Write What You Are

If you don't, who will?

I love writing. I truly do. Most things, I can’t wait for them to be over. For instance, I love going to concerts. But when I’m actually at a concert, I’m almost 100% of the time thinking, I can’t wait for this to be a really good memory. Something I can think about when I’m home.

But when I’m writing, oh man, I don’t want it to be over. There is nothing better than creating characters, and orchestrating exchanges between them. Thinking about the biggest obstacles to throw in front of them, and figuring out how they work around it, oh it’s pure bliss.

I have a long list of original ideas that I want to get to. A herd of different characters swimming around my head, waiting for their turn. I’m not bragging, it’s messy in my brain, which explains why some of some of my movies feel a bit more sketch comedy than other people’s. I’m looking at you, MINIONS.

Pictured: Scarlet Overkill (voiced by Sandra Bullock), and these things that will most definitely be mentioned in my obituary.

During the pandemic, I had more free time than usual. I was hanging out with my son a lot, but even my kid needed a break from me most days. So there were many hours in a day to kill. This lead to events like my wife and I watching all the James Bond movies in order. My favorite was SKYFALL, don’t judge me. My entire family also watched the SHREK movies in order. My favorite was SHREK 2 despite the fact that I worked on the first PUSS IN BOOTS. That said, PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH has come out since the pandemic and it’s better than any movie ever, including SHREK 2 and SKYFALL.

Pictured: SKYFALL, I think.

With my newfound free time, I decided to write another book. I had already written a bunch of comics and had created a New York Times Okayselling series of children books, but for once, I was gonna write something for me. Write something from my long list of original ideas. I was not going to worry about selling it. I was not going to fret if it could be the first in a series of books. I was going to write whatever idea excited me the most. I pictured all these original characters lining up in my head, ready for their big debut. Maybe even fighting. Would it be a science fiction story? Perhaps one of my epic (but hopefully very funny) adventures? A straight-on R-rated comedy to show people I was more than just animated family movies? That’s not a reason to write something BUT if it just so happened to show people what I was capable of, that would be fine too. The possibilities were endless!

But, when the time came to put finger to keyboard (that sounds icky), the idea I decided to go with was…

…a fictional-but-not-too-far-off retelling of my first year in middle school.

Hmm.

All these big, fun ideas, and that is what I was going with.

But, see, that first year of middle school was rough. To say the least. I met some kids that did a number on my confidence in ways that frankly, I’m still dealing with.

And at the same time, I met a group of people, a completely different group of students, that lifted me up and made me feel like I belong in a manner I had never experienced.

And when it was time to write an original story, that juxtaposition of feelings was so intriguing. I dealt with a handful of children that made me feel worse than I had ever felt before, but also met another group that made me feel like anything was possible, and what I had to say mattered. These two factions of people unwittingly fought for my future: one group told me, almost daily, that what I had in my head had no worth. But the other group of people encouraged my expression, and wanted to hear what I had to say, what I was thinking, they wanted me to be create.

SPOILERS: the good guys won, as evidenced by this substack, my movies, my comics, my books, etc. I am so glad I met them. I’m so glad I met both sides, actually. Because it led to writing a book I am very proud of. It took a year to write, and another two years to illustrate.

Was it worth it? I think so. You tell me.

The resulting book, SIXTH GRADE SUPERSTAR, is, if I pulled it off, an amalgam of John Hughes and Judy Blume. Which, ironically, is something I would have loved to read when I was in sixth grade. I wanted it to be enjoyable for literally any age. I hope I pulled it off. I certainly enjoy reading it, but I am biased.

And no, it didn’t play out exactly like it did in the book. For the first half of writing it, I used everyone’s real names, so I stuck closely to real life events. But then I changed them all, everyone got a makeover, a new name, sometimes, and I swear this is true, dramatic new hairstyles, and that’s when the characters took over. That’s when things started to diverge from reality. The drama got bigger, the stakes rose, things got serious (in, hopefully, a very funny way). And that sent a backwards ripple, changing the events in the first half of the book as well. Creating a wholly original tale, that could not have been told by anyone else, because the inspiration was my life, and the people that came in and out of it.

I adore this book. I am proud of it. You can get it HERE. And if you do, please, tell me what you think of it.

I’ll get to the other stories, hopefully. But if I hadn’t told this story, quite simply, it wouldn’t have been told. It was a piece of me that I wanted to share. That only I could share. And that’s a reason to tell it.

And now I have. And there is slightly more room in my brain for new characters. I’ll get to them, all in good time.