How to Write a Comic

Work on your comic drafts often to improve your writing abilities.

The writing for a comic is called a "script" and the format does have more in common with a TV or movie script than a novel. The comic readers will not see your writing, except for dialogue. You need to write for editors and artists who will turn your writing into a finished comic. On the other hand, you can grow as a writer and write a more compelling comic if you have experience writing fiction stories. Know when to interject a novel-writing style into your script in order to write a comic script that people will want to read.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Plot the story arc. Before you begin work on your script, you need to know where you will go with the story. Determine how many characters you want to be in your story --- the fewer, the easier it will be to flesh them out. Think of a goal and the story arc the characters will go through in order to achieve that goal. Write your ideas in an outline. You can change this outline as you write each comic issue if you think of better ideas later.

2. Write character profiles. Character profiles help your artist and editor understand what type of people appear in your comics. Include both physical attributes and information about their pasts and personalities. Refer to these profiles yourself as you write the story. Your readers will not see these profiles.

3. Outline the issue. Before you write the comic script, you should write the events that will occur in the issue in detail. You have limited space to tell the story in one issue, so plot the overview of events you would like to happen on each page.

4. Write the comic script. Refer to your issue outline. Each page requires a description of the setting and the action as well as any dialogue or narration that appears on the page. When you write your description, remember that your audience is your editor and artist. Do not employ the fiction writing convention of "show, don't tell" here. Instead, explicitly state what you would like to see on the page. A simple sentence like "Tina is sad" is acceptable in the description boxes. When you write dialogue or narration, remember that readers will see this text. Employ the "show, don't tell" convention here.

Tips & Warnings

• Submit writing samples to publishers if you want to become a comic book writer for an existing title or find a publisher for your own original work.

• Bypass the publisher and market your work yourself. Find an artist and put together a manuscript. Self-publish your comic and sell the comic online, at conventions and through comic shops.

• Few people make a living writing comics. Look for a more conventional source of income while you write comics.

References

• Dark Horse: Script Guide
• Robert Weinberg: How to Write Comics & Other Stuff
• "Writing World"; Writing Comic Books; Barry Lyga; 2003