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Christie Yant Talks About Editing

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by Autumn Daughetee

Last week, I introduced you to Kymera Press’s new editor and writer Christie Yant. This week, we continue our conversation with Yant as we discuss the nuts and bolts of her work.

Can you describe the editing process?

“So far I’ve strictly been working on script edits. There are several things I’m looking for as I go over a script. I’m looking for tight dialog that conveys as much information as it can in the fewest words possible. Every panel and every line of dialog has to either develop character, move the plot forward, or both. I’m also looking for the beats of the story, the emotional punctuation of it, and how that fits on the page. The scripts at Kymera include a lot of specific art direction, so I have to be sure that I can see the panel as it’s written—if I can’t, then the artist probably can’t either. And as in any story, I’m looking for the tension—where is the conflict? What are we supposed to be feeling about the characters and what they’re going through right now, and does the script do that work?”

Is the process different for each comic book?

“Right now I’m working on Gates of Midnight, which is an original title that Debbie [founder of Kymera Press] writes, and two adaptations—one of a short story, and one of a novel. The differences in the process so far have really just been shades of how closely we’re following the source material on the adaptations.”

What is your favorite part of creating a comic book?

“It’s too soon to tell! I can’t wait to get to work with the artists directly. I think that’s going to be a great experience, watching the material come to life on the page.”

What are the most common errors you encounter during the editing process? If you could pick one thing that you could advise comic book creators not to do, what would it be?

“Find those beats. The beginning and end of each scene should make your reader feel something physical, something viscerally emotional, whatever that is. And don’t interrupt that moment by putting it in the middle of a page. You know how you’ll be watching a TV show, and the scene ends and your jaw is on the floor and feel like you’ve been punched in the gut, and then a jarringly enthusiastic commercial for something comes on, and you want to throw something at the television? Comics are like that—give your reader the moment they need to process the feeling you just gave them.”

“Apart from that, keep your dialog short and tight, and make every word do real work. I’m still working on paring down my own dialog—as a prose writer, I can a bit long-winded as I try to convey the right tone. There’s no room for that in comics. The good news is that you have an artist on your side who can do a lot of that heavy lifting visually.”

I’ve asked all of the other ladies who work for Kymera Press this question. It’s just for fun. If you were a comic book character who would you be?

“Oh, that’s a tough one—probably Zatanna Zatara, maybe because I’ve been wanting to write her for years!”

Kymera Press Welcomes Writer and Editor Christie Yant

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by Autumn Daughetee

The Kymera Press family has a new addition. Not a baby, but a talented woman and professional. Christie Yant recently joined Kymera Press as our newest writer and editor.

Yant, a science fiction and fantasy writer, will edit Kymera’s Gates of Midnight and the new series Dragons by the Yard. She will also write and art direct future issues of Pet Noir.

Yant was previously the editor of Women Destroy Science Fiction! This was a special issue of Lightspeed magazine and won the 2015 British Fantasy Award for Best Anthology. In addition, her writing has been featured in Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2011 (Horton), Armored, Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, io9, Wired.com, and China’s Science Fiction World. Today Yant is lucky enough to live on the central coast of California. She shares her home with a writer, an editor, two dogs, three cats, and one very small manticore.

Not too long ago I was able to ask her a few questions about her career and joining Kymera Press. Her responses give you a glimpse into her journey to get here and the woman she is today.

When did you first decide to pursue a career as a comic book editor?

“I don’t know if I’d call it a decision, exactly, but in the ‘90s I read a lot of Vertigo comics and loved them. The one thing that they all had in common was the editor, Karen Berger, and I attributed the artistic and literary vision that brought them all under the same umbrella to her. I don’t think I’d ever considered what an editor was or did until then. At the time Sandman was my very favorite title, and if you’d asked me whether I wanted to be Neil Gaiman or Karen Berger when I grew up, I’d have been hard-pressed to choose.”

How did you go about it? Do you have formal training?

