To those of you who have a script, is it in a novel form or like a play form? Or a combination of whatever gets into your head? I'm curious.

I do mine as a combination of methods.

An exerpt from a MAG-ISA future chapter: (character names and details have been changed to avoid spoilers)

INTRO 1:

(*static screen*)

"... The official death toll is now 1283 dead and an undetermined number of injured..."

"... Oh... My... God... God save us!"

"... this is now officially the worst terror attack in the history of canada... "

"... coordinated bomb attacks... the skill level of the perpetuators... I've trained elite military units around the world and... ... that level of sophistication... act of terror... ... threat... ...security measures..."

"...Units from the RCMP, Toronto Police, OPP... have taken up positions around the building...."

---

1
(*Show John Doe in a formal office attire... holding a cellphone*)

Cellphone: Sir... request permission to speak freely...
John: go ahead
Cellphone: Innocent civilians are being slaughtered. Can't we just move in and take them out?

John: Lieutenant... it is an extremely volatile and dangerous situation. We have just received reports of bombs in the surrounding areas that may be detonated if your boys take any action. There are also reports of possible chemical and biological...

---
2
(*John looks pissed*)

Cellphone: PEOPLE ARE DYING! INNOCENT CIVILIANS ARE BEING SLAUGHTERED LIKE PIGS! WE ARE POLICE OFFICERS!!! IT IS OUR SWORN DUTY TO SERVE AND PROTECT THE POPULATION! I DONT CARE IF THERE'S A HUNDRED OF THEM IN THERE!!! I DONT CARE IF THEY HAVE CHEMICAL, NUCLEAR, OR BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS IN THERE!!!

John: That's an order, lieutenant. If you continue your disrespectful conduct to a superior officer, I will see to it that appropriate measures will be taken...

(*Shot of a transparent smiling demon behind John*)

*sigh* I need a script... honestly, NA's just whatever the hell pops into my head these days...

but if I did I'd say it would be in play form. It's too troubling to write in novel form...

When writing scripts for a new page, I have to think of several things...

1.) Does it work?
2.) Does it make sense?
3.) Does it represent the characters well?

If all three of these things work, then I can pretty much start work on the graphics.

Play form -- with a thumbnail guide to panels/dialog. Since I work alone, it isn't especially legible or detailed. I just want to have a "plan" and good dialog. (It's also all on notebook paper, which I throw away eventually.)



I do that for each page. If I'm planning a future story arc, sometimes I'll jot it down somewhere in a similar play form without the layout stuff.

Well, here's a sample of my script (this page, it's worth noting, got completely re-written while I was drawing it, though). It's just written for myself so I don't make a lot of notes as far as action and placement since I usually can remember what I had in mind while writing the scene.

Page 23
Panel 1


Cai : My father stopped them from whatever they were planning on doing. He said that hed be the one to take care of me, not them, and thats the last thing that I remember until I woke up back at home.
Aisha : So youre saying the same thing happened to Margensen.

Panel 2


Margensen: I dont really remember, Miss Aisha. I dont remember much before I was in the la-
Cai: Anyway.

Panel 3


Cai: It seems that almost everyone who went through a fusion error like Margensen and I did ended up with some type of special ability, although some are more useful than others.
Cai: Others just died in the process.
Aisha: So he got the ability to talk to trees, and you got an eyeball in your shoulder. I think you got the raw end of the deal on that one. Can you at least see out of it?

Panel 4


Cai: Sadly, yes, I can see your ugly mug when Im not even facing you. Its a blessing and a curse.
Aisha: Hey...

What would you call novel form? Writing out your story as if it were prose with structured paragraphs and dialog in quotations and everything?

I find that pretty difficult to work with comic books unless you work alone. Alan Moore is notorious for writing intricately detailed scripts that are almost the length of a novella but he breaks down every panel one by one and describes every action and appearance.

Me, I usually make up my panels on the fly since I never have a set structure and writing it down would only confuse me. I usually only include dialog and specific actions:

New shot showing downtown ASHTON city. GAMELLON is walking down the streets. It passes by several people.

GAMELLON: Hello, sir! How's living?

PASSERBYER: Fuck off, dickhead.

GAMELLON: Eh? Must be this century's hip new phrase.

GAMELLON: Hello ma'am, lovely evening yes?

PASSERBYER: I'm not interested, faggot!

GAMELLON: A bundle of sticks? Man, 21st century vernacular...

