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I always find it interesting how people tend to think that writing is as effortless as coming up with an idea. Fortunately that's not true or else I would have a lot of stiff competition in my chosen field, since practically everyone has one or two good ideas swimming around in their head.
Writing for comics is even more challenging. In addition to creating an interesting and moving story with the words, a comics writer is required to understand the medium of telling stories with both words and pictures. The words must help move along the flow of the images. The images and "mini-movies" that the writer describes for the artist to render must also have a smooth flow. The comics writer is more than just a writer. The comics writer is also a storyboard artist (with his words) , a camera man, a director and a film editor. The visual component of comics is so intricately woven with the words that a comics writer must have the ability to visualize the action in addition to telling that great tale. Here's an example. In a regular prose story a writer might describe the following:
Unfortunately, there is no reasonable way for a comic artist to draw this scene, as there are three major actions and two vocalizations occuring simultaneously. A comic script must present more simplified actions in each panel. The scene would need to be broken down into a number of sequential panels before artwork could be produced which would adequately tell this section of the story. After ten years working in comics, I am pleased to have had the chance to try my hand at writing comic scripts. It gave me a great appreciation for the amount of work and skill that goes into writing for the sequential art form. And a lot more enjoyment of the great comics writing I've had the pleasure to read. |
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