How did you learn to write scripts?

[kyan]

Hello guys! I may sound stupid asking this question but I've been wanting to make a webcomic for months now and I've been having trouble with script making.

For context, I am a writer, I've been writing since I was 12. I started drawing and art 2 years ago. Now that I've sorta improved my art skills, I wanted to combine both of my passions and make a webcomic from a story I wrote years ago, but turns out, script making isn't as easy as I thought.

I've already watched multiple YouTube videos, but it seems like I just can't get it right. My dialogues aren't as interesting compared to my novels, and I don't know how to go about it.

Do you guys have any advice on how to write scripts?

[IndigoShirtProd]

It's not stupid to ask about this stuff and script making can be very challenging. Writing a script is very individualistic and really depends on what works for the creator. Some people script panel by panel, others, like myself, have looser scripting style. It can also depend on other portions of the comic making process such as the outline and the if you thumbnail pages off the script.

The way I script is separating dialogue and narrative so it look like this:

The chapter begins with our trio within the BBS dojo, with a focus on the target board in the room. Elliot is lying on a table, unconscious and shirtless. Lara and Tyler look on worried while Master Inu returns to the room holding a cup of tea.

Inu: Then the salamander just . . . adhered itself to his chest?

Lara: Yes, sir.

Tyler: Yea, and lightning came out when it happened.

I don't do panel by panel scripting cuz it's too restrictive for me. I draw thumbnails, little sketch versions of the pages, from the script directly without deciding panels beforehand.
When it to the writing, I go off my out line and write the first pass at dialogue and narrative. Then I go back and edit, make the dialogue more believable and change change character positions and settings/ backgrounds as needed.

My advice would be to try out different style of script writing and see what works. Ask other for excepts of old scripts to see how they do it. Maybe even replicate your novel writing style. Also do think too, too hard about this, you already know how to write, that's the hard part, and translating that into comics shouldn't be too difficult.

[jcmraz]

I read professional scripts and screenplays. You can find them online

[mickpaulusma]

Hi @kyan,

I really just wanted to share my experience with you.

I started writing scripts for film when I was in my late teens (I am far to old now to mention here) and built that skill through reading other people's scripts, 'how to books' (which are great at laying out the technical stuff regarding format, etc) and getting feedback from others.

When I started making my first comic (which I am still working on!) I transferred those skills directly to comic writing. At first it worked pretty good for getting the story structure / pacing down and for initially visualising the scenes. When I took some classes I was introduced to other methods like thumbnailing first or breaking prose down into 'beats'. It really opened my eyes! I still tend to work on a 'full script' first but I now thumbnail full pages and then go back and update the script if I feel the visualisation works better. I guess my point is if you are a writer/creator then you can do whatever works for you! I have no experience in writing comics for other people but there a couple good books out there including 'Words for Pictures' by Brian Michael Bendis. There are also so could templates out there if you want a 'standard' formatting guide.

I wish I could give advice on dialogue (mine ain't great) but reading loads of comics and graphic novels might help.

I hope this is somewhat useful - or at least diverting.

[ButterflyEmpress]

I learned to make scripts as I go along. I realized that the more detailed, the easier it is to illustrate. I like to specify establishing shots, camera angles where someone's standing, what face they're making, etc. I don't differentiate between pages and panels yet. I'm still trying to figure that out.

Example

--Later while walking, establishing shot of night sky--
Niyu: That explains a lot.
Akina and Niyu walk along the path through campus. There's tiny puddles of dark matter. Akina is standing to his left, nervously walking with balled fists
Akina: Unfortunately that's all I know so far. You'll probably have to talk to Nyota when she gets back. (Close up face and torso, ears folded)From getting rid of all that dark matter. (Closer zoom of face, ears folded lower)That's probably covering the entirety of north nokiko. I know it's a lot to take in, (looks at Niyu, he looks concerned) but you don't have to be nervous about all this.

As for dialogue, I feel that it depends on the relationship of the characters who are interacting and their current mood. Awkward strangers are probably sound stiff when talking compared to friends and family. I would also avoid having characters state they're feelings if it's visually obvious. You can watch/read other stories that have similar character and plot elements as yours or listen to how people talk to each other in real life for research. I wouldn't go too realistic with dialogue 'cause it can get repetitive and boring. In real life people spend a lot of time talking about nothing or repeating themselves.

Edit: Sorry if it's long. The summary block only works in the preview unfortunately.

