Even though I’d written quite a few short stories (and a few attempts at writing a novel), I never thought I’d ever get to write comics, so when the opportunity came along, I jumped at the chance. But writing comics is quite different to writing short stories and there’s a few things I learned making the transition. So as the title suggests, here are three things I learned writing comics.
1. Your writing for two audiences – the artist first and then the reader.
Unless you’re one of those super talented people who can write and do the art, chances are you’ll be working with an artist. That means writing a script for the artist, describing the story, the scenes, the characters, and what they’re saying/doing.
You must remember that nobody will see this script other than the artist (or perhaps others in the creative team, such as a colourist or letterer). So, the script is for them, and the potential reader is secondary. This is a difficult concept to get used to for someone who’s used to writing solely for the reader.
The mistake I made at first was that I wrote way too much detail in my scripts. For example, instead of just saying the scene within the panel takes place at the playground, I would describe what’s in the playground, like the monkey bars and the slides and what colours they were. Not to mention the sandpit a background character is playing in. I almost went as far as state how many clouds were in the sky. Thankfully I showed this to someone more knowledgeable than me about writing comics and they stopped me from treating the artist like a complete moron. The artist knew what a playground looked like; they didn’t need me to tell them.
So why did I make this mistake?
For two reasons – one was imposter syndrome. I wanted to show the artist that I was willing to do the heavy lifting – to do my part. I thought I would make life easier for the artist if I described every single detail so they wouldn’t need to spend too much time working things out. On the contrary, I was making things more difficult. One of the things I learned about comics is that the writer and the artist tell the story together. Sure, you might describe an action scene, but the artist can interpret what you’re describing and do it differently and if they’re experienced enough, do it better. By over describing, you’re ignoring the talent and experience the artist brings to the table.
The second reason was because, writing prose, I’m used to doing all the work. Writers need to describe scenery, characters, what they say and how they say it. As cliché as it sounds, those who write prose paint a picture with words. But with an artist, they can do that work for you. I had to relinquish a certain amount of control over to the artist and once I learned to do that, I found writing comics a lot more fun.
So instead of over describing, for example, a vampire in your story, you can say things like, “The vampire looks like Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” You could even go as far as to send a google images link to the artist in case they don’t know who Spike is. Sounds lazy, I know, but it eventually feels liberating. Remember, it’s only the artist who reads your script. It means you can focus on other aspects of the story, which brings me to the next thing I learned.
2. You really need to plan your story.
There are two kinds of people who play with Legos. The ones who decide what they’re going to build before they start, and the kind who just sticks blocks together and sees what happens. Both kinds of people could end up with a castle at the end.
When writing stories, I’m usually the second person.
But with comics, you’re working with a certain number of panels and pages. With me, they’re usually 4-page comics. So, you need to plan. I usually aim to have four panels a page, maybe five if I need the extra image, but I’ve seen six or seven panels per page. It also depends on the size of the page you’re working with. All things someone who writes short stories and novels doesn’t need to think about too much.
Another thing you need to think about is page-turns, something people who write picture books are familiar with.
Take a four-page comic for example. The first page starts on the right-hand side, then when you turn the page, you have two pages side-by-side. When you turn the page again, your final page will be on the left.
So, if you’re planning a big reveal, set it up on the third page so the reader needs to turn the page to find out what happens next. If you set it up on the second page, the big reveal could be ruined because they will have the third page already open, and their eye might be drawn to it. Therefore, they could miss the set-up which would mess up the whole flow of the story.
But that’s for printed books. For online comics it could be four single pages, viewed separately. So, you might need to think about web-comics differently.
But this is a good exercise in story plotting/planning which I brought back to my prose writing. It’s very easy with a four-page comic to see exactly where beginning, middle, and end is. The way I plan my 4-page comics is I write the first and last page and then work out how I get from A to B. It sounds like a challenge, but it’s an enjoyable one.
3. It’s never too late or too soon to start writing comics.
Like I said before, when I started writing comics, I felt like an imposter. (I still do to be honest). This is for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I started reading comics late in life. I think I was in my mid-twenties when I really started getting into Marvel and DC comics. Work colleagues would lend me their books and there’s nothing more exciting for a comics geek than to convert people to something they love. It wasn’t long before I began buying comics of my own, Skyward being one of my favourites. I really started appreciating the art, panel layouts, plots, and of course the writing.
I also discovered Irish comics and the thriving comics scene in Ireland with incredibly talented creators publishing great stories. One only needs to check out Rogue Comics, Limit Break Comics, and of course irishcomics.ie to see how true that is.
But given how late I got into comics, I thought what right do I have to write them when there are people who’ve lived and breathed comics their whole lives? Surely, they should be the ones to write comics, not me.
Another reason why I felt like I was imposter was because I thought I needed to be more successful as a prose writer before I had the right to start on comics. Why would anyone want to work with me if they didn’t know who I was? What credentials did I have to bring to the table? I thought it was too soon in my writing career to start creating comics.
But of course, none of the above are good reasons not to write comics. If you love comics and want to write them, then you should just do it. And if you’re lucky enough to get to work with an artist, then you’ll enjoy watching the stories you’ve imagined come to life.
The Widow Gamble – Read for free here:
https://irishcomics.ie/category/widow-gamble/
Rebound – Turning Roads – Purchase here:
MARK KIELTY 