I get asked of how to write for the comics form a lot, and have put a bunch of advice in a bunch of different places. I want to put it all in one place. This is a work-in progress thing, which Iâll try and add to as things occur to me. Failing that, Iâll be using a Writer Advice tag from now on so you can click that.
This is how I started. Warren Ellisâ seminal - by which I mean in its real sense rather than my usual use of âflecked with semenâ (Though with Warren, you never know) - COME IN ALONE column featured a three part sequence on how to write comics.
This was my in. I still think itâs a good in for you.
(For my generation of comic creators, Iâd say C.I.A. was enormously influential. If you have any interest in knowing the intellectual soup where a lot of us came from, you may want to read the whole thing. Or donât, because you are THE FUTURE, remember, and fuck old people like you, Gillen.)
Anyway - the three partsâŠ
Part One - Preparation
Part Two - Script
Part Three - Pitch
This is basically what I paraphrase when explaining comics to people in the pub.
Some of it is dated slightly - especially in the third part, as you almost certainly wonât be pitching like that now (though some core aspects certainly are). The core craft and discipline is 100% on point. Take this, internalise it, make it your own.
Warren writing above said that in his day they had it hard, as no-one wrote about comics craft. My generation had it easy, he noted, as there were some books. Your generation has it easier still, as theyâre shitloads of them.
Iâll probably edit in more books here as I progress, but I want to put the core two that I think everyone needs to read.
UNDERSTANDING COMICS - Scott McLoud
COMICS AND SEQUENTIAL ART - Wil Eisner
The former will give you the basic tools to dissect comics. The latter is a master at work. Take them, internalise them, make them your own.
If youâre talking about story structure generally (i.e. not just comics), when asked, I normally recommend reading McKeeâs STORY and Kingâs ON WRITING back to back. They are both true. They are both 100% contradictory. It will teach you the most important lesson in writing - whatever works, works, and the job is building your own toolbox.
(The secret: writing is enormous. We say âwritingâ and weâre really talking about dozens of skill-sets.)
EXAMPLE SCRIPTS:
The Comic Script Archive is the biggest source of comic scripts online. Youâll see how various people write the form. See what you like. There is no standard method to comic scripts, as youâll see.
âWhere can I find comic scriptsâ is a question Iâm asked all along. You can find the Comic Script Archive as itâs the top entry on google if you enter âComic Scripts.âÂ
Iâll say this here as a general thing, as Iâve never said it directly to anyone: if you asked this question, you really need to up your game. If you need mentoring for that, you are not going to make it. Seriously, you can do better. Do better.
If you want to see one of mine, hereâs one for Phonogram: The Singles Club. Phonogram scripts are unusual, so perhaps not one to take many lessons from - most artists will club you if you write a script like this. If you want to see me working in a more commercial mainstream stripped-back mode, there was a DIRECTORâS CUT of DARTH VADER 1, which includes my complete script for the issue. Itâs on comixology, but you can probably get it from a shop or Ebay.
Decompressed: my comics craft podcast. Iâll do more eventually, probably. I go into detail with a creator over their choices with a book. âWhy this panel? Why that panel?â This is basically the sort of questions you should be asking yourself whenever you read a comic for the next few years or so. As Warren says in his essays, yes, it does ruin your reading of comics for a few years, but itâs the cost of doing business.
How To Write For Space (i.e. How Comics Is Unlike Prose): An off-the-cuff piece about how I write for a set format (A 20 page comic).
Some advice I gave on pitching comics. Â
Kelly-Sue Deconnick on writing comics.
Warren Ellis on writing comics.
IDLE PIECES OF BULLSHIT MAXIM I SAY TO MYSELF WHICH YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY ON
Never forget: you are a parasite. The artist does not need you.
Scripts are love-letters. They are meant to inspire the artist. An artist who is not inspired will create shit work.Â
When analysing comics, assume the creators had a good reason for making the choice they did. Try and work out why they did. Thereâs a time you can afford arrogance, and itâs far in the future . For now, assume they know more than you do. Even the creators you hate. Especially the creators you hate.
The last isnât always true, but youâll learn more this way. Iâm suggesting stances which maximise your chance for growth as a creator at the expense of your emotional well-being.
See also : if someone canât understand your book, itâs always your fault.
(That one will break your heart, btw)
Bear in mind the Gillen/McKelvie paradigm while analysing comics.
Thatâll do to start with.
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