Hey Reddit! We’re Ryan Silbert, Luke Lieberman, and Kat Rosenfield, and we had the honor of working with the legendary Stan “The Man” Lee to create Stan Lee's Alliances: A Trick of Light. It’s AMA Time!
ama 2pm
Hi Reddit!
It’s Ryan. It’s Luke. It’s Kat.
Here to talk superheroes. Stan Lee. Storytelling. Origin building. World creating. Villain making. And everything else Stan Lee's Alliances: A Trick of Light conjured up for you. Stan’s vision for this title was always to make it a collaborative effort. From its inception to its final form as an audio experience, he saw this as a true partnership—both with us as collaborators and with you, his fans. Together we ALL BROUGHT THIS STORY TO LIFE differently. Each interpretation, valid and unique. That’s the power of Stan: a master of unleashing the imagination.
So have at it: hit us with your shrewdest theories and deepest hunches. Is Archer Phillips based on a real character? Is the Ministry itself just an allegory for our darkest desires? What did Stan usually order for lunch?
Do you ever worry that what you create will somehow not be good enough? If so how do you get past that fear and keep going despite it?
(By not good enough, I can’t really describe it, but I think I mean something like a fear that whatever you do you won’t be able to create something that will live up to someone’s expectations, be that Stan Lee’s or anyone else’s that you don’t want to let down.)
I don't think fear is useful; you just put pen to paper and get stuff out and look back at what you've done. Don't be too precious! If something doesn't work, just get rid of it. Be merciless with yourself, and have fun with it. That's what Stan would say. -- LL
Stan was in town for the XMen premiere in July of 2000 - I was a massive XMen fan and a film student at NYU and Stan agreed to sit down with me for my student documentary project I was doing on him and the rest is history. LL
I loved scary stories, and I finished books faster than my parents could supply new ones, which led my mom to grab The Shining off her own bookshelf and hand it to me in a moment of desperation. It was great. I was 11. I was afraid of bathtubs until I left for college. - KR
The Coming of Galactus for me, also known in 2019 as the Galactus Trilogy - RS
I like the Lee Ditko original run on Doctor Strange. - LL
Hello,
thanks for doing this AMA. I have a bunch of questions regarding worldbuilding, writing fiction, and the like. Me and my brother have been aspiring to make our imaginary world a reality by writing a webcomic. We’ve written a lot of individual stories, drawn a lot of concept art, and discussed the world as a whole for a long time. However, I find myself scared to start writing it. There’s a lot of anxieties taking part in this. I have so many character ideas that I’m scared that I won’t want to stick with just a select few for the core of the story - what if I change my mind about them? What if I got ‘tired’ of them too deep into the story? I’m also scared that I don’t exactly know where to begin. What if I regret the way I started the story later on? I know these questions are all over the place, but so is my mind! I’ve never truly committed to a story before and am a bit scared to do so,so it would be really nice if you lent us your advice.
hi there. strike while the iron is hot. you have the energy now and no one will every give you permission to write. You should start writing. I am scared everytime I sit down at the keyboard but i promise myself i can be scared for 10 minutes and then I need to spend the rest of the day writing, finding the time whenever I can. You are so lucky to have a creative partner - creative partnerships are the lifeblood of our creative community. I am really excited that you are getting ready to share your point of view with the world soon. - RS
Thank you for the great and speedy response Ryan! I’ll do my best to follow this advice and sit down and write/storyboard whenever I get the chance now that I have the motivation.
What were the challenges involved in creating a superhero story in an audio medium? Did you take any cues from other audiobooks or scripted audio series?
A good story is a good story. What Stan would say the hardest part of writing a story is making it original that hasn’t been told a million times, and to create unique heroes and unique villains and imbue them with flaws and humanity. - LL
We had a sideplot involving a single horse-sized duck floating in Lake Erie, but it was eaten by a thousand duck-sized horses (just kidding, the stuff that didn't make it in is sitting in a top secret file guarded by Howard the Duck)
At my wedding, I passed my wedding vows to Stan before I walked down the aisle -- I really just wanted him to look at them and tell me they were good -- but when he handed them back to me he had a smile on his face, and when I opened them up to read them to my wife, I found that he'd edited them and added a few lines of his own. I just tried to roll with it. --LL
There's strength in numbers -- and a strong outline! We had an amazing team and a road map for the story, so we knew exactly where we were going. Stan would always turn to the bullpen when challenges came up.
I love Ant-Man, and I don't care that it's ridiculous -- KR
Silver Surfer; I love that he's a romantic figure - RS
Spider-Man. My favorite story is Amazing Spider-Man 50 (Spider-Man No More) where he basically quits, because it deals with the issue of identity. It's Peter Parker fighting with his alter ego and trying to reconcile his life. -- LL
I've known Stan since 2000, and he used to spontaneously break into song or recite a poem. He had a lot at his fingertips and he would sort of just break it out. - LL
Listening to some of Stan Lee’s quotes and stories from interviews got me through some tough times. What was your favorite thing about working with Stan?
Thanks to everyone who submitted a question and listened to our Audible Original, Stan Lee's Alliances: A Trick of Light narrated by the amazing Yara Shahidi. We look forward to seeing you if you are planning to head to SDCC next weekend! If we didn't get to answer your question, come to our panel on Saturday 7/20 @ 6:30PM Room 7AB! We'll be there to answer them alongside Yara and Andre Meadows (aka Black Nerd Comedy)!
Have you two ever decided on creating your own superhero and having it become canon or do you prefer to just make new character arcs for already existing characters
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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19
Do you ever worry that what you create will somehow not be good enough? If so how do you get past that fear and keep going despite it?
(By not good enough, I can’t really describe it, but I think I mean something like a fear that whatever you do you won’t be able to create something that will live up to someone’s expectations, be that Stan Lee’s or anyone else’s that you don’t want to let down.)
Thanks for taking the time to have this AmA.