Brian K. Vaughan

“Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to this. But I can say that there are no new ideas, only new executions. I thought I was insanely creative when I came up with the idea for Y: The Last Man, but I soon found out that stories about one man in a world of women have been around for literally hundreds of years. But by Pia and I infusing the idea with our own beliefs and our own experiences, it hopefully became something new and unique.

Beyond that, I’ve found that coming up with ideas is more like fishing than hunting. Going out and looking for great ideas never works. You just need to patiently keep your pole in the water, if that makes sense. You can improve your chances by reading a lot (fiction AND nonfiction… I love news magazines and books about science and history), and living a cool life with interesting people. That will turn your personal watering hole into an ocean. The other thing you can do is write every day, at least four pages. Do that long enough, and your fishing pole will turn into a fishing net. Pretty soon, you’ll be nabbing cool ideas all day long, seemingly out of nowhere.

I’ve never really read any great books about writing, since most writers don’t know how to describe what they do (see my nutty paragraph above). The only thing you can do is write a lot. If you spend more time playing video games than writing, you’re not a writer yet. It’s hard work, and I hate writing… but the sensation of HAVING WRITTEN is the best feeling in the world, so it’s worth enduring the misery of sitting in front of a keyboard in a quiet room for hours on end to get there”

– Brian K. Vaughan
(taken from a forum post)

One wonders if Brian K. Vaughan’s stint as a film student in New York University contributed to his vision as a very beloved comic book writer.

BKV is best known for Y: the Last Man; Ex Machina (both of which were optioned); Pride of Baghdad and Runaways.

He joined the Lost writing staff in 2006 as an executive story editor. Written with Jeff Pinkner, BKV’s first written episode, Catch-22 aired April 18 2007.

He has since left to pursue other things, most probably world domination.

~ by croatoa on April 20, 2007.