Failure is not an option.
TL/DR: The story behind the story of The Shaolin Nun. Also, we’re behind on the Kickstarter for Shaolin Nun #4. We have ten days to raise the final $3k, or else I have to start the campaign over.
Five years ago I had this story that I hadn’t gotten a good grasp on. It had this unique effect of interfering with me writing other things. I felt like I was cheating on the story whenever I wrote down ideas for another one. Something about it told me: “You need to write it, or you’ll never be able to write anything else.”
I made a decision. I would devote 100% of my creative energy to that story, what I was calling at the time: “Zen: a martial arts story.” If I could make something of it, I would see it through to fruition. If I couldn’t make something of it —and I knew I would be able to see that early on— I could kill the story and move on. One thing I knew for sure, if I didn’t devote my energy and time to this story, I would probably never be able to start another story with this one always nagging at me. So, failure was not an option.
For me to write a good story, I need to know my characters, theme, and plot.
For the characters, I wanted the main character to be a woman. A woman who had studied martial arts at a monastery in China. I wanted her to be esoteric and mysterious, yet also reachable and compassionate, with a dark past that makes her question her worthiness, but with a sense of duty that keeps her trying. I wanted her to be able to kick ass and fight like any of my martial arts heroes. She would have to have a very “American” protégé who could be our window into this world. I also wanted people in a position to help my main character, to keep minor plot inconveniences from shutting down the story. Someone in business, a lawyer, a cop, etc.
For the theme, I was at a precipitous time in my life (and all of our lives) when the theme came to me.
While Donald Trump was running for president, Billy Bush released a recording of Trump talking to him on a bus back in 2005. This is the recording where Donald had bragged about his prowess with women, and, when he heard they were meeting Arianne Zucker when they got to where ever it was they were going, he said his infamous words:
“…better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
When they got off the bus, the Access Hollywood cameras were rolling, so Donnie behaved himself, but Billy got Arianne to hug both of them before escorting them into the building.
Kelly Sue Deconnick wrote about that hug in her op-ed in “Bitch Planet” #9. An op-ed that has stuck with me to this day:
“Imagine yourself as the woman in purple now [Zucker]. That taste in your mouth? That’s bile. Swallow it. Smile. Push your body up against each of these two men you just met because they asked you to, and if you don’t they’ll make a big deal out of it. Do it and move on. You’ve been asked to prioritize the comfort and ego of men over your physical autonomy pretty much every day of your entire life, what’s one more hug?”
Despite that and several other scandals, Trump was still elected president. And that bad decision lead to the Women’s March and the #metoo movement. And both of those things came with women telling their stories. Stories that I read, absorbed and empathized with. Each story I read told me the one thing most women in these situations need: Empowerment.
Despite my gender, I understand empowerment. I had been a weak, nerdy kid, who cried easily and was a target for bullies throughout my childhood. When I finally found my martial art, everything changed for me. I wasn’t afraid anymore. I wasn’t scared of a confrontation of any magnitude, because I knew how to handle it. I’ve had several confrontations that fortunately didn’t turn into combat, because when you know how to handle yourself, you project that confidence and people usually back off.
So my theme seemed obvious: Empowerment. Now I just needed a story.
Human trafficking has been a problem long before the “Angry” branch of the Republican party made it into something they could shout about. It seemed like a timely topic, and that would give me thugs and a main “boss” the characters could fight.
I decided my plot for the first arc would be about our main characters meeting a girl who was kidnapped in China and literally “shipped” here to the U.S. to be used as a commodity. The story would start with protecting her from her kidnappers, but would have to evolve into shutting down the trafficking ring.
I opened a blank page and wrote the following words:
Zen: A Martial Arts story.
Book one: The Shaolin Nun.
That title obviously didn’t last long. The Shaolin Nun is a much better title.
From there, the words flowed out of me. In three months I had written all six issues of the story, finishing them in December of that year.
My buddy, Bob Easton, gave me a great piece of advice when I finished. He said, “Now write something completely different before you go back to do your edits and re-writes.”
I did, and found that new story flowed out of me easily. My block was gone! So I had succeeded, but I also had, in my opinion, a REALLY good story that I wanted to see through to fruition. Failure was not an option.
I needed to find an artist, or artists, who could take what I had written and translate it to a comic book page.
The process wasn’t easy, but I got lucky. I found Greg and Lala and Andy for the first issue. Greg brought in Laurie Foster as the inker starting with the second issue, and then brought in Tiah Ankum to take over for him with the fourth issue. But that lucky break comes with challenges. The biggest is that I have to pay them. So I needed to raise some money. Failure was not an option.
Kickstarter seemed like the logical choice. I could raise the money to pay them and build an audience. I’ve had to teach myself about Kickstarter. Fortunately, I’ve got a lot of great people, including Laurie, who have been very successful with Kickstarter and give terrific advice.
Despite all of that. Having a great story, an amazing art team, and getting all the good advice on how to run a successful Kickstarter, I’ve piked in at the fundraising goal for each campaign, usually on the last day, and this current campaign doesn’t seem to be any different.
With just 10 days left we’re still $3,000 from the fundraising goal. The good news is that we made $1,000 on the first day. So I just need three days like the first day to close this campaign. We can do it! Failure is not an option!
Of course, there’s a part of me that is already planning for the worst-case scenario. What happens if we don’t fund? It’s pretty simple. I have to restart the Kickstarter. I need those funds to pay my talented artists. If not, we stop at issue #3, and failure is not an option.
So if you’re tired of me talking about this campaign and need a break, BACK THE KICKSTARTER. If you already have, GET SOMEONE TO BACK THE KICKSTARTER! Let’s get this one closed and successful! Then, in a few months, I can tell you all about issue #5.