I'm not an aspiring writer, I just bought in to hear Alan Moore talk

Alan looks like the Kingsman portrayal of Rasputin lol

This dude not only is one of the greatest writers ever lived , he is one of the few that never sold out to Hollywood . He hates them and every time they adapt his stuff into big screen he tells them to take his name off of it and gives the royalties to other contributors to his books . So gangster

bruh when he brought up Stan Lee's name i was like "oh no he's not gonna shit talk Stan Lee on BBC rn is he?" and then he described how Stan Lee added more dimension than a one dimensional character i was like "phew sigh of relief" but then he follows it up as it being a two dimensional character and i just burst out laughing lmao. Alan Moore u savage

I know he hates the industry now and is fed up with it, but this man is really the last OG in comics. He tells a story like no one else not named Neil Gaiman.

Ah, it's always a treat to hear Alan Moore "ribbing" comic books any chance they give him. From the man who wrote issues of Spawn and WildC.A.T.S., by the way. That being said, I kind f get it as more comic book stories come out. Getting serious Watchmen Babies vibes as time goes on...

Watchmen will always be my favorite comic book. At the end of it you feel like you have know those characters for a long time. That they might even been part of our world. Absolutely fantastic.

What a deep and wonderful voice Alan has. He will make a great narrator for documentaries and audiobooks.

I think there's a place for one- or two-dimensional characters in fiction. A story can become unnecessarily convoluted if every random castle guard is a multi-layered character that we have to get to know properly, and even if we are purely talking main characters, there's something very calming about simplistic characters. In the end, it boils down to - what is our intent? Do we want a complex, thought-provoking, deeply engaging story? Then I fully agree that complex characters are the better choice. Or do we want to write comfort fiction? Something that lets readers take a mental break from the complexities of the real world, because especially in troubling times, when it's hard to know what to believe and there is no clear right or wrong (well, there never is, but sometimes it's even more muddled than usual), there are many readers who specifically crave a story where the bad guys are simply evil because they are, and the good guys are good and have nothing else to worry about and single-handedly save the world because that's what good guys do. Comfort fiction has its place, just like comfort food does. In the same way as it would be quite problematic if someone ONLY ate mac&cheese everyday, if all fiction was like that, of course it would be a problem. But that doesn't mean there isn't a place for that kind of fiction at all, and the usually one-dimensional characters and moralities that define it.

Okay, just to clarify: Alan's comments about "a bad leg" are about Donald Blake, Thor's alter ego, who was slightly crippled. In the 60s, physical disability was looked down on a lot more in society (it's why characters like Matt Murdoch and Alicia Masters were so ground-breaking) and a lot of Donald's problems were about his own sense of self-worth over his disability. Alan is dismissive of this because... well, as you might have gathered, he's never been a big Stan Lee fan.

Alan Moore is the closest thing to a living comic book character than actual people pretending to be comic book characters.

Reading The Swamp Thing Saga for art homework at uni. It's facinating and captivating, just had to read one chapter but I'm reading it all because of how good it is.

I love all his stuff...but for me, it's his 2 novels ( Voice of the Fire and Jerusalem ) and the work he did on Promethea and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that really shines. Brilliant stuff, all of it.

As much as I like corny comic books, I have to give it to him. I've always been impressed by the depth of his characters. A DC character could have a cameo in Swamp Thing, and they'd be more fleshed out then they've ever been.

Look Alan's expression when he pronounce STAN LEE 's name 😂😂

This man is an authentic character just look at him

I know Moore has never been a fan of Stan but his work at the time was revolutionary.

This man taught me that when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares right back at you. Master of story, Alan Moore.

God this mans voice is amazing

You can say I'm a student of this man as well as Roy Thomas. Both of these dudes pretty much taught me that when you write a character, you have to basically write a virtual human being. That means you have to get to a point where you are watching this character go through their daily lives in your mind, and then your job is to pretty much record the events. When this happens you no longer are thinking about static images, you are seeing another reality. Someplace more fantastic than the reality that you live in. At that point, It's not just about trying to immerse yourself,That happens automatically because this human is so interesting. Of course there are scenarios that you place the front of this virtual being, but you begin to notice that you don't have to think for the character anymore. It takes a life all its own. Sometimes the outcome is crazy and you say you know what? I can't write that shit :-) so you edit it. But for the most part you get a very satisfying story. And when the story is done you find yourself missing that entire world and that character that was in that world. I have no doubt that some of the best stories that we've ever read and human history, were characters that were fleshed out this way. You have to see these characters live, you can't do it the other way around where you create them and control EVERY single movement that they do. That's just not being alive. That's not a living thing. That's not what you should do to something that is a product or should be a product of free thought in the first place. after all characters are an extension of your own mind and your thought processes and maybe, just a little bit of connecting to the universe itself and some sort of alternate reality :-) That last part could be wrong but it's fun to imagine it at least.