“Like a lot of people, I started by writing fan fiction, only instead of short stories, I’d write scripts. No one ever saw them but me (thank goodness)—I’m sure they were terrible. I wrote whole issues about Death, and Lucien the librarian, and Matthew the raven from Sandman. I tinkered a little bit in the Hellblazer universe, too.”

“And I read everything I could get my hands on: Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, of course, and Eisner’s books, among others—but the one that really made a difference to me as a writer and future editor was Panel One: Comic Book Scripts by Top Writers, by Nat Gertler. There is no industry standard for how to write a comics script, only in-house standards, and that book included a wide variety of examples. A lot of the differences come down to the relationship between the writer, the editor, and the artist(s). Is it a true collaboration, with a running dialog between the writer and the artists, with the editor offering guidance when needed, or is the script meant to give clear direction to the artists, and if so, is it the writer’s story, or someone else’s? Knowing that prepared me to be adaptable when the opportunity to work for Kymera came along.”

“In 2010 I started working for John Joseph Adams and Lightspeed Magazine, and there I had the opportunity to gain some editorial experience editing short fiction. Every issue of a comic is essentially a short story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end—and of course it’s also something like a chapter of a novel, in that it has to answer the reader’s questions but also pose new ones that will be answered in future issues. It was on the basis of the issue that I guest-edited–Women Destroy Science Fiction!–that a mutual friend recommended me to Debbie [founder of Kymera Press], who then approached me about working for Kymera.”

What do you think of Kymera Press’ mission to publish comics created by women?

“Any branch of the entertainment industry is hard for underrepresented creators to get a toe-hold in, whether it’s film, literature, comics, video games, RPGs—you name it. One of the ways we can change that is by getting more work out there by women, people of color, and LGBTQ creators, and put everything we can behind them to help them succeed.”

“When Lightspeed produced its Destroy series, that’s exactly what we were trying to do: hand the reins over to those groups who have been here all along, have been creating all along, have been doing exceptional work all along, but had the deck stacked against them and were less likely to be seen and heard and read.”

“That’s what Kymera is doing: giving women the opportunities that are otherwise so hard to come by. Once you’ve read them, enjoyed their work, and know their names, once other women and girls see that this is something that they can do and they set about doing it, then the playing field starts to level a little bit. I have two daughters myself, and what I want is for them to see a world in which it is normal and expected for women to write, draw, and edit comics; where they can read about ordinary women and girls doing extraordinary things and not have it be a novelty or written off as unrealistic.”

“Because here we are. We’re doing it. And as the Kymera motto goes: We’re not asking for permission.”

As a woman working in a male-dominated industry, have you faced any difficulties?

“I’ve always worked in male-dominated industries, whether it was photography or IT or publishing. The challenges are always the same: being dismissed, resented, diminished, harassed. But I have real hope right now that things are changing. The treatment of women that was considered normal when I joined the work force in the 1980s is absolutely not considered normal or acceptable to my daughters (or myself!) today.”

Do you have any role models within the comic book industry?

“I mentioned Karen Berger before, of course, and Neil Gaiman, both of whom I imprinted on pretty hard in my youth. Today my role model is Genevieve Valentine, who wrote Catwoman for DC until recently, and is now set to bring back Xena at Dynamite. I’ve known Genevieve since 2010, and have been a huge fan of her prose fiction. When I heard she got the job at DC I was so happy I actually got a little teary—it felt like a personal victory, like someone from my tribe had broken through!—and beyond that, she was writing bad-ass women in comics, just as she had in her award-nominated short fiction and novels. When I first started at Kymera I was desperate to talk to her about it, I was so nervous! She calmed me down and convinced me that it was going to be as fulfilling as I’d always hoped it would be. So far, she’s been right!”

“I’m just so grateful for the opportunity to work with all of the fantastic women at Kymera Press. Let’s go make some comics!”

Check back next week for part two of my interview with Christie.

Comic book editor Valerie D’Orazio opens a window into the industry

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By Autumn Daughetee

For weeks, we here at Kymera Press have been exploring the different professions necessary to create a comic book­—from the writer to the inker. Last week we explored the role of the editor in the creation of a comic book. I’ll continue that exploration with my interview of the editor for Gates of Midnight, Valerie D’Orazio.

