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Writing Comic Books Scott Bachmann

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Overview

You can’t teach writing in 90 minutes! So what’s going to happen?•  About  Me  •  The  Wri.ng  Lies!  •  How  to  write.  • What  a  comic  is  not.  • What’s  special  about  comic  book  stories?  •  How  to  Script.  • What  are  the  don’ts?  •  How  to  talk  to  ar.sts  and  find  them.  •  How  can  I  afford  this?  •  More  to  read…  

Who are you and why are you talking to me?

My works

•  Our  Super  Mom  •  Raymond  Hardcase  •  Several  Shorts  

•  Couple  of  Novels  •  Short  Stories  •  Illustrated  books  

All the questions people ask writers

•  How  long  have  you  been  wri.ng?  • When  did  you  know  you  wanted  to  be  a  writer?  •  How  do  you  know  you  are  a  writer?  (am  I  writer?)  •  How  do  you  find  .me  to  write?  • Where  do  you  get  your  ideas?  

The Writing Lies. �Let’s get them out of the way.

The Writing Lies. �Let’s get them out of the way.

•  I have no ideas for a story.

•  I have writers block.

•  I have no time.

•  My writing is great!

•  My [BLANK]    likes it, so I know it’s good.

•  I don’t read [BLANK]    but I have a good idea for [BLANK]  •  Someone is going to steal my idea!

•  Graphic novels are respected, I don’t write comic books

How to write

READ

WRITEFINISH

No Seriously. How do I write comics?

Read. Write. Finish. There is no shortcut.  Next Steps:

• Re-­‐Write.  Re-­‐Write  again.  • Give  it  to  a  stranger  without  explaining  it.  • Ask  money  for  your  work.  •  Listen  to  your  editor.  •  *Realize  the  Ar-st  is  more  important  than  you,  so  work  with  them!    

*Unless  you  are  also  the  ar.st.  Then  we  hate  you.  It’s  a  respecSul  hate.  

What a comic is NOT.

•  Novel •  We  can  change  loca.ons  at  will,  external  –  not  internal,  we  have  art  

•  Short Story •  We  can  have  history,  We  can  share  worlds,  We  can  stand  alone/We  can  con.nue  

•  Play •  No  budget  limit,  We  don’t  have  actors  (we  do  have  ac.ng),  We  can  have  non-­‐people  people  

•  Movie •  We  don’t  move,  We  don’t  make  noise  –  This  should  be  obvious,  but  it  isn’t.  

•  TV Show •  We  are  a  lot  like  a  TV  show  with  ra.ngs,  commercials,  soap  operas,  history,  .me  limit  •  We  can  also  make  formulaic  three  act  stories  you  would  do  in  a  TV  show  •  BUT  –  We  can  break  formulae  and  the  fourth  wall,  We  can  have  inner  monologs,  We  aren’t  limited  by  a  TV  show  budget    

•  For Kids Only •  Duh.  

•  A way to get rich •  Nobody  making  comics  is  RICH.  No  creator  is  RICH  from  their  comic  ideas.  The  90s  were  a  bubble.  

What’s special about comics then?

THEY HAVE PICTURES•  Adults  don’t  like  illustrated  stories  –  that’s  baby  stuff  •  Adults  do  like  figh.ng,  porn,  exo.c  loca.ons,  colors  –  All  beYer  with  pictures  •  A  picture  tells  a  thousand  words  

MOST ARE SERIALIZED•  CliZangers,  reveals,  soap  operas  –  all  that  stuff  that  makes  pulp  squishy  •  Dickens,  Tolstoy  

THEY ARE METAPHORS•  If  I  have  to  explain  this  part,  go  back  and  read  some  more  comics  

THEY ARE SHORT  •  Unless  you  are  independent  and  hate  making  a  living.    •  See  Bone,  Cerebrus,  ScoY  Pilgrim  

Types of scripts

Marvel Way

• Big  descrip.ons  •  Leave  panels  to  the  ar.sts  • Dialog  later  •  Let  the  ar.st  share  the  story  (pacing,  ac.on,  ac.ng)  •  Shared  royal.es  

Full Script •  PEN MONKEY! DO THIS AND

ONLY THIS. EXACTLY. …Er…  Please?  •  Control  over  what’s  happening  •  Describe  reac.ons  •  Perfect  pacing  •  Work  for  Hire  

Failed other project made into a comic

•  Did  you  sleep  through  the  last  two  slides?    •  This  is  not  a  type  of  comic  script.    •  But  they  exist.  

I paid for this class, tell me something useful! Like… Formatting.

