Comics Experience Guide to Writing Comics: Scripting Your Story Ideas from Start to Finish

Great information specific to writing for graphic novels and comic books. I have zero experience writing, much less writing for comics. Not sure if this is a book for someone who is familiar to story writing in general, however the style of keeping the reader engaged both visually and mentally page to page is unique to this format which is explained well enough in the book. I am not sure if its clear in to all readers of this book, but you as the comic book writer has to be skilled both in writing for an artist to share the vision and for the reader to consume and enjoy.

I only had a chance to skim through it so far. I'm adding this content to a university course on Writing for Comic Books, which includes numerous comic book sources and writing sources.

It was a great read. I learned a lot.

Excellent delivery. Exactly as described.

This book was very helpful to understating industry and the process.

The author is authentic and knows what he’s talking about. Definitely helped me with my character building.

Way back in 2010 I naively thought I'd take a superhero novel I'd written and turn it into a graphic novel.  Tales of the Scarlet Knight Comic Book #1  I had folded up sheets of paper to make my own comics as a kid so how hard could this be? Really hard as it turns out.This book gets into a lot of the pitfalls I ran into. If you're a writer who can draw it's a little easier because you can sketch things out but if you're like me and can't draw more than stick figures it gets harder. You have to see everything in your head and try to divide the panels and dialog balloons and sound effects accordingly. It can be really tricky, especially if you're not familiar with the artist you're working with.About the first half or so of the book is just dedicated to creating the story itself. Then there are chapters on creating the actual layouts. In that way it's probably more useful for beginners than more experienced people. ON the Comics Experience website you can look at old scripts and even get a script template that is helpful if you're trying to figure out how to write a script.There's also some advice at the end about approaching people at conventions and such. If you're a writer who can't really draw finding an artist is pretty difficult unless you know someone. So this covers pretty much all parts of the process, though maybe not extremely in-depth all the time. Still, it should be able to give you a running start.

This thorough overview of what it takes to write a script for a comic book or graphic novel is a solid read for writers who are just starting out in the medium and an excellent refresher for semi-pros and pros to sharpen what they already know.To break in as a writer and maintain a career you have to continually produce and more than anything this guide provides a structure that will keep you writing even when inspiration abandons you. The tricks, tools, and directions to avoid writing potholes for those who want to construct a comic book script are here.One thing that kills inspiration during the rush to get words on the page is grammar and order, Schmidt reminds us that it’s okay to be messy while constructing a story.He reiterates a few times not to worry about the polish. Get the story out, build the levels to it, rewrite and rewrite. A comic book script is not the final product, but it does need to communicate clearly and passionately the story the creative team is aiming to deliver.Grammar and spelling are essential, but there will be time for them in later stages. You do not have to be perfect in the first, second, third, fourth… pass as you construct your script.The centerpiece of the guide is a plan of attack on the blank page. The best way to write any story is to attack it in stages, not as a whole. Andy Schmidt presents a great approach to avoid intimidation and still capture inspiration as a writer builds a story from logline to one pager to scene breakdowns to the script.Even though there’s no set script template for comics, Schmidt provides a model and terms that are clear and instinctive and somewhat universal in the comic book publishing world. It’s nice to see them all in one place to refer to, especially for the dialogue and lettering.

I thorughly enjoyed reading this book.

Majestically written. Now I can compete with Marvel and DC.Thanks.