Ask the Author: K.I. Zachopoulos
Answered Questions (5)
K.I. Zachopoulos
I work on several projects!
Together with Vincenzo Balzano (Revenge, The Cloud) we write and draw our new comic book. With Mario Stilla (Rubicon) we slowly build our comic space opera and with Apostolis Ioannou (To Xwrio), a fantasy fairy-tale.
Last but not least, together with my old friend and amazing artist Vassilis Gogtzilas (The bigger bang, Augusta Wind) we work on two new projects. Both of them extremely interesting and highly experimental. I always try to work with artists that try to stay as far away as possible from all kinds of easy to swallow stories, fandom-flattering and purely money-grabbing, mainstream norms.
I feel blessed for finding them.
Together with Vincenzo Balzano (Revenge, The Cloud) we write and draw our new comic book. With Mario Stilla (Rubicon) we slowly build our comic space opera and with Apostolis Ioannou (To Xwrio), a fantasy fairy-tale.
Last but not least, together with my old friend and amazing artist Vassilis Gogtzilas (The bigger bang, Augusta Wind) we work on two new projects. Both of them extremely interesting and highly experimental. I always try to work with artists that try to stay as far away as possible from all kinds of easy to swallow stories, fandom-flattering and purely money-grabbing, mainstream norms.
I feel blessed for finding them.
K.I. Zachopoulos
Ideas are like fishes.
It's like asking a fisherman about his baits.
You can choose the right bait and the right time and place and still catch the wrong fish. Contrarily, with the wrong bait you can catch the right fish. Inspiration hides itself in an ocean of possibilities. I just keep on fishing. Sometimes, even the best looking fish smells good but tastes terribly and other times the foulest of odors hides the most delicate of all tastes.
This is how I get inspired to write.
I try.
I fish high tide and low tide.
I'm eager to call it a day.
Every day, I wake up early and try again.
It's like asking a fisherman about his baits.
You can choose the right bait and the right time and place and still catch the wrong fish. Contrarily, with the wrong bait you can catch the right fish. Inspiration hides itself in an ocean of possibilities. I just keep on fishing. Sometimes, even the best looking fish smells good but tastes terribly and other times the foulest of odors hides the most delicate of all tastes.
This is how I get inspired to write.
I try.
I fish high tide and low tide.
I'm eager to call it a day.
Every day, I wake up early and try again.
K.I. Zachopoulos
1. Write what you like and the way you like.
2. Express YOURself.
3. Try not to oversimplify your text just in order to be hip.
4. A part of our societies is artificially dummified and tend to worship the lack of intellectuality. Do not feed this type of culture.
5. Create for readers and not for fans.
6. Stay as far away from fandom as possible.
7. Learn to listen.
8. Be a gentle person.
9. Enjoy your work.
10. Enjoy the work of your fellow creators.
2. Express YOURself.
3. Try not to oversimplify your text just in order to be hip.
4. A part of our societies is artificially dummified and tend to worship the lack of intellectuality. Do not feed this type of culture.
5. Create for readers and not for fans.
6. Stay as far away from fandom as possible.
7. Learn to listen.
8. Be a gentle person.
9. Enjoy your work.
10. Enjoy the work of your fellow creators.
K.I. Zachopoulos
Well, It's not always rainbows and butterflies.
Sometimes it's too complex. It's like impregnating yourself in order to give birth to new ideas. You have the sperm and you have the egg. That's the things that inspire you and the things that you've already digested and placed in your body. And you create.
Ask a woman how happy she is while giving birth. Now ask her how happy she is for holding her baby.
Creating is a bizzare procedure. Sometimes it's stressy and frenetic. At other times it's ecstatic and full of magic. However, holding your materialized idea in your hands is a thing of beauty. It's a child. It's not perfect but it's yours and you want to show it around and be proud of it and make others happy.
Sometimes it's too complex. It's like impregnating yourself in order to give birth to new ideas. You have the sperm and you have the egg. That's the things that inspire you and the things that you've already digested and placed in your body. And you create.
Ask a woman how happy she is while giving birth. Now ask her how happy she is for holding her baby.
Creating is a bizzare procedure. Sometimes it's stressy and frenetic. At other times it's ecstatic and full of magic. However, holding your materialized idea in your hands is a thing of beauty. It's a child. It's not perfect but it's yours and you want to show it around and be proud of it and make others happy.
K.I. Zachopoulos
I've never experienced such thing as a writer's block. If you read, watch, travel and live, your biggest problem will always be: Do I have enough paper to write down all my ideas? And if I forget something now that I cannot write it down or save it somewhere?
A far better way of describing the writer's block: A person alone in a room. Being anti-social except for some online socializing. Reading no books and no comic books but the ones she discovered since her youth. That's more than a writer's block. This is a general mind block.
Whenever you feel blocked be sure that the last thing affected by it, is your writing. Fix the rest and you'll eventually be able to go on and write. Go out, live, discover new knowledge and you'll see that all blocks are in fact nothing more than hurdles nurtured by boredom, and lack of proper brain activity.
A far better way of describing the writer's block: A person alone in a room. Being anti-social except for some online socializing. Reading no books and no comic books but the ones she discovered since her youth. That's more than a writer's block. This is a general mind block.
Whenever you feel blocked be sure that the last thing affected by it, is your writing. Fix the rest and you'll eventually be able to go on and write. Go out, live, discover new knowledge and you'll see that all blocks are in fact nothing more than hurdles nurtured by boredom, and lack of proper brain activity.
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