Writing Through The Ages

by Andrea Colasanto

Gary K. Wolf is the author responsible for creating Roger and Jessica Rabbit, and all of Toontown. His groundbreaking 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? served as the basis for the $950 million blockbuster film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. His newest novel, the highly anticipated third in the Roger Rabbit series, Who Wacked Roger Rabbit? releases in just a few short weeks, on November 29th. This is clearly a guy with some serious and successful writing chops—but have you ever wondered how an author of this magnitude actually writes?

Gary takes some time with Musa to explain his process throughout the years; interestingly enough his first method in the 1970s reflects his exact process today!

I started writing my first Roger Rabbit novel in 1976.

I would write out my passages in longhand on yellow lined paper using a No. 2 pencil. Then I would type them out on the typewriter I got in high school, a portable Remington manual. Portable being a relative term since the thing weighed almost as much as our black and white, tube-type Emerson cabinet television set.

I would edit those typed pages using my pencil. If a passage had to be eliminated, I would cut those lines out of the page and paste the page back together using Scotch tape. If a passage had to be moved, I would cut that passage out and paste it in the proper position, again using my trusty roll of Scotch tape.

This resulted in pages of wildly different lengths. Some only six inches long, some nearly two feet.

I would then retype what I had done, and repeat the process. Doing that over and over and over until the book was done.

I would retype the book one last time in a clean draft using White-Out to cover any typing errors.

Then, to my great delight, along came the miracle of word processing.

I was working as a copywriter for an advertising agency that specialized in promoting hi-tech companies and products. One of my clients was Wang, a major mainframe computer manufacturer. Wang had developed a small computer they called a word processor. They intended to sell it to companies for use by secretaries.

They gave me one of their word processors to try out.

I rapidly discovered that the Wang word processor mimicked exactly the way I worked. I was able to type, cut, and paste. Except without having to physically print, cut, and tape.

My writing speed increased dramatically.

I took nine years to write Who Censored Roger Rabbit? The Wang turned me into a veritable speedball. I pumped out the sequel, Who P-p-p-plugged Roger Rabbit? in four and a half years.

I remember having a meeting with the top execs at Wang. I suggested to them that perhaps they were thinking too small. They should position their word processors as personal computers and sell them to individuals. They looked at me like I had suddenly grown a second head. “Who would want a computer in their house?” asked one of the senior vice presidents. The other executives agreed. What a silly idea.

Which is probably why, today, Wang is a footnote in computer history and Apple rules the world.

But I digress.

I went from the Wang to a series of other word processors and eventually personal computers. I currently use a home-built desktop machine I put together myself with the help of a grade school computer whiz who lives down the street.

I wrote four more novels on those personal computers.

Then I decided to write the long awaited and highly anticipated third Roger Rabbit novel, Who Wacked Roger Rabbit?

For this one I had a set deadline. The previous two Roger novels were published by big New York publishing houses. These publishers were extremely flexible about release dates. Whenever I finished the book, that was when the book got published.

Who Wacked Roger Rabbit? came out as a digital book. The big sales day for digital books is the last Friday in November. What digital book publishers and on-line book sellers call Black Friday. You miss Black Friday, and you might as well consign your book to the digital Buck-a-Book bin because you will have missed the majority of your sales opportunities.

In order to finish the book on time, I had to keep writing it during the eight weeks I spent in China.

Obviously, I couldn’t take my desktop machine.

So I looked into laptops.

Any of those would have worked. Except in my opinion they would have been useless to me when I returned home and went back to my desktop machine.

I decided instead to get an iPad. I could use the iPad with a Bluetooth keyboard, turning it into an ersatz laptop. Then, when I got home, I could either sell the iPad on eBay or use it for whatever people used iPads to do.

To my great surprise, the iPad changed my writing forever.

I swiftly discarded the keyboard. I’m a very fast touch typist, and the keys did not suit my fingers.

Instead, I used the virtual keyboard and a stylus. I wrote the entire novel one letter at a time. I found the experience to be very similar to the way I first started writing, when I used yellow lined paper and a No. 2 pencil.

I carried the iPad around with me in a red fabric shopping bag I bought for the equivalent of a nickel in a Chinese grocery store.

I worked on the book whenever I had spare time. In Chinese airports, in Chinese hotels (usually in the lobbies, the only places with Wi-Fi), on Chinese airplanes, on Chinese boats on the Yangtze River, in Chinese buses, once in a Chinese pedicab.

The book came together quickly and well.

My wife, who accompanied me on the trip and was usually by my side when I wrote, told me that I started talking to myself. Reciting the book out loud as I wrote. I was completely unaware of that. Although I was aware of getting strange looks from people around me as I sat writing in bars and restaurants.

When I got home from China, I continued to work on the iPad, even though I could have gone back to the desktop. I carried the iPad with me everywhere. I worked in libraries, coffee shops, college student unions, yoga studios, gyms, wherever I happened to be.

The book came together so swiftly and so easily, that I can’t ever envision myself going back to writing on the desktop machine.

I even used the iPad to write scenes for the new movie I’m writing.

My programs include Final Draft for screenwriting and Pages for novels. Because Pages won’t support the Track Changes program my editor uses, I also use Office HD.

Yes, in case you’re wondering, I’m writing this on the iPad, too.

Just goes to show, you can teach an old dog, or an old rabbit, new tricks.

Read more about Jessica Rabbit in Gary K. Wolf’s novel Who Wacked Roger Rabbit?, available now in digital-only publication from Musa Publishing.

Gary K. Wolf hass written many short stories and nine novels. He is well known for two kinds of writing. His science fiction novels include Killerbowl, A Generation Removed, The Resurrectionist, Space Vulture an old-school, throwback, pulp science fiction novel which he co-wrote with his childhood friend Catholic Archbishop John J. Myers. His newest is newest Typical Day. Both Killerbowl and The Resurrectionist are currently in production as major motion pictures.

His other kind of writing isn't as easily categorized. Gary calls it fantasy fiction. He was told early on by a marketing executive at a major publishing house that this kind of writing wouldn't sell. Because there was no place for it on the bookstore shelves. It's not a regular novel, not crime, not science fiction, not romance. He was wrong. Who Censored Roger Rabbit? did indeed get published. It went through sixteen printings, and became a visual reality in Disney/Spielberg's $950 million blockbuster film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? The film won four Academy Awards and the Hugo Award. Walt Disney Pictures has also purchased film rights to the sequel novel Who P-p-p-plugged Roger Rabbit?

One of his newest novels The Late Great Show! is solidly in the Roger Rabbit style fantasy category. Those who enjoy Toontown tales will most assuredly like The Late Great Show!, too.

Gary K. Wolf currently lives in Boston, but regularly travels around the world.

RABBIT FEVER

Roger Rabbit: A Cultural Impact, Part II by Andrea Blundell

In Part 1 of Roger Rabbit: A Cultural Impact, we looked at the effect Roger Rabbit had on the film industry. Now we come out from behind the lens of movie-making and look instead at his influence on society.

After the huge success of the film, it didn’t take long for Roger Rabbit fever to take hold. And what was not to love? A zany hare with a zest for life—you couldn’t help but root for the guy.

First there was the typical movie memorabilia—pins, clocks, beach towels, video games, and even a board game called Dip Flip. Children begged their parents to buy the latest Roger Rabbit gear. But it didn’t stop there. As the Roger Rabbit craze grew, so did commercial efforts to cash in on it.

In1990, Disney created a comic book series called Roger Rabbit, which ran for eighteen issues and went on to spawn a spin-off series called Roger Rabbit’s Toontown. There were graphic novels, children’s books, and activity books. And now, proof that Roger and Toontown’s legacy lives on, there is a growing community of fan fiction.

In 1994, Disneyland got in on the action, adding a new ride in Mickey’s Toontown called Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin. Here, fans can go through the streets of Toontown and narrowly escape being “dipped.” That same year, McDonald’s had a Happy Meal toy of Roger Rabbit in Benny the Cab.

Aside from the commercialism, Roger Rabbit made a rabbit-shaped hole in our hearts as well. It is almost a guarantee that you can mention Roger Rabbit in a room, and more than one person will respond with, “I loved Roger Rabbit as a child!” or “I watched that movie over and over again when it came out.” Both children and adults loved the film, which is part of what makes it so iconic. Eighties children walked around mimicking Roger Rabbit, drawn into the perfect child’s fantasy of a world with “real” cartoons. For many adults, including Celina Summers, one of Musa’s founders, it was the first VHS tape they bought.

But if you are still questioning the cultural impact of Roger Rabbit, look no further. As the saying goes, the proof is in the pudding. And in this case, the pudding is none other than a Roger Rabbit dance move. Yes, that’s right. There is a Roger Rabbit dance. You may not even know that you’ve seen it, but chances are that you will recognize the move. Just check out this online instructional video for a refresher.

And now twenty-five years have passed. The Eighties kids have grown up to have kids of their own, and the Eighties adults have grandkids of their own. A new generation is around to share in the fun and humor of the Roger Rabbit phenomenon, and they are enjoying it just as much as those before them. Four-year-olds are watching raptly alongside their grandparents, hiding their eyes at some of the more intense scenes, and giggling at the sillier ones. Teenagers are snickering behind their hands as they begin to understand some of the more adult-oriented humor.

