Scripting! Anyone care to give some advice?

[Oritasho]

Scripting has always been hard for me, but I managed to get a few years of doing it under my belt from working with voice over series, and actors whom I needed to portray a mood/ emotion, moment, scene. But sense I would be the one filming those scenes I had everything up inside my head for how I wanted it to look and so I didn't have to add alot of information to the script.
That was a long time ago.

This script I am working on now, for my webcomic, will be the first real comic script I've done, and it's so hard! Yeah I know I could write it out like I did my other scripts just adding what I need, and keeping the visual ideas in my head. But in order to keep the page flow nice and chapter length in check, I need to add in what I would normally just use in my head, the visuals I want to draw, and get it down into the script as well.

So I guess I want to ask, is anyone willing to share a small example of how they write out their script? To help out those of us more challenged at it o:

[joannekwan]

Usually I have the bare minimum, the dialogue, because either I already have a concrete idea of how the scene plays out in my head, or I'm flexible and I'll make up the shot as I go along. Sometimes though I do want to take note of an action so as not to forget it later when I'm thumbnailing. Here's what my scripts typically look like.

[Oritasho]

That's very different then how I've been trying to do mine, o: but I can see how that works, especially if you already have a good idea in your head, I could see it playing out while reading.

[whitherling]

I don't really write out a proper script, myself, since I never have to show it to anyone. I use a sort of hybrid method to get my script out - page layouts and chapter length tend to come later in my process. I don't have samples to share, but I can share my workflow:

• Diagrams and lists - Basically, I make lists of plot stuff, character stuff, theme stuff and an idea of in what order events happen, chronologically or in the narrative. (If I know I have a set page limit, I'll assign an approximate page quota to events, but it really only comes into play in the last stage).
• I thumbnail everything out. I don't worry about page layout too much at this point, unless it comes as a really strong impression that I know I'll want to keep. Dialogue happens, too, at this stage.
• Layouts and page count! I sort out how the panels fit together on a page. If I've exceeded page count, here's where I cut panels, consolidate stuff, reassess whether I really need such-and-such an interaction or scene. This is also where I give my dialogue its second edits, since it has to flow with the page layouts.

So... I don't really write a script, per se. if you're working with someone else, it might not be helpful, but it took me a while to find a method that worked for me. I'll only write script when I have an art block and can't think visually, and then I write sort of... novel-y, just to kick my brain into gear, and then translate it to thumbnails.

Anyway, I hope that's even remotely useful to you!

[MrKyleRose]

About a month ago Kieron Gillen (writer of several Marvel titles and some amazing creator owned books including Wicked+Divine) posted what he called his "Writer Masterpost". It basically covers all the most frequent questions he gets about his writing process and then some. It's really insightful and I would highly recomend checking it out: http://kierongillen.tumblr.com/post/137340673792/comic-writer-masterpost

[Oritasho]

Right now as I type I'm working on the prequel script for my story, it's only meant to be at most five pages. I hope to get some good tips before I start work on the official main story pages. But what you wrote is very helpful! And something I can keep in mind while planning out and deigning the comic layouts o: so thank you!

[kkitty]

I just kind of draft it when the actual comic hits, do it until my inspiration runs out, then think of what to do next while finishing those panels.

[Ringarune]

I have my main storyline down, basic plot with the key events, and it's pretty vague. I usually plan out each chapter pretty vaguely as well, just writing down the main scenes of what happens, then I draw the thumbnails for each scene so I can see how they look together.

[dglisson]

I always follow this script format here, and it's never done me wrong.

[AnnaLandin]

I do my scripts in a few stages, none of which are strictly, uh, scripts? I guess. But to use the first chapter of my story as an example.

The outline for the first 16 pages looks like this:

Masahiro and Akane meet in the woods

... That's it. That's the entire outline.

Next step is to clarify that outline for myself:

CHAPTER/PART 1
Masahiro finds Akane in the woods (does he kill the last bandit so that Akane sees it, or does he
just step over the corpses? Undecided, though the first one would be kind of impactful; it means that Masa not only FOUND her, but also saved her). He reluctantly brings her along/washes her off in the river and names her. Plant Masa's missing hand, his bitterness/aversion to people/vague quest for SOMETHING/the fact that ”something” has happened. Either 1 overnight stay to end it, OR setting off for/cresting the rise before the town.

... as you can see, it's still pretty vague and full of notes to myself and unresolved questions and parantheses that spiral off into forward slashes and whatnot. At this point, I have no idea how long it's going to be, or whether this is going to take up an entire chapter, of it it will turn out to be only half of a chapter (it turned out to be only half, but you never know).

Then, I take this jumbled mess and try to untangle it into a page-by-page plot breakdown:

Page one: Masahiro walking through the woods.
Page two: He is startled by a bird and sees something off the side of the path.
Page three: He goes to investigate.
Page four: he finds a clearing full of dead people.
Page five: he's attacked by a bandit

... and so on. Then I take that breakdown, and I pick up my pencil and start drawing thumbnails of all the pages, writing the first script of the dialogue below the pages as I go along:

This example is from a oneshot comic, not from Grassblades, but the method is largely the same. I draw a thumbnail of what I want the page to look like, and then add in a bunch of scribbly notes on dialogue below each thumbnail - a lot of the time I also add notes to myself about what all those tiny stick figures are actually doing, so that I don't forget it by the time I sit down to draw the pages.

