Besides film, I love comics. Not super hero comics, just comics. You don't need to have a super hero story to make a good comic. In fact, one of the things I want to do is make graphic novels that are just as powerful and investing as any movie or novel. And Scott McCloud, the founder of Image Comics and creator of Spawn, does a brilliant job at showing not just how to format a comic, but how to make a comic smart.
First, I learned that comics aren't just illustrated novels. The visual aspect of comics can add so much to a story and it's rarely taken advantage of. Most of the stuff you see nowadays you can just as easily do in a novel, there's no real reason for there to be illustrations. Illustrations can show a characters face, it can take us on a drug trip, it can disturb us, make us laugh, make us cry, it can make us do so many things that some novels can't.
Then, I was taught the importance of emotion. In novels, we are described, sometimes in great detail of what a character is thinking. In comics, we see it for ourselves. We see the pain they go through. We see the happiest moments in their lives. We can see it so the writer doesn't waste time explaining it. We can figure it out by ourselves. And that's what I want to do more with my writing, leave enough open so the reader can figure it out for themselves.
Finally, McCloud taught me that I realized that there needs to be a "why." As in, "why am I telling this story?" Kind of going back to the first one, there needs to be a reason for you to tell the story. You have to ask yourself beforehand, "What am I going to say with this story?" "What should the reader feel or learn from this story?" "What is the reason this story should exist?"
First, I learned that comics aren't just illustrated novels. The visual aspect of comics can add so much to a story and it's rarely taken advantage of. Most of the stuff you see nowadays you can just as easily do in a novel, there's no real reason for there to be illustrations. Illustrations can show a characters face, it can take us on a drug trip, it can disturb us, make us laugh, make us cry, it can make us do so many things that some novels can't.
Then, I was taught the importance of emotion. In novels, we are described, sometimes in great detail of what a character is thinking. In comics, we see it for ourselves. We see the pain they go through. We see the happiest moments in their lives. We can see it so the writer doesn't waste time explaining it. We can figure it out by ourselves. And that's what I want to do more with my writing, leave enough open so the reader can figure it out for themselves.
Finally, McCloud taught me that I realized that there needs to be a "why." As in, "why am I telling this story?" Kind of going back to the first one, there needs to be a reason for you to tell the story. You have to ask yourself beforehand, "What am I going to say with this story?" "What should the reader feel or learn from this story?" "What is the reason this story should exist?"