The Art of Comic Book Writing: The Definitive Guide to Outlining, Scripting, and Pitching Your Sequential Art Stories

by Mark Kneece

A practical guide for beginner and advanced comic book writers that outlines the steps needed to successfully craft a story for sequential art.
     With this latest book in the SCAD Creative Essentials series from the esteemed Savannah College of Art and Design, comics writer and instructor Mark Kneece gives aspiring comic book writers the essential tools they need to write scripts for sequential art with confidence and success. He provides a practical set of guidelines favored by many comic book publishers and uses a unique trial and error approach to show would-be scribes the potential pitfalls they might encounter when seeking a career in comics writing. Supported by examples of scripting from SCAD's students, faculty, and alumni, The Art of Comic Book Writing  strips away the mysteries of this popular artform and provides real-world advice and easy-to-follow examples for those looking to write for the comics medium.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Comics, Art, Reference, Graphic Novels Comics, How To

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 18, 2015

About the author

Mark Kneece has written stories for numerous comics, including Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. He helped found the sequential art department at the Savannah College of Art and Design and teaches comics writing as a professor of sequential art. He lives in Savannah, Georgia.

Reviews

[Olena V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ця книга замінила мені семестр теорії в школі.

[Apryl Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really had no idea how little I knew about comic books until I had the opportunity to read "The Art of Comic Book Writing!" Having fully expected a graphic design workbook, what a surprise to discover a Creative Writing 101...followed by the realization there is so much more technically specific mastery involved than basic short-story writing.

I learned much of my French along with my daughters as we enjoyed Boule et Bill, Asterix et Obelix, Tintin, and others. Having grown up in the USA, my experience of the Sunday funnies was a skimming glance. The next time I return to Bibliotheque Méjannes (Aix-en-Provence), I will certainly grab a beanbag chair for a long explore of les BDs (Bands-Dessinées)!

[Scott Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be very helpful in teaching my creative writing class this year as I teach a section on writing graphic novel script in my class. It is the last of four units in my class and some of the students really love the unit. I will see how the class, as a whole, ranks it this year. The information in the book helped me to strengthen the unit and I hope the unit is a much stronger teaching unit by next year. Now I need to find an artist to work with some of my scripts.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.5 of 5

I have to admit that when I see something that claims to be the "definitive guide" to anything, I tend to be skeptical.

Author Mark Kneece teaches comics writing (at the Savannah College of Art and Design). I suspect that much of this book comes from his lessons for his class. But the problem with a "how-to" type of book is that you have to presume the reader doesn't know anything and start at the very beginning. So how much information is going to be in a 192 page book?

The answer is: a surprising amount of information.

Although moderately simple, this book packs a good deal of information on the basics of writing (and selling/pitching) a graphic novel. Some of the information is rather 'generic' tips on writing in general. How to create interesting characters; how to build a climax in your story. But it also includes information very specific to comics/graphic novels: how to communicate with and write for an artist; formatting a comic script.

There was one tip that I was hoping to find but didn't -- how do you build a story within the 20+ pages of a comic book and at the same time, build the story for a larger story arc. This, to me, would be the real art of comic book writing.

The book is nicely illustrated with plenty of examples of how a page might look based on the script, and the book is laid out in a very simple, easy-to-read fashion (with word balloons to help identify important messages). It is a very nice book for the beginner and intermediate comic book writer. I would still recommend Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics for the more advanced reader/writers.

Overall, I was glad to have read this and I did get some valuable information from it, though I would not declare it to be the 'definitive' guide on the subject of comic book writing.

Looking for a good book? The Art of Comic Book Writing by Mark Kneece, is a helpful tool for the budding comic book writer - a good first step on the path to a potential career.