GAMELLON: Hello Mr. Police Offic-

The police officer sprays GAMELLON in the eyes with pepper spray; a shootout can be seen in the background while the officer continues to spray. GAMELLON writhes in pain as the officer walks away.

GAMELLON: Note to self: Pepper in liquid form; good idea, bad application.

For better clarity, I usually CAPITALIZE every proper noun or name and bold all dialog bits. Sound effects are usually added in with asterisk and I use brackets when I need to insert something.

Sample of script:

Nuada and Chase are walking along an exposed rocky slope.
Nuada = I can see the river down there!
Chase = We should have roved the far slope. We are easily espied at hither bare rockface.
Nuada = Hanno and Amok? No, they're not after us. I don't feel them anymore.
Chase = "Hanno and Amok"? "Feel them"?
Nuada doesn't notice the hole he's digging for himself.
Nuada = Yeah, I can detect electromagnetic transmissions from machines, and those two are loaded with them. See, that's why I'm important in their group...
Nuada realizes his error and cuts his sentence short. Too late.
Nuada slowly turns his head to look at Chase, sweat drop, frozen smile = (Oh crap.)

Chase = What manner guiltless prisoner were you, that fain would cavort with-
Chase = Treachery!!

Foreground shot of Chase's hand on her hilt = You are of counsel with them to deliver me by treason!
Background, Nuada raises his hands in surrender = Whoa, whoa! Wait!

Just 1-2 sentences of establishing scene. That's all I need to remind me of the setting.

Mostly just dialog. Will have panel actions and descriptions interspersed, where I want to keep the storyboard a certain way.

I don't draw out thumbnails because there will always be last-minute changes upon translation to comics page.

I don't usually write out a script.

I brain storm in my head, then email the basic ideas to myself through yahoo. The key words in the message bring back the script that I already wrote out in my head... I don't know how it works, but it does. Usually, I write out a whole "chapter" of comics in my head and just remember who says what and what they say... it's very unusual.

Well, I don't draw my own comics and, at the time of writing the scripts, I usually don't even know who is going to be drawing it or how they like to work. For that reason my scripts have very detailed panel descriptions, so that the eventual artist has a good idea of exactly how I imagined it. (They may want to change the way I have it, of course, but that's another matter entirely!)

Typically, for each panel, I try to specify:

- What important objects/features have to be in shot (if any)
- Which characters are in shot (and, if it's the first time we've seen them, what do they look like, what are they wearing etc).
- Who's in the foreground. What are they doing; what expression are they wearing.
- What or who is in the background and what are they doing.
- Camera angle (over the shoulder, high level looking down, low level looking up, side view etc)
- Focal length (full length shot, half-length, head and shoulders, close up, extreme close up on a specific item etc)

Then I write the dialogue for that panel, just like the script for a play, but specifying if the dialogue is in a caption box (e.g. for thoughts) or for a character who is out of shot:

- Character A: (off) You sure you want to do that?
- Character B: Yes.
- Character B: (caption) After all. What have I got to lose.

Of course, the more you work with your artist and the better you understand each other (and especially if you're both writer and artist!) the less detailed all this needs to be.

Here's a sample:

PAGE 1

Panel 1

Closeup of Megan's mouth and nostrils. Her nose is plugged.

Capt: I can't believe I let this happen.

Panel 2

Zoom out; we see Megan through Lindsay's eyes. The room is dimly lit, half-pulled blinds are casting shadows on Megan. She's heavily bandaged and hooked up to various machines and an IV drip.

Capt: I thought it would be easy. I thought I was ready. To play superhero. But I'm not. I suck.

Panel 3

Full splash; downshot of the hospital room. Lindsay is sitting next to Megan's bed, looking down at her hands folded in her lap.

Capt: Three cyborg monsters attack my school, I charge at them spitting oneliners like an idiot and in the end I just crash one of their flying bikes into the wall of my own dorm room and... and...

Panel 4

CU of Lindsay, she's crying.

Two things are typical here:
1) The notes on what goes on visually are mainly the writer part of my brain bossing around the artist part of my brain. "We see Megan through Lindsay's eyes" is mainly my way of reminding myself that there's a reason for the relatively bland angle of panel 2.
2) I deviate from some stuff sometimes. The half-pulled blinds aren't in the final version because I thought I couldn't pull off the shadows being cast and ended up keeping it more simple.

Yeah when it finally comes to drawing the thing, I almost never follow my original script (revised 100 times so I dunno if I can call it original...) exactly. That's part of the fun of finally committing it to art.

