![Ryan North talks about writing, ideas, creativity, and zinc - podcast episode cover](https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/1021f9/1021f92e-2010-48c6-a30b-f4f9d36ede9b/2d8ee672-c6db-4e7a-bb8a-960219821369/3000x3000/1543353229-artwork.jpg?aid=rss_feed)
Episode description
Dave and Brad welcome Ryan North, two-time Eisner Award winner, creator of Dinosaur Comics and writer for Marvel Comics' Squirrel Girl. We discuss his upcoming book, How to Invent Everything and his successful Shakespearean choose-your-own-adventure To Be or Not To Be. Along the way, we go deep on several topics involving writing — getting ideas, subconscious plagiarism, self-plagiarism, rejecting unoriginal ideas, creativity as a compulsion, juggling multiple projects, exorcising ideas, and much much more. BUT FIRST — Brad explains how zinc is more precious than gold for your good health. Show notes
- 9:13 — How did Ryan first get into writing for comics?
- 12:37 — Rejecting an idea if it's not completely original
- 16:30 — Creativity as a compulsion
- 18:08 — Getting the idea for "To Be or Not To Be"
- 19:10— Capturing ideas
- 24:14 — Writing Squirrel Girl fro Marvel Comics
- 30:06 — The "minced oath"
- 31:51 — Avoiding subconscious plagiarism
- 38:34 — Juggling multiple projects and how to decide which ideas get used in which projects
- 41:57 — "Exorcising" ideas
- 43:13 — Self-plagiarization on social media
- 45:47 — Ideas are easy. Execution is hard.
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Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the editor of Webcomics.com
Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.
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Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.