{"id":2172,"date":"2010-08-22T09:45:25","date_gmt":"2010-08-22T13:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/?p=2172"},"modified":"2019-06-07T13:41:52","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T17:41:52","slug":"jim-ottaviani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Ottaviani, graphic novelist, on how and why he writes. Science!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This is the second installment of a new occasional series on writers \u2014 how  and why they write, what inspires them and how they overcome challenges  like writer\u2019s block and rejection. <\/em><br \/>\n<em>Today we get a baker&#8217;s dozen of questions and answers with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gt-labs.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jim Ottaviani<\/a>,  who writes graphic novels about complex scientific concepts like the  space race and the development of the atomic bomb. Like <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/2010\/08\/01\/young-adult-author-lara-zielin-on-how-and-why-she-writes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lara Zielin<\/a> earlier this month, Jim gives us a peek into how he does  what he does.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<div><strong> <\/strong><br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2191\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2191\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><strong><strong><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-2191\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/2010\/08\/22\/jim-ottaviani\/two-fistedcover\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2191\" title=\"TWO-FISTEDcover\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/two-fistedcover.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"291\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2191\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The book that started it all. The first original graphic novel about scientists (physicists, mostly) ever.<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<strong>1. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 What have you written? <\/strong>\n<\/div>\n<p>In chronological order:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0978803744?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=newvigrowi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0978803744\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Two-Fisted Science: Stories About Scientists<\/a> (1997)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0978803736?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=newvigrowi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0978803736\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dignifying Science: Stories About Women Scientists<\/a> (1999)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0966010639?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=newvigrowi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0966010639\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fallout: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and The Political Science Of The Atomic Bomb<\/a> (2001)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0978803728?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=newvigrowi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0978803728\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Suspended In Language: Niels Bohr&#8217;s Life, Discoveries, And The Century He Shaped<\/a> (2003)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0966010663?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=newvigrowi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0966010663\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bone Sharps, Cowboys, And Thunder Lizards<\/a> (2005)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0978803701?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=newvigrowi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0978803701\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Levitation: Physics And Psychology In The Service Of Deception<\/a> (2007)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/097880371X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=newvigrowi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=097880371X\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wire Mothers: Harry Harlow And The Science Of Love<\/a> (2007)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1416949607?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=newvigrowi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1416949607\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">T-Minus: The Race to the Moon<\/a> (2009)<br \/>\nI also edited <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/096601068X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=newvigrowi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=096601068X\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Charles R. Knight: Autobiography Of An Artist<\/a>, which came out in 2005.<br \/>\nComing up are Feynman (2011; it&#8217;s about Richard Feynman), The Imitation  Game (2012, most likely; it&#8217;s about Alan Turing and will be serialized  first at Tor.com), and Primates (2012 or 2013; it&#8217;s about Jane Goodall,  Dian Fossey, Birute Galdikas and Louis Leakey).<br \/>\n<strong> <\/strong><br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2176\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2176\" style=\"width: 260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><strong><strong><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-2176\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/2010\/08\/22\/jim-ottaviani\/jimo-kyoto\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2176 \" title=\"jimO.kyoto\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jimo-kyoto.