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Comics Experience Guide to Writing Comics: Scripting Your Story Ideas from Start to Finish
Unlock the secrets to comic-writing success! "You have a story tell. It's your story... These are ways to help you get your story out, to help you become the writer inside of yourself." This is the book on writing you've been waiting for, a nuts-and-bolts guide to writing fiction for comics. While it is true that there is no set way to write a comic book script, no set format, no industry standard, it is equally true that someone learning to write comics needs structure. That's where Comics Experience© Guide to Writing Comics can help. Comics veteran Andy Schmidt offers sage advice and practical instruction for everything from writing realistic dialogue to communicating your ideas to other comics professionals. Inside you'll • 23 exercises to help you put fundamental writing principles into practice • Sample script formats, page-by-page outlines, scene-by-scene outlines and short pitches that show you exactly how to create these important components of the writing process • Diagrams and pages from published comics to illustrate key concepts • Tips on professional development, networking and navigating the comics industryThese pages include all the tools you need to write great comics, but where do you begin? Begin with yourself. You have to know--not You can do this, and this guide will help. Now, begin with Chapter 1...
178 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 19, 2018
49 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 12, 2021
A guy who might lose his home to the bank wrote a book to promote his other books, and his courses. I doubt the courses are any better.
The text is better than the legendary authors I have read before and who end up with something that resembles hanging up with them. Most probably the legends are just idiots who stumbled into fame with a few good stories, or maybe they are unwilling to share their incredible skill. From this perspective Schmidt is a better choice. But he is going to bull* you as well.
> But in order to tell it in comics, you have to be extremely good at all the obvious things that go with telling stories: character development, crafting character arcs, setting up conflict, plotting and creating highs and lows for your characters.
While character development and character arc are about the same, but purists will argue they are so much different, yea, he can justify wasting more words. But plotting is pretty much about setting up conflict. and creating high and lows for your characters is just part of the character arc.
> What I’ve learned through years of teaching, both as a comics editor (on staff at Marvel Comics and IDW Publishing) and through my Introduction to Writing Comics class at Comics Experience, is another simple truth: While it is true that \[...\]
How amazing he can be! Meh. And such a long introduction for a ”simple” truth. That starts with ”while it is true”.
Is there a switch somewhere? People who can't express themselves write stories for the Comic books? After all this sort of crap is after a few rewrites and a couple of editors going through the text. This guy's scripts should be barely readable, as the text is for the inker and the letterer, and not the general public.
And he is recommending Bendis. Is this because Schmidt himself does not have anything better to add? Or is it the same Marvel phenomenon in which each collaborator reverently kisses the behinds of other Marvel employees?
> This book, based on the online Introduction to Comics Writing class that I created when I founded Comics Experience, is not a true substitute for the course itself.
Oh. So the award winning nobody has to sell courses and books to make next month's rent. Truly a successful career. I can imagine an ”award winning” Brad Pitt asking the audience to buy his action figures and photos on their way out.
Like Bendis, the ”Guide” to ”writing” comics involves a lot of drawn panels, none of them illustrating the given text.
Chapter 1: Story
> The word story brings to mind movies, novels, comics and, sometimes, terrifying tales around a campfire. All stories have common elements, but defining exactly what a story is can be tricky.
That is the opening. Huh?
And than he jumps into what is a writer, and what is a penciler.
Is this guy for real?
Scene. What is a scene?
> Sometimes a scene occurs to me almost completely written, and it will just take over my mind. Usually, a scene sets up a situation and has more than one character in it. This happens to me fairly regularly. My comic book Achilles Inc. \[...\]
What a disgusting person. So far he said nothing about the Story. He jumps over to scene. What is a scene? Empty words. But did you know this a-hole has a book to sell?
Chapter 2: Characters
> Most people don’t really understand the importance of characters to a story. But the truth is that it’s not the concept behind a story or the plot itself that make us want to come back, though those are the two things we tend to jump to when we describe a story we’ve read or seen. It’s the characters. We want to spend time with them again and again.
