Time for something basic. Some thoughts on scripting a comic.
The Format
One of the difficulties of scripting for comics is that, unlike in its sister medium, TV and film, there’s really no agreed format for what a script should look like. It can be, but isn’t necessarily, broken into scenes. It might contain detailed, panel by panel descriptions, or it could be simple the dialogue with minimal stage directions. It really depends on what the writer and artist prefer.
Normally, a script will consist of at least the dialogue, and information on what characters are present, where they are, and what things (characters, props, environment) looks like.
Scene X: Bob and Kate explore the storm drain. Both now wear winter coats. Bob carries a big flashlight, Kate has the map.
Bob and Kate peer into the storm drain opening. It is dark and quiet and threatening (extra double scary please).
Kate: “This is what the map says, right?”
Bob: “Uh… I dunno, it’s your map!”
It is useful for an artist (even if it’s you!) to have information about what the characters’ emotions and motivations are. It’s easy to go overboard with this though; ultimately, if it’s not visible, or an explicit internal monologue, it might not matter. If someone is inwardly seething but outwardly calm, it’s probably OK to say:
[click to continue…]
Writing 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.
- 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”.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.”
- 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