StevenForbes
Sunday, August 03, 2008, 08:01 PM
Spider-Man. Superman. Captain America. Batman. The Hulk. Comic book characters that have fired the imaginations of young and old alike, and have started many creators on their mission to tell stories using their favorite characters.
It wouldn’t surprise me if some of you thought about it yourselves.
It also wouldn’t surprise me that you don’t know where to start.
That’s where I come in.
Hello. My name is Steven Forbes (no jokes), and I’m here to help you writers realize your dreams. Why writers? Honestly, because we need all the help we can get. With artists, it literally takes a glance or two to tell if the artist is ready or not. This can be done almost mindlessly, really. However, writing takes a lot of concentration to go through. It’s not a fast thing to go through a script, not when you have to look for characterization, believable dialogue, make sure that the pacing is correct, make sure that the panel descriptions can actually be drawn, make sure that a complete story is told within the allotted number of pages, make sure that the entire story hangs together, spelling, punctuation and grammar are correct, and myriad other things that make up an actual script. It’s a lot of work to do it correctly.
So, who am I, and what have I done that puts me in a position to help? Great question. Let’s answer it.
Right now, I’m copy-editor of Warmageddon Quarterly, as well as story editor for Hollow. WQ comes out through Digital Webbing, and Hollow will be coming out from Archaia Studios Press. I’ve also been assistant Editor in Chief for Storrm Comics, and Editor in Chief for Paper Dragonz. As for writing, I’ve written Bullet Time, co-wrote Fallen Justice, and written a few stories for Warmageddon Quarterly. I also hang out a lot at Digital Webbing’s Writer’s Showcase, where I give advice on scripts that are posted. I’m also a freelance editor, and help people on a professional basis make their stories better.
I guess the question now is, what do I hope to accomplish with Bolts and Nuts? I hope to accomplish a lot, really. I hope to help a lot of newer writers avoid the pitfalls of comic writing that we seem to make in storytelling, scriptwriting and comic creation. I’m going to delve into regions that aren’t covered in books, and give practical applications whenever possible. I’m also going to give my thoughts on various comics, talking about form and format, content and context, and what was done right and wrong. I guess that means I’ll be pointing fingers and naming names, something that doesn’t get done a lot within the realm of comics- not from creator to creator, anyway.
I plan for this column to run weekly, give or take, every Tuesday. The first series of columns will be about things to do before scripting. I’m talking about the actual story, characters, plotting, writing the pitch, and outlining. Then I’ll talk about scriptwriting itself, which will take a long time because of the many facets that make up an actual working script. Then I’m going to talk about superhero comics, and the conventions and conceits of them. Also during all of this, I’ll talk about getting together a creative team, what’s needed and what isn’t, and things writers should learn to do for themselves. During all that there will be asides and tangents and things that make you think. I’ll also be taking questions, and doing my best to answer them.
I ask that all my readers keep a few things in mind: there is no “right” way to do comics. This is not a “follow Steven’s way and you’re sure to get published.” However, proper application of the processes and methods that I’ll go into will increase your chances of getting published.
Will some of this be found in books? Of course, but it’ll be scattered around and spread about, and you’ll be hard pressed to collate it into a single source. However, that’s only some of the information that can be found. How many books talk about how many pages a scene should be, how and when to use a splash page, or when a natural page turn should be? I won’t say that I’ve read every book on the market, but I’ve yet to run across the information.
Basically, I’m here to help. I hope it’ll be a fun ride.
See you next Tuesday.
It wouldn’t surprise me if some of you thought about it yourselves.
It also wouldn’t surprise me that you don’t know where to start.
That’s where I come in.
Hello. My name is Steven Forbes (no jokes), and I’m here to help you writers realize your dreams. Why writers? Honestly, because we need all the help we can get. With artists, it literally takes a glance or two to tell if the artist is ready or not. This can be done almost mindlessly, really. However, writing takes a lot of concentration to go through. It’s not a fast thing to go through a script, not when you have to look for characterization, believable dialogue, make sure that the pacing is correct, make sure that the panel descriptions can actually be drawn, make sure that a complete story is told within the allotted number of pages, make sure that the entire story hangs together, spelling, punctuation and grammar are correct, and myriad other things that make up an actual script. It’s a lot of work to do it correctly.
So, who am I, and what have I done that puts me in a position to help? Great question. Let’s answer it.
Right now, I’m copy-editor of Warmageddon Quarterly, as well as story editor for Hollow. WQ comes out through Digital Webbing, and Hollow will be coming out from Archaia Studios Press. I’ve also been assistant Editor in Chief for Storrm Comics, and Editor in Chief for Paper Dragonz. As for writing, I’ve written Bullet Time, co-wrote Fallen Justice, and written a few stories for Warmageddon Quarterly. I also hang out a lot at Digital Webbing’s Writer’s Showcase, where I give advice on scripts that are posted. I’m also a freelance editor, and help people on a professional basis make their stories better.
I guess the question now is, what do I hope to accomplish with Bolts and Nuts? I hope to accomplish a lot, really. I hope to help a lot of newer writers avoid the pitfalls of comic writing that we seem to make in storytelling, scriptwriting and comic creation. I’m going to delve into regions that aren’t covered in books, and give practical applications whenever possible. I’m also going to give my thoughts on various comics, talking about form and format, content and context, and what was done right and wrong. I guess that means I’ll be pointing fingers and naming names, something that doesn’t get done a lot within the realm of comics- not from creator to creator, anyway.
I plan for this column to run weekly, give or take, every Tuesday. The first series of columns will be about things to do before scripting. I’m talking about the actual story, characters, plotting, writing the pitch, and outlining. Then I’ll talk about scriptwriting itself, which will take a long time because of the many facets that make up an actual working script. Then I’m going to talk about superhero comics, and the conventions and conceits of them. Also during all of this, I’ll talk about getting together a creative team, what’s needed and what isn’t, and things writers should learn to do for themselves. During all that there will be asides and tangents and things that make you think. I’ll also be taking questions, and doing my best to answer them.
I ask that all my readers keep a few things in mind: there is no “right” way to do comics. This is not a “follow Steven’s way and you’re sure to get published.” However, proper application of the processes and methods that I’ll go into will increase your chances of getting published.
Will some of this be found in books? Of course, but it’ll be scattered around and spread about, and you’ll be hard pressed to collate it into a single source. However, that’s only some of the information that can be found. How many books talk about how many pages a scene should be, how and when to use a splash page, or when a natural page turn should be? I won’t say that I’ve read every book on the market, but I’ve yet to run across the information.
Basically, I’m here to help. I hope it’ll be a fun ride.
See you next Tuesday.