Aspiring writer seeking mentor.
Moderator: Moderators
Aspiring writer seeking mentor.
I have a lot of ideas for a comic book and I am looking for writers to mentor me and guide me in the right direction to learn how to properly write a comic book script. I understand that time is valuable but any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I'm 24, living in San Diego and my comic preference is super hero comics but my taste is diverse and I'll read anything that catches my attention. Thank you in advance
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liminalsoup
- Regular Poster
- Posts: 38
- Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2014 9:08 pm
- Location: Vancouver
- Contact:
I'm not experienced enough to be a mentor, but if you want another comicbook writer to critic scripts and offer advice I would be up for it. My website is http://www.liminalsoup.com
Someone once told me 'if you've got a world in your head, you have a responsibility to give it life'.
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Eagle-NO-Earth
- Frequent Poster
- Posts: 85
- Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2015 12:30 am
- Location: Houston
Re: Aspiring writer seeking mentor.
I'm always happy to help. I've got scripts up on my site, and would be happy to answer any questions you have. Only way you learn is by asking questions.youngPRO wrote:I have a lot of ideas for a comic book and I am looking for writers to mentor me and guide me in the right direction to learn how to properly write a comic book script. I understand that time is valuable but any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I'm 24, living in San Diego and my comic preference is super hero comics but my taste is diverse and I'll read anything that catches my attention. Thank you in advance
Eagle
(Who has too many scripts)
Indie publisher with 4 series posting on the web now. See our calendar for update schedule.
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kevinmglover
- Regular Poster
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:59 pm
- Location: Hollywood
- Contact:
Some thoughts from a fellow writier
Hey buddy, just saw your posting. I've been using a free software called Celtx for my scripts. They have a comic script formatting option that seems to work pretty well. It's sort of an A/V style script approach where the panel descriptions are on one side and the captions and dialog are on the other. I haven't had any complaints from artists anyway and they're the only one's who will likely ever read your script. Remember, only the dialog and captions appear on the finished page.
For me, coming from a feature script writing back ground, the biggest obstical was thinking in terms of single bits of action and a single emotion per panel. And then limiting the amount of dialog on the panel to let the art do the heavy lifting. Also, don't put too many or two few panels on the page. I see a lot of newer writer's stories where every other page is a splash panel, and then when you really need a splash, you lose the impact. My first few I did just the opposite and crammed too much into each panel so the art had no room to "breathe".
If you haven't done much comic writing yet, you might want to try a shorter B&W story first before starting a full book or graphic novel, just to go through the process and build a relationship with an artist or two. A 4 or 5 page story will teach you so much about the process, things you only learn by doing.
Try to find an artist on this site that will work cheap enough so you don't drain you're wallet as you test the waters. Don't expect one to work with you for free or the promise of riches on the back-end. They've heard it all before and from what I can see, it seldom pans out well for the artist. The good news is, you can find quite a few who will work for $50/page, pencils, inks and lettering included. So with a short story, you can get off with only spending a few hundred dollars, a worthwhile investment if you plan on pursing this as a career.
No matter how much you like an artist's portfolio though, I do advise testing him or her with a 1 sample page first, just to make sure you understand each other before you commit to the full story. Be patient too, at the lower rates, the artist must work your art in between better paying gigs. Since you are paying up front, make sure you both agree that the work is "work for hire" so you own the copyright. That way you are free to publish at your discretion. Don't expect it to be easy to find a publisher though, or make much if anything off your first few stories. Sometimes you give the first publishing rights of the story to an independent for free, just so it can see print. And when you start making decent money with your stories, you can reward your artist or artists with better paying work down the line.
I'm fairly new to comics myself, so my experiences might not be the same as more seasoned comic book writers. If you have any more questions, you can contact me at my website.
ScreamWriter4Hire.com
For me, coming from a feature script writing back ground, the biggest obstical was thinking in terms of single bits of action and a single emotion per panel. And then limiting the amount of dialog on the panel to let the art do the heavy lifting. Also, don't put too many or two few panels on the page. I see a lot of newer writer's stories where every other page is a splash panel, and then when you really need a splash, you lose the impact. My first few I did just the opposite and crammed too much into each panel so the art had no room to "breathe".
If you haven't done much comic writing yet, you might want to try a shorter B&W story first before starting a full book or graphic novel, just to go through the process and build a relationship with an artist or two. A 4 or 5 page story will teach you so much about the process, things you only learn by doing.
Try to find an artist on this site that will work cheap enough so you don't drain you're wallet as you test the waters. Don't expect one to work with you for free or the promise of riches on the back-end. They've heard it all before and from what I can see, it seldom pans out well for the artist. The good news is, you can find quite a few who will work for $50/page, pencils, inks and lettering included. So with a short story, you can get off with only spending a few hundred dollars, a worthwhile investment if you plan on pursing this as a career.
No matter how much you like an artist's portfolio though, I do advise testing him or her with a 1 sample page first, just to make sure you understand each other before you commit to the full story. Be patient too, at the lower rates, the artist must work your art in between better paying gigs. Since you are paying up front, make sure you both agree that the work is "work for hire" so you own the copyright. That way you are free to publish at your discretion. Don't expect it to be easy to find a publisher though, or make much if anything off your first few stories. Sometimes you give the first publishing rights of the story to an independent for free, just so it can see print. And when you start making decent money with your stories, you can reward your artist or artists with better paying work down the line.
I'm fairly new to comics myself, so my experiences might not be the same as more seasoned comic book writers. If you have any more questions, you can contact me at my website.
ScreamWriter4Hire.com