Often times people come up with brilliant ideas for a comic book, but they just don’t know how to execute their ideas properly, so their ideas are never used. If this sounds like you, you’ve come to the right place! Here are 10 simple secrets to write a good comic book script.
- Make sure your plot and story are completely planned out before you start. You don’t want to get halfway through then realize you don’t know where your story is going!
- Despite this, expect it to change. If you try to stick to your outline too rigidly, you’ll miss out on great opportunities to make your comic even better. Have a plan, but be open minded to see if it was encompass anything else along the way.
- Pick the best script format for you. Don’t worry about what somebody else might prefer, pick the script format that is easiest for you to read and understand.
- Focus, focus, focus on the characters. Without memorable characters, your comic will be seen as mediocre and unmemorable. Your characters must be original, and they must embody the main values of the comic.
- Determine the type of dialogue and speech you want used. This can really change the mood of the comic, so make sure the way the characters talk reflect what you want in your comic.
- Take your time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was Spiderman. To have a stunning and memorable comic book, take your time ironing out every single detail of the script, along with everything else.
- Think of your comic book as a novel. Great comics have just as good of plots as novels, with a wide range of emotion and character changes. People should get the same satisfaction that they would from reading a book.
- Work backwards. Sometimes it’s easier to know exactly what the ending is, then work back from that point, determining the exact details and perfecting the plot as you go.
- Make sure you have an interesting setting. Yes, memorable characters and a solid storyline are of the utmost importance, but the setting helps create the overall tone of the comic book, so choose it wisely.
- Keep your story simple and to the point, but effective. Obviously the space for words in comics is very limited, so tell you story in as few words as possible (try to use illustrations to explain what is happening, rather than describing it).