Stepping On The Cracks
Laying the Foundations of CancertownLooking back, it all seems pretty obvious now. The pieces were right there in front of me and it really was just a question of locking them together in a configuration that made sense. It didn’t feel that way at the time of course, but I suppose nothing ever does.
The bones of Cancertown had been lying scattered in my path for some time. Crosshair was the start of it, and he’s survived the many evolutionary stages of the story pretty much as he originally introduced himself to me. Bugfuck scuttled in shortly after, along with the Corpsegrinder (who had originally been called Uglyhead, until that name got snapped up by a real writer in a painful snooze/lose situation). The Piecemaker was a lot tougher to nail down. I needed a sort of diplomat character, the kind of mediator personality that crops up every so often in cases of apparent Dissociative Identity Disorder, but he also needed to be able to back up his rules with a bit of firepower where necessary.
So I had all these characters exploding out of a crazy girl’s head and possessing people, but it wasn’t until a particularly brutal migraine attack on the Isle of Wight that Morley entered the picture. There’s a moment in every migraine where you sort of “turn the corner” and realise that you’re going to survive – a weird rush of euphoria. It was in one of those moments that Vince slouched up to me and started explaining what the story was really about. He just pulled all the threads together for me - even told me what the title was. It was as if he’d been waiting for me to catch up to him all this time so he could lay it out for me.
After that, the writing process went pretty smoothly. I had a story I was excited to tell, characters I enjoyed spending time with and an art team and publisher who actually wanted to help me do it. It’s been an incredible experience watching Cancertown take shape around me, and there’s still a lot of story left to tell. Hope you enjoyed the ride. Please remain seated until the story comes to a complete halt.