That is the first paragraph.
And now the reader can make far better characters knowing that most people don't really understand.
And again, this moron speaks truth.
No detail. A picture with some sketches thrown in. And now it's time for
Character and Plot.
The moron has not said anything about the character, but what about character AND plot? The plot was also not referenced before. But who cares?
I turned to the last pages. An amateurish picture of the author, done by someone with the same last name spelling, meaning the dead beat could not afford someone with enough skill NOT to cut the top of his head.
The text is better than the legendary authors I have read before and who end up with something that resembles hanging up with them. Most probably the legends are just idiots who stumbled into fame with a few good stories, or maybe they are unwilling to share their incredible skill. From this perspective Schmidt is a better choice. But he is going to bull* you as well.
> But in order to tell it in comics, you have to be extremely good at all the obvious things that go with telling stories: character development, crafting character arcs, setting up conflict, plotting and creating highs and lows for your characters.
While character development and character arc are about the same, but purists will argue they are so much different, yea, he can justify wasting more words. But plotting is pretty much about setting up conflict. and creating high and lows for your characters is just part of the character arc.
> What I’ve learned through years of teaching, both as a comics editor (on staff at Marvel Comics and IDW Publishing) and through my Introduction to Writing Comics class at Comics Experience, is another simple truth: While it is true that \[...\]
How amazing he can be! Meh. And such a long introduction for a ”simple” truth. That starts with ”while it is true”.
Is there a switch somewhere? People who can't express themselves write stories for the Comic books? After all this sort of crap is after a few rewrites and a couple of editors going through the text. This guy's scripts should be barely readable, as the text is for the inker and the letterer, and not the general public.
And he is recommending Bendis. Is this because Schmidt himself does not have anything better to add? Or is it the same Marvel phenomenon in which each collaborator reverently kisses the behinds of other Marvel employees?
> This book, based on the online Introduction to Comics Writing class that I created when I founded Comics Experience, is not a true substitute for the course itself.
Oh. So the award winning nobody has to sell courses and books to make next month's rent. Truly a successful career. I can imagine an ”award winning” Brad Pitt asking the audience to buy his action figures and photos on their way out.
Like Bendis, the ”Guide” to ”writing” comics involves a lot of drawn panels, none of them illustrating the given text.
Chapter 1: Story
> The word story brings to mind movies, novels, comics and, sometimes, terrifying tales around a campfire. All stories have common elements, but defining exactly what a story is can be tricky.
That is the opening. Huh?
And than he jumps into what is a writer, and what is a penciler.
Is this guy for real?
Scene. What is a scene?
> Sometimes a scene occurs to me almost completely written, and it will just take over my mind. Usually, a scene sets up a situation and has more than one character in it. This happens to me fairly regularly. My comic book Achilles Inc. \[...\]
What a disgusting person. So far he said nothing about the Story. He jumps over to scene. What is a scene? Empty words. But did you know this a-hole has a book to sell?
Chapter 2: Characters
> Most people don’t really understand the importance of characters to a story. But the truth is that it’s not the concept behind a story or the plot itself that make us want to come back, though those are the two things we tend to jump to when we describe a story we’ve read or seen. It’s the characters. We want to spend time with them again and again.
That is the first paragraph.
And now the reader can make far better characters knowing that most people don't really understand.
And again, this moron speaks truth.
No detail. A picture with some sketches thrown in. And now it's time for
Character and Plot.
The moron has not said anything about the character, but what about character AND plot? The plot was also not referenced before. But who cares?
I turned to the last pages. An amateurish picture of the author, done by someone with the same last name spelling, meaning the dead beat could not afford someone with enough skill NOT to cut the top of his head.
July 18, 2018
Way back in 2010 I naively thought I'd take a superhero novel I'd written and turn it into a graphic novel. Tales of the Scarlet Knight Comic Book #1 I had folded up sheets of paper to make my own comics as a kid so how hard could this be? Really hard as it turns out.