ValerieValerie give us a peek into her editing process and then goes on to detail her experiences within the comic book industry. She talks about the challenges women face in the industry and why she thinks it looses talented women to other industries and professions.

When did you first decide to pursue a career as a comic book editor?

“I’ve always been a big fan of comic books since I was a little kid, so becoming a comic book editor seemed like a natural progression for me.”

How did you go about it? Do you have formal training?

“I was offered a job as an assistant editor right out of college; I just sort of dived in the ‘deep end of the pool’ and picked it up as I went along. I have a degree in English Literature and prior text editing experience, but a lot of comic editing I had to learn ‘in the field,’ so to speak.”

Can you describe the editing process for Gates of Midnight?

“Well, the process of making a comic book is broken up in several parts—there’s the script, the art, the coloring, the lettering, etc. So I focus on one of these parts at a time as the book comes together.”

“I read through the script for ‘objective’ edits like fixing spelling and formatting…and also ‘subjective’ edits like, does the plot or piece of dialogue ‘work’ for me, and how could it (in my opinion) be improved. Then the art: does the visual storytelling make sense? Did the artist follow what was in the script? If the artist added/subtracted from what was indicated in the script, is it something that could be seen as an improvement or added-value, or does it need to be adjusted to fit in with the original vision?”

“As you can see, my notes as an editor for Gates of Midnight or any other comic book are going to be broken up into objective edits (something is not right and needs to be fixed: coloring mistake, spelling, formatting, etc.) and subjective edits (here are my opinions on things where there really isn’t a definitive ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer: my opinion on the plot, if the art in a particular panel emotionally resonates with me, etc.).”

“And I think it’s important to keep these two types of edits distinct from each other because as editor you’re not a dictator. You’re working with Artists (and I mean all creative types here) with a capital A. If there is something subjective that you think should be changed, you work with the Artist, get their feedback, come up with a synthesis between what you think and what they think. It is, in the end, a collaborative effort. Or, at least, it should be.”

What is your favorite part of the process of creating a comic book?

“I think it is working through little ‘bumps’ here and there during the process and smoothing them out to produce the final product. Reworking a problematic scene with the team and then getting it just right…and then, much later, just looking at the finished book and feeling a sense of satisfaction.”

What are the most common errors you encounter during the editing process? If you could pick one thing that you could advise comic book creators not to do, what would it be?

“The biggest thing…I wouldn’t call it an ‘error,’ per se, but an issue that needs to be worked on…is being sure you are writing or drawing in the most effective manner for the specific medium of comics. Comic book storytelling is a medium all its own, and what might work for a book or a movie or a static piece of art may not work in comics. And yet, even with the number of excellent books out there that can ‘teach’ how to write or draw comics…in the end, you only really learn by doing the comics yourself.”

“That’s why I don’t call it an ‘error.’ It’s just a learning process.”

If you could give advice to someone aspiring to become a part of the comic book industry what would it be?

“Develop a wide range of skills and interests outside of comic books. Do this so you bring added value to your employer/projects—and do this because the truth is that the comic book industry has a limited amount of paying jobs. You may always be working in the comic book industry once you get in, or you may have to take jobs that are unrelated to it until the next time there is a job opening.”

“So for example I have a lot of marketing experience on my resume—that’s really helped me a lot, both in terms of getting work between comic editing gigs, and as a comic editor myself.”

What comic books have you worked on?

For DC Comics I’ve worked on Justice League of America, The New Frontier, Batman Black & White, Identity Crisis, Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, Aquaman, Supergirl, and a bunch more. For Valiant/Acclaim Comics I edited Magnus Robot Fighter, Shadowman, Classics Illustrated and some Disney comics.”

What do you think of Kymera Press’ mission to publish comics created by women?

“To be honest, my opinion on creating women-specific publishing imprints and groups and comics has fluctuated over the two decades I have been in this business. For a long time I have believed that by separating females from an already male-dominated industry, this would hold back rather than promote their success within the industry as a whole.”

