Signs You're Comic Book Writer

Comic book writers live on the edge. They are in a fiercely competitive environment where they actually make money doing performing their dreams. The days of the comic writer working for pennies is over. Well, maybe not over for the independent comic scene, but, with a dream job, a comic writer can pay the bills. This article will not tell you how to become a superhero like Stan Lee's latest "Who Wants to be a Super Hero?" Instead, we will analyze the tell tale signs you should consider writing the "funny books."

Genesis

You love reading comic books. But you cannot draw. You have an ability to write a short story, but essays bore you so much you avoid them at every occasion. Then, you come up with an idea for a super hero or villain. Whether this idea is good enough, whether it will be great, is left to you and how hard you work at it. The short story telling is crucial; if you can write a quality short story there is a chance you can be a comic book writer.

Why?

You can writ a quality short story, but why do comic books? The comic book writer, or soon-to-be, will have to realize the power of images. The comic books we read play upon the visuals. The writer has to learn a knack for combining words with images. If you can do this, if your short stories are strong with images, you just might be a comic book writer. A single story can be told in one comic book or twelve. Being able to write both can be done by the short story writer, though a novel is closer in terms of breadth to the twelve issue series like Alan Moore's "Watchmen."

The Power of Words

Peter David wrote that, though a picture can be worth a thousand words, a hundred words can be worth a thousand pictures. The soon-to-be comic writer should understand this. Opening a comic book with a splash page is not good. By reading the comic writer will understand that this visual medium has far too many storytelling aspects to overlook.

A Drive

We need the drive to write comic books. The career could take years to harness. Most of us comic fans dream of placing ourselves next to Will Eisner, Alan Moore, and Stan Lee. Each of these writers had a drive in them, a later genesis, which allowed for them to succeed. The comic writer wants success just like everyone else, but our success can have a fun-factor to it.