DWA Company Spotlight: The Narrative Team

The narrative is the heart of the web comics we make here at DWA, crafting worlds full of wonder and extraordinary characters. In this new series of DWA’s company spotlight, we’ll explore the Narrative Team’s creative process, celebrate their contributions, and hear about what makes their collaboration so impactful.

Meet Paul, Garrett, and Philip from the Narrative Team, and get ready to dive behind the scenes with the storytellers who bring our characters and adventures to life!

Please introduce yourself and explain your role on the narrative team.

• Paul C.A. Graham and I’m the CVO of Dusk Wave Arts. I come up with the stories and double check that the themes, intent, and messaging are coming through.
• Garrett- Editor
• My name is Philip Burns. I am a script writer and editor. I’m also the head writer of these blog posts!

How do you help the narrative team create and develop stories?

• Primarily, it’s brainstorming creative ideas and editing. Making sure that the team stays on track with what the goals are.
• I edit scripts and also write them too!! I also work as a Voice Actor and Voice Acting Director!
• I would describe myself as the lore guy. I’m good at remembering details about the states of the worlds we create, and things like their history or magic systems.

What excites you the most about working on Dusk Wave Art’s narrative team?

• I’m a storyteller at heart, so working with amazing people to see these ideas come to life is my highlight! Also, getting into interesting discussions not just about storytelling, but morality, society, philosophies, and so much more! Seeing all of our creativity come together as well as adapting and changing with each other. We are flexible team and when new ideas are presented that click it’s fantastic!
• I’m excited to tell new fascinating stories with interesting characters that are relatable to wide variety of people!
• Being able to work alongside a group of such amazing and creative people. I feel like I’ve learned a ton from my time in a company, and everyone is always teaching me new lessons as I develop my career.

What parts of recent stories produced by the team are you most proud of?

• It’s hard to tell because I work on so many stories and so much is under the hood. When I’m most proud of is our teamwork and adaptability. Recently, we went through making a whole bunch of new IPs to decide what our next projects could be. The teamwork, enthusiasm, adaptability, and general excitement to explore and immerse ourselves in new worlds has been such a fun experience! We’re hoping we get to show all of you in the future one of these fantastic IPs!
• Currently I am really happy with the quality and fun being had in the writers room for Jewel Knights! The comedic tone of the I and superhero fun is a joy to work on!
• Jewel Knights! Jewel Knights was my first time being the head writer for a script in an upcoming IP produced by the company, so I’m super stoked to see it come out.

What do you think makes working at Dusk Wave Arts so special?

• Well, it’s bringing my creative ideas to life with such a fantastic team! I created this company around 10 years ago and seeing it evolve into what it is today is an emotional roller coaster of phenomenal growth and development! At the end of the day, I’m lucky to work with such great people.
• I think the thing that makes it special is the team. We are surrounded by fun creative people here and I always look forward to going to work! The energy and passion for what we make here is infectious!
• Getting to create in such a fun, laid back environment. Most of our meetings are a barrel of laughs, ended by the contractually obligated chant of a ‘yeehaw.’ I always feel like everyone has a great time working together.

In all your time working at Dusk Wave Arts, what was your absolute favorite project to work on? 

• I cannot answer this question, quite literally, I cannot answer this question! My love for everything we do at this company is immense, especially because most of it comes from me (sorry for the ego)! But The Glove has been the beginning, heart and core of this company. It truly is a world unlike any other and it’s so personal to me. It’s a story where I can really tell my story of understanding who I am, not just in relation to him, my autistic qualities and learning disabilities, but who we all are growing as individuals.
• My favorite overall has been The Glove! It’s what started my journey here and will always hold a special place in my heart.
• I’m very proud of a series outline I worked on for one with one of my coworkers for The Glove. It was an absolute behemoth of a project, and it was great to work with Paul to see where the series could go in the future.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers when it comes to working as a team? 

• There’s no perfect answers, you have to focus on who you are in the team and what your job is. This 100% means bringing who you are as an individual to the team. It’s always about asking the right questions to figure out where people are coming from with their ideas and concepts. If you’re the boss, it’s your job to be flexible and understanding to really determine if it is the best approach for your concepts and/or matches your vision. It’s about finding the balance between the being flexible and staying true to your core values. Since it’s your job to be the guiding post for everyone else. If you’re not the boss, many of the same principle still apply, but it’s about bringing who you are to someone else’s vision. It’s really about trying to convince your teammates of why you (boss or not) are making the decisions you are making. No one can get into each other’s heads and trying to have communication is the best thing to help with that because no one should be a mind reader. Listen to your teammates because you may be wrong with your approach in this specific context, doesn’t mean you are bad or your ideas are bad, it just means that it isn’t working currently for this. Use compromise to elevate each other, not to settle out of wants and desires. No matter what position you are, always try to have each other’s backs and never competing with each other. To really support each other you have to speak up, but find the middle ground of one to bend and adapt to each other. Silence goes nowhere, but neither does steam rolling. Remember, you are not alone and no one is a mind reader or a single mind. Your team, so try working as one and always act like you have each other’s backs!
• Learn to kill your darlings! As writers we often work in a self contained vacuum and become very attached to our ideas. But most great stories have the input and ideas of many people wrapped into them! Don’t be afraid of change it could be what sets your story apart!
• Keep at it! I picked up writing as a hobby around ten years ago, and I’m still nowhere near perfect at it. Putting together a writing project is equal parts passion and excitement as it is discipline and consistency. Make mistakes, learn from them, and keep pushing onward.

Thanks for joining us in getting to know the Narrative Team! Stay tuned to our monthly blogs and socials get to know the rest of DWA and to know more about the exciting things we’ll release this 2025!