“And yet, when you look at the actual numbers of women working in the mainstream comics industry—and a website called BleedingCool.com has a monthly feature called ‘Gender Crunching’ that literally does this—they are still so ridiculously small that there seems, in 2015, to be no ‘excuse’ for it. I’m talking about females making up less than 20 percent of certain aspects of the mainstream industry…sometimes less than 10 percent. How did this happen? This is worse than in the 1980s, when I was a kid. So I’m open to any solution at this point.”

“Additionally, there is the issue of creating a ‘safe space’ for females within the industry. And when you read the words ‘safe space,’ you either completely ‘get’ what I mean, or you don’t—I’m not going to go into details here. But it’s needed. I hear the argument all the time (sometimes from women themselves, and I’m sure I’ve said this once or twice myself) that women just need to ‘toughen up’ and not let all manner of sexist slings and arrows thrown their way bother them.”

“However, I’ve seen too many instances of everything from sexual harassment to unreported physical assault to cyber bullying/death threats to just being constantly being passed over for promotions kill the joy women have had working in the comic book industry.”

“And so, at the age of 41, that’s the number one thing I’m against—comic-loving females having their innate sense of joy being crushed. And if a place like Kymera Press can provide a space and opportunity for females to express that joy, that’s a great thing.”

As a woman working in a male-dominated industry, have you faced any difficulties?

“In general, it has been the pervasive sense that I have been seen/judged as a female first, not objectively as a comic book editor (or writer). This has certainly not happened with all the men within the industry who I have worked for. But it has happened enough. And so you have issues that have absolutely no place in a business setting—issues of gender and sexuality and just sex in general—mixed into the nuts-and-bolts of the job itself.”

“And then from there this continues into the larger sphere of fandom and the Internet, sometimes in a manner of the most depraved savagery where you end up with women getting threatened with rape or murder. For example, I was threatened with physical violence after I wrote a one-shot for The Punisher and I stopped going to comic conventions—period. To this day, because of that experience, I feel uneasy about attending a show where it has been pre-announced that I will appear at a certain time. It can be argued that male creators occasionally face this same situation with angry fans and whatnot—but the sad fact is that more often than not, the negativity that is specifically directed at females have an aspect of, frankly, sexual violence and sexuality in general.”

“See how heavy that is? ‘I just wanted to write or edit a comic book. Just a comic book! You know something fun and entertaining. Why are all these other issues coming up? This is so exhausting to deal with…I should just find another industry to be in.’ And that’s what happens…I just watch these other really talented women leave the industry one after another.”

“Once, a professional in the industry publicly stated on social media that women have exactly the same opportunities in the comic book industry as men—that it is completely and objectively a merit-based system. And, within the context of the discussion, it was implied that if there are markedly less women than men in the mainstream industry, that this was somehow reflective of their skills as comic book creators and editors and so forth. And that’s a viewpoint I’ve heard for a long, long time—and it is a Big Lie. It is a big, inexcusable lie, and that type of mentality needs to stop.”

On a lighter note, I’ve asked all of the other ladies who worked on Gates of Midnight this question. It’s just for fun. If you were a comic book character who would you be?

“Howard the Duck.”

Do you have any role models within the comic book industry?

“I think anyone who has managed to survive within this industry for a long time and has genuinely tried to make it a better place for everyone is my role-model.”

What does a Freelance Comic Book Editor Do?

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By D. Lynn Smith

As I mentioned in a previous post, I didn’t have an editor on issue #1 of Gates of Midnight, and I made mistakes that weren’t caught until my husband read the finished pages. We then had to go back and make corrections, which meant paying my artists for additional work. That convinced me that I needed to find an editor, and that’s how Valerie D’Orazio came to be working for Kymera Press. We’ll talk more about her credentials next week when we publish an interview with her. In the meantime, let’s talk about what an editor does.

