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Manga DIY

How to Break Into the Manga Industry

17 June, 2009

in Manga DIY

Yes, this is the post where I tell you the long kept secret to breaking into the industry. All you have to do is read this post and then you’ll know how.

You don’t believe me, do you? Good.

There is no Crowbar

there is no crowbarSo, people have started to ask me how to break into the comics industry. I guess that’s something of a milestone, it means that at least some folks consider me to be on the inside. Neat.

Maybe it’s because English is my second language, but I’ve always thought of it as a strange expression. Break into the industry. As if the industry is this building with barred windows and guards outside that you could crowbar your way into if you only knew how.

I’m sorry, hon, but it doesn’t work like that.

You see, there is no breaking into the industry. There is no big fortified factory somewhere where the comics people stand at the assembly line making the comics and you have to have an employee pass to get in.

The comics industry is mostly made up of people working freelance, or working temporarily as part of organisations on particular projects. The individuals that make up the industry are in flux, moving between different publishers, projects and work styles: full time, part time, in your spare time, guess I’ll be a cubicle monkey for now time, bye boss I’m off to draw a novel time and oh, hey, there’s a shiny new project time.

It’s not like you can just pass this one interview and get hired by someone and hey, you’re in, and you can relax. It’s not about blagging your way into the country club.

It’s about —

  • having your shit together,
  • knowing how to market yourself and your work,
  • learning new skills and keeping up to date, and
  • building connections with people who believe in you and send you work / buy your stuff.

In future blog posts I will waste words on each of these points, probably more than a few words. For now, I just want to point out what this means.

It means there is no fortress/factory you have to crowbar your way into. And that means there are no gatekeepers, either. There is no one keeping you OUT of the industry. There’s just you. You and your brilliance, and an infinite number of ways you can make that brilliance work for you.

All you need to do is get rid off the crap in your head that’s holding you back, and work hard every day so you can allow your natural brilliance to shine like a crazy 500 watt lightbulb. You don’t need anyone else to give you permission, or tell you you’re good enough. You are. Now do it.

Related (because it’s one place to start): Manga Jiman Competition Announced

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5 Ways to Make your Manga Shorter

3 June, 2009

in Manga DIY,Writing

cuts3Writing short comics or manga is hard. Manga needs space to breathe in order to be itself, but a lot of competitions ask for 5 or 8 page stories. It’s all well and good to save you time drawing, but what can you do in 8 pages?

Let’s say you have an idea for a story, but there’s no way you can fit it into your given page limit, unless you use 12 panels a page, and you know that’s no good.

You’ll have to cut some stuff. Now take a deep breath here, because cutting hurts. It’s necessary though, and can make your story stronger in the end. Here are some options.

  1. Cut out one of your characters.
    I know, I know, each character in your story has a role to play and a reason to be there, and you can’t possibly cut them out. But consider if maybe their role could be taken on by one of the other characters, or covered in a voice-over. Perhaps they can appear in dialogue or a character’s thought, rather than “on stage”.
  2. Cut the ending.
    For very short stories, the resolution stage (the part after the climax) can be very short indeed, down to almost nothing. Do we really need to know what happened afterwards? Could you sum it up more briefly? Or perhaps making your ending more open or ambiguous can save you precious time.
  3. Forget the introductions.
    Likewise, you can probably trim your opening. For a short comic, we probably don’t need to know much about your characters. Maybe you can tell us everything we need just through their appearance and location. Think about how many of your opening panels are really just about introducing the characters, and what would happen if you cut them.
  4. Skip travel.
    We probably don’t need to know how they got there. Whether it’s literally travel from one location to another, or figurative travel, where a situation changes over time, consider leaving it out altogether. You can help the reader adjust with a comment from a character or voice-over like, “When we arrived at…” or “Soon, they had us surrounded.”
  5. Chop it in half.
    If you really need to make a drastic reduction, this can help. List your plot in bullet point form:
    - There’s this guy
    - This happens
    - Then this
    - etc.
    Count the bulletpoints. Scrap the first half. You now have half a story that makes no sense, yes. But look at the story as if it were a film you dropped into half way through. You’d probably work out what’s going on pretty quickly. Perhaps, with minor adjustments, your half a story might be whole again. And much shorter than it was.

I hope that’s helpful. If you have any other tips for making stories more compact, leave a comment for those who come after you.

I’m working on some more advice on writing, drawing and publishing your own manga or comics. If there’s any topic you would like some help with, let me know and I’ll see if I can help.

Related: Writing Short Comics

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