[sc101]

I didn't. Just start posting stuff lolololol. You can learn as you go about it. that's what worked for me . I think

[Inspector_Spinda]

Well it's just something you have to learn. I don't think you can really be taught by videos although they can give you tips if you're doing things wrong. You don't necessarily have to do it formally. My scripts are all very causal and I basically only writing what I want the dialogue to me. Since you say you're more comfortable with novels why dont you write a draft for a novel instead and then adapt it into a webcomic. You might find that easier. But if this is your first time, don't be ashamed if you're having a lot of trouble. Writing a good script or plot for a comic takes time and you'll meet many dead ends. That's a natural part of the process.

[blackorchid]

I'll try to find it, but I used a modified DARK HORSE COMICS outline.

Basically, I write them like this:

[Far left indent---> EPISODE TITLE]
PANEL 1| Character is sitting in a chair, writing on their laptop. Cat is asleep next to them.

CAT, asleep, purring.
SFX: purr

CHARACTER, talking to themself:
How in the...?

PANEL 2| Cat opens eyes.

PANEL 3| Cat sits up and yawns.

SFX|
Yawns.

PANEL 4| Character is staring at laptop screen, it paints their face blue.

PANEL 5| a) message ping.

SFX:
ping!

5,b| Message on screen.

MESSAGE:
Hey, I saw you were online!

Panel 6: Character tilts their head.

CHARACTER, INTERNAL, confused:
Who?

Something like that. It's a little tedious, but...you know...it work enough, once I modified it a bit.

[Rhonder]

It's worthwhile trying out different script writing methods to try and find one that works well for you It's possible the methods you've seen and read about so far just don't jive with your style, and that's okay!

For example, my scripts never wind up looking like those movie or play scripts with accurate descriptions of every panel and its setting and people's expressions and what they're doing and all that. A lot of people find that helpful (and I think something like that is important if you want to have someone else draw your script, for example, as the other person can't read your mind) but since I'm also the artist, I find that I don't need that much to go off of- a lot of it is just already in my head and I can work it out visually later on. By contrast mine usually look more like broad outlines, as I've found that that's what helps me get the important stuff down the best. I start with bullet points of major events, then go in and just brainstorm under each point in more detail what happens to connect the dots. A sample might be like:

• Group is wandering through jungle when suddenly they hear an explosion.
• Go to investigate where explosion happened and find rival character
• fight
• rival escapes and party is left to wander the wreckage.

Then I might take something like that and fill it out like such:
(apologies for the double "summary" thing, one of them is empty, I messed it up trying to edit the formatting xD)

Summary

Summary

• Group is wandering through jungle when suddenly they hear an explosion.

Characters A, B, & C are walking through the jungle after escaping from the research facility last time. "Man I sure hope we find some food soon", says B. C criticizes B's weak stomach and A laughs. All of a sudden they see and hear a large explosion in the distance. "whoa, what the heck!?" says A. "We'd better go check that out", says C.

• Go to investigate where explosion happened and find rival character

They make their way quickly through the jungle in the direction of the explosion and find a burning airplane that crash landed in a clearing with someone crawling out of the cockpit. Upon closer inspection, it appears to be their long-time rival, D! "D!? What are you doing flying an airplane!? Are you okay?" Asks B. D looks pretty injured, but at the sound of his rival's voice he quickly straightens up and turns to face them with a cocky look on his face "none of your business, nerds! Now that we've met here, I'm gonna take your doo-dad for sure!

• fight

characters fight, D pulls trick on C removing them from the area, leaving just A and B. B and D have hand to hand combat while A tries to piece together a fancy machine to the side. D notices this and tries to interrupt A but C returns and intervenes at the last moment. Finally A's contraption is completed, a catapult, and they lure D into position and launch him far away.

• rival ~~escapes~~ is ejected and party is left to wander the wreckage.

Party decides with D out of the way, that they should search his plane in case they find anything useful. There's not much of note overall, but under the seat there was a mysterious sealed box with the logo of the research facility that they just escaped. What does this mean? is D affiliated with them? Did D just steal one of their planes? What's going on? Find out next time on Comic Ball Z.

---

Like I do describe for myself what happens and make sure to note down key dialogue, but I don't go into the intricate level of detail that I see a lot of scripts go into. I prefer to resolve that (and fill in the rest of the dialogue) when I reach the thumbnail and layout phase, as its easier for me at least to do it in a more visual way

[Jenny-Toons]

I mostly tried out different scripting formats. I did try to use movie-scripting as my main method, but it always felt too concrete for me, especially since I like to omit and add panels if needed. So then I started to just make quick summaries of each chapter. A paragraph or so would work, and then I'd be able to add and drop panels as needed.