Roger Rabbit has proven he can stand the test of time, and his fans are ready for more.

Luckily his creator, Gary K. Wolf, is ready to deliver more with his latest book about Roger and his Toontown pals. Who Wacked Roger Rabbit? promises more of the hare-raising antics and mystery that we’ve all come to expect from Roger, plus a host of new Toons that will keep it fresh.

So whether you are young or old, new to Roger Rabbit or experienced in his p-p-p-playful mannerisms, you can surely appreciate the cultural impact he’s had on society. And who knows? Maybe the Roger Rabbit dance will be making a comeback to a dance floor near you.

 

 
Gary K. Wolf’s latest novel Who Wacked Roger Rabbit? will be available for pre-order from Musa Publishing on October 22, 2013, in digital-only format.





Photographs courtesy of AllCollectors.com
Cover art courtesy of Kelly Shorten and Jacques Muller

Roger Rabbit: A Cultural Impact

Part 1 by Andrea Blundell

In 1988, a little-known cartoon character got his big break. He wasn’t new to the world—after all, he’d been created by author Gary K. Wolf in the 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?—but he'd finally “made it” with a starring role in the Disney movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

And now, twenty-five years after the release of the movie that made Roger Rabbit a household name, we can definitively look back and see the true cultural impact this irritatingly loveable rabbit has had on us. Part I of this article will look at the impact on the film industry, while Part II will examine the social impact of the film.

The most obvious and immediate impact was in the world of animation and film making. Who Framed Roger Rabbit was heralded as a groundbreaking film because of the unique combinations it presented—traditional animation and live action, Toons and humans, Disney, and Warner Brothers.

Mixing animation and live action had been around for decades before Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In 1919, Max Fleischer began producing Out of the Inkwell, a series of shorts in which he interacted with the animated characters. Then there were Disney’s Alice Comedies, shorts which featured a live action girl and an animated cat in a cartoon world. There was Song of the South in 1946. Mary Poppins in 1964. And the list goes on.

So why the big fuss over Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

In the 1970s and 80s, Disney appeared to have lost its edge in animation, and animation in general had slowly degraded to cheap and rushed television cartoons with a primary audience of children. Animation studios, including Disney, were experiencing disappointing box office sales on their animated films and downsizing as a result.

But Who Framed Roger Rabbit changed all of that. Never before had there been a film that so seamlessly blended hand-drawn animation and live action.

Roger Ebert, in his 4-star review of the film in 1988, credits the film’s success to a ‘breakthrough in craftsmanship,’ calling it “the first film to convincingly combine real actors and animated cartoon characters in the same space in the same time and make it look real.”

Cartoons had shadows. They shook hands with real actors. They walked from cartoon sets into the real world. These combinations no doubt led to the numerous awards the film received, which included four prestigious Oscars in sound effects, visual effects, film editing, and animation direction.

The film also proved that animation could sell to adults as well as children. Whereas television cartoons were geared only toward children, Who Framed Roger Rabbit combined cartoons, humor, and mystery into one show that was able to engage and entertain the whole family. As proof of this, the film was also awarded the less prestigious but still impressive Kids’ Choice Award for Favorite Movie. The film was clearly a success, both behind the scenes and in front of them.

Because of its success at the box office, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is largely credited with the resurgence of animation. Films like Toy Story and Avatar, which are now seen as the pinnacle of animation and CGI, may never have existed without the technology that resulted from making the film, and the renewed interest in animation that followed.

But let’s not forget that, while it was Disney and Steven Spielberg who created the box office hit, it was Gary K. Wolf who first imagined the idea of Roger Rabbit and Toontown, and who dreamed up a world where Toons and humans lived and worked side by side.

In the upcoming Part II, we will step away from the film industry and look at the cultural impact that Roger Rabbit had on society.

Stay ‘toon’ed!

Gary K. Wolf’s latest novel Who Wacked Roger Rabbit? will be available for pre-order from Musa Publishing on October 22, 2013, in digital-only format.

The Actor Behind the Pencil

by Andrea Blundell

You’ve seen Jacques Muller on the silver screen. Not his face per se, but his characters’ faces. You see, Jacques is a legendary character animator who’s worked on such films as Space Jam, The Rescuers Down Under, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and what he’s most known for, the Oscar-winning film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Musa Publishing is excited to announce that Jacques is revisiting Roger Rabbit and Toontown after twenty-five years to design the cover art for Gary K. Wolf’s upcoming release, Who Wacked Roger Rabbit? And in the process, he’s telling us all about what it’s like to be a character animator, and what it was like to work for Disney and be a part of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Jacques still remembers going to the studio in Camden Town London that first day on the job of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and getting his first glimpse of the work-in-progress film. “[Don Hahn] invited me to have a look at the last rushes from the previous day. So I entered the small projection theatre, and I saw the main scenes of the opening kitchen sequence out of order but in color. Like in a Tex Avery cartoon, my jaw dropped to the floor.”