This book gets into a lot of the pitfalls I ran into. If you're a writer who can draw it's a little easier because you can sketch things out but if you're like me and can't draw more than stick figures it gets harder. You have to see everything in your head and try to divide the panels and dialog balloons and sound effects accordingly. It can be really tricky, especially if you're not familiar with the artist you're working with.
About the first half or so of the book is just dedicated to creating the story itself. Then there are chapters on creating the actual layouts. In that way it's probably more useful for beginners than more experienced people. ON the Comics Experience website you can look at old scripts and even get a script template that is helpful if you're trying to figure out how to write a script.
There's also some advice at the end about approaching people at conventions and such. If you're a writer who can't really draw finding an artist is pretty difficult unless you know someone. So this covers pretty much all parts of the process, though maybe not extremely in-depth all the time. Still, it should be able to give you a running start.
This book gets into a lot of the pitfalls I ran into. If you're a writer who can draw it's a little easier because you can sketch things out but if you're like me and can't draw more than stick figures it gets harder. You have to see everything in your head and try to divide the panels and dialog balloons and sound effects accordingly. It can be really tricky, especially if you're not familiar with the artist you're working with.
About the first half or so of the book is just dedicated to creating the story itself. Then there are chapters on creating the actual layouts. In that way it's probably more useful for beginners than more experienced people. ON the Comics Experience website you can look at old scripts and even get a script template that is helpful if you're trying to figure out how to write a script.
There's also some advice at the end about approaching people at conventions and such. If you're a writer who can't really draw finding an artist is pretty difficult unless you know someone. So this covers pretty much all parts of the process, though maybe not extremely in-depth all the time. Still, it should be able to give you a running start.
September 2, 2019
He leído este libro en la edición española publicada por Anaya/Espacio de diseño, y debo decir que lo contado por Andy Schmidt es una lectura muy recomendable para dar unos primeros pasos en el mundo del cómics. Destaca el apartado final, hablando sobre la industria, contactos y otros temas que suelen dejarse de lado en este tipo de volúmenes.
Eso sí, el volumen publicado en España adolece de un diseño bastante pasado de moda, además que en ocasiones la traducción y corrección son mejorables a lo largo de toda la obra. Si no fuera por esto, sin duda tendría una estrella más.
Eso sí, el volumen publicado en España adolece de un diseño bastante pasado de moda, además que en ocasiones la traducción y corrección son mejorables a lo largo de toda la obra. Si no fuera por esto, sin duda tendría una estrella más.
January 27, 2019
A good intro for beginners.
March 5, 2021
It's what is says, covers all aspects of writing a comic book.
January 29, 2024
Un buen libro de referencia para iniciarse en la escritura de guiones de cómic. Está más orientado a eso que al dibujo, así que cumple con lo que promete.
May 2, 2021
Durante la cuarentena comencé a aprender a dibujar gracias a las colecciones de libros del tipo "Aprende a dibujar cómic" o "Aprende a dibujar manga". Hay muchos libros para aquellos que quieran empezar a dibujar al estilo cómic o manga, pero, ¿y si uno quiere empezar a escribir historias para cómics? De este tipo de manuales o libros hay pocos, al menos yo he encontrado una lista muy reducida. Lo que os traigo hoy es eso mismo: una guía para escribir cómics. Y viene gracia a Anaya Multimedia.
El autor nos ofrece con este libro unos principios básicos de cómo escribir ficción, no solo en cómics (aunque es el principal objetivo evidentemente) sino también en cualquier formato, pues sus indicaciones se pueden extrapolar perfectamente a las novelas. Toda la información, que prácticamente es un curso escrito, está divida en tres secciones, con un total de doce capítulos.
