Writing for Animation, Comics, and Games

by Christy Marx

Writing for Animation, Comics, and Games explains the practical aspects of creating scripts for animation, comics, graphic novels, and computer games. It details how you can create scripts that are in the right industry format, and follow the expected rules for you to put your best foot forward to help you break-in to the trade. This book explains approaches to writing for exterior storytelling (animation, games); interior/exterior storytelling (comics and graphic novels), as well as considerations for non-linear computer games in the shortest, pithiest, and most economical way. The author offers insider's advice on how you can present work as professional, how to meet deadlines, how visual writing differs from prose, and the art of collaboration.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Comics, Game Design, Reference, Film

226 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

About the author

Christy Marx has had an eclectic career as a transmedia writer, TV and animation series developer, game designer and narrative designer. Over the years, she has worked on live-action television, film, animation, videogames, comic books, graphic novels, manga, and non-fiction educational books.

She began her game design career creating award-winning adventure games for Sierra On-Line, and went on to work on console, MMO, Facebook, and mobile games.

Christy was awarded the Writers Guild of America/Animation Writers Caucus Award for contributions to the field of animation writing. Her TV credits include: Babylon 5, Twilight Zone, Spider-Man, G.I. Joe, Jem and the Holograms, ReBoot, Conan, Beast Wars, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. With her partner, Randy Littlejohn, she has written for X-Men: Evolution, Stargate Infinity, He-Man and others.

She began writing comics with Conan and Red Sonja stories for Marvel. Her credits include Wolfrider, a graphic novel with Wendy Pini in the Elfquest series, and various other stories. She's written for DC Comics on fantasy series Amethyst, superhero series Birds of Prey, and Green Arrow. Her original Marvel/Epic series The Sisterhood of Steel, about a society of warrior-women is available from the author.

After six years providing Narrative Design at Zynga, she has returned to the freelance life to pursue her own projects, including a second edition of her book, Writing for Animation, Comics and Games, and a memoir about creating the animation series for Jem and the Holograms.

She lives on top of a huge ridge of volcanic stuff amidst towering pines, oaks, and cedars with her husband, Randy Littlejohn, and four...no, make that five...no, make that six cats. They're stopping at six. Really. They are.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've never read a book on writing in any of the three areas, then this is a great place to start. If you've read Understanding Comics, Writing for Comics with Peter David, or the Game Writing Handbook, then this is going to feel repetitive.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice read with a great overview of 3 distinct, but still similar writing styles. Unfortunately, these industries move so fast that many references are now outdated, but nonetheless, the author speaks about many writing and business principles that will probably never fade out.

I come from the game development department, but reading on writing for comics and animation is definitely a must-read as well since games quite often incorporate those other styles. I really like how the author gave examples of scripts, showed how they differ between industries and what every author should be aware of.

Maybe one of the biggest plus for this book is how the author is grounded and aware of how the business works. She's always emphasizing the importance of networking, business culture manners and how every author should be aware of their working rights (what's probably even more important in the USA since pension and healthcare are not always part of the contract). On that note, the book is definitely USA centric (I'm from Europe) so many listed associations and Hollywood related stuff won't be of use to the readers outside the USA, but many of those principles are still the same anywhere we go (again, networking...)

To conclude, I feel like it would be really great to sit for a coffee with the author and have a pleasant conversation about everything. She has so much experience in three industries and very healthy life mindset so having a mentor like that would be pure gold.

[Ietrio · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you find this book at a local library, or thrown in a rather clean garbage can, you should pick this up and browse it. Everything in here and a lot more can be found in blogs, or on YouTube. The information is slim to nonexistent as Marx is cramming everything that has to do with drawing. And they are not much related. Well, I'm sarcastic. Marx has no idea about the book cover business so he did not include that too.

[Ignacio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read if you want to be a Narrative Writer or Designer for the above fields. It goes very technical, specially with scripts for Animation, but it also gives generic (but sensible) profesional/career advice.

[翰林院编修]

为动画，漫画和游戏写作解释了为动画，漫画，图画小说和计算机游戏创建脚本的实际方面。它详细介绍了如何创建采用正确行业格式的脚本，并遵循预期的规则，以便您尽最大努力帮助您进入交易。本书解释了写作的方法 ...更多

[Abby Epplett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was well-written, engaging, and thorough. Christy Marx is a master in the field. A few tips on gaming are slightly dated, as this book was published in 2006.

[Roxy Rosen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a soft spot in my heart for Christy Marx, she brought me Jem, a cartoon that was one of my favorites when I was a kid, so I was incredibly stoked to see this book. She shared a lot of great, solid information on breaking into animation and comics, I didn't read the Games section, because I'm not looking to work there, and I didn't learn quite so much from the comics section, but that's because I've read so many of the other books on her reading list. The animation section was wonderful though, it's hard to find a lot of info about animation writing. One problem I did have was the sense of pessimism I got from her about breaking in to animation and comics, I understand managing expectations, but this book made me feel so discouraged about my chances at finding work in the industry, at times, I felt more resigned than informed.
That said, it was filled with great tips, especially the animation section, I learned a lot and would recommend it.

[Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though showing its age—especially in its pop culture references—Christy Marx’s book remains an informative and valuable resource. It delves deep into writing formats that often receive less coverage than more widely recognized forms of storytelling, making it an essential read for those interested in these specific fields.

Its focus is laser-sharp, covering three distinct writing formats with remarkable depth. Marx is unrelenting in her emphasis on the importance of networking, a skill crucial to success in these specialized areas.

While undeniably a niche read, for those pursuing these occupations, it’s a must-have.

[Rachel Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an excellent introduction to writing for animation, graphic novels, and video games. It gives you enough bare bones info to let you see if you like the writing style and the industry itself. It helped me realize I might enjoy writing graphic novels, but definitely would not enjoy video game or animation writing. My only pet peeve with the book is the individual resource sections were numbered wrong and in the wrong place according to the TOC and page numbers. At first I thought I was missing sections of the book until I found them out of order in the back of the book.

[Jadewik]

Can't find where I put it... I was only 1/3rd through it.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful.