How To Format a Comic Book Script

[Alec Worley]

Happy new year! Happy new post!

This one's an update on a popular old blog that people seemed to find useful...

https://alecworley.substack.com

[JohnW]

I've been writing professionally* for about three years now and I still haven't written a comics script, so this sort of thing is much appreciated.
Although I've never had to reckon with artists and letterers, your 'first in, first out' remarks struck a chord. I was instantly reminded of my years as a draughtsman and how any self-regard I might have had as a creator had to be subordinated to the requirements of the project. It didn't matter how good my drawings were if they didn't convey exactly and succinctly what the men in the workshop and the men on site needed to know.
And once my drawings were in their hands it was their project and not mine.
You don't want to be too precious about your creation when dealing with impatient engineers, or too jealous of your unique vision when arguing with steel fabricators – not that you want to argue with them. If they have cause to seek you out for clarification (your contact details being written on every page, remember) it often means that you haven't been doing your job properly.

So if that job gave me one thing, it gave me a thick skin when it comes to creativity. I may not be a team player, but I understand the dictates of collaboration.
Now, when an editor tells me to revise, I revise. My sensitive soul might be screaming, 'How dare you!', but I have enough professional sense to know that the project is bigger than my feelings.
And I know enough to number my pages.

Anyway, thanks for this, Alec, and a happy new year.

* 'Professionally' meaning that I write for publication – not that I make a living out of it. (The idea!)

[Robin Low]

So if that job gave me one thing, it gave me a thick skin when it comes to creativity. I may not be a team player, but I understand the dictates of collaboration.
Now, when an editor tells me to revise, I revise. My sensitive soul might be screaming, 'How dare you!', but I have enough professional sense to know that the project is bigger than my feelings.[/size]

When I was 18 I read one of Ramsey Campbell's collections of stories, Cold Print. In his introduction, he describes receiving criticism and guidance from August Derleth:

I suspect he would have been gentler if he realized I was only fifteen years old, but on the other hand, if you can't take that kind of forthright editorial response you aren't likely to survive as a writer.

I would not be surprised at all if I've quoted that here before, because it's something that's stuck with me. This is not to say I automatically agree with editorial decisions or I won't make my case for doing things a certain way, but when I'm being paid for something I'll do what I'm asked to do.

I actually find it kind of fun balancing what I want to, with what the editor needs, and doing it to the word count (though I admit I'd always like more words!).

Regards,
Robin

[JohnW]

This is not to say I automatically agree with editorial decisions or I won't make my case for doing things a certain way, but when I'm being paid for something I'll do what I'm asked to do.

I've occasionally argued the toss with an editor (albeit in a wheedling, mealy-mouthed way) but the way I see it, the editor is – for the moment at least – 100% of my readership, and I'd be a right fool if I didn't give my readership what they wanted.

I actually find it kind of fun balancing what I want to, with what the editor needs, and doing it to the word count.

Meeting word count is my pride. It proves that I can be creative to an exact specification. This is one of the reasons I so admire pulp writers who can consistently produce to order, and that's one of the reasons I want to try my hand at a comics script.

[Jim_Campbell]

This one's an update on a popular old blog that people seemed to find useful...

One thing worth mentioning from the letterers' end of the process: you don't have to write your dialogue all in caps.

It doesn't matter if you do (unless, as I once had, the dialogue is supposed to be lettered in sentence case, only to receive an all upper-case script) but most lettering fonts have slightly different versions of the upper-case characters where lower would be in a 'normal' font. Writing dialogue in standard sentence case means that the occasional capitalisation introduces an element of variety into the letterforms.

Very niche lettering request that your letterer will love you for: if you want 'breath marks' around a GASP or a KOFF, use the 'curly' brackets — the vast majority of lettering fonts have breath marks mapped to these characters.

[Robin Low]

Meeting word count is my pride. It proves that I can be creative to an exact specification. This is one of the reasons I so admire pulp writers who can consistently produce to order, and that's one of the reasons I want to try my hand at a comics script.

The frustration I have with comic strips is that it's often easy to come up with a good sequence of panels and dialogue, perhaps a good opening or a good ending, but a strip in its entirety usually eludes me. I had a script accepted for Zarjaz!, which worked, and personally I was quite happy with the sequel I wrote to 'The Samaritan' I posted here, but generally I'm not up to it.

Practice is, of course, the key here, but I find it difficult to motivate myself unless I have a reason to work (like a contract or knowing that it will get published). This the reason why I respect Si Spurrier - I wasn't a fan of everything he wrote for 2000AD, but I remember him starting out when we were on the old newgroups, and the guy just kept writing and writing until he made it.

Regards,
Robin

[Jim_Campbell]

While I'm making pleas from the lettering end of the process, on file formats: for the love of God, don't send PDF scripts. If you're dead set on scripting with Final Draft, or something, then use .RTF format on export.

Letterers will do a fair bit of lettering-specific reformatting (find/replace to strip out double spaces, unwanted capital (crossbar) 'I's, triple periods to a typesetter's ellipsis, that sort of thing) and we need an editable file to do that: .doc, .docx, .ODT, .RTF, even .txt will do.*

It's possible to covert a PDF to Word from Acrobat, but the formatting is unreliable in conversion and Acrobat tends to stick in line breaks all over the place that can only be stripped out manually.

Lastly, please, never, ever do this:



* Note to two writers from the early days of my career, whose names I can't remember: a hyperlink to a page of raw HTML will not do, nor will an unidentifiable file type consisting of the script in a mark-up language of your own devising... even if you do offer to write me an interpreter application if "you don't know how to do that yourself."

[The Legendary Shark]

I've started writing in .txt format simply because I'd often find myself faffing around with Word-type settings too much.

[JohnW]

if you want 'breath marks' around a GASP or a KOFF, use the 'curly' brackets — the vast majority of lettering fonts have breath marks mapped to these characters.

You've just handed me the key to good story-telling, Jim.
From now on all my characters will be in a permanent state of surprise and/or suffering a coughing fit.

[nxylas]

A very general question: can anyone tell me what DTP stands for (other than desktop publishing)? I have the 2000AD script book, and it's how the "next prog" caption at the end of each episode is always labelled.

[Jim_Campbell]

A very general question: can anyone tell me what DTP stands for (other than desktop publishing)? I have the 2000AD script book, and it's how the "next prog" caption at the end of each episode is always labelled.

No, it's literally "desktop publishing". It's an indication that the Next Prog bit (like the titles and credits) on a strip will be handled by the design/production droids at the Command Module, and us humble lettering units should leave it alone.

[nxylas]

A very general question: can anyone tell me what DTP stands for (other than desktop publishing)? I have the 2000AD script book, and it's how the "next prog" caption at the end of each episode is always labelled.

No, it's literally "desktop publishing". It's an indication that the Next Prog bit (like the titles and credits) on a strip will be handled by the design/production droids at the Command Module, and us humble lettering units should leave it alone.

Oh, OK. Not the answer I was expecting, but thanks.