Script-style
I bought a couple of books the other day to explore my nascent interest in comics scriptwriting. I don't know how it happened, but several months ago I decided that I'd like to write some graphic novels, despite the fact that I'd never really had any interest in reading them. Go figure. So, I'm working my way into reading The Sandman series and scouting around for other comics that might catch my interest, and I thought it might be useful to get some books on writing comics to see how it's done.
The first book I got, Alan Moore's Writing for Comics, is an extended essay he wrote several years ago, near the beginning of his career, together with an afterword written after he'd become a jaded professional. The second book, Writers on Comics Scriptwriting, is a collection of interviews with writers like Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Grant Morrison, etc. I finished the Moore book; it's really short, but gives a good overview of the process he goes through to come up with a script. I'm slowly picking my way through the interviews, reading about just one or two writers every couple of days.
Of course, when writing any kind of story, a lot of the issues are the same--developing characters, tying together themes and plots, creating settings, and all that--so the basics of good storytelling don't change, and neither of the books have anything new to say about that. What I find interesting about writing for comics is the increased emphasis on story structure. Comics writers usually have a set number of pages in which to tell their story, so there's a lot of thought that goes into how the story is paced and structured to fit within that space. Structure's also important because you aren't able to drown the reader in a river of words. Because the writer needs to economise on the number of words he uses to tell the story, and even the number of images used to convey the story, he needs to be more aware of what the key images are and how to structure them into a coherent, cohesive whole. I also like how writing comics forces you to think more visually, which is a skill that I hope to carry over to my regular fiction writing.
I'm going to try drafting some of my current stories in script-style to see if that can get my brain thinking about them in ways that will enable me to fill in the holes. I know it's easier for me to write a screenplay than to draft a regular story. We'll see how this goes.
The first book I got, Alan Moore's Writing for Comics, is an extended essay he wrote several years ago, near the beginning of his career, together with an afterword written after he'd become a jaded professional. The second book, Writers on Comics Scriptwriting, is a collection of interviews with writers like Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Grant Morrison, etc. I finished the Moore book; it's really short, but gives a good overview of the process he goes through to come up with a script. I'm slowly picking my way through the interviews, reading about just one or two writers every couple of days.
Of course, when writing any kind of story, a lot of the issues are the same--developing characters, tying together themes and plots, creating settings, and all that--so the basics of good storytelling don't change, and neither of the books have anything new to say about that. What I find interesting about writing for comics is the increased emphasis on story structure. Comics writers usually have a set number of pages in which to tell their story, so there's a lot of thought that goes into how the story is paced and structured to fit within that space. Structure's also important because you aren't able to drown the reader in a river of words. Because the writer needs to economise on the number of words he uses to tell the story, and even the number of images used to convey the story, he needs to be more aware of what the key images are and how to structure them into a coherent, cohesive whole. I also like how writing comics forces you to think more visually, which is a skill that I hope to carry over to my regular fiction writing.
I'm going to try drafting some of my current stories in script-style to see if that can get my brain thinking about them in ways that will enable me to fill in the holes. I know it's easier for me to write a screenplay than to draft a regular story. We'll see how this goes.
posted by tinatsu at 10:41 AM
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