La primera sección es "Una historia rompedora". Aquí se tratan los puntos fundamentales de la historia. Hay una serie de definiciones de la industria y herramientas de trabajo al inicio, divididas por temáticas o grupos. Posteriormente comienza desde los cimientos, es decir, con el concepto del high concept o idea primera y simple. No solo se centra en la historia y en la idea primaria, sino que hay un capítulo dedicado a los personajes, como los ingredientes esenciales para su buena construcción, las características que tienen, con sus fortalezas y sus desventajas, su visualización, la apariencia, el arco del personaje, etc. La idea principal tiene su capítulo independiente, donde aprenderemos las cuatro partes más importantes de la idea, los antagonistas y obstáculos que tendrán los personajes, el conflicto general, la creación de villanos, la estructura de la historia, las escenas, etc. Cierra esta sección el capítulo cuatro, "Enriquece la historia", donde el lector adquirirá conocimientos como el tema, el simbolismo o la imaginería, las herramientas para narrar (con los distintos narradores que existen), el tiempo, el ritmo, el contraste o el género y/o la combinación de géneros.
La segunda sección o parte se titula "Escribir cómics". En esta, con un total de seis capítulos, tenemos las claves para aprender y perfeccionar nuestra historia a través de las capas (la estructura en capítulos) o conceptos como punto de inflexión de los personajes frente a punto de inflexión del argumento, limpieza del borrador, etc. El borrador también tiene su capítulo, donde se definen los números, cómo hacer el borrador del primer número, el borrador por páginas o escenas, etc. El lector aprenderá a escribir cómics de forma visual (con un formato de guion, reglas para las viñetas, tipos de descripciones y de viñetas, etc.) y de forma visual para el lector (fluidez de la lectura, cuadrículas de viñetas, la relación que debe tener el texto con el arte, etc.). Cierra la sección un capítulo dedicado a escribir los diálogos (con los efectos de sonidos, cómo hacer un diálogo verosímil, orden y credibilidad, posición de los bocadillos) y otro con un resumen y guía rápida de todo lo que se ha visto hasta aquí.
La tercera y última parte, "Navegar por la industria del cómic", centrado en esta industria. Hay consejos para perfeccionar nuestro trabajo y desarrollar nuestra propia voz, crear una red de contactos, temas de colaboraciones, cómo llevar a cabo una conversación, la opción de la autopublicación, etc. Es el más corto y el que está centrado más en el aspecto de negocios y al económico.
El libro está pensando para personas novatas en la materia, es decir, aquellos que quieren escribir un cómic pero que nunca lo han hecho, y para ya veteranos, con muchos consejos para mejorar las historias y los personajes. Cada capítulo cierra con un resumen con los conceptos más importantes tratados en el mismo. Además, en cada uno encontramos ejercicios para realizar a medida que estamos leyendo. Son ejercicios prácticos para poner a prueba lo aprendido o lo dicho en ese apartado. Incluso el autor nos ofrece unos ejemplos prácticos o pequeñas propuestas.
Por último, la edición es espectacular. Además de la tipografía de la letra muy acertada, hay numerosos cuadros y multitud de ilustraciones. Estas son bocetos o creaciones de cómics desconocidos en España o que nunca llegaron a ver la luz, pero muy ilustrativos que le da mucha más belleza a este imprescindible volumen. Si os interesa el tema de la escritura, no solo de un cómic, sino de una novela y no sabéis por dónde empezar, este es vuestro libro.
https://lagranbibliotecadedavid.blogs...
El autor nos ofrece con este libro unos principios básicos de cómo escribir ficción, no solo en cómics (aunque es el principal objetivo evidentemente) sino también en cualquier formato, pues sus indicaciones se pueden extrapolar perfectamente a las novelas. Toda la información, que prácticamente es un curso escrito, está divida en tres secciones, con un total de doce capítulos.
