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Creating a comic/graphic novel is not as easy as it looks. In fact, a comic book is basically a set of components that work together in harmony to create a bigger picture. You need visuals to help drive the narrative and you need a story with some depth in order to keep your reader entertained. Today’s tutorial will focus on the writing and story development aspect of comics and how to achieve better results during the process.

First step, get yourself a notebook or a notepad of some sort and carry it with you everywhere you go. I highly suggest picking up a Moleskine notebook which is a durable and handy pocket notebook that is ideal for keeping track of those loose thoughts and ideas rattling around in that big brain of yours. They look like this:

…and they’re about as long as a dollar bill – easy enough to fit in your pocket. Don’t let the price fool you – these things are quality.

If you prefer to go the cheap route, any old notepad will do if you’re not worried about archiving or making sure your written thoughts don’t deteriorate over time. I endorse the Moleskine as its a tried and tested journal companion.

Daydreams and Doodles

Anytime you receive a transmission into your imagination – or if you happen to view something and it may serve as a backdrop for a story, an interesting aside, or element in your plot, make a note of it. Collect it all and archive it. These daydreams and doodles are perfect for developing new story arcs or adding spice to current ones. Draw your inspiration from anything and everything.

Categories

Once you’ve collected a wide array of people, places and things, its time to categorize them. The best way to do this is to split your ideas into the following categories:

1) Characters
2) Locations
3) Items
4) Stories

Each of these categories may have subcategories below such as:
1) Characters
1-1) Protagonists
1-2) Antagonists
1-3) Comic Relief

2) Locations
2-1) Paris
2-2) Made up Middle Eastern Country
2-3) Australian Outback

…and so on. You can also subcategorize your subcategories and get even more technical. The point is, you are keeping a record and an archive for all of your elements. With time, this archive will be so huge that you will have a character and a location and an idea you can grab at a moment’s notice without suffering from the pains of trying to recall that great character idea you had the other day when you were riding the bus and wrote it down on a scrap piece of paper which you think you may have left on your parent’s kitchen counter.

Be organized. It pays off.

Development – Outline

You have your characters, location and basic plot. Now it is time to start fleshing out the details. The easiest way to get your ideas set up and ready to be molded for drawn comics is to create a rough planner or outline for your story. Some of the best moments I’ve had in the process of creating comics has been at this stage. I recall spending evenings with writers over coffee, coming up with ideas and developing a story outline and the logistics for certain parts of the story itself.

Jot down the rough outline of your story in point-form. Be sure to include visual cues, dialogue cues, dramatic events, etc. These ‘notes’ will help you when you are crafting the actual script for your comics.

If your story is set to run over several issues or in some cases, several books – you will need to set up blocks where each issue will stop and start, and determine how much information/visuals you are capable of showing in those frames of story time you’ve created. For example, your outline calls for 7 events to happen in this issue. You will have to determine if there is too much happening or not enough to warrant the issue ending at that point. Issues are roughly 20-22 pages in length, so keep that in mind when you are making your issue breaks in your outline.

Within each issue, you will then need to take that information and elaborate even further. You will need your plots and sub=plots, character introduction and development, location establishment and then your course of action. You can follow the typical dramatic structure for each issue (classic American style) where the story begins on a low point, the protagonist rises to the challenge, there is a large point of action at the climax, and then there is a positive (or negative) resolution at the end. OR you can extend this basic structure and add in more complex plot twists and macguffins as you see fit over the course of your entire run. The possibilities are endless – but you have to pay close attention to where and how you use these devices. A carefully planned outline will make script writing MUCH easier.

Development – Script

Finally the most detailed part of all – the scripted portion of the story.

Once you have your issues plotted, your characters developed and your story roughed into shape, it is now time to think about visualizing each scene frame by frame. This part of the writing process requires you to elaborate and provide details about the characters, their surroundings and some insight as to what is occurring in each panel. A script should have the entire comic book page detailed with background information, characters, dialogue and visual cues.

For example,

Page 1

Panel One
- The scene opens in a dimly lit pool hall. In the background, dark silhouettes of downtrodden men hang around by a bar amidst a haze of cigarette smoke. In the foreground, a solitary overhead lamp lights up a table with a set of billiards balls racked up and waiting to be broken up.

Narrative: One last game. This time, for ALL the marbles.

Panel Two
- The balls are broken apart by the fierce crack of a cue ball (insert sound effect) and intense action lines surrounding the table and balls to indicate the power of the break.

Narrative: I guess I had better make this one count.

…you get the picture. Basically, you are painting a verbal picture of the events you are going to have turned into a storyboard. This is the planner for the thumbnail planner which we will discuss in greater detail in another tutorial. If you have a vision of how the scene is going to play out in your head, THIS is where you need to be precise in order to conjure that physical image from the mental one you’ve seen.

Scripts for moves and comics are quite similar. If the script is well planned, the rest of the feature will be executed well.

There’s the basics of writing for comics. I will create a more in-depth tutorial on writing techniques and plot ideas in subsequent writing tutorials, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, start collecting your ideas and organizing them properly. Develop and grow a diverse collection and stockpile that arsenal of creative ideas.

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Tags: Writing

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 2:54 pm and is filed under Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.