How to Be a Creative Comic Book Writer

You dream of villains battling heroes in the sky. Maybe you like how Batman can beat up just about any of the bad guys. You wish you could fly like Superman. You like the edge that an Alan Moore graphic novel has. And you’re willing to take some time to write a comic book script of your own. But how can you be creative with a comic book script? Reading this article is the first step.

Things You'll Need

• Books on writing
• Friends to share work with
• Comic artists to illustrate your creative work

Instructions

1. Learn the basics of comic book writing. Yes, you can be creative with them. It’s much like studying how to write fiction: you must understand the rules in order to break them. For example, you can’t have a hero with a cape flying around doing nothing but chatting with girls. You need a villain. You need conflict.

2. Write it from start to finish. Forget the outline on a comic book script. This is breaking the rules, too. It means just sitting down and going scene by scene with the story. I wouldn’t write a complete 12-issue comic book with no outline, but you can have fun writing one- or two-issue stories.

3. Share it with some trusted friends, or maybe the guys down at the comic shop. Be creative with whom you show it to by showing it to non-comic book fans, too. There are many ways to meet fellow comic book junkies, namely at conventions, comic book shops and online. You can share ideas on what works and what doesn’t. It will help you as a creative comic book writer.

4. Write an epic. They say to write short stories in comics. Break this rule. Write something so big, if you finish the piece it will be comparable to writing a complete fantasy novel series of more than four books. Write everything you have into this story. It will pay off creatively.

5. Speed up. You may have been taught to slowly write, breaking down your characters, heroes and villains. Why not speed it up? Sometimes your best writing will come flying off your pen or heating up the keyboard.

6. Create winning villains. What if the villains won the battle? It has happened in comic books before. Superman was beaten to death in the best-selling "Death of Superman" graphic novel by a deadly beast named Doomsday. This is one step to becoming a creative comic book writer: knowing the villains sometimes win.

7. Use vices. Why do superheroes wear tights? Why do so few use drugs? Use vices to make your hero an anti-hero. An anti-hero is, in comic terms, someone who is willing to do wrong to stop wrong, but isn’t quite a villain. A shining example is the Punisher, a Marvel anti-hero.

8. Start the story backward. Ever see the movie "Memento"? This film used a scattered way of telling a story. You could watch it, technically, from beginning to end or end to beginning. It would still make sense. Why not start your story at the end and go back from there?

Tips & Warnings

• Get creative with your use of splash pages and details. Fill scenes with plenty of props, but be mindful of the person illustrating when you do this.

• Submit your draft on a whim to a major publisher. What is the worst that could happen?

• Write at different times of the day. You will often be thinking differently, and it will affect the story.