Jacques initially worked on the film as an assistant to Phil Nibbelink, who, along with Andreas Deja, was seen as the best of the Disney animators. But after a few months, he was promoted to an animator position by Richard Williams, the animation director. “I was beyond myself with joy. [I sat] next to Andreas Deja and Nik Ranieri, not far from Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells. Rubbing elbows all day long with people like these you surely cannot fail. Something is bound to happen as the inspirational vibrations floating around abound in such quantity.”

Jacques worked on scenes with several of the main characters, including Roger Rabbit. “My first scene [was] with Roger in the bar, when Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) is holding him under his arm, trying to open the can of dip. Eventually Roger unfolds his entire body, still held by the neck. He pedals in the air with his big legs and feet for a moment and then comes to a stop. The scene only lasts ten seconds of screen time, but my crew of assistants and I spent a full month on it.” Jacques also contributed to a major part of the warehouse sequence near the end of the movie, where Roger and Jessica are attached to the hook.

Jacques became very familiar with drawing Roger Rabbit’s character, and what he calls his 'plastic structure, contrast of shapes and volumes, and his dynamic property.'

“Richard Williams based his creation [of Roger Rabbit] on a triangle shape for the body, crowned by a pear-like skull, crossed by a sausage-like shape for the cheeks. Bob Zemeckis asked him to come up with a combined character mixing the WB qualities; those of a Tex Avery from MGM and a bit of Br’er Rabbit from Disney's Song of the South.”

Jacques worked for Disney for five years, and he describes the Disney experience from two perspectives. “On one hand working for Disney was like having two giant boosters attached on your belt to propel you into the stars. When the studio decided on it they could make you instantly famous—for a week or two—which happened to me during the launch of Roger Rabbit in France. Appearing on national evening news on all TV channels, radio stations, main magazines, etc, was an experience, but only that. The nature of our world is such that fame for most of us is a very temporary thing, and I am quite fine with that.

"On the other hand working for Disney allowed me to approach The Disney Phenomenon from very close. I spent quite a bit of time at the main Burbank studio and at the archives. This was a fantastic experience to be on the grounds where Uncle Walt and his enormously talented artists made it all happen. Then there were the many encounters with great people like Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Marc Davis, Joe Grant, and other veterans; and all my fellow animators of course. Finally I should mention my traveling with Roy Disney and Jeffrey Katzenberg to Paris on a promotion tour [for Oliver & Co.].”


Jacques currently splits his time between teaching classical animation at Nanyang Polytechnic of Singapore, and working on animation projects. He is finishing a short film in 2D called “A Horse’s Dream,” among many other independent projects.

When asked about the toughest part of animating, his passion immediately shows through. “The biggest challenge in character animation (la crème de la crème) is to deliver a performance that rings true. When all the parameters combined bring to the screen a moment of suspended disbelief; where the work stops being a bunch of drawings, and suddenly an entity appears and moves (in one way or another) the audiences' emotions. Look at all the great characters from the Disney studio; they move you terribly through laughter, empathy, dislike, or wonderment. So it is really of an actor's performance that we are talking about, but an actor behind a pencil or a mouse.”

And now, Jacques is bringing that passion, that performance behind the pencil, into the world of book cover design. “Gary K. Wolf is the one who first mentioned the cover of his new Roger Rabbit book to me. He mentioned that he has a cel of Roger and Jessica on his wall that he enjoys looking at every day. I asked him if he could send me a picture of it. And then, guess what, it was one of my scenes with the couple attached to the hook that appears at the end of the movie! I told this to Gary, and his first response was to offer me [the chance] to do the cover of his next book.”

Because Disney owns the trademark to the film character of Roger Rabbit, Musa needed options for the cover art if Disney refused to grant them the use of the character. Jacques’ experience on the film will allow him to bring an authenticity to the book cover without violating those rights. Another perk of the job is getting the opportunity to visually create a whole new cast of Toontown characters from the new book. “It is a welcome challenge to create new original characters for Toontown. I like the idea and find it extremely exciting. I am especially interested in creating a Jessica antithesis.”

Regardless of who ends up on the cover, there is no doubt that Jacques Muller will bring his passion and authenticity to the drawing table as he revisits Toontown and Roger Rabbit. And soon, you will have seen Jacque’s face on the e-reader screen too—that is, his characters’ faces!

You can read the full interview with Jacques Muller in the September issue of Penumbra. And keep an eye out for Jacques’ latest artistic work when Gary K. Wolf’s Who Wacked Roger Rabbit? releases on November 22, 2013, from Musa Publishing.