Comic (A Writer's) Relief (Patreon)

Image by Tail-blazer for upcoming story

By the time you read this, I can at least claim to have been the author of three continuing webcomics... with some one-shots in the works. If you read this in the future, I might have more, and if I don't kick future me's butt and ask her what the hell she's doing laying around.  In many ways, writing comics can be easier than writing stories. After all, your artist is doing the heavy lifting on visuals. Your descriptions go to them and can be more of a mechanical language than an artistic one. And if you are just the dialogue writer for a piece already made, that can in some ways be even less work, though different.

So let's break down the type of comic writing, the benefits and challenges, and how you can be an artist’s best friend and ace in the hole, and you be theirs as well.

There are PLENTY of comic creators in the indie world who are their own writers, and many of them pull it off splendidly. But even some gifted on both ends of these projects can find it VERY hard to run the whole boat. What we call wearing too many hats. It takes an extraordinary effort to plan, write, edit, draw color shade and publish a project and on tight deadlines... in most cases, either one side of it will be much more excellent quality than the other, or all sides will be less than what they could be. Having a creative partner you are on the same page with (or in most cases are ;) ) can be an incredible lifesaver. I know on my and Tail-Blazer's "Mr. Hare" we try our darnedest to boost each other’s quality and carry our own weight.

Some artists know exactly what they want, and all they need is a good dialogue writer. Dialogue is both a gift and a skill. Some people carry it easily. Some have to shape it over time, but knowing what to say and what to leave unsaid is very important. And if you are writing for a scene that is already in stone, you better get all the notes you can from what the artist thinks is going on in that scene. In many ways, it takes less work but more precision because your job has so many limitations.

Then there are you, basic scriptwriters. You create the scenes and dialogue for the targeted piece of a story. You may have team meetings that discuss arcs, where you want to go, and how you will get there—what moments matter and what would kill the pacing. You have to remember, comics are like.. if a film and a book had a baby. You don't have all the frames to tell every little moment, and you don't have all the paragraphs to describe every little feeling. Together you must look into the key pieces to this moment, this conversation, and keep it moving. As a writer, this is one of the biggest challenges for me, to cut cut cut, so I don't hand my artist a 60-page conversation. Three pages in a book can quickly become 60 comic book pages. You have to root out what is critical and what is fluff, same as your artist deciding the keyframe and the frames we'll never see.

The last type goes beyond writing to a scene’s mission, but world developing. Artists are very, very good at creating the aesthetic and mechanics of a world, but if you pair with someone who has a brilliant world but is weaker at having characters wander and interact with it, you must learn to be a navigator.

When making Mr. Hare, the first thing I did was ask poor Tail hundreds of questions. The character had existed as an IP, but its purpose had come to an end. He liked the character and the world but had no idea what to do with it next. So my first questions are always, "What kind of stories do you love" if you’re gonna build a ship to sail through their see narratively... you best know what your artist enjoys.  Finds where all the teams’ passions overlap is so significant because when everyone loves what they are working on, the love with shine through in the product. What stories do you like? What tropes do you hate? What things would you like to speak to?

Some people start with a character and just see where it goes. Some begin with an event and see how characters react, but I like to start with the emotional core in any collaborative project. Is this a story about loss, forgiveness, about growth? These are things audiences connect to, and they exist in ALL narratives and art forms. We want to cover loss, love, and healing in Mr. Hare? Great. What kind of characters fit that journey. People who have shared pasts but different lives. People who avoid pain in art and love but open and share it with one another. When we know our core, the hundreds of questions we can ask about a character will all revolve around a center. Who did they lose, why, how do they feel about it, why is now different. Find the core your artist cares about, and craft together a journey of exploring it with characters people really want to root for.

I once told my friend the perfect song is one that if you listen to just the instrumental version or just read the lyrics, you will get both the same mood and story from both. If you ever write a comic... this should be your goal... that the images with no words... and the words with no images strike the same emotional chord. That is the benefit of comics, you are the song and the lyrics, and together you move the audience.

I hope my first blog wasn't too boring,

Luv ya

-jess