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"260\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jimo-kyoto.jpg 325w, https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jimo-kyoto-224x300.jpg 224w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 260px) 100vw, 260px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2176\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim in Kyoto<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<strong>2. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 What do you wish you&#8217;d written? <\/strong><br \/>\nI&#8217;d never thought about this before, and there are a couple of ways to  answer the question. One way, which I&#8217;m sure you didn&#8217;t intend, is to  choose a book I wish I&#8217;d written because I had lived the life required  of the writer. And the first one that comes to mind here is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0226173887?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=newvigrowi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0226173887\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">&#8220;Nice Guys  Finish Last<\/a>,&#8221; by Leo Durocher. That man had one heck of an interesting  career: You could do worse than having your\u00a0 NY Yankees teammate Babe  Ruth nickname you &#8220;The All-American Out,&#8221; playing shortstop for the  Brooklyn Dodgers and the legendary 1934 St. Louis Cardinals &#8220;Gashouse  Gang,&#8221; managing teams starring Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Ernie  Banks, and writing a book I loved as a kid and still love today.<br \/>\nBut again, that&#8217;s probably not what you meant. Even so, I&#8217;m still not  going to answer your question correctly because there are too many to  count, and I don&#8217;t want to imply that I could have written any of these.  Because I don&#8217;t think I could have. That disclaimer aside, the books  that immediately come to mind are Harper Lee&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B000BKACO8?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=newvigrowi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B000BKACO8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">To Kill a Mockingbird<\/a>&#8221;  (because if you&#8217;re only going to write one book, make it this good), &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0684813785?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=newvigrowi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0684813785\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The  Making of the Atomic Bomb<\/a>&#8221; by Richard Rhodes (my ideal for engaging  history), and on the comics side of things, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1401219268?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=newvigrowi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1401219268\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Watchmen<\/a>&#8221; (which should need  no introduction) and Howard Chaykin&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1845760778?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=newvigrowi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1845760778\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">American Flagg!<\/a>&#8221; (because it opened  my eyes to density and complexity in serial storytelling).<br \/>\n<strong>3. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Who or what inspires you?<\/strong><br \/>\nScientists and their discoveries are the two main (and most obvious!)  things. Strip away what they&#8217;ve done, and what engineers have made of  their work, and we couldn&#8217;t be talking right now. Heck, we&#8217;d probably be  dead, since just 100 years ago you and I would be well past the average  life expectancy of a typical human. We&#8217;d sure feel and look much older,  even if we weren&#8217;t already dead and gone&#8230;<br \/>\nBut just as inspiring to me (and without the morbid subtext I just stuck  science with&#8230;sorry, science!) is the medium of comics itself. The  storytelling potential of words and pictures working together &#8212; or at  cross purposes, if done intentionally &#8212; on the page or screen is  infinite.<br \/>\nAt the same time, what you can do is also constrained by what  will fit on that page or screen, so the writer and artist are forced to  make hard choices: How the first impression of all the panels taken  together can influence how they&#8217;re read sequentially, the ability of art  to add emotional depth to the text, the choice of colors and typefaces  and line weights and borders&#8230;and I could go on about this until you&#8217;d  want to punch me in the arm and say &#8220;shut up already!&#8221;<br \/>\nAnyway, those  hard choices are good for a writer, as well, and inspire creativity.<br \/>\n<strong>4. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 How do you answer when someone asks you, &#8220;What do you do?&#8221;<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gt-labs.com\/books.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I write comics about scientists<\/a>. When I started doing this, people didn&#8217;t get it. They do now.<br \/>\n(If the question comes in the context of my day job, I say <a href=\"http:\/\/directory.umich.edu\/ldapweb-bin\/url?ldap:\/\/\/uid=hellpop,ou=People,dc=umich,dc=edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I&#8217;m a  librarian<\/a>. Everybody gets that, though their assumptions about <a href=\"http:\/\/deepblue.lib.umich.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">what I do  on a day-to-day basis <\/a>are probably wrong.)<br \/>\n<strong>5. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 When do you most enjoy writing? What do you enjoy least?