A Behind the Scenes Look at the Art and Writing of the Job Fair Humor Piece
Write, write, and write again
Hello everyone!
As 2020 gets underway I’ve been organizing my workflow so you’ll see a more regular newsletter release schedule. I’ll put out that information, plus other news, tomorrow, but right now I want to give you another behind the scenes look at the job fair post.
Last time you saw the process I had sketched ideas for rides before taking a break to focus on the writing.
As you know I love lists, so I I made a list of possible voices I’d use and picked three that I felt had the most promise.
Brochure/Commercial
A reviewer
Tour guide
Honestly, there was lots of fun things I could do with all of these. I dropped the tour guide because I have another piece using a guide’s voice (hopefully) coming out soon.
I played around with the reviewer tone, getting something like, “Though I thought going to look at resumés would be boring, I was wrong. This was no “sad pieces of paper on a table” affair. These were beauties fed for months on the smallest scraps of employment, so they now were so long that they couldn’t fit on any desk. It was a sight to behold.” I liked it, and it would allow me to act like a snobby reviewer, or perhaps mimic a more energetic YouTuber.
I ended up picking the brochure/commercial version because it was easier for me to poke fun at the reader and our collective hate of job fairs. When using that voice for my first draft I felt it flowed better, “You know how you feel your stomach drop when the salary you were expecting is mercilessly cut down to a pittance? Now you can feel that sudden drop physically on the salary slide!”
Yes, these are from the first draft, it’s not done, but you get the idea. Getting your words out is the only way you can improve, so don’t worry if it sounds dumb.
Once I’d gone over the draft a couple of times I put it down and walked away. Trying to do it all in one sitting is possible, but rarely for me. It’s good for me to get space from a joke, because my ego needs to go down so I can look at it later with fresh eyes to find its flaws.
Luckily for me I had plenty to do. I was still diligently working on those animations and illustrations. Here is a process video of the salary slide.
Please note there was a video but it was too big to load here. A YouTube channel will be up soon so I can embed videos via links. Until then, here are some screenshots:
And here is the current version of the “ride”:
While this isn’t complete, I am generally happy with how it’s come along and will go in and polish it up later.
Do you have any questions? Let me know!
Thanks to everyone who signed up for this newslettter and also to those of you who sent me lovely messages. I don’t know if I can reply by email without emailing everyone on the list, so I’m trying to clarify that with the platform. But expect a response this week!
As always here are some links to funny stories I wrote! I hope you find one or two that makes you laugh:
Even if you really loved the new Little Women, I’m sure you’ll like, I’m the Heroine From A Historical Drama And I’m Just Like You!
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I honestly can’t figure out why someone would stop on the wrong side of an escalator. But I tried.
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New year’s day has passed but did you pass by these resolutions famous literary characters made?
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You might think the trend is cute, but those girls with flowers in their hair from stock photos are actually doomed to die.
That’s it for now! Thank you for reading!
Kyrie
