A story can be good or bad.
Good stories can make you think
It can fuel your creative imagination
create a discussion among your peers
And it can create a fandom, it’s every creator's dream.
Now a bad story...
Can make you rant on social media
Constructing a story is not easy
Nowadays every story has already been thought of.
No matter how unique you think your story is
there is always someone who conceived it first.
And with the power of the internet,
those stories are readily available for your consumption.
So how do you make it interesting when all of the stories
are already thought out?
Here are a few points:
If your story is character-driven, make your characters more relatable
Down to earth.
And if your narrative is plot-driven, make it a page-turner,
where every scene is thrilling and exciting.
plot twists and incredible world-building.
Tropes are common nowadays; don't be afraid to use them
You can create something original deriving from tropes.
I know, it’s too generalized but you'll understand once you've practiced writing.
I’ve read comics, novels,
and watched anime and movies all the time.
Absorb every media you can consume
And create something of your own.
As they say, it’s not stealing when you gather from multiple sources
It’s not that I condone stealing
but it’s one way of researching your own story.
The more you absorb the more you can create.
Our mind is like a sponge, it can absorb lots of information
And the only way to dispense those ideas is to write.
A comic book or manga or webtoon writing is different from novel writing.
Novels have words to tell your narrative and let the readers
Worldbuilding with the use of their imagination.
While comic writing has illustrations and words, they go hand in hand
To make your story more interesting and appealing.
So take consideration in plotting out your illustrations and dialogue
To give your narrative dynamic storytelling.
Before we start with the script writing proper,
Planning an issue or episode is a must.
It will be easier for you to illustrate your pages
once you plot out the entire issue or subsequent issues.
Some other process starts with the writing of the script,
But since you’re an artist and as well as a writer, it’s much better to plot and thumbnail
The issue first, since we artists are visual people
it’s easier for us to perceive the whole story.
After plotting the whole episode,
thumbnail sketch the pages and panels.
Scribble the first thing that comes into your mind,
but don’t limit yourself to one version of your thumbnails.
You can use those alternate versions of your thumbnails later.
The purpose of thumbnailing is to loosely plan those illustrations
In directing the reader’s eye to the dialogue balloons or the page turns.
Or even something of a focal point of your story.
If it’s a webtoon, direct the readers to scroll
Down to the next panel.
And don’t forget to leave spaces for your dialogues and captions while you’re at it.
After the thumbnails are done
It’s time to start writing the script.
With the visual information readily available, you can now write in captions and dialogues.
Study your favorite movie, comic, or even anime,
And you can learn from their epic and awesome dialogues.
You can outline the important points of your story
And make the dialogue and captions coincide with your thumbnails.
This way you cannot miss those important details in your narrative,
And the flow of the story of your pages.
And if you don’t like the placement of the panels or pages you can just
Easily switch them according to your written script.
Or if you want to change the pacing of your story
You can add more panels or pages.
It’s a two-way relationship where the script and the thumbnails co-exist and work together.
Re-writes and revisions are normal in the creative process,
So don’t be afraid to remove, reiterate, and rearrange the panels or pages.
So once you’re done, you can now proceed with the penciling of the pages
And if you want to find out how we pencil, ink, color, and letter pages,
Check out this thread right here. https://www.scribblemedia.ph/post/our-comic-creative-process-using-clip-studio-paint
There is no shortcut to writing great scripts or stories, you have to practice.
So keep on writing and work on those creative muscles.
You will eventually master it and become an award-winning author someday.
If you have any questions about the content you can comment down below.
Or you can visit our website at www.scribblemedia.ph
And read our comics at www.scribbtoons.com
You can watch the full video here:
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