gathered from various sources
- particular thanks to Richard
Starkings
& Alan Grant
Lee Sullivan Art
A Guide to Writing & Drawing for Comic Books
GENERAL GUIDELINES
A story, told in any media, is, in
the very broadest sense, a conflict and its solution. In order to understand a
conflict, some information is required about the individual(s) involved.
Therefore, the simplest possible blueprint for a story is as
follows:
- Introduce the character(s);
- Establish their
situation (the status quo);
- Introduce the conflict (the element that
disrupts the status quo);
- Build suspense (as the conflict
develops);
- Reach a climax (a climactic occurrence is precipitated by
the forces in conflict);
- Show the resolution.
This is not a
formula, it is a definition. Unless these elements are present in a work, it is
not a story. It may be something else - a poem, a laundry list - but it is not a
story. The basic elements listed above are in every story from 'Little Miss
Muffet' to 'War and Peace'. Note, though, that they do not have to be present in
any particular order.
FUNDAMENTALS
Always
remember that, no matter what title you work on, your priorities are as
follows:
1. STORYTELLING. (See General Guidelines
above).
2. STYLE
Style does not refer necessarily refer to a
particular artist's style, but to an artist's ability to include the following
elements in his work:
a) DRAWING
If the story asks for
a potato being thrown at a chicken, the artist has to be able to draw a potato
and a chicken - otherwise he is not fulfilling priority
one.
b) DRAMA
If the artist is learning to draw a scene
involving a potato being thrown at a chicken, then, naturally, he has to be able
to infuse the scene with drama. How does the chicken feel about being hit by a
potato - how does the potato feel about being thrown at a chicken? We should be
able to discern these feelings from the
drawing.
c) DYNAMICS
The dynamics of a drawing refer to
elements such as 'speed lines', the emphasis or exaggeration of certain
gestures, and the positioning of
characters.
3. DIRECTION
Much of the terminology of
film is common to comics -writers will frequently refer to 'the camera' when
they are describing the content of a scene. There are three basic types of shot
(or frame):-
a) THE LONG SHOT
This shot is best used to
establish scope, locale or figures.
b) THE MEDIUM SHOT
This
shot is best used for action shots and should feature characters 'full
figure'.
c) THE CLOSE UP
This shot is best used for reaction
(facial expressions) or interaction (talking heads or fighting bodies). Any shot
that 'chop off' part of a figure's body is classed as a close-up.
The
responsibility of the writer (as director) is to vary the shots described above
and ensure that every new scene accomplishes the following 5
tasks:-
a) Establish locale (long shot).
b) Place figures
within the locale (long shot).
c) Establish the figures (medium
shots). The "Is he wearing roller skates?" factor.
d) Establish faces
(close ups).
e) Establish action (medium shots). N.B. The most
effective way of showing action is to adapt a point of view that is
perpendicular to it.
Often these 5 'tasks' can be combined, and so save
valuable frames on the page of the comic. On film the question of saving space
is not as valid as 5 separate shots can be viewed in a matter of
seconds.
WRITING FOR LICENSED PRODUCT TITLES -
'ACTION FORCE' (well, this WAS a long time ago . . .)
GUIDELINES
"Someone once said to me that writing was very
much like a letter W. A scene works in a W and a (story) works in a W. You have
to start at the top with something good and then you could afford, in terms of
content, to let the plot trickle down to the bottom of the W because your
(readers) would be ready to take in some background information and story
background. Then, once you've reached the bottom of the first V, they've
obviously had enough and you would have to write in another peak and, after
that, allow them time to digest the peak before building up to the next one. It
works too, all through literature. HAMLET makes a good episode of (ACTION
FORCE)- it is written exactly as you would write for (comics). It starts with
three pages of intrigue - with Hamlet's father telling him he was murdered. The
revenge motive, all packed into three pages. So you've got the 'hook', followed
by various troughs and peaks before you build up to the smashing fight at the
end. And that is the secret of how to write for a series like (ACTION
FORCE)."
Dennis Spooner
Well, of course, Dennis Spooner wasn't
really talking about ACTION FORCE when he told DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE his
philosophy on writing and HAMLET probably wouldn't make a good episode of ACTION
FORCE (not a Fully Armed Negator Gyrocopter in sight). Even so, Spooner's
principles do apply. Consider also his comments to STARBURST:
'Gerry
Anderson didn't really want a story. He always used to say: 'Tell me four things
that will look good on film.' And you'd say: 'A big fire . . .' this and that,
and he'd say 'great'. And if you gave him the four things, then the story became
(almost) immaterial... Gerry, more than anybody, taught me to think in terms of
pictures first - adding the words afterwards. Before I worked with Gerry I'd
always thought in terms of words, and the pictures were of secondary importance.
But of course, he was right."
