Diversity & Comics Gives Chuck Wendig Advice After Marvel Fires Him

John F. Trent |

Oct 17, 2018

Diversity & Comics aka Richard Meyer gave former Star Wars novelist and Marvel comic book writer Chuck Wendig some much needed advice on how to be a an imaginative creator. Meyer’s advice comes after Wendig was fired by Marvel.

So, how the hell do we do it? How the hell do we, as writers — or artists, or Makers of Cool Shit — keep on keeping on in this hell-poop epoch of vile shenanigans? I’ve spoken on this many times, but people also keep asking me, so here we go — thready thread thread incoming.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

Diversity & Comics simply responded with a small set of basic customer service and marketing rules.

1. Have daily & fun interaction with customers and potential customers.
2. Limit the amount of political tweets.
3. Don’t attempt to play Moral Police or castigate people for believing other than you do.
4. Promote your product daily and give updates on your projects regularly. pic.twitter.com/MFdeVFbKV4

— Diversity & Comics (@DiversityAndCmx) October 17, 2018

Wendig doesn’t seem to have the same advice for his followers. He went on an extremely long-winded thread where he talks about the resistance, getting angry, and using your middle finger.

I mean the easy answer is, you just do, same way you keep on eating breakfast and hugging your kids and playing games or whatever it is that you do — but that’s too easy of an answer, one that’s both true and bullshit in equal measure.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

You know, being creative and then acting upon that creativity is hard enough as it is before you factor in the sheer briar-tangle of bad news and ill distractions that you have to first climb through.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

I mean, shit, people have a hard time SLEEPING. And sleeping is an autonomous function. To conjure COOL SHIT to make out of thin air and work those imagination molecules from the realm of the invisible to the realm of the real — that’s not autonomous, and it’s a lot harder now.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

So, first, remember that you can Write With Your Middle Finger. Er, not literally, I mean, you’re free to — and encouraged to! — write your anger, your fury, your feelings down. You don’t have to keep them. Don’t be a pressure cooker. Art can be a literal release. Use it.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

Take that Middle Finger, dip that digit in BLOOD and RANCOR, and scrawl the story or the image or the idea down. For yourself, and for others. Because others need it, too.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

To no one’s surprise who has been following Wendig over the last couple of years he admits to being selfish stating, “We make for ourselves first, and for the world last.”

We make for ourselves first, and for the world last, but it’s still for them at the end of it — or, it can be, at least, and this is a way of adjusting your oxygen mask before adjusting theirs. Sometimes self-care does involve giving something to others, and your art is that.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

You’re giving who you are and what you think to them. Whether that art is an exhortation of your rawboned rage, or whether it’s an escape portal out of this hinky-ass timeline (or sneakily, both), your work can be for others.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

Which is to remind a thing I’ve said before many times and will say again:

Writing is resistance.

Creation is resistance.

MAKING THINGS is resistance.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

What’s really interesting is that Wendig tries to play the victim by stating that people are trying to shut him up. It’s rich coming from Wendig who called for violence against Republicans and has repeatedly called Star Wars fans all kinds of vile and nasty names like white supremacists, racists, rapists, and more. In fact, Wendig wanted to silence people when he insinuated he wanted to shove a s*** covered boot into their mouths.

It’s also resistance because they’d rather you not make stuff. They’d rather you shut up. (I, er, can speak to that.) It is literally an act of rebellion to do so anyway. To defy by inserting your vision of the world *into* the world.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

It’s resistance too on a small scale — creating things will make you feel something, maybe even feel better, and self-care in this time is itself a form of defiance and rebellion. They don’t want you strong. They don’t want you energized.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

Once again Wendig is trying to create a narrative that there is some boogeyman trying to shut him down when in fact, he threatened violence against and repeatedly defamed millions of people.

Writing and making stuff is about your voice. They’d rather you not utilize it, not for yourself, not for others, not to counter their ideas. Which makes it all the more vital you DO use it and that you don’t lose it in the chaos.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

So, to get back on track, what else can you do?

You can make a bargain with the BLEAK GOAT DWELLING INSIDE THE BONE TREE, of course, we’ve all been there, done that. You’ve answered his malevolent bleats and signed his hoof-stamp contract! What else?

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

You can eat a little bit better. You can try to exercise. Or meditate. Or perform tasks designed with the simple and necessary goal of *moving blood to your brain.* Do things, even little things, to make yourself and your loved ones happy. It helps you come back, renewed.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

It’s also okay to be pissed off. Don’t let anybody tell you that you have to bottle that up. You can let it out into the art or even here — some will tell you this will limit your audience or undercut your opportunities, but you didn’t want that audience or those opportunities.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

Here Wendig is again showing that he’s completely selfish and has a complete lack of understanding on how business works. If you aren’t actually creating a product people want, it’s going to be really hard to find an audience. But then again Chuck Wendig doesn’t actually think he makes products. So there is that, I guess.

You want the audience that wants your voice. You want the opportunities that serve you, not the ones that demand YOU serve THEM.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

Worse comes to worse, just remember your dog wants you to do it.

Your dog believes in you.

And dogs are good people. Dogs know shit.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

But Chuck, you say, I don’t have a dog.

That’s okay, there’s always Snoobug, and Snoobug believes in you, too.

Look here is a photo of her RIGHT NOW just totally fuckin’ BELIEVING IN YOU. pic.twitter.com/qoNPkjXVw6

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

Keep on keeping on. Hydrate. Read books. Write books. Do it for yourself and for other people. Your words are a rope to pull others out of the mire.

*mega epic fistbump* pic.twitter.com/FLTRJ5ayVr

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta summon the BLEAK GOAT from the BONE TREE where he GAMBOLS MALEVOLENTLY and demand that the caprine entity help me write this morning. Byeee! pic.twitter.com/qeG06LmDcy

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 17, 2018

I’m pretty sure Diversity & Comics’ advice is much better and more common sense than Wendig’s rambling rant that seems to revolve way too much around himself than actually giving any advice to someone seeking it. In fact, Wendig admits he “want[s] the opportunities that serve [him].” It’s apparent this whole rant was meant to serve him in order to once again paint a false narrative that he’s victim, something he is far from.

What do you make of Meyer’s advice compared to Wendig’s? Who’s advice will you be taking in the future?