How to write comics

December 27, 2015 8:55 PM

Comics writer Kieron Gillen answers the question How do you go from story idea to finished script? Further tips from Kelly Sue DeConnick, Warren Ellis and Mort Weisinger via Alan Moore.
posted by Artw (8 comments total)

From the last link:

DW: I remember at the time you were worried that DC might do ‘Kid Rorschach' or something…

AM: Well, it was always possible, you never know what DC might do: ‘Blot the dog' (laughter)

Either of those would have been preferable to Walter Kovacs actually getting a ride from Travis Bickle.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:25 PM on December 27, 2015

you never know what DC might do: ‘Blot the dog' (laughter)

Meanwhile, in New York Los Angeles...
posted by Mezentian at 11:04 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

That interview is a bit dusty, it's got some great stuff on craft though.
posted by Artw at 11:35 PM on December 27, 2015

I haven't yet made it too far through the Alan Moore interview, but he's saying wonderful things about craft and practice and trusting one's own game, and I'm looking forward to completing it. Any interview that includes someone knowledgeably saying "Neil Gaiman nearly shat" is one that will assuredly get and hold my attention.
posted by bryon at 1:09 AM on December 28, 2015

This was so wonderful and much needed right now.
posted by davejh at 3:14 AM on December 28, 2015

Whoa, bookmarked.

(I'm up to my neck in prose-fic work right now but once I get on top of my deadlines one of my to-do items is Charlie's First Comic Script, because I've got a story idea that won't work as a regular novel trying to eat its way out of my head. And the whole pacing thing? Is really different from what I'm used to—because the number-of-pages as a hard constraint is just so wrong if you write novels: Author-to-editor, "erm, this one's going long, can I have an extra hundred pages?" Editor-to-author: "production says yeah, whatevs".)
posted by cstross at 4:35 AM on December 28, 2015 [6 favorites]

It seems to be down at the moment, but the Comic Book Script Archive (mentioned in the DeConnick link) is really interesting. There's a variety of formats, but making things clear for the artist/editor is the main thing. They even have a blank template to get you started.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:13 AM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]

Image comics just podcasts a couple of panels which go into crafty matters and are well worth a listen:
Where Creators Own Craft
Where Creators Own Worlds
Where Creators Own Action
posted by Artw at 2:37 PM on December 28, 2015