Dramatic Narrative Emphasis
A simple yet powerful concept to understand in writing is, what I call, Dramatic Narrative Emphasis. It’s most obvious to recognize when it comes to Master Theme, but really applies […]
Mechanics
Maximize Your Turns
As you’re well aware, surprise is the magic behind a story… and there’s no better place to surprise the reader than with your story turns. After all turns and reveals […]
Sunk Without Escalation – TIP
Escalation throughout a story is key to reader engagement. Big, Bigger, Biggest. Fast, Faster, Fastest. Escalate everything as the story progresses for Maximum Reader Engagement and a story you just […]
Loglines are the Real Deal – TIP
Loglines are so simple, people complicate them. They aren’t a marketing gimmick, not a trick, not an abstract symbolism. IT’S THE STORY IN ONE SENTENCE. Include the essentials. Make it […]
Character Arc Payoff – TIP
The pay off of a character’s arc (and in turn, the story as a whole) is directly proportional to the amount of change. We recognize character change primarily through overcoming […]
Delayed Inciting Incident
Your inciting incident or story catalyst is the event or occurrence that change’s the main character’s existing paradigm and allows the story to take place. Everything before the inciting incident […]
Pacing Primary Escalation of Violence and Action
Pacing is critical to the comic reading experience and to the well executed script. It’s the glue that binds the reader. Too much, things get bogged down… attention spans wander, […]
Character Personality
I’m working on a new character breakdown, trying to capture his personality in ink, so I have a strong foundation when I start scripting him. What do you think of […]
Scene Selection Part 2: Only Your Best
So you’ve read Scene Selection and Narrative Drive and have a good understanding of which scenes stop narrative drive dead in its tracks… You understand that comics are a highlight […]
Scene Selection and Narrative Drive
So you’ve written an outline and now you’re sitting down to script an issue. In my experience you’ll almost always have a surplus of scenes (especially if you’re scripting a […]