Last time on the comic development blog I discussed the best way to come up with a theme for your strip, and announced the working title of mine, Trader Don’s and some initial thoughts.

Today I’m going to disclose my “Hook” and talk about one of the main characters who will rarely be seen, but is still a central figure… Trader Don Rongo. Then I’ll discuss this process for aspiring cartoonists too… read on!

The Pitch…

Trader Don’s will be about a 30 something year old who reluctantly inherits his estranged grandfather’s old Tiki Bar.

The Hook…

Trader Don’s isn’t just ANY old Tiki Bar… it’s inhabited by little living Tiki characters that only true “believers” can see and interact with. The tikis, of course, are mischievous little beings. What other surprises lay within the walls of Trader Don’s? Cursed mugs, secret drink recipes and elixirs…

The Man…

The original Trader Don, like many members of the “League of Traders” scoured the globe for adventure and searched to uncover ancient secrets. Think, “The Most Interesting Man In The World” meets Robert Ripley.

Don would often bring back artifacts to the mainland, secret recipes, concoctions… but the best thing he ever brought back were his stories. Some say he was a Hugh Hefner type, with a woman on each arm, holding his favorite drinks. Others say he was just a storyteller…

The Hat…

Originally I had planned on only featuring Trader Don’s hat as what was leftover from Don besides a few prominent pictures near the bar and his favorite table. But as I began thinking about this character more, I thought it was a strong possibility of having some fun “flashback” strips that show you what REALLY happened within some of the legendary stories told around the bar. Like…. “Wow, this drink is amazing! Where did the recipe come from? What’s in this!?!” — then it cuts to Don on a far off island, swinging above an active volcano or something…

The “hat” was planned as a tribute to my big brother, who left this world in May. He was an adventurer in his own right, and it’s a cool hat, so I wanted to give it a tip in his honor. I’m sure he would have loved that. It was a BIG inspiration inheriting it.

For no reason at all, here’s a photo of the hat, me and King Kukulele at Hukilau 2011…

Dorks

But I digress…

The rest of the blog will be dedicated to creators out there, so anyone who gets bored by shop talk can exit… but check back soon because next time I’m going to show some other character designs and talk about fleshing out the world of “Trader Don’s”

Of Hooks, Plots, Bells, Whistles…

After you’ve decided on some sort of theme for your comic strip, it’s important to just sit down and really THINK. Ask yourself questions and write the answers within a little sketchbook. Instead of asking the BIG question of “how is this strip different?” or “what is the meaning of life” – ask the small things. Usually the SMALL things end up leading to your BIG THING…. in my case, dealing with a Tiki Bar, I thought of these small questions….

• What kind of tiki bar is it? Is it old school 60’s? Or some modern tiki bar trying to be the old thing?
• What kind of characters frequent the establishment? Who are the “regulars”
• Does this tiki bar serve only mixed drinks? And what happens when someone comes in looking for Bud Light and classic rock?
• What’s in the “Adventure” room in the back? A collection of artifacts from Don’s journeys?
• How do I make this different from “bar” humor comics?
• Will a blowfish talk? That could be funny. What would it say? Would it insult people? Shout “Last Call!!!!”

Once you get into that train of thought and answering these little questions, usually a nugget of gold will fall from the sky in the form of a good idea or “hook”— the hook is what will make your comic stand out from the crowd. If you don’t figure one out, don’t fret… it might come later. Many comic strips don’t really have a hook, they just rely on the characters and dialogue and situations. Think of a hook as something that makes people go… “OH, that’s neato!” when they hear it. Every now and then you’ll discover hook nuggets that will make other creators say “Why didn’t I think of that!!?!”

The Elevator Pitch…

The old saying “Keep it Simple, Stupid.” are wise words. Ultimately, you want to be able to boil down your idea into a sentence or two. Something you could actually tell not only a busy hollywood executive in an elevator… but also just something easy for the mind to digest. Ideas sound better and stronger when they are simply put and you take all the crap out. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve asked a creator what their book or strip was about and they fumble around or send me a page of text… no, no, no! Hit people over the head with the core idea and the “hook” will have them wanting to hear more…

For fun, let me boil down my “pitch” for Trader Don’s… I’m sure it could be even smaller.

Trader Don’s is about a 30 something year old who reluctantly inherits his estranged grandfather’s old Tiki Bar. Trader Don’s isn’t just ANY old Tiki Bar… it’s inhabited by little living Tiki characters that only true “believers” can see and interact with. The tikis, of course, are mischievous little beings. What other surprises lay within the walls of Trader Don’s? Cursed mugs, secret drink recipes and elixirs…

Pretty good, but not quite QUICK enough for my liking…let’s try…

Will Rongo reluctantly inherits his estranged grandfather’s tiki bar, only to find it crawling with little living tikis, ancient secrets and mystical drink recipes. Oh, and a creature named Geoff.

That’s better. You’ll note that I included the main character’s first name there. It’s fun to do that if your character has a fun sounding name. Notice how I keep the words “reluctantly” and “estranged” in there. These are key words that will make a listener stop and thing… “why is he reluctant?”  – “why were they estranged?” — it immediately creates a sense of drama or a situation that the reader’s mind wants resolved. I could totally go without those words. It’d look like this.

Will Rongo inherits his grandfather’s tiki bar, only to discover it’s inhabited by mischievous tikis…. and a creature named Geoff.

Any of those are good. Remember them. You could use the longer pitches at conventions, and the shorter ones when you’re in an elevator or meeting with Ari Gold or Steven Spielberg. 🙂

BONUS TIP: Chris Brogan offers up some solid advice in the comments below about using the word “UNTIL” in your pitch. It’s totally going to make my pitch even better. 🙂 Thanks Chris!

If you draw a comic, post your “pitch” in the comments here, and a link to your work! Or just practice your hooking skills right here.

Or, let me know what you think of the Trader Don’s idea so far. Would you read a strip like this?

Next time I’ll jump into fleshing out the world and thinking more about the other characters and what purposes they serve to the whole idea. Thanks for reading!

Miss part one? Read it here.

PART THREE HERE… “Character Pools and Design”