On Writing Comics, Part 1 (Patreon)

So since I've been wrestling with writing Chapter 4, I figured it was a good idea to sit down and talk about how I write Tamberlane. I imagine a lot of you are pretty interested in the process and I'm happy to share mine.

The Outline

I have a very basic outline of the whole story of Tamberlane all laid out. Each chapter has a single sentence that explains the crux of how the story develops, or why that chapter needs to exist.

Chapter 1 was about introducing Tamberlane.

Chapter 2 was about grounding the reader in the world, and Belfry's insecurities.

Chapter 3 was about showing how little they know about Tamberlane, and broadening the scope of the world. It also more thoroughly introduced Abroad.

And so on.

Planning a Chapter

When it comes time to create a chapter, I'll sit down and think about all the points I HAVE to hit in that chapter, and what I WANT to hit in that chapter.

For chapter 3, I HAD to show Oakewood and Milo studying Tamberlane, and I HAD to have the conversation between Tess and Belfry about Abroad. Those are the two big storylines of the chapter, and I wanted to wrap up Belfry and Tess's feud in a MOSTLY satisfying conclusion. They aren't fully healed, but they're in a state of truce.

As far as wants, I WANTED to introduce Jason and Avery. I WANTED to show as many cameos and animal denizens as I could. I WANTED to show more of Briar and Walter. And I WANTED to ground the story in the greater world and show a little history (in Timmothy's upcoming story).

 As you can see, Chapter 3 was very different, yet not very different at all. I STILL miss being able to put Tess in a pit fight for the chapter, but it just couldn't fit. I'll find a way... somehow. 

I also keep an eye on my list of cameos to see who would best fit in the chapter, and who hadn't been shown yet. I usually have a decent idea of where someone will fit in the story, and I'll try to work any squishy bits of the story around cameos to give them an anchor.

Plans for chapter 4 include the following cameos: Zaukodar's Callie (as teacher), JNSx7's Jentzen (as teacher), Chaon's Cur (as antagonist), Lightfox's Artie and Hattie (as storytellers), Stoker's Stoker (as doctor), Vertis's Twitchel (as pharmacist), Jonas's Jonas (as antagonist), and Ashley's Kira (as antagonist). Keep in mind, this is definitely all in the planning phase, so it hasn't been written entirely and may change. But overall, that's the plan.

So I have the very basic things I NEED and WANT to work in, and a few anchor characters to work around. I also work with a very VERY loose structure of alternating chapter focus between Belfry and Tamberlane. Chapter 1 was about Belfry; Chapter 2 was about Tamberlane. Chapter 3 was about Belfry, and Chapter 4 is about Tamberlane. 

This is less something I'm bound by and more just a reminder to myself to shift focuses between the adult and child cast. It also gives me an extra tool to plan chapters around to make them more cohesive.

In addition, there are a number of mysteries in this comic that I am working in. I try to sprinkle clues in about each of them wherever I can. My goal is to keep them subtle enough that folks reading back later can go, GASP!!! I DIDN'T REALIZE! but loud enough that really perceptive readers can gather them up as they go. 

However, I also have to remind myself that as the Big Reveals get closer, the clues need to get a little louder. It can't come out of nowhere for readers like me, who don't pick up on clues unless they're smacked around the head with a Clue-by-4 a few times. Sometimes it feels like I'm tipping my hand too much, but you'd be surprised how hard it is for the casual reader to glean what you're offering them.

With that all in mind, I begin to brainstorm.

Brainstorming

Any time I'm trying to sleep, or I'm dozing in the morning, I'll pick one of the stories I'm working on and just starting working through it like a movie in my head. I think about what I want to draw. I think about scenes I want to happen, dialogue I think is funny or well-done. (Of course, I never remember the writing word for word, EVER, but at least I get the gist.