Hooks and Cliffhangers
In long prose novel writing, one of the ways you keep the reader engaged in the story is to directly connect one chapter to the next. If you intrigue the […]
Mechanics
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 […]
Fictitious Terms and Exotic Proper Names
At the end of Storycraft for Comics I talk about nomenclature for a few pages. One of the things I discuss, is a problem I see often in original universe […]
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 […]
Threat of Violence
A critical concept in writing (comic or otherwise) is understanding the difference between “Threat of Violence” and “Violence” itself. The former creates tension, a cornerstone of good storytelling (and a […]
On the Nose
ON THE NOSE DIALOGUE – “Fugetaboutit” In the book I talk a bit about good vs. bad dialogue and discuss the writer’s most blaspehmous mistake–on the nose dialogue. “On the […]
Story Arcs
“How do you build a story within the 20 page framework of a comic while at the same time building the story for a larger story arc?” * The short […]