When I'm working on a storyline, I'll use a script along the following line:

============================================================
Page 12

D: Hello?! I can't see a damn thing! Jorge, where are you?

J: Hang on Darlie, I'm looking for the light switch.

D: Don't bother, I think I've found it. Click!



Both



J: Darlie, can we go home now?

============================================================

As others have noted, however, the final page usually changes somewhat from the script.

Back when I was doing work requiring a plot and storyline I would do rough sketches with dialog bits then script the results, using the above method, and then hack out another rough sketch page to see if I needed to tighten up, rearrange things, or if it was good to go.

What I didn't do, though was go into much detail in the scripting process, and I think that this was because I already had the general page image in my head. All I really needed to do was work out the specific dialog.

When I work on a comic project, I usually write a prose version of it as well, and sometimes the prose version serves as the script for the comics. Sometimes it doesn't play out though, because what works for the prose doesn't always work for the comics. So I wind up this file of random pieces of play-style script that fixes what doesn't translate from prose to comic.

My scripts (if I use one) are usually just chunks of text describing what's supposed to happen on the page. Sometimes I include dialogue, but usually only if a specific line is important or funny.

That probably wasn't overly clear, so here's an example. This script was for Frank Baron, NSO, page 11.

11. A Trick? - Frank driving around in Smogberg looking for the factory. He spots a factory side-door with "HCHMA'HCHA" scrawled over the Alienov Industries logo across the street from a strip club with a seven drink minimum sign. He looks back and forth a few times, thinking that it might be a trick. He looks back at the strip club and goes in, "The seven drink minimum will clear my head".

mine mainly look like this

Someone
001-superteam tryouts-

S - Welcome to superteam tryouts. Please state your powers and/or abilities.
asbestos woman - I am impervious to fire.
RH -
asbestos woman - see. it's impossible to start me on fire.
S - and what happens if a villain shoots you with a gun?
asbestos woman - i would most likly die.
S - so what makes you fireproof?
asbestos woman - My suit. it's made from asbestos.
S - next.

it's the script from page 1. i have shorthand for main characters and anything i want to make a special point about goes in between . i have a general idea of how i want to make it look when i'm writing it but make final decisions when i'm putting it together. i tend to write far in advance since my comic is highly plot driven. i just finished script 152 yesterday and i only have 81 comics posted so far.

My scripts are a combination of a few steps.
My entire story outline I write.
My comic overview telling me the key things I should remember and focus on in an issue.

And then my draft/script.

My script is more of a reminder to myself of what I envisioned.
Here are 2 examples
http://comics2.drunkduck.com/The_Devon_Legacy_Random_Art/pages/4f052a9691cf7e83a1a49e8a4b14e36c.jpg
From Issue 3 Page 9
http://comics2.drunkduck.com/The_Devon_Legacy_Random_Art/pages/f04a6f9ad50a1540d8c42563949428b4.jpg
From Issue 3 Page 11

I add more notes and such as needed. Some times I know my layout offhand. Usually I figure out the layout when I begin to draw.

mlai
Yeah when it finally comes to drawing the thing, I almost never follow my original script (revised 100 times so I dunno if I can call it original...) exactly. That's part of the fun of finally committing it to art.

I think it would be idiotic to slavishly follow my own script anyway - the one big advantage of the fact that I'm doing everything myself is that I can change anything at any point if I realize it doesn't work without having to get into an argument with someone else about it first, after all.

I probably spent all together too much time on my script. It's a screenplay format- 144 pages, with 800 pages of notes. I've rewriten it 22 times now and I still have more rewriting to do. Why can't anything ever be all the way perfect?...

I learned alot at the Absolute Write Water Cooler Forums and from WC Martell's Script Secrets.

I use a screenplay format, especially if I'm writing for another artist. I'll mention in visual ideas, reference locations or images online or in movies, and generally write out just about everything in as much detail as possible.

I also keep a little note book in my back pocket at all times to write down little ideas, conversations, quotes, and whatever else I think I may reference later for a script.

I don't draw a script... I usually draw out the next few scenes like, years before they get drawn. My dialogue's kind of spontaneous. It works for me so I think I'm doing ok, lol

I've done scripts in the past for most of my works, but when it gets down to it, the layouts I do per page (especially if I have a special type of paneling that page) are the master copies. Currently though, I have a lot of the key plot points and lead-ins (for the chapters I have scripted) written down in a moleskin.