Purveyor of sheer awesomeness.
Joshua Hale Fialkov is the Harvey, Eisner, and Emmy Award nominated writer of graphic novels, animation, video games, film, and television, including:
THE LIFE AFTER, THE BUNKER, PUNKS, ELK'S RUN, TUMOR, ECHOES, KING, PACIFIC RIM, THE ULTIMATES, I, VAMPIRE, and JEFF STEINBERG CHAMPION OF EARTH. He's also written television including MAX’s YOUNG JUSTICE, NBC's CHICAGO MED and NETFLIX’s AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER.
Know the length of your rope and what the consequences are for reaching the end of it. Sometimes, you get to fly up in the air and out into a lake, other times you realize that you’re dangling by your throat a few inches off the ground.
When your gut tells you not to do something, always listen. You will never be wrong.
This is different from fear, different from nerves. This is a deep sense that bad things will come from what you’re about to do.
This is especially true with job opportunities. No matter how much you want the job, sometimes, it just isn’t worth it.
I try to draft in my head before I ever sit down to write. So by the time I’m actually sitting down, it’s almost like automatic writing of a 2nd or 3rd draft. And then, y’know, I make sure it doesn’t totally suck by drafting it yet again.
The work is never as hard as it is right before you start it.
Doing what you love will always lead you to success. It just might take a forever and a half to get there.
What drives me is a need to be great. The understanding that I’ll never by great, and that I have never been great is what makes me do the work. The key is to understand your shortcomings and continue to keep on trying. No matter what.
Aspire to greatness, never accept that you’ve achieved it.
Surround yourself with great people, because if you don’t, you’ve surrounded yourself with shitty people.
When you find out that those great people are in fact shitty people in disguise, see first paragraph.
AMEN! @saulcolt #DigitalLeap2014 pic.twitter.com/Bx1rblnwmV
— Jennifer Martino (@JenniferMartino) May 1, 2014
Don’t slag off your own work, even if it’s old, even if you don’t like it, even if it isn’t very good. That work is the foundation of who you’re going to become. Plus, no matter how obscure, there’s SOMEBODY out there who likes it, and talking shit about it is just going to bum them out.