La primera sección es "Una historia rompedora". Aquí se tratan los puntos fundamentales de la historia. Hay una serie de definiciones de la industria y herramientas de trabajo al inicio, divididas por temáticas o grupos. Posteriormente comienza desde los cimientos, es decir, con el concepto del high concept o idea primera y simple. No solo se centra en la historia y en la idea primaria, sino que hay un capítulo dedicado a los personajes, como los ingredientes esenciales para su buena construcción, las características que tienen, con sus fortalezas y sus desventajas, su visualización, la apariencia, el arco del personaje, etc. La idea principal tiene su capítulo independiente, donde aprenderemos las cuatro partes más importantes de la idea, los antagonistas y obstáculos que tendrán los personajes, el conflicto general, la creación de villanos, la estructura de la historia, las escenas, etc. Cierra esta sección el capítulo cuatro, "Enriquece la historia", donde el lector adquirirá conocimientos como el tema, el simbolismo o la imaginería, las herramientas para narrar (con los distintos narradores que existen), el tiempo, el ritmo, el contraste o el género y/o la combinación de géneros.
La segunda sección o parte se titula "Escribir cómics". En esta, con un total de seis capítulos, tenemos las claves para aprender y perfeccionar nuestra historia a través de las capas (la estructura en capítulos) o conceptos como punto de inflexión de los personajes frente a punto de inflexión del argumento, limpieza del borrador, etc. El borrador también tiene su capítulo, donde se definen los números, cómo hacer el borrador del primer número, el borrador por páginas o escenas, etc. El lector aprenderá a escribir cómics de forma visual (con un formato de guion, reglas para las viñetas, tipos de descripciones y de viñetas, etc.) y de forma visual para el lector (fluidez de la lectura, cuadrículas de viñetas, la relación que debe tener el texto con el arte, etc.). Cierra la sección un capítulo dedicado a escribir los diálogos (con los efectos de sonidos, cómo hacer un diálogo verosímil, orden y credibilidad, posición de los bocadillos) y otro con un resumen y guía rápida de todo lo que se ha visto hasta aquí.
La tercera y última parte, "Navegar por la industria del cómic", centrado en esta industria. Hay consejos para perfeccionar nuestro trabajo y desarrollar nuestra propia voz, crear una red de contactos, temas de colaboraciones, cómo llevar a cabo una conversación, la opción de la autopublicación, etc. Es el más corto y el que está centrado más en el aspecto de negocios y al económico.
El libro está pensando para personas novatas en la materia, es decir, aquellos que quieren escribir un cómic pero que nunca lo han hecho, y para ya veteranos, con muchos consejos para mejorar las historias y los personajes. Cada capítulo cierra con un resumen con los conceptos más importantes tratados en el mismo. Además, en cada uno encontramos ejercicios para realizar a medida que estamos leyendo. Son ejercicios prácticos para poner a prueba lo aprendido o lo dicho en ese apartado. Incluso el autor nos ofrece unos ejemplos prácticos o pequeñas propuestas.
Por último, la edición es espectacular. Además de la tipografía de la letra muy acertada, hay numerosos cuadros y multitud de ilustraciones. Estas son bocetos o creaciones de cómics desconocidos en España o que nunca llegaron a ver la luz, pero muy ilustrativos que le da mucha más belleza a este imprescindible volumen. Si os interesa el tema de la escritura, no solo de un cómic, sino de una novela y no sabéis por dónde empezar, este es vuestro libro.
https://lagranbibliotecadedavid.blogs...
May 21, 2018
I received this book as an advanced reader's copy and was very excited to read this being a huge graphic novel enthusiast and with graphic novels being widely popular in my library, I thought this would fit in well with our collection. However, I was not expecting the book to be so wordy. Graphic novels as we all know have minimal words except within the dialogue and the pictures/art/graphics tell most of the story. Our patrons will be confused with this book due to the fact that all of the steps were written in and there were not enough visuals to support or breakdown each step in developing the perfect graphic novel. Our patrons along with myself are visual learners when it comes to how to books which is why we are only giving this book 3 stars!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews