Cuts and Transitions
One fundamental aspect of comic scripting is the transition from scene to scene. Transitions allow the writer to change perspective and advance the story. Artfully done they provide a seamless […]
Author: nickmac
Send Your Characters Out For Coffee
One of the ways to make sure your characters don’t suck—both in quality and execution—is to know them better than you know yourself. If I remember correctly I have a […]
Character Trifecta
Pop quiz hotshot. There’s a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour the bomb is armed. You’re sitting on the bus on your way to […]
3 Act Structure-Friend or Foe?
People were arguing about three act structure in social media the other day. So I figured I’d chime in “real quick”. “You take the blue pill, the story ends. You […]
Pass the Passive Writing
One of the top three problems I see from new writers is passive writing. Because fixing it dramatically improves a work, it’s also one of the first things I tend […]
Death of the Super Hero Genre
The Super Hero Genre is Dead… Long Live Super Heroes! In the brief Q+A back section of the Writer’s Guide, I blab a bit. One of the things I blab […]
Master Theme
This picks up after I make an analogy of writing and cooking. That said, there are a couple of ingredients in a story that if done properly, can compensate quite […]
High and Lows – TIP
Creating the highs and lows of the emotional roller-coaster ride is not done by contrasting flat, dull panels against exciting ones. <<which is what most people think>> It’s done by […]
In Media Res
When starting your story remember thy Roman poet’s advice, ”IN MEDIA RES” or “In the middle of things.” This is especially important with ORIGIN stories which tend to have very […]
Anchoring Sound Effects
When scripting sound effects I always specify the source of the sound, like this; 2 SFX (ENERGY) SSSSHHHHHSSSSS 9 times out of 10, your panel description is going to do […]