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David Towner on Writing in the Military and Mainstream Superheroes
By Samantha Skelton
From the military to graphic novelist, I talked with David Towner about his discipline to teach himself screenwriting during down time when he was deployed, his perspective on mainstream superheroes, and what he found most surprising in the research and writing process of his book, Aztec Warrior God.
Can you tell me a bit about yourself and your background?
Well, I’ve always been a creative writer. I went into the military and while I was deployed, I would write screenplays.
Over the years I made short films and I was involved in a lot of businesses. Last year I produced my first feature film on my own terms which was so great.
Tell me about writing while you were in the military. What was that experience like?
The first screenplay I wrote was based in Haiti, which is where I was on tour. It’s a really compelling story and a lot of my scripts were based on experiences in where I was, learning the culture, etc. It was very authentic.
How did you first learn to write?
I was a kid actor and did small film and TV shows, so I understood the screenplay format having read so many.
But I ended up teaching myself more in the military whenever there was downtime. You’re twelve hours off and twelve hours on, so during my time off I read every book on writing. Screenwriting was always my favorite format and I followed that gut instinct.
When I got the idea for Aztec Warrior God though, I realized it’s a tough sell just for the screenplay. So, I knew the best way was to create an audience first through a novel.
Tell me about the graphic novel series, Aztec Warrior God?
All the visuals are very compelling and it’s a blend of history, fantasy, and reality. I started writing it out almost like a screenplay and then found two artists in Mexico.
I knew they would have an understanding of the culture and the art.
Where did you get the inspiration for this graphic novel?
The series itself came about from me taking a trip, it was an Aztec journey, a two day hike of all the various Aztec sites. The common theme throughout the journey was that this was once a civilization of seven million people that disintegrated. There was no explanation of how this vast empire died overnight.
So, I started thinking, ‘how did this happen?’ I created a fictional narrative that the God of war intervened and drew them to the underworld to allow them to survive.
The warriors emerge five hundred years from the date of the fall of the empire. And when they emerge, they see a pandemic is happening in the world, which feels very relevant.
What’s the main message or theme you want the readers to feel?
It’s a superhero series, but these superheroes are capable of major catastrophic damage, yet their mission aside from creating a prosperous planet was redeeming their Aztec culture. They had to condition their mind to practice compassion first instead of anger, diplomacy first instead of violence, etc.
The entire story is about equality and peace, but sometimes violence has to happen to achieve that result.
Your story also prominently features women. Tell me about the decision behind that?
I want people to see that there’s no way women can’t be mainstream superheroes.
Sometimes you write what you know, and I was raised by a single mom so perhaps that’s why I perceived superheroes in this way, secondary I think the market needs that. Anything that’s going to be accepted needs to be normalized.
What’s something unexpected you discovered during this writing process?
The Aztecs were not a culture or a tribe, but were actually an alliance of many tribes and cultures. The Aztecs were also more advanced than people realized. Unfortunately, their own legacy was determined by their own mistakes.
What surprised me was that the size of the empire grew to seven million people within a few generations.
What else are you working on?
I’m hyper focused on this series and formatting all the scripts for our illustrators to continue on with this series. I was so surprised about how people loved the paperback copies and that’s been such a pleasant surprise.
You can learn more about David and his graphic novel series here: AztecWarriorGod.com.
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