<\/strong><br \/>\nMost of the enjoyment is retroactive. &#8220;I hate writing. I love having  written,&#8221; isn&#8217;t quite true, since some days when I loved writing were  followed by days of hating what I wrote. But making something new is  always enjoyable, and even when it&#8217;s difficult and I don&#8217;t enjoy it,  it&#8217;s not hard like a tour of duty in Afghanistan is hard. So it&#8217;s pretty  good, even when it&#8217;s not going well.<br \/>\nI find revision difficult. Not because I write so beautifully that it&#8217;s  torture to remove a single word, but because of the structured nature of  comics. Much more than in straight prose, where nothing is revealed  without actual reading, even and odd pages and what you show on them  matter. (And what you hide. Do you have a visual surprise to spring on a  reader? It&#8217;s best if you can put it on an even-numbered page, so it&#8217;s  hidden from view until the moment you want it seen.)<br \/>\nLike it or not,  each even-odd spread will function as a scene, at least visually, so  when you find you have to add something or take something out that  affects the reading experience&#8230; that cascades through the rest of  the book. That&#8217;s the down side of the power of images; they&#8217;re so  compelling that you have to be very careful how you use them.<br \/>\n<strong> <\/strong><br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2198\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2198\" style=\"width: 240px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><strong><strong><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-2198\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/2010\/08\/22\/jim-ottaviani\/jims-office-ne-corner\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2198\" title=\"Jim's office NE corner\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jims-office-ne-corner.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2198\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim says: Natural light? Who writes during the day, anyway? Well, I do, at least on the weekends, but nighttime is my preference as well as a necessity. But I started the tour in this corner to show you what I have in my peripheral vision while I work. The big framed print is Alan Bean&#039;s &quot;That&#039;s How It Felt to Walk On The Moon&quot;. (You can read more about it at http:\/\/www.alanbeangallery.com\/howitfelt-story.html) I admire Mr. Bean as much as I admire any of the Apollo astronauts, and he was generous with his time and enthusiasm when I was writing T-Minus. The art I hang in that corner is supposed to change regularly, but this lithograph has been up for years. On the other wall are pieces by Richard Thompson, Steve Purcell, Gary Panter, Roy Crane, Chester Brown, Jules Feiffer, Jeffrey Jones, Harvey Kurtzman, Lynda Barry, and a photograph I took in the People&#039;s Republic of China not too long after the Cultural Revolution ended. Yes, I&#039;m that old, and no, I&#039;ll bet Shanghai looks nothing like that any more.<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<strong>6. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Describe your favorite writing environment.<\/strong><br \/>\nA room in my house, surrounded by books. Ideally, it would not be  surrounded by internet access, but I don&#8217;t have the discipline to turn  that off completely. I&#8217;m trying to learn how to use the following magic  spell: &#8220;fact\/detail TK&#8221;. Put that in the MS and you keep the story  flowing, but more often than not I&#8217;ll reach a point where a fact\/detail  is needed and switch over to the web browser and look up the distance  between Manchester and London, or the date of the first published  description of the telectroscope and then find myself sucked down the  rabbit-hole labeled Important Research That Must Be Done Now! and lose  an hour when I should have been working on telling the story and saved  the research bit for later.<br \/>\nIn short, I would waste a lot less writing time if I didn&#8217;t like to read.<br \/>\n<strong>7. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 How do you budget your time for the creative part of writing versus the business side &#8212; marketing, communicating with your agent or editor, tracking finances, etc.?<\/strong><br \/>\nI have no plan. I drop just about everything when my agent or editor  calls, since they do indeed seem to have a plan, real deadlines, and  needs. So I try and make sure that what they want gets done as soon as  possible. The same is true for the business aspect of writing, though  it&#8217;s easier since I seem to be able to deal with the numbers side of  things without much problem. (I have a, how shall we say, robust  spreadsheet for keeping track of sales and royalties and the like. My  background helps with this.) And I am such a poor marketer,\u00a0 my time  budgeted for it is small. I don&#8217;t say that with any pride&#8230;<br \/>\n<strong>8. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 How do you deal with writer&#8217;s block?<\/strong><br \/>\nDeadlines are the cure, so if I don&#8217;t have one via a contract, I make  one up. I seem to be able to trick myself into believing these dates. I  wish I could trick myself into self-promotion or internet abstinence&#8230;<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2199\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2199\" style=\"width: 180px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><strong><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-2199\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/2010\/08\/22\/jim-ottaviani\/jims-office-n-view\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2199\" title=\"Jim's office N view\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jims-office-n-view.