[mariusthered]

I use more of a movie approach because my comic uses 3d software to put the pages together. (so I use actors and 3d sets on the computer).

the first level of "script" I have to plan out the pages and panels just like taking movie shots. I work out the camera angles and what will be head shots . then after all that is done the page can be laid out and the speech bubbles added.

the script I use for this I do on the word processor so i can cut and paste directly to the page. I never put names in as I know who is meant to say what ( as by this time i know the script by heart)

[nathankschulz]

For The Shrouded City, I use the Screenwriter program. It saves a ton of time on the format of comic book script. Here's how what I writes get translated by my artist into a finished page.

[R.n.P]

Scripting has never been that hard for me so i juz go with the flow or vibe my character is giving out at that point after I've drawn him or her.
I do that so if I ever get bored as I'm drawing i can easily make my character do something funny in order to liven my spirit by juz drawing dem looking stupid.

[Damatris]

I don't really write out a proper script, myself, since I never have to show it to anyone. I use a sort of hybrid method to get my script out - page layouts and chapter length tend to come later in my process.

Nice to see someone else has a not-actual-script scripting method.

For me timelines are the core of scripting method. That's how I assemble all the notes and random thoughts into a coherent form. First it's very broad one which shows the whole plot and subplots (and when and how those connect back to the main one). Then I cut it into arcs and made much more detailed timelines for those, broken into scenes. I also marked possible places to cut it into chapters but those are pretty flexible and get decided while thumbnailing to make sure they stay in similar page counts. I don't have any designated page numbers but I like to keep them in 18 - 22 pages when possible.

After that I start thumbnailing the scenes and that's how I break them into pages. This is also the time I work on the dialogue and place it in the panels as I work. I keep my thumbnails about 60 pages further from the latest released page so I have plenty of time to tweak things. Sometimes paneling ends up changing for a final time when I start drawing the actual page.

[donathinfrye]

I use a format and descriptive approach that probably stems from a background in playwriting ... though I've also studied and read a lot of Brian Michael Bendis' scripts. Beyond that, Alan Moore has a fantastic (short) book on the subject that deserves to be read again and again: Writing for Comics.

But, below are a pair of pages from one of the comics that I'm writing for (an unreleased horror book, not upcoming pages of my space opera Atonement). Now, I usually write for an artist, so specificity in my action is key. That being said, I do believe that there's strength in specificity even if you are both writer and artist for a book: being organized about your ideas, about your action and flow, is a very important thing for long-form, serialized stories. It reduces the likelihood of accidental narrative error, and helps you cement visual ideas and narrative ideas so that your inventiveness serves the purpose of your story.

But that's just my personal preference!

I believe that this format is sort of the standard, or near to it, for the print comic industry. Of course, writing webcomics (particularly vertical scroll) would require a bit of an adjustment. But, you can see how the numbering/organization works when you move to a new page -- a key element for communication with an artist, if you're writing as part of a collaboration:

[Dorian_Grey]

My process is scary similar to @AnnaLandin actually. In vague outlines, then rough summary and just notes to myself that no one outside would understand.

May I add please READ OUT LOUD your dialogue when writing a script. I've read dialogue in some comics either outside tapastic or here that sounds unintentionally rather robotic, stiff or forced. Chances are if it doesn't sound natural coming from your own mouth (in that character's voice), it'll sound strange to your audience reading it.

[shazzbaa]

My process from outline-to-script is really similar to @AnnaLandin's as well!! I suuuuper recommend doing that page-by-page step ESPECIALLY for webcomics, where making sure that enough happens in each update is important.

Here's what my scripts look like!
(this is the same piece of script; p34 just turned into p35 at some point)

(and here it is at a more legible size next to the finished page, if you're curious!)

I go back and forth between typing the script in TextEdit / Evernote and scribbling it in my notebook, depending on what's working better for me that day.
There's a lot of fiddling -- a lot of times I'll write a piece of interaction, then add the little dashes that denote where each new panel starts, then test out some panel layouts in the margins to make sure that fits on the page, then go back and prune the conversation (my notebooks are FULLLL of scribbled out portions). Other times I've done the little margin-panel-layouts first, with tiny notes on what beat happens in each panel, then gone back and written the script based on that. Things in my notebook are often out-of-order, too, where I jump back to rework a previous page I wasn't happy with, or skip over a piece that isn't working and come back to it later.

I'm both the artist and writer, so I feel like the most important thing for me to get at this stage is beats and timing -- both the rhythm of individual panels and the larger story beats that I'm establishing. Notes about visuals are pretty bare-bones and I use a lot of emoticons rather than descriptions -- I trust my artist self to interpret all this, and it helps me get my thoughts down quickly without a lot of fighting with the format or searching for evocative descriptions!

[naqan]

All very good thoughts above. I tend to use a modified version of this. Whatever the case, find a format that works for you. I have often had to be fluid depending on the artist as well.