band of Orcs came across a small band of Dwarves exploring a cave, and a battle ensued, it just so happens that a cross eyed Cupid was in the cave as well, and shot a Dwarf and an Orc, and in the midst of battle, they fell in love. The mighty Orc just couldn’t kill the female Dwarf he had cornered, and instead whisked her away. Knowing neither tribe would understand, they started a new life, away from everyone, under a mountain. This is the story of their daughter, RizzoBella. RizzoBella was, shall we say, interesting. Taller than her mother, shorter than her father, greenish skin like her father, but beautiful red hair, with a matching mustache and beard like her mother.

And thus Luann grew up to be Cathy.

Better strip when Luann is not in it.

Well, Luann, you’ve written the “What”…now you need to write the “Why”.

I agree with a previous poster that Luann needs more interaction with characters like she did in the old days. She is good with young kids. She and Bernice (with her “psychology training”) could open a daycare center. Lots of hilarity ensuing potential….especially if you throw Shannon in the mix as instigator… You could have all the different characters show up: Tiffany as a glam helper, TJ as a cooking demonstrator, Brad and Toni could come for small emergencies, Jack could bring his dog by and talk about pet care and Tara seems to usually have generally fun ideas. Les could bring his cat, Nil could teach an art class and Gunther and Bets could teach sewing and making costumes. Luann liked acting and putting on plays. She could do that with kids. This could also keep the different characters interacting. Just some thoughts. She seems so aimless now and for no good reason. She has already learned her strengths.

As Mr. King has said, ideas are a dime a dozen. Bringing them to a successful story, that’s the key.

Is the point of this arc the difficulty of coming up with ways to make Luann interesting? We seldom see her acting like a 19 year old. In no way is she eager to get ahead in life. She’s as pathetic as she was at 13. When she was in highschool, she had growth, but she has been declining ever since.

Getting started is the hardest. Once you get started it gets easier.

This arc should end now. Its obvious Luann can’t write. Tara OTOH apparently can. And Amazon is always available to self publish an Ebook

Tara was practicing her archery.A bad shot peeked through the metal window guard,broke the g lass,and got temporarily stuck. It eventually dropped back to the ground and never was in the house.Mystery solved.

Where’s my Edgar award?

I only hope Ox finds a girl who’ll really appreciate him!!,,

Learn to write code instead luann

She will do better once she stops trying so hard. Let it come to you……

We cartoon commentators don’t seem to have much trouble finding words.

Just call me Ishmael, and it was the best of times and the worst of times on a dark and stormy night, and the evening was spread out against the sky, where the women come and go speaking of Michaelangelo, and the beach would be a great place to visit if it weren’t for all that sunshine and salt water and sand and Chesire Cats …

It helps if you have a premise and work from there. Creativity, imagination and a large pool of information I have found very useful. Anything I don’t know I look up.

Oh, and most important of all you write. You can always revise it later. Have an impasse write it, anyway, make changes later.

I think LuAnn missed the boat when Tiff told the humorous story about the ice bag breaking. It could break the ice jam of her writer’s block.

I’ve experienced writer’s block before but never like this. I usually come up with a (I think!) great idea—-sometimes it’s a beginning or an ending or maybe just a scene and I build a story from that. Sometimes all I have a is title. But I always have something to jump start me. I’m beginning to wonder if this is right for Luann. Maybe she just managed to write a bright and sparkling story this one time but she simply doesn’t feel passionate enough about writing to really pursue it. Usually when you feel truly passionate you can’t wait to sit down and plunge right in as Tara is doing. Sure, you may have blocks along the way but your deep burning desire to tell your story will eventually carry the day. The fact that she hasn’t come up with ANYTHING troubles me. I’m still rooting for her though.

The playing field here is not even. Tara has been working on her stories and novels for a some time; she’s thought about content over a long period (she has folders of notes and references); she’s in the writing phase. Luann just wrote one short piece based on an episode from her high school diaries. I don’t know how much time has elapsed between the award ceremony and this meeting at the Fuse; but clearly she hasn’t spent time thinking about another story; she hasn’t researched ideas for content. She doesn’t have the level of preparation that Tara has put in.

This story arc had such promise. As my friend would say, “defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.”

No ideas. Nothing between the ears. An AirHead (campus newspaper cartoon I used to enjoy showed little “poofs” of air emitting from the ears of the airhead-character). Can’t call it “writer’s block” because so far Luann is not a writer, not yet, likely never….

The comments here are much more interesting than the strip itself!

They only “A” I got from my sophomore English teacher was on an essay about how much I hated having to write an essay every week.