Basic Rules in Writing Comic Book Scripts

As a would-be writer of all forms, I have been delving into an old love of mine lately -

writing comic scripts. Why write comic scripts? It's as close to movies as you will ever come, unless you have some good luck and a natural talent for writing. It's a tough comparison, movies and comics, but both achieve a story by using images. Some writers are talented at harnessing the power of images to put on the comic page; Alan Moore comes to mind, Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane as well.

I am still a novice in the field of comics, with not one printed page to my name in the form. Still, I have studied much, reviewed everything I can get my hands on, even wrote a column called Confessions of a Comic Book Fan for Associated Content.

There are certain basic rules that I will go over, as well as more advanced thoughts I have seen used by other practitioners.

As most comics that sell these days have super heroes in them, it is important that a writer at least attempt to mold a hero or villain, find the ins and outs of the characters, and at the least develop a pitch for the character. It's unlikely you will get published on your initial queries, use that time to go into the projects that you can self publish or go the indie route with.

Many writers hate the limitations of the comic super heroes like Spider Man, Batman, Iron Man, and even Superman. Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis are the most notorious of the bunch, who have mentioned in interviews their desire to write "real" books instead of the super hero books. These writers are still writing super heroes, at times with great success. Why? The only way a writer is really going to have a career in comic books is with super heroes. That's just the way the market works.

Still, this point should also include that many writers get their start writing non-hero books, then move into the bigger market of super heroes after getting their feet wet. Brian Michael Bendis, noted author of Ultimate Spider Man and Powers, comes to mind, as does artists like Eddie Campbell (From Hell).

I hope you see the point here: Super heroes are the bread and butter of the medium. You will see all kinds - they don't have to be as good as Superman or troubled as Spider Man - and anti-heroes are a concept that is gaining popularity again.

There are some keys to writer any comic story, whether it be a super hero like Spawn or an indie effort from Harvey Pekar.

Each comic should have three separate acts; three key points in the story that should be worked out ahead of time. Examples would be a battle scene, backstory on the character, or even a scene of the hero and his lover kissing. That's pretty simple, but before a script is written knowing those three things will help keep the story focused. Writers like Chuck Dixon (Batman, Nightwing) are major proponents of this idea.

Also, a writer should know the ending of the story, whether it be a cliffhanger or a conclusion, as everything should fit together like a puzzle at the end to achieve a certain resolution or intense curiosity for the reader.

Lastly, when writing a script try to set initial goals on where to publish the work. If it's Dark Horse (who happen to accept script submission) check out their script guidelines and follow what they do.

As an unpublished, novice fan of the art that's my two-cents on writing comic book scripts.