Ten Tips on Writing a Good Comic

A lot of people asked me about how to create good comics. I decided to explain from A to Z how I went to make my own comic and the most important, how I made it stand out among my friends’ comic!

I have listed the 10 tips that I think are the most important to successfully writing a good comic. As always, I let you pick ideas that you think are relevant and that can be applied to your method of work.

1. Create your characters

Decide on the characters that you will use for your comics. Characters are as important as the plot of the comic.

2. Choose a theme

Selecting the correct theme for your comic will allow you to decide how the plot will play out. Will it be a fiction comic? comical?

3. Choose the tone of the narrative used

Then define what kind of your comic is. Is it a love story? A great adventure? A horror story? Epic? Humorous? It will be easier for you to build your first script in the spirit you like and fit you the most. Once you have written several, you will have fun to vary the pleasures.

4. Choose or create the scenery / universe in which the plot takes place

Set the scene: where and when will your story unfold? What is the occupation of your main character, what is his / her past history?

5. Find and organize your ideas

Jot down various notes, even if they are not well-organized. You can organize your notes later.

6. Construct a general plan

As in writing, there are rules of construction for a narrative. Introduction - Development and disruption (climax) – Conclusion. This classic scheme is a logical sequence that your audiences know. It is reassuring and facilitates reading for them since they know where the story goes.

7. Define the highlights of your comic

Your comic story will be made of weak times; moments of calm and highlights, moments of action and unexpected events that will come to rhythm and energize your story. Before validating an event in building your story, imagine the consequences and how you will orient your story from there. For example, in an action scene, a group of heroes fighting against a group of villains on the roof of a building and suddenly you decide to blow up the building. Consequence: Everyone is dead, finished story. You have not left room for development.

8. Develop and Order Narrative

Make a list of key moments in your story and highlights. To help you better see the progression of your comic story; draw a chronological frieze by taking the main lines.

9. Define dialogs

Dialogues depend on the characters and the situations they are confronted with. Do not persist in finding the right replica of the first shot. If you hesitate, reread your dialogue several times by having your characters speak and varying the replicas. The right formulation will naturally come out of your character's mouth!

10. And the final one, conduct the storyboard!

This last step is not really part of the creation of the scenario but allows the transition between the writing of the story and the drawing of the boards. I put it on the list because it is always possible to correct or improve the detail of the scenario at this stage (dialogues, some scenes or even whole chapters).

Once you are ready, you can start creating your own comic here.