Overtime, that became more elaborate. I realized I'd have dialogue I'd want to remember, so I added that. Then, I'd have characters who were human and nonhuman, so I added ways to tell them apart. I also had particular ideals for HOW panels so look, so I started to add my own personal author's notes. Pretty soon, I had an entire system for scripting my stories.

Currently, that system is color-coding narrative-formatted scripting. I write out my comic scripts as novella summaries, and I code each part based on character type, dialogue, settings, and how I want panel arrangement to go. It's still very loose enough for me to add/omit things at the final stages, but it's concrete enough for me to understand my characters' motives and ideals:

In the end, I wouldn't say there's really any "right" or "wrong" way to write your scripts. It is important to go through some methods because what works for others might not work for you. In the end, you want to be able to understand your script, especially if you leave and come back to it after a while.

[Iris-Grimoire]

As everyone else said, there's no wrong way to do it, because it depends on how much you can visualize what you want in your head (and what you can remember when you eventually tackle that scene) and how much you want to improvise. I recommend studying a few formal ones from movies and comics to see if that style is to your liking, and adapt what you think is superfluous - after all, it's a script for your eyes alone, and you're not sending it for someone else to interpret.

Here's an example from mine, around page 1-45:

(focus shots of the beast retracting and changing shape with a black glow and smoke)
(Veri steps out of the water, drenched from the knees down)

Veriesin: (looking at the boots) In hindsight, this was really stupid. (walks over to Mortimer) Yo, birdbrain, I’m not going to kill ya.
Mortimer: (incoherent stuttering)
Veri: (rolls eyes)(quietly) I should’ve never said anything… (louder) Get up already. I’m your caretaker and supervisor, not executioner.

(((cutting part of the exchange for brevity)))

(beat, with Mortimer’s confused face)

Veri: AND, I’ll gladly accept a fireplace for these boots, but to make up for it… You missed something important at the library. (takes out a bundle of scrolls)

I'm no good at pre-planning how much of this can fit in a page, so I actually make the whole scene, paste that into my big thumbnail file, and cut around to see what looks best.

[rajillustration]

I never took a class on scripting or writing or anything, but what I learned was basically from doing, you figure out how much you can fit on a page. So...I would script out what you can, and then make some pages, and then take notes of what worked and didn't work.

Because it is the combination of both visual and written language, I like to write what is visually happening in the panel, but in a short-hand. So I'll explain what the composition may be in certain places, to suggest where I want to have larger panels with backgrounds, and then chop up dialogue based on which panels they should be a part of. So I'm also writing in my thumbnailing and flow as I go.

[DogshitJay]

Whoa i write them like this too! I just kind of landed on it after completing a few scripts in a row. I'm relieved to know my way isn't a disaster haha

[blackorchid]

Oh yes! I labored over it for awhile, and I found it easier than writing Screenplay Scripts, which are wholly foreign to me.

I really like the simplicity of it. It streamlines it nicely so I could get everything that I need across and there still be enough room left for the artist to interpret. I've short-handed it the long that I wrote, but I very happily knocked out over 50 chapters writing them that way.

[Mallory]

I learned proper script writing in university in creative writing, but a lot of the material on scripting for comics you can find in these three books:

Making Comics + Understanding Comics (Scott McCloud)
Words for Pictures (Brian Michael Bendis)

You can also check out books on scripting for movies. Scripting for movies is a LOT more formal, but there are a lot of parallels that can be drawn between scripting for film and for comics (because in both cases, the script is a working document, not the final product).

Also, writing the dialogue for comics is HARD! You have to envision it as spoken by the character, without having any visuals.

What I do for dialogue is I'll write the gist of what needs to be said and then play around with the dialogue from there. I probably easily do 10 passes per page and it's still not perfect.

Because I had the writing training I did start out writing super formal scripts, but nowadays I just have a loose working document. I'll start out with a one-paragraph chapter summary, then deepen that with one sentence per page of content, then write in a rough panel outline and rough dialogue and start drawing + finalizing the text on the page itself. I found that I usually have to change a lot, especially in dialogue, since text formatting it is a pain in the pattookey and not all words always work.

[DogshitJay]

I also chose this style to make it easier for the artists I was working with! But now that I'm doing my own art I'm sticking with it, I like how you have to envision/storyboard from the very start and it helps me guide the dialogue to know exactly what they're doing right away!