Every week in ACTION FORCE, we have
five pages in which to grab the readers interest, introduce all the characters
and tell a story. Five pages does not really provide writers with a lot of room
for manoeuvre, and it can be very easy to waste space by involving too many
characters, using overlong explanations of the story-so-far and using convoluted
methods of introducing characters. When you sit down to plot or script an
episode of ACTION FORCE, try to keep the following points in
mind:
- Open with action whenever possible (start at the top of Dennis
Spooner's W);
- Try to dispose of the story-so-far as quickly and as
economically as possible. Two captions should do it (preferably one) and those
captions should really not exceed 30 words, Remember that 'More is Less'. If you
can sum up the story-so-far in a couple of short balloons then you cut out the
need for a caption and draw the readers into the story that much
quicker;
- Avoid prologue pages unless they A. Open the first part of
a four-part story, or B. Are packed with action (preferably both if you really
must have a prologue page). A prologue page has the effect of making a five-page
story look like a four-page story - especially if you put the title on page 2.
Always try to dispose of the title on page 1 (preferably in the first
frame);
- Don't indulge in flashback frames unless you have a Very
Convincing Reason to do so. Why move the story backwards when you can move the
story forwards?
- Don't involve characters that aren't available in
the ACTION FORCE toy range unless you have a Very Convincing Reason to do so.
This goes for characters of your own creation as well as characters that figure
in the US continuity. Our job is to help promote sales of the toys - we have at
least twenty interesting characters to deal with, why involve any
more?
- Don't feature too many characters in one story. Remember that
you only have five pages to play with. All-out war between ACTION FORCE and
COBRA in Heathrow Airport during the height of the holiday season is an
interesting concept, but how are you going to tell the story of the battle,
introduce all the characters, characterise all the antagonists and protagonists
and bring the story to a satisfactory resolution/climax in just five pages. As a
general rule, concentrate on one, two or three ACTION FORCE characters and one,
two or three COBRA characters in a story. Two against one storylines always seem
to work out well.
- Don't rely on your artist to do all the
storytelling for you. If you want an establishing shot or a full figure shot,
then it's your job to ask for them. Full figure, 'Costume Shots' are highly
desirable in ACTION FORCE. Kids love to see their favourite characters in all
their glory - preferably looking mean. These are the pictures that they single
out and slavishly copy. Remember Gerry Anderson's point about what looks GOOD.
If you can open with a shot of Snake-Eyes rattling his Uzi at us, then you've
satisfied two of the points made here - you've opened at the top of a W, and
you've provided readers with a costume shot.
- Remember that some of
our readers don't bother to read captions - so, once again, 'More is less'. Keep
captions covering scene shifts down to just a few words. 'LATER . . .' or
'ACTION FORCE HEAD-QUARTERS, LONDON . . .' for instance;
- Remember
that some of our readers can't read - they just look at the pictures. For this
reason, a story that can be understood just on the strength of the visuals
triumphs over one that relies heavily on explanatory captions or
dialogue;
- Don't worry about the hardware and technical details that
some writers of ACTION FORCE like to slip into their scripts. As Larry Hama
says:
"I think the characterisations in any of this stuff is extremely
important. The actual technical stuff, even the military material, is never as
important as putting down very consistent, likeable characters. Very few people
are going to know whether the technical material is right, but everyone will
automatically sense if a character isn't right."
- Keep the
reader interested. If you start at the top of the W, you've got your first hook
- but keep 'em hooked: Larry Hama again:
"I like to engineer my stories
so that there's a little bit at the end of each page that makes them want to
turn the page - a little bit of mystery or a little bit of what's going to
happen next. I generally plot it page-by-page and I try to figure out an average
of four to six frames per page, and it pretty much always works out okay that
way."
Okay, that's about it - however, if you've not written for
comics before (and maybe even if you have), read through the article How to be a
Script Robot by Alan Grant which is attached to this piece. He covers a lot of
the points which are mentioned above and many more which are also applicable to
writing for ACTION FORCE or any other Marvel comic.
Finally, remember
that these are only guidelines - walls for you to push against. Frank Miller
reckons that very little good work is created without supervision of one sort or
another, without strict rules. But rules can be broken. If you have a Very
Convincing Reason . . .
HOW TO BE A SCRIPT
ROBOT
by Alan Grant of 2000 AD
Two years ago I asked the guy who
writes JUDGE DREDD to let me in on the big secret - how do you write a good
comic script?
He looked at me blankly for quite a long time. Then he said, "I
really don't know!"
I'm not sure that I'm qualified to elaborate on his
reply, but I'll try. Scriptwriting, like any other profession requires a period
of apprenticeship, of learning the job. Usually, this is long and arduous and so
badly paid that all but the most enthusiastic fall by the
wayside.
