A Way To Write A Script On Your Comedian

March 8, 2014 — Made by way of Todd Tevlin

Intimidated with the aid of the writing system? Having a hard time getting what’s in your head down on paper? (Do you even use paper? If so, does it have “From the desk of…” revealed on the top or is it 23 napkins that you snatched from the coffee save?) In any occasion, I need to train you the “brief and grimy” manner of making a script in your comic. It’s now not as complex as you would possibly think, and also you don’t want any fancy software program to do it either!

The Basics of Writing a Script

Before diving into writing a script, you simply ought to write an outline first. Outlines are a manner of organizing your mind so you can write your script. List every concept as a bullet point, then revise it to find a logical drift for the tale. Once that’s finished, you’ll be capable of approximate the variety of panels wanted to drag off each bullet factor. This will come up with an idea of ways an awful lot you can do within every problem of your comic.

The principle is the identical irrespective of whether you’re creating a webcomic or a 22-web page comic e book. For my comedian, Frik’in Hell, I most effective had to plan out 8-11 panels in keeping with episode, so my scripts tended to be half of a web page at most. If you’re operating on a 22-page comedian you might have around 132 panels per trouble, which is why it’s an amazing idea to create an define first so you realize where you’re going with the tale.

Once you have got an idea for the duration of time each bullet point represents, use your favored writing enforce (pen and paper, computer, telepathic goat) and write down the movement and speak, consisting of key factors that need to be in every panel. Let me emphasize that you do not need to shop for fancy scriptwriting software program for this! An example script may want to appear to be:

Notice how the dialogue is separated into its very own line? That makes it clearer to study, specifically if there’s multiple individual speaking. Notice how some panels describe shot composition (close-ups, wide pictures, down-angles, and so on.)? This will assist to provide an explanation for what you’ve pictured for your head, even though the handiest character in order to examine that is you. Every element topics; the more data which you placed inside the script, the higher prepared you may be to visualize this world when you later draw it.

The image up top is from my notebook for Frik’in Hell (now not pictured: legible handwriting). I use a completely stripped-down scriptwriting method since I’m both the writer and artist. I don’t use panel numbers and such — I bracket-off every panel and positioned the descriptions interior parentheses to separate them from dialogue. As I said, there’s more than one manner to do that. If I had been tackling a 22-page comic, I could in all likelihood now not use this method in any respect.

Are You Handing the Script Over to an Artist?

If you're the author and plan to bypass the script off to an artist, you will want to be meticulous inside the details. Don’t anticipate that the artist will discern out what you want. Make sure that the script has the whole lot this is critical to you so that the artist can consist of it. The example script (above) may be exceptional if you’re also the artist, but if now not, you'll likely need to explain what the hallway looks like, or the fixtures, lights, and facial expressions, just to name a few.

Also, remember incorporating screenplay terminology for your script. Use key phrases like Exterior or Interior, Day or Night, and reference the scene’s region. In the example, I would encompass in my description: INT. HOUSE HALLWAY – NIGHT. Doing this will help the artist parent out in which every shot is located, as there may be times when more than one places are shown in the equal web page.

Of route there’s a first-rate line among “exact-orientated” and “dictator.” Your artist needs some degree of innovative manipulate and have to now not be dealt with as a robot to your whims. (“Robot to Your Whims” feels like a band call… if absolutely everyone uses that, I would love credit score please.) Your script should tell the tale, now not micromanage the look of each pen stroke. That’s the artist’s process!

For more records approximately this technique, take a look at out Gene Kelly’s article on Rocketbot called Writing a Comic Script: From Plot to Outline to Final Draft.

How To Write A Script For Your Comic by way of Todd Tevlin is licensed below a Creative Commons Attribution 4.zero International License.makingcomics.com