Alan Moore is my idol.

I'm an amateur writer myself but I've always tried to flesh out characters as much as humanly possible. Besides a full name and personality traits/flaws I always have notes on things like birthdays, siblings, etc, just in case I ever need or decide to reference them. This is very assuring advice. Some of my favorites though are the Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul writers. They manage to give so much depth and personality to even minor/one off characters (though obviously the incredible casting contributes to that too).

I can hear this man of wisdom talk all day

Alan Moore doing a project for the BBC. What a topsy turvy world we live in. He's like the cool grandad all aspiring writers want. He has the wizard look on point.

Alan Moore is the GOAT

Even before I watched this, he reminded me of Dumbledore so much. Now he's Dumbledore 100%. Seriously, his graphic novels are some of my favourites.

My favorite graphic novels are Watchmen and From Hell. I also love The Dark Knight Returns, which was written by Frank Miller when he use to be a great writer. But Alan Moore is my number 1, next to Neil Gaiman.

Can't wait to get into Promethea and, when it arrives, Voice of the Fire.

I like pretty much every comic book written by Mr Moore, but I specially love Tom Strong, an underrated series that is full of imagination and enterntainment

Glad to see him still active!!!

Yesss! I love Alan Moore. I read that he retired from comics , though. Too bad .

Living legend. Moore is, in my opinion, the greatest graphic novel writer ever. He would be considered top 5 if he ONLY wrote watchmen. But he's done so much more on top of that to solidify his greatness dipping into DC comics, lovecraftian horror, and of course V for Vendetta

Man’s a genius and his advice is high school level. C’mon Alan blow our minds!

Never been into writing myself but always fun to listen to a great like Moore talk about their craft.

Something more interesting than a 3 dimensional character that you know completely would be a character that you want to think you know but who's motivations and thinking is complex enough to genuinely surprise/confuse you.

Love this man

This is the last thing I would have ever expected

Alan could narrate the history of the entire universe

Amazing how he can make such basic knowledge sound so informative.

He just spoke to my soul.

Brilliantly simple and concise.

Alan Moore, rocking the RM's

Well put.

This is truly good advice. It's base level, so I didn't learn anything here...but I have a few old friends I wish I still knew the number of, because I would want to send them this video. Have a character I talked with a friend about, and they told me two things that still make me cringe to this day. One, any character you can't describe with two periods and five commas is a poorly written character. I have asked literary critics, published authors, and university proffessors about this, and I can't even find the grain of truth it might be based on. Nobody will back this up. Two, they wanted my character to have a "Flaw." I had given my character a relatively complicated set of flaws, and they suggested that "Maybe he should be an alcoholic, or socially awkward." All the way up until the last time I talked with them, they were offended that I would never take their writing advice.

Great and simple.

Fascinating.

He is brilliant.

Best living writer. I have nothing but respect for Alan Moore.

A prime example of his skills with characterization would be William Gull in From Hell. Could've so easily slipped into moustache-twirling, but far from it.

Alan Moore Maestro. So accurate statement.

I could listen to him talk all day his voice is amazing

Alan Moore: sheer enchantment.

My fav Batman comic is The Killing Joke...it is a good example of what he is saying here...what a legend this guy is...

i loved this thanks

I’m thinking about buying this just so I can hear more from Alan Moore

Frickin awesome, kudos for pulling this off BBC. Looks great

awesome!

Excellent

Why tf is this not a podcast. I would listen to this multiple times.

The first step in the third dimension is for a character to actively contradict themselves. To go against their values, fragmented behavior, etc. The esoteric reason that caused them to do this opens up a whole new world in development- but there must be a reason.