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a><\/strong><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2199\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim says: In the dark; that&#039;s more like it! A nice big screen (good for aging eyes and working on page layouts), some stuff (if you look close you can see some vintage calculating devices, vacuum tubes, a heat sink, and a bust of Niels Bohr), water (hydration is key to productivity), books relating to my current writing projects, and piles of notes. On the wall is a strip by Charles Schulz, the greatest all-around cartoonist of all time, one by Milton Caniff, the greatest adventure cartoonist of them all, a page by the amazing Jim Woodring, and a couple more photos -- one I took on top of Mt. Fuji and one of my dad in Italy.<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<strong>9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How do you deal with rejection?<\/strong><br \/>\nI&#8217;ve met with very little outright rejection &#8212; I can think of only one  piece submitted for publication that was completely scrapped &#8212; so I  deal with it by being lucky, I guess.<br \/>\nMore seriously, when I&#8217;ve written something that needed a lot of work to  fix I do the obvious and give it another try based on the feedback from  the editor. They&#8217;re almost always right about some aspect of the piece  not working, and even when I think they&#8217;re not the editors I&#8217;ve had have  been so professional and helpful and so clearly dedicated to making the  story better that we&#8217;ve found a way to make things work for both of us.  Here again, I&#8217;ve been lucky!<\/p>\n<div>\n<strong> <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>10. \u00a0 Do you outline a structure before you start writing or do you just let the story unfold?<\/strong>\n<\/div>\n<p>I prefer the latter, but lately I&#8217;ve been asked to outline before I  start. The finished piece doesn&#8217;t always look like that outline, but I&#8217;m  growing to like the process (or at least the results), as it helps me  find places for the important bits early on. That means I don&#8217;t have to  toss out as many great scenes during revisions, which is a relief.<br \/>\n<strong>11. \u00a0 Do you know immediately when you&#8217;ve written something good?<\/strong><br \/>\nThat presumes I&#8217;ve written something good.<br \/>\nBut, no, I don&#8217;t know immediately, and don&#8217;t often know in retrospect  either. With some distance I can decide if I like it, but that&#8217;s not the  same thing.<\/p>\n<div>\n<strong> <\/strong><br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2202\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2202\" style=\"width: 180px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><strong><strong><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-2202\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/2010\/08\/22\/jim-ottaviani\/jims-ideal-office-i\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2202\" title=\"Jim's ideal office I\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jims-ideal-office-i.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2202\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim says: This? This is probably what my office should look like if I wanted to get more done. No distractions!<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2203\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2203\" style=\"width: 197px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><strong><strong><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-2203\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/2010\/08\/22\/jim-ottaviani\/jims-ideal-office-ii\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2203\" title=\"Jim's ideal office II\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jims-ideal-office-ii.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2203\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim says: Even better as an ideal workspace; no escape.<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<strong>12. \u00a0 Did anything about your approach to writing change after you were first published?<\/strong>\n<\/div>\n<p>No. I self-published my first books &#8212; you can do that in comics without  the stigma, much less distribution problems, that&#8217;s attached to it in  the prose world &#8212; and I still work the same way now that I&#8217;m getting  advances and working with large publishing houses. I think the results  are better now, though. I hope they are, and that I&#8217;ve improved!<br \/>\nBut  it&#8217;s still idea -&gt; research -&gt; think -&gt; research -&gt; rethink  -&gt; write -&gt; pause -&gt; rewrite with a healthy dose of &#8220;repeat as  necessary&#8221; (and &#8220;procrastinate&#8221;) mixed into the above stages.<br \/>\n<strong> <\/strong><br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2175\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2175\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><strong><strong><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-2175\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/2010\/08\/22\/jim-ottaviani\/jimo_dwd\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2175\" title=\"jimO_dwd\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jimo_dwd.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"303\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jimo_dwd.jpg 200w, https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jimo_dwd-198x300.jpg 198w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2175\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim likes to get dirty when he runs. Here he is running in Dances with Dirt, he believes just after finishing the leg titled &quot;This Sucks!&quot;<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<strong>13. \u00a0 Why do you write?