Peter David Masterclass – Notes

• Trick for covering your ass when a character doesn’t realize something that should be obvious. Have him say, “Why didn’t I realize this before?”
• Indiana Jones: “I’m going after that truck.” “How?” “I don’t know, I’m making this up as I go.” (Show Indiana Jones on horse.) Meaning: you don’t have to explain every way you solve a problem. Funnier that way.
• People entering and exiting rooms = boring. Make them interesting. Kramer. Rule: no one leaves a room without a good exit line.
• In Fraser, Niles would always announce why Maris is not there. Never show Maris.
• When creating a TV show, always have an End Game. Meaning: figure out how the entire series will end.
• Heroes are the sons of Gods. Gods are pricks, so heroes are pricks.
• Different ways of dealing with loss. Spiderman vs. Superman vs. Batman.
• The original sin that Spiderman will never live down. Trying to make up for his uncle’s death.
• In writing for Star Trek, you are dealing with characters who fundamentally cannot change. There is only the ILLUSION of change, as Stan Lee says.
• Without change or learning, there is no story… only anecdote.
• Don Quixote was the first superhero, the first novel. Newer translation is better.
• When a famous person is an asshole, it’s because he was an asshole before he was famous.
• Denny O’Neil: The DC Comics Guide To Writing Comics
• Reaction you want: “Wow, I did not expect that! But Wow, that makes sense!”
• Write for other writers. If you can fool them, you can fool anybody.
• Readers always expect things to happen as they have before.
• Play to readers’ beliefs and trick them.
• 99% of writing for comics is “continuation” of a mythology rather than rebooting. Cover songs vs. originals.
• Being a writer is like being a plumber, and waking up one day, and not remembering how to do your job.
• When you are a writer and you’re pissed off, you MUST have vengeance on the reader. (He actually killed The Hulk’s girlfriend because it was his ex-wife’s favorite character. The date and time in the comic when she dies is the moment Peter David was divorced.)
• Oreo Trick: surround bullshit with solid facts.
• When building a world, write for the experts.
• People are stupid. Spell out everything.
• Assume animators and artists will do it all wrong. Tell everything through dialogue, hope to cut it out later. 90% of the time, he has to keep dialogue in.
• Spell everything out. It’s animated by 27 guys in Korea.