Someone suggested that learning to write better would help me make a comic faster. How does this work?

[Kelheor]

Well that's the way of drawing comics...sorry I draw slowly too, it happens. If you can/want cut the corners in the process - you do it (use all the tools that can help you). Make a simpler style, etc. If you don't, you just learn how to draw, continue drawing and maybe you will become more efficient with that at some point

[IndigoShirtProd]

I think they were coming at it from the angle that the issue you having is getting out your ideas for a comic on paper and making a coherent and cohesive story out of it, rather than being slow paced in actually making the comic.

[LostKelp]

Yeah mate, structurally to the plot "the known world" is important for establishing 2 things, what a character wants/a flaw they have to overcome, and the world they want to return to after the journey. You could do this in 1-20 pages depending on who the character is and what the world is like. You could even skip it and flesh em out in "the call to action" and "The refusal of the call". Again nothing bad with taking it slow, but if you wanna get it fast you gotta cut the fluff.

[HGohwell]

So, part of the issue is that if you've taken to chapter 2 it's "only" took 2 chapters. That's too long. The best comics/manga will be at the plot in some way from within the first 5 pages. 2 capters is too long and 2 years is way too long. Better writing will help you with pacing and where to start. It will also teach you how to edit better. How to combine and cut and rearrange. As a general rule, at least a third of what you write should be cut, sometimes up to two thirds, for maxiumim efficent story telling.

[JoshRaed]

Oh. That make sense. It’s nuts how this was so easy to explain but @Lensing just gave up and then I had to go on this whole wild goose chase to find the answer instead.

[JoshRaed]

So before the plot happened a character had to break from jail, a character had to be declared the chosen one but not, and we needed to learn why that matters, and also the real chosen one had to be made an established character in the plot and also the hero team had to be brought together.

[IndigoShirtProd]

Okay, so something needs to be cut here. All of that can't happen, and the story still hasn't started yet. Instead of having the character break out, they could be on the run and learning why that character is not the chosen one can come later.

[HGohwell]

But here's the thing, I have similar vibes in similar stories, but I didn't do the team getting together, or the breakout or the fact that he's the chosen one and the issues of someone not being a chosen one, I skipped straight to the plot. I'm not going to go through your story and say if you're right or wrong, and just telling me these things doesn't give me any clue, if you want proper feedback that's for Feedback/Review threads, but you always have to ask yourself why is this important to be on screen? Everything, you should be asking why is this important? Why does it need to be on screen? A lot of good writing is good editting and you should always be asking why is this here and does it absolutely need to be here?

[JoshRaed]

So…

In the new version i’m making scene one would be the one where he’s the chosen one when he’s really not, after a worldbuilding speech.

The reveal of the true chosen one happens mid chapter one. Is that fast enough?

[IndigoShirtProd]

Did you say a world building speech, in the first chapter?! Does the reader need to know that stuff in a block of text you call a speech or can that be explained throughout the story? And what's the inciting incident?

[HGohwell]

I wouldn't be able to tell you without seeing an entire script. Just snippets isn't enough. It depends entirely how you reveal it and what the reveal is, how important being the chosen one is, how it effects their dynamic ect. But just off the top of my head, I get wary when someone says a worldbuilding speech. I've almost never seen it done well, it's an awful way to start and it kills the pacing and is a sign of someone more interested in their worldbuilding than their story or someone who doesn't know how to weave worldbuilding in naturally, so I'd be careful there.

[JoshRaed]

The inciting incident is the main character finding the real chosen one.

The speech is just that fantasy thing of like “long ago the 4 nations lived together in harmony” type deal.

[IndigoShirtProd]

Yea, uh, get rid of that speech. Especially if it's diagetic. Or, should I say, in my opinion, you should get rid of that speech. The story is supposed to be starting and we have to stop to have a history lesson. Like I asked previously, does the reader need, and I mean need to know this at the jump. Ignore the intro to ATLA, that happens in thirty seconds and a whole team of animators made it. Even in the context of the show, we were informed of the war in the first episode (from what I remember).

[JoshRaed]

The thing is that scene one is this character being told he’s the chosen one. Without that speech we don’t actually know why this information matters.

Also my stories speech is genuinely shorter than the 30 second one from avatar. The ATLA one is 85 words, mine is 66 words.

[IndigoShirtProd]

Like, @HGohwell said, a lot more context would be necessary for me or anyone else to do any amount of practical editing or script doctoring. But, I do have to ask, does the the story come to a standstill just for this speech?

[JoshRaed]

No. There is no story yet, and it’s not even one page of the comic. It takes up only 3 panels actually. There’s no way for it to stop the plot.

[IndigoShirtProd]

So, you have the full outline written?

[JoshRaed]

This is the whole thing:

For generations, the chosen one and the dark lord have been chosen by destiny to fight for the fate of the world.
The chosen one can become a being of pure positive energy, and the dark lord can do the opposite. There is one of each every fifty years. One day, a new dark lord will come into power and you will come to save them.

So…

[darthmongoose]

The reason writing is important for making a comic is that a comic should ideally be a perfect fusion of words and pictures working in harmony to tell the story. The reason a lot of people are telling you to just go make a comic, is it's really hard to teach somebody else. Comic storytelling is a tricky skill to learn, and there's no 100% right way that works for everyone.

Maybe you'll be the kind of comic storyteller who uses a lot of narration, or internal monologue, like a lot of Korean webtoons do. Maybe you'll use a lot of annotations like Bryan Lee O'Malley, or maybe you'll be like me and make comics almost like a movie or a show storyboard with almost no narration or internal monologuing.

You kind of have to find your voice for yourself through making things and seeing how readers respond to it, but also seeking out good comics or books on art and writing to see what you can learn. Having seen the Neil Gaiman masterclass, I think that's a great place to start; he has a lot of great wisdom to share. Reading "Making Comics" by Scott McCloud is, in my opinion, essential, and every comic creator should read that book.

Once you understand how you're using the words, and how you're using the pictures, and how you break down your story outline into panels; what you tell as narration, what you show as a scene, where you use flashbacks, where you use exposition, you'll start to get really good at pacing a story, and you'll get stuck less and so get faster at planning a comic, thumbnailing out pages and getting to work on making them.

[JoshRaed]

No. Just part of it at the moment.