<\/strong><br \/>\nThis will sound clinical (or at least very much like an engineer wrote  it) but it&#8217;s true: Beyond the enjoyment anyone can get from practicing a  craft, I practice this particular craft because it&#8217;s an efficient way  of getting ideas I think are important across to other people.<br \/>\nYou could say the same thing about the corollary to writing: Beyond  simply enjoying stories, which I do, I love to read because it&#8217;s such a  wonderful way of learning about people, places, and things. (I could  have just said nouns, I suppose&#8230;) Real life is fabulous and I wouldn&#8217;t  trade it for anything, but it&#8217;s so inefficient.<br \/>\nJust kidding.<br \/>\nMostly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the second installment of a new occasional series on writers \u2014 how and why they write, what inspires them and how they overcome challenges like writer\u2019s block and rejection. Today we get a baker&#8217;s dozen of questions and answers with Jim Ottaviani, who writes graphic novels about complex scientific concepts like the space race and the development of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[53,54],"tags":[181,335,426,580,694,708,867,1067,1396,1540,1542,1543,2486,2496,2636,2784,2819,2820],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Jim Ottaviani, graphic novelist, on how and why he writes. Science! - Newvine Growing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jim Ottaviani, graphic novelist, on how and why he writes. Science! - Newvine Growing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is the second installment of a new occasional series on writers \u2014 how and why they write, what inspires them and how they overcome challenges like writer\u2019s block and rejection. Today we get a baker&#8217;s dozen of questions and answers with Jim Ottaviani, who writes graphic novels about complex scientific concepts like the space race and the development of&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newvine Growing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-08-22T13:45:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-07T17:41:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/no-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Colleen Newvine Tebeau\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Colleen Newvine Tebeau\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/\",\"name\":\"Jim Ottaviani, graphic novelist, on how and why he writes. Science! - Newvine Growing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-08-22T13:45:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-07T17:41:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#\/schema\/person\/34671ebbbb37e4c1cc97f2f5ac1b1646\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Jim Ottaviani, graphic novelist, on how and why he writes. Science!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/\",\"name\":\"Newvine Growing\",\"description\":\"Live life intentionally\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#\/schema\/person\/34671ebbbb37e4c1cc97f2f5ac1b1646\",\"name\":\"Colleen Newvine Tebeau\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/700a4f604ab1d15dc1062a892418c128?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/700a4f604ab1d15dc1062a892418c128?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Colleen Newvine Tebeau\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/author\/cnewvine\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jim Ottaviani, graphic novelist, on how and why he writes. Science! - Newvine Growing","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jim Ottaviani, graphic novelist, on how and why he writes. Science! - Newvine Growing","og_description":"This is the second installment of a new occasional series on writers \u2014 how and why they write, what inspires them and how they overcome challenges like writer\u2019s block and rejection. Today we get a baker&#8217;s dozen of questions and answers with Jim Ottaviani, who writes graphic novels about complex scientific concepts like the space race and the development of&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/","og_site_name":"Newvine Growing","article_published_time":"2010-08-22T13:45:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-06-07T17:41:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/no-image.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Colleen Newvine Tebeau","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Colleen Newvine Tebeau","Est. reading time":"11 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/","name":"Jim Ottaviani, graphic novelist, on how and why he writes. Science! - Newvine Growing","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-08-22T13:45:25+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-07T17:41:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#\/schema\/person\/34671ebbbb37e4c1cc97f2f5ac1b1646"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/jim-ottaviani\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jim Ottaviani, graphic novelist, on how and why he writes. Science!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/","name":"Newvine Growing","description":"Live life intentionally","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#\/schema\/person\/34671ebbbb37e4c1cc97f2f5ac1b1646","name":"Colleen Newvine Tebeau","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/700a4f604ab1d15dc1062a892418c128?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/700a4f604ab1d15dc1062a892418c128?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Colleen Newvine Tebeau"},"url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/author\/cnewvine\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/no-image.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2172"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}