•  No  set  way  to  make  a  script.  Just  isn’t  •  Lots  of  free  examples  out  there  •  Screenwri.ng  so`ware  is  helpful  compared  to  word  processors  • Make  dialog  separate  from  scene  •  5-­‐6  panels  (except  when  not)  –  i.e.  Pacing  •  PAGE TURNS •  Cheats  from  other  script  media  •  Thumbnails  

• Make  it  CLEAR  who’s  saying  what  • Make  it  CLEAR  who’s  doing  what  • Make  it  CLEAR  who  else  is  there  and  what’s  up  with  them  even  though  they  don’t  get  a  balloon  •  NOBODY  IS  MOVING.  But  there  is  lots  of  ac.on.  •  IT’S  A  WORLD.  We  see  all  of  it.  Tell  us  about  it  so  the  ar.st  knows  to  include  it.  •  Talk,  or  do  not,  there  is  only  a  page  to  fill…  

The Don’ts in comics

Don’t  tug  on  Superman’s  cape.  Don’t  spit  into  the  wind.  Don’t  pull  the  mask  off  that  old  Loan  Ranger.  Unless  you’re  Warren  Ellis.  •  Don’t  waste  our  Hme.  Clichés  and  tropes  are  common,  there  are  dollar  bins  and  publishing  companies  full  of  them.  Original  ideas  are  not  common.  Go  where  no  one  has  gone  before.  •  Don’t  write  Spider-­‐Man.  Don’t  write  Batman.  •  Don’t  follow  any  rules.  There  are  no  rules  in  comics.  There  are  rules  in  PUBLISHING,  but  not  in  comics.  •  Don’t  write  about  Sexy Lamps.  •  Don’t  write  about  zombies  

•  Unless  you  REEEEAAALLY  love  the  dead.  •  Or  you  have  a  new  take  (See  iZombie)  

How to talk to artists and find them

•  ArHsts  are  introverts  •  They  live  in  caves  and  comic  conven.ons.  Some.mes  they  gather  in  studios.  •  They  are  also  all  over  the  world  (Pencil  jack,  deviant  art,  tumblr)  •  They  like  to  be  paid.  So  when  you  talk  to  them,  tell  them  they  will  get  paid.  Exposure  is  not  payment.  Promises  

are  not  payment.  Royal.es  of  a  book  not  published  is  not  payment.  •  They  don’t  understand  economics  or  marke.ng.  Unless  they  are  designers,  in  which  case  they  know  more  

than  you.  •  Illustrators  are  not  serial  story  tellers.  Do  not  confuse  them.    •  Colorists  are  arHsts.  Inkers  can  save  your  life.  Do  not  forget  to  talk  to  them  too.  •  ArHsts  are  humans  that  want  to  be  loved  and  paid  to  draw  monsters.  Treat  them  as  humans.    

•  Find  out  what  kind  of  monsters  they  like  and  adjust  your  story  to  include  them.    •  Find  out  what  they  hate  and  remove  them.    •  Your  ar.s.c  integrity  and  stories  brilliance  will  pale  far  behind  an  ar.st  who’s  enjoying  what  they  are  making.  

•  ArHsts  are  not  mind  readers.  Put  it  in  the  script.    •  Take  your  ar.st  out  to  dinner  and  feed  them.  They  are  starving.  Talk  about  everything.  

•  Praise.  ArHst  crave  feedback.    •  Being  cri.cal  can  maYer  to  the  story,  but  praising  means  the  story  will  get  beYer.    •  Happy  ar.sts  are  more  important  than  your  brilliant  story.  

How can I afford this?  You can’t. If you love it, you will do it anyways.•  Art,  prinHng,  distribuHng,  promoHng,  markeHng  –  I  just  want  to  write!  

•  Go  write  a  novel.  •  Kickstarter!  Indiegogo!  

•  Insane  amount  of  work.  •  You  will  lose  money  or  break  even  •  You  need  an  audience  first.  They  will  not  find  you  

•  Webcomics  are  free!  •  Nothing  in  life  is  free.  All  you  did  is  take  away  the  paper.  Add  in  new  headaches  like  IT  support,  web  site  

design…  

•  I’ll  sell  them  to  stores  and  convenHons!  •  Nobody  knows  you,  they  know  Batman.  The  guy  next  to  you  draws  Batman.  •  Floppies  have  no  profit  margin  •  Ashcans  are  properly  named  

•  I’ll  sell  my  art,  make  prints!  •  You  are  an  ar.st  and  a  writer.  This  is  why  we  hate  you.  

Boy you are cranky! I want a second opinion.• How  to  read  comics  –  ScoY  McCloud  • Words  for  Pictures:  The  art  and  Business  of  WriHng  Comics  and  Graphic  Novels  -­‐  Brian  Bendis  • Allan  Moore’s  WriHng  for  comics  –  Allan  Moore  and  Peter  David  • WriHng  for  Comics  -­‐  Peter  David  •  TwiAer  stalking  ~  Gail  Simone  • Podcasts  ~  Word  Balloon  • Pixar’s  22  rules  of  storytelling  

The End