Valerie started looking at the thumbnails (see post on penciller) of issue #2. She not only helped me find mistakes in the way scenes were set up, but she also helped me figure out how to fix the panels. She made sketches to show me and Amelia how the panel could be set up to tell the story better. This not only helped the issue in the long run, but it also was a great learning experience for Amelia and myself. We both grew, and continue to grow, as artists with Valerie’s help.

SPOILER ALERT:  I’m going to use a plot point from issue #4 here as an example. If you don’t want to read it, skip down to “SAFE TO START READING HERE.”

During the inking process, I would try to describe what I wanted to show. For instance, I have a place in issue #4 where Alex casts a shadow image of himself. It got a little confusing with two of him on the page; we couldn’t tell what was happening. Valerie suggested that we lighten the lines on the “ghost Alex” and add some cloudy swirls around him. This problem persisted to the coloring stage, because it really was the colorist’s job to make this scene work. Here are some of the actual notes Valerie gave on a set of pages for issue #4 to help the colorist.

Page 1 panel 2: should the effect around the creatures be a little more “wispy” so it is clear that they are not really in the sky?

Page 1 panel 3: inside the “portal” should have a little more depth?

Some other thoughts she had on subsequent pages.

Page 3 panel 2: the stuff “grabbing“ the stone should be a little different in color or “tone,” because it looks like now that it’s a static part of the same whole.

Page 6 panel 4: again, the ambulance needs more depth. She could achieve this by playing with some of the grey tones and shading.

As you can see, as an editor Valerie was able to not only point out what was wrong, but was able to suggest solutions. Here are the before and after pages for the “ghost Alex.”

Editor #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Editor #2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAFE TO START READING HERE

When it comes to lettering, Valerie goes through the script and bolds words that need to be bolded. This is something I really can’t do as in all of my other writing it’s not something I would do. She makes any grammatical/punctuation changes that are required and helps me figure out where to place dialog bubbles when they need to be changed.

When it comes to editing the script, she makes sure that what I’ve written is clear for the reader and the artists. Here’s an example of notes she gave me on script #5.

Page 1: Great opening!

Page 2: Be sure to remind Amelia that Eric and Raven have just come out of the fight in the last issue, and are a little worse for wear with cuts and whatnot.

Page 3: Be more specific about Marie’s facial expression for Amelia. I assume that she is not surprised that Raven and Eric were in the fight, and yet must put up “appearances” for her guests.

Page 4: Good banter between Marie and Raven as the cut is being dressed.

Page 5, panel 6: This would be a great place to direct Amelia to make visually more dramatic. You could ask her to do a close-up, and really describe the emotion on these characters’ faces. Marie feels like Constance could be a threat to her daughter—bam! Bring out all that maternal protectiveness and fury visually.

Page 15, panel 6: a good place for Bub to be large in the foreground, zooming forward towards the reader dramatically, with Raven in the background watching.

Page 16: I’d have very subtle shading on Rain’s hurt eye. We don’t want to give it away, but also don’t want it to look like suddenly in close-up she has an eye injury.

As you can see, all of these notes were about clarity of purpose in each panel.  And Valerie does the most important thing an editor can do, she tells me what is good about the script as well as what problems need to be addressed.

Finally, Valerie has also given me feedback on artists as we went through the process of hiring for Kymera Press’ next comic book series—Pet Noir. Looking at an artist’s works requires a skill that I call seeing. My husband and I are scuba divers and have spent a lot of time on Maui. He used to talk about the wind line on the water—he could see where the wind picked up and where it wasn’t blowing. I couldn’t see it. But then we moved to Maui and during that time, I learned to see the wind line! It was like a veil had been lifted from my eyes.

It’s the same with looking at a penciller’s lines, an inker’s details, a colorist’s shadows. You have to learn to see. When I was hiring my artists for Pet Noir, the inker didn’t want to commit to a price until she saw the penciller’s portfolio. The colorist didn’t want to commit to a price until she saw the penciller and the inker’s portfolios. Luckily, they were all impressed with each other!

So this is my experience of what an editor does.  I subscribe to a great blog from Heather Antos, an editor at Marvel. If you’d like to read more about what an editor does, check her out on tumblr.

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