I love this guy

Greatest comic writer E.V.E.R

Alan Moore looks EXACTLY like I thought Alan Moore would look like

Gandalf The Gray is telling me about storytelling What a nice time we're living in

As an aspiring writer, it’s really cool to know I’m doing an alright job, at least in terms of making characters, but all I have to do now is make stuff

id love to hear this whole interview

The only graphic novel by Alan Moore that I've ever read was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Omnibus Edition, and I was mesmerized.

I’ll listen to anything this guy says because of Watchmen. One of the best books I’ve ever read.

Interesting stuff! Quite helpful too!

Idgaf about character development but I could listen to hours of this.

Thank's master!

Promethea is my favorite comic of all time. This guy is unbelievable.

The 2D ones are honestly worse. They’re just 1D characters but the writer knows it and tries to hide that fact by manipulating the readers.

If I could, I'd buy this course.

great yet short explanation

I've listened to a lot of people describe this concept. Can honestly say don't think i've ever heard a better example.

I have never heard this man’s voice in my life, Idek what I expected but it’s suuuuuper interesting

يابة الآن موور نستاهل واخيرا انشوفك ببرنامج تتكلم وتعرض مهارتك الفنية علينة . محبيك من مدينة الصدر بغداد

Loved your MiracleMan series Alan! And Swamp Thing, God yes you made that horrific…

Just finished Watchmen, reading V For Vendetta now.

Just here to say, I've watched the king's man. and I feel this video cannot be unseen

This is why one of my favorite comic book villains has always been Dr. Doom. Doom truly believes the world will be better if he was in charge of everything, and there's been several very important comic book storylines revolving around the idea of "Yeah, he's kinda being a dick about it, but honestly, he's kinda right." That level of nuance makes him so multi-faceted to where he's been portrayed as a heroic villain, a villainous hero, and everywhere in-between. It's a shame no films have managed to get him right so far, hopefully the MCU will finally do the character justice.

This guy is a legend

the interesting thing about the evolution of characterization is that a successful one dimensional character can eventually evolve through the time that they exist in the writer's unvierse and reader's universe into a 3 dimensional character in that way you describe there Moore, no? Love the clip, looking forward to being a position wherein I can take the class!

Aaah the masterful shades he threw on dear Papa Stan. Regardless, love them both!

I actually found this very related to another video I have seen, which talked about making "4th dimensional characters." The issue with 3 dimensional characters is that while they are complex and you know all about them, they have one character arc, and usually one goal, or at least several goals related to one theme. 4th Dimensional characters have at least 2, if not more, character arcs that are very different from each other and can even clash with each other. This is hard thing to do in writing, and I've only seen one example of this happening effectively (Silco from Arcane), but it is a very powerful tool if done right. So I guess 3 dimensional characters are not the final form of characters. Also from the video where I learned about 4th dimensional characters, I was given the impression that 1 dimensional and 2 dimensional characters were practically the same. Glad to know there is an actual difference.

Un genio ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Bad Leg!!! Yes I’m so happy he said that. Stewart Lee Chain Reactiom interview. One of the first YT videos I found. Lol Bad Leg!!!

"Apparently a bad leg is a character trait." Wonderful shade Alan.

amagazing

This is the voice of god.

A living legend.

for me, writing is like magic. You create world and people and even history of that world. Then when other people read your work, it's like you invite them and show them the world that you created. And no one can give you a better advice than Professor Dumbledore.

His dig at Stan lee is hilarious n good

What about John Constantine, Alan? you created the BEST character ever written. I wonder how many pages of traits you can write about him.

I would argue that when it comes to characters, it's not only important to know what they think, but how they think. You need to know how they came to the conclusions that are driving they're behavior. What someone believes, and how much they believe it, can explain an action, but how they believe what they believe explains the deep personal drive within them, that brought them to their current conclusions of the world. No matter how depraved or unreasonable they're conclusions may seem. Or how touching and personal they're conclusions may seem.

I am not a writer. I just love to listen to Alan Moore. I would kill to have that accent.

Can we have this man do audiobooks please?

I've always had a lot of respect for Alan Moore. He's probably the greatest comic writer of all time and a man of true integrity. The only criticism I've ever had for him is his view of Stan Lee. Moore has said that Lee didn't add anything to the comics and even went so far as to accuse Lee of things that Lee didn't do. It's sad.

based and authentically pilled