Here Be Dragons - March

“The first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human.”

― Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin of a Lion

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This newsletter goes through what I’ve been up to in my writing/life - I aim to account/atone for myself and what I have to show for my efforts recently. A map of my brain, so to speak, and here be dragons.

AI Statement: at no point do I use generative AI in any way to inform, create, or assist the publication of this newsletter, nor the life lived behind it.

2026 -- whatever.

Happy with less.

Making comics conditioned me to consider, value, and personally demand exponential growth.

I started writing scripts, that went nowhere. So when I made a short comic story under 10 pages and got it drawn and published, that seemed amazing. I eventually put out a 22 page one-shot, cover to cover. It’s ostensibly also a short story - and I loved that. Man, that was 13 years ago now.

Then I got a miniseries picked up. That took a year. But we put it out. So I wanted more. At one stage I was tracking how many pages I published per year, and I watched that number grow. More miniseries, graphic novels, short stories and one-shots on the side.

In my mind, it had to escalate - that’s what other successful creators seemed to do. More miniseries again, maybe sequels, peppered short stories throughout, leading towards either longer miniseries [maxi, I believe the term would be] or an ongoing.

But the rub was probably two-fold. I don’t know that I’m cut out for such things [for a variety of creative reasons], and I also started to realise I wasn’t pushing as hard in that direction as I had been the miniseries and such that had come before. A large part was me realistically not wanting to quit my day job. I love my day job. So trying to write 12 issues of something alongside it, or get an ongoing that would run for years wasn’t actually what I wanted [I don’t think].

Then Covid, a job change, older kids, a withdrawal from social media, and I feel in a different spot, but it’s shown me different appreciation.

There’s a 10 page comic short coming together that I’m in love with. I wrote a 5000 word short story from last year into this year and I feel really proud of it. I wrote a 9000 word essay and I’m so excited to share it. I got a small lovely email about a thing and it was enough to remind me about the ‘why’ of me getting up, writing in the morning, thinking about these things, etc, etc.

These are different things, and smaller things, but they fit into the hustle of life, and they still bring me joy - and I’ve realised that’s what getting me into the office each morning. It might be paying fewer bills, but it’s still very cool. And I like doing things that I consider very cool.

It wasn’t a mindset that changed instantly, and that I accepted instantly, but I’ve noticed it this year and it’s made me smile. Make of it what/however you will.

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How to Die

I finally released a fantasy zine I’d made a while back which covered some of my favourite fantasy rpg creative writing type exercises - whether you play, DM, just read the rule books, or only read fantasy [or I’ll even argue if you don’t read that genre all that much], or you just like creative writing and thinking - this has some good ideas for you.

Click here to go buy the How To Die digital zine for zero dollars [it’s Pay What You Want]

I love spitballing the kinds of things this asks you to do, so if anyone wants to have a lash at it, or wants to use it in the classroom or with their kids, please fill your boots. Little much else would bring me as much joy.

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‘Salem’s Lot Article

I wrote a short piece about ‘Salem’s Lot not being a horror novel because I deeply believe that Stephen King’s small town vampiric masterpiece is very much not about horror at all - it’s about small town American in the 70s, and all the problems King sees with it, and the horrors, too, yes, but those horrors are not fanged in form and are not visiting from distant lands.

I’m currently shopping it around, which is a new kind of fun for me. I have no clue what I’m doing, or where I’m going, but sometimes that is the fun itself, right?

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A long read.

I decided to crack into all 700+ pages of The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky and I’m over halfway through, and it’ll probably take me a few more months to finish it, but I am really digging it. The voices, the character work, and the insight into the existential views of that world and time are fascinating.

Though I do have 2 weeks of semester break coming up, and I’m looking forward to maybe a little more reading, especially as the weather will be turning cold then.

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Sometimes the stories that matter most are the ones that chase you.

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Who is Ryan K Lindsay?

I’m an award-winning Australian comic writer. I’ve been published by Black Mask, Dark Horse, ComixTribe, Mad Cave, IDW, Heavy Metal, Vertigo, and a few more. Kickstarter has been a home for many short comics. I often get to collaborate with great mates, and this brings me joy.

I write about balancing this creative game alongside a full teaching load [currently College Head of English and University Intro to Creative Writing] and a lovely family load and the forever melting brain that is modern man. I think about a lot of stuff, I still don’t know if it’s the right stuff. ymmv.

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POST CREDITS SEQUENCE

Am always looking for more short stories with punch.

Prose in like 4 pages or less.

Comics in like maybe 6 pages or less.

I love the structure, the punch and the bite, and the beautiful teachability of them.

If you have any good recommendations and where I can find them, I would be much obliged. I know I should somewhere house a bunch of links of them together just to get them all lined up.