Obviously, the best way to gain experience is to find an
editorial job with a publisher and slog away at sub-editing and rewriting other
people's material until you've picked up enough to be able to write your own
stories. This is the only real way to learn how to write for comics - rewriting
other contributor's stuff until you're sick of it! The majority of 2000 A.D.'s
current writing staff started in this way - including Pat Mills (FLESH,
RO-BUSTERS, THlE ABC WARRIORS) and John Wagner (JUDGE DREDD, ROBOHUNTER and
STRONTIUM DOG) our two top writers. Both have worked on a wide range of comics -
girls' as well as boys' - and in fact their first successful scripts were sold
to the IPC 'humour' comics, which include WHIZZER & CHIPS, CHEEKY, BUSTER,
etc.
However, jobs in publishing are hard to cone by, particularly if you
have no previous experience - the old Catch 22 situation: if you need experience
before you get the job, how can you possibly get that experience first? The
answer: you're going to have to be pretty damn good to start with!
2000
A.D. receives a couple of dozen unsolicited manuscripts each week. Their authors
span the spectrum from 'total inexperience' to 'success in other fields of
writing, but I want a change'. Many - an increasing number - come from people
who write and draw for fanzines. Most of this unsolicited material suffers the
traditional fate - it's returned to its author with a 'thanks but no thanks'
note, though we usually try to give a fair criticism and some encouragement to
all but the absolute no-hopers.
Most of these uncommissioned scripts
suffer from the same faults: the principal one being mistaking a good idea for a
good story. A lot of fanzines suffer from this one defect in the script
department - the writer has what he considers to be a good idea, then proceeds
to set it down in black and white as quickly as possible. Anyone can have a good
idea - everybody in the world must have dozens of good ideas each week - but it
is very difficult to turn a good idea (a story's starting point) into a good
finished piece. One pointer, which might be of help here, is - try to 'see' your
story, visualising it as if it were a movie you were watching. The trick is then
to 'freeze' the frames, deciding which ones best suit the story flow. Most
amateurs waste picture after picture, filling them with long and tedious
explanations and unnecessary dialogue. The picture itself should be strong
enough to convey the story's development; dialogue and captions should be used
sparingly, mainly to bring out characterisation and explain sudden switches in
action. Even professionals don't get it right all the time, but a good maxim to
remember is - never use a caption or balloon containing more than 25
words.
You can be flexible about this, but 25 words is a good 'maximum
average' to stick to. Comics have a limited number of pages to devote to any one
story or character. If JUDGE DREDD regularly rums over 5 pages, containing 28
separate pictures, there's no point in sending us a DREDD script with 45
pictures. You must thoroughly research your market first - find out the average
length of scripts used in the market you want to break into; follow the style
already established - a script about Dredd getting married, for instance, would
be useless to us. . . . unless you are a genius! Use the type of language
already used; no point in submitting scripts with swear-words or blasphemy in
them because comics don't use this type of language.
It is extremely
important to learn how to ruthlessly cut and rewrite your own material; the
better you become at this, the better your stories will be. This is known as
'subbing', and if you're lucky enough to get an editors job it's one of the
first things you'll be expected to learn. However, even in professional
journalism, no one can be taught from cold how to be a good sub-editor; your
flair for the job can be developed and refined, but I believe that if you don't
have an original flair to start with, you never will 'learn' it.
As I
said earlier, few will actually find editorial jobs - so how do you learn how to
sub a story? The fanzines are perhaps the perfect place to start; they are
mostly written by amateurs, and it shows. Choose a story from a 'zine. Do you
like it? No? Well, what's wrong with it? Could you take the original idea -
which is likely to be quite sound, bearing in mind what I said about everybody
in the world having a plethora of good ideas - and rewrite it to make it read
better?
Make a list of the things you feel are wrong with the story,
then re-write it, improving each of the points you've noted. When you've
finished, repeat the same process with the same story. You'll always come up
with extra little touches which hadn't occurred to you before. Of course, you
could go on for ever doing this but sooner or later you'll realise something
else that a good sub-editor needs: the ability to know when you've done enough.
Over-subbing can be every bit as bad as under-subbing. Another common fault,
particularly in scripts written by younger writers, is trying to do far too
much. We receive page after page of artwork that is written, drawn and lettered
by the same person. To my knowledge, there is hardly anybody who can combine
these three talents successfully.
Without wishing to upset any artists,
I'd say the scriptwriter often has the more difficult task. It's his job to
create the situations and characters from cold, then describe them well enough
for the artist to be able to render a satisfactory visualisation. So make up
your mind what you're going to concentrate on.
No one - but no one - will
be asked to write a serial or series for professional comics until they've
proved themselves first via short stories. So forget all about that 50-part epic
starring the world's newest and greatest super-hero you've been dreaming about
since you first learned to read; write a short story. By that I mean something
40 or 50 panels long - which allows for about 50% cutting, which is reas-onable
for a beginner. When DREDD writer John Wagner (or Howard) said "I don't know"
(way back at the beginning of this article), this is what he meant - he couldn't
tell me how to write a story. It's impossible to formularise what makes a good
script, although you can single out many of the elements that must appear in
some combination to make a tale a good one.
Some of the points are:
-
THE HOOK: What grabs the reader and makes him/her want to continue
reading? What makes your story interesting, different? Is it the angle it's
written from, the fresh perspective it gives an old subject, the message you
wanted to get across? A good story needs a good hook. What makes it a story and
not just a record of events and occurrences?
STYLE: In what style will
your story written - from which point of view? It could be told as third-person
or as first-person tale. The latter is a more difficult style to choose - a
certain consistency is necessary, and it makes things very difficult when you
want to describe simultaneous action. Will you tell your story humorously,
bluntly, over-dramatically? Decide before you write it - and stick to your
decision.
ACTION: If your story lacks action - and you want to write for
comics - you had better have a re-think! A certain amount of action is almost
obligatory, but it must occur naturally and spontaneously, enhancing the actual
story. Gratuitous action is a bore, generally speaking. Usually the action
high-point is immediately before the climax or prior to the twist. Even comics
such as SPIDER-MAN which has a reputation for playing up the no-super-hero
aspects of the hero's life - relies very heavily on action.
CHARACTERS:
In comics you have a very limited space for developing and expanding your
characters. Generally, you have to take the strongest points and emphasise them.
The HERO is the most important character, and he shouldn't be upstaged by other
characters. Action stems from the hero - he is the motivator. The story must not
just 'happen' around him - he must play a positive role.
STORY TWISTS:
This point is related to what I said earlier about writing a story rather than
just a record of events. Readers must be intrigued by your story, so you need
unexpected developments that will keep them reading. But again these must appear
naturally and spontaneously - it's no use just grafting on a story twist,
because it won't read properly.
SETTING: If the reader isn't to become
bored, scenes must constantly change, be seen from different angles. Usually
it's the writer who decides the view for any particular picture, although an
increasing number of artists are taking this responsibility on themselves.
Change mustn't be introduced just for the sake of it - change should help the
flow of the story, it should be a logical procession as the story
unfolds.
EMOTION/HUMOUR: These add greatly to a story, but again they
mustn't be forced on it externally. They should complement a story, not
interfere with it.
However, even taking all of the above into consideration,
there's still something extra needed for a proper story to result from the
mixture - and that's the something special you've put into writing it. Writing a
story is often like completing a jigsaw puzzle - you have all the pieces but
where do they fit? The best writers, the best storytellers, are the ones who put
the pieces of the jigsaw together in their own individual styles. I'll leave you
to it now. But remember, when you eventually type up that 'definitive version'
of your story ready for editorial submission . . . read it through just once
more before sending it to people like me!
Alan
Grant
ARTWORK, LAYOUT &
STORYTELLING
Marvel is in the same business as Aristotle - the
business of telling stories. Our business will continue to grow if we continue
to tell good stories well.
Newcomers to the medium often make two very
fundamental mistakes:-
1. That comic strip is easy to read and
therefore easy to write and/or edit. It is not. Never underestimate the
task.
2. That you will succeed in the medium by creating pretty
pictures. The artwork is there to tell a story and if it does not - it fails, no
matter how powerfully, or prettily, drawn.
PAGE
COMPOSITION
It is not important for a page to look attractive in
itself. Marvel Comics are produced to tell stories and, thereby, entertain
children - they are more likely to end up in the dustbin than hang in the Tate.
Artists need reminding of this fact as often as possible. Always remember that
comic art is commercial art and, therefore, not above criticism. Look upon every
page as a page of work-in-progress. If the artist is not doing the job properly,
then it is the editor's job to send the work back until they get it
right!
Page layouts should always be simple and easy to follow. Always
bear in mind that comics are read from left to right and from top to bottom.
Take a look at Example 1 and you will see a selection of
simple-and-easy-to-follow 'Kirby layouts'. If there is an element on the comic
page that distracts the reader from the story, then somebody has got his or her
priorities in the wrong order.
Inset or overlapping frames, pages that
'bleed' and 'Buscema layouts' (see Example 2) should be avoided at all
times.
Oblong shaped frames are very easy on the eye (consider the shape
of a cinema screen), however, this does not mean that every frame should be an
oblong. Always remember that a square frame is, effectively, an oblong frame,
once dialogue has been added. It is not the job of the letterer to place
balloons and captions. It is the job of the penciller to do so and it is the job
of the editor to make sure that he knows
it. In general, pencillers should be
advised to leave the top third of a frame free of any important action or
detail. Balloons float up, after all, and any balloons that are placed over
important action are conflicting with priority one.
PANEL LAYOUTS
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contents copyright (C) 2006 Alan Grant, Richard Starkings & Lee Sullivan.
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