Let's Get Published! Young American Comics Part 2

I have to apologize for my recent lack of updates.

You see, I've been busy.

I just finished the rough draft of my script for the Young American Comics anthology last night. That was exhausting work. Let's talk about it though, that's what this blog is here for, right?

The script came to 7 pages. I even got to include a gratuitous full page splash that I had in the outline, but wasn't sure if I could include condensed version of my tale. My pages are going to be pretty packed. Very dense. Stylistically I'd compare it to old Marvel comics issues by Stan and Jack mixed with modern dialogue styles. Let's not compare it though, I don't want to come up short.

Since I had to pack so much into so little, I had to make sure that every bit of dialogue counted, that every panel did what I wanted it to. I found it very helpful to take my outline and then make a goal for each page. With each page serving it's own purpose, I did a panel by panel breakdown and made sure each panel served the larger purpose; both in terms of that page and the larger story.

What has always struck and influenced me was a interview I'd read with Mark Millar about Ultimates v1. Millar was working with an entirely new cast at this point, sure, they were based off of familiar characters, but the differences were certainly there. Everyone is pretty familiar with Captain America's prowess in shield throwing, but no one knew if Ultimate Captain America could do the same thing. So Millar had him do that in a minor fight early on in the book's 13 issue run. Millar stated he did this so when Cap performed a similar feat in a later, more important, fight, it would come as being more believable.

That kind of thinking goes for any good writer, be they in comics, novels, or film. Establishing what a character can and cannot do is critical. I've had teachers discuss the notion of symmetry in writing and I find that it not only leads to good storytelling but also to a satisfying read.

I was careful in setting up some of the things that my characters do. I have at least two things things that characters do that are a little unbelievable, so I established, in slightly minor spots, that they could do these things.

I think good symmetry is accompanied by a very careful breakdown. You really need to understand what it is your characters are doing, what their abilities are, and what their goals are, and make sure that you establish those things early in the story, so the reader can connect.

That's what I can for sure say I've learned from the experience thus far. My script is off to a few friends for editing, stay tuned on for my thoughts on that painful process.