I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of concise information on scripting, writing, and pitching comics. It has a lot of good advise about crafting your comic and setting it up while covering pitfalls new writers make. Being able to look at comic scripts with notes of what is working and why and vise versa was good because that is never something anyone just sees from reading comics. Something, though, while I was reading kept making me feel that the information was too quick, that there was more to say on stuff yet it was a decently long book so I'm not sure what could have been missed. Also, this is just personal feelings but, I don't like the word "definitive" in the subtitle because no writing book ever has all the information you need which even the author said to keep working on and learning. Yet, this is a book I will be referencing as I work on my first comic script and would recommend to those interested in learning the craft.

[Dana Gricken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative. This is a quick, simple guide for anyone looking to write comic books, or is just curious about the process.

This book has helped me a lot, and I intend to read it again and again. With the knowledge I gained, I intend to write my first comic book soon.

Here's to great comic book writing!

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the comic writing books I've come across this one has been most helpful. Rather than trying to get into the dreamy weeds of how to come up with stories, this book is pure mechanics and assumes you have ideas you're looking to pursue, then gives you the roadmap to pursue them in a clear and semi-industry-standard way.

If you're interested in writing comics, this is a rock solid start.

[Dan Maltbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative.

Great technical manual for the burgeoning comics writer. Panel explanations, pacing issues, and how to pitch your work are all covered.

[Pat Taber · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't really what I was looking for. Though I guess I'm not clear on what I *was* looking for. I think I wanted more of a "how to write a comic script" than a "how to write" book.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Definitely added to my list of books to purchase. Very informative, with a load of information about writing specifically for creating comics & writing with collaboration of the artist and publisher in mind. Really makes me wish I took Sequential Art at SCAD—this author is very knowledgeable & helpful with his explanations.

[Frances · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a how to book for those who write the story for comic books. Covering all the things one needs to do to be ready to turn your work over to the artist to draw and including what you need to do to include as you try to sell it to a publisher. This book would be interesting to anyone who is considering this type of writing.

[L.A. Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good detail on writing but not so much on the business.

[Ajorgebatican · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative! Now onto developing story of my webcomic and apply all my learnings from this book 😌 will need to revisit some parts time to time for a refresher.

[Sylvan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wouldn't mind getting a hold of this book when it gets published. I feel like this book is better read in a physical format than on a kindle. >: Besides, for someone who wants to illustrate and write a story, this would be something I would love to refer off of a lot. I did find a new favorite artist though... yay! :D

[Wes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good general information

I bought this book simply looking for examples of comic script format but got a good general reference book instead. Don't get me wrong, there are tons of examples, way more than I anticipated but this is really a solid textbook and I would suggest it to anyone interested in comic writing.

[Dork · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a few other books on comic writing and this has practical advice I'd not seen elsewhere. The example art is largely meh and sometimes not helpful, but since the emphasis is writing it's not a huge detriment.

I'll want to refer back to this one.

[Dale Carothers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a prose writer who has just started writing comic scripts. This is the best book about comic writing that I've read so far. Lots of practical information about how scripts work & what a writer can do to avoid rookie pitfalls. Just the book I was looking for.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great examples of first draft scripts and illustrated pages, and then revised scripts and pages.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm currently trying to break into comics as both an indie writer and illustrator. Most of my education for comics has been on the illustrative side, while most of my creative writing education has been for stageplays and short stories. At the same time, most of my experience with other indie writers could vastly benefit from reading this book, especially seeing how some struggle with a first issue.

The one big criticism is that while it's excellent in guiding a writer in writing a single issue, it isn't terribly spectacular in guiding a writer for a serial comic. While it's possible to use the advice in this textbook to break down a full story arc, the comics industry can be more nuanced in that you have to leave a story a little open ended in case for some reason you cease to be the primary writer after a brief arc, or you book gets an abbreviated run from what was planned.

The book also gets a little repetative in places, and as an illustrator, I did have to skip several sections explaining how a writer needs to consider the feelings of the artist. But the later is an issue I had solely because I already experience them, playing both roles and having already come across those examples in real life.

It's a 101 writing course, but it's a pretty good 101 course that's an excellent place to start for writers, and even some writers who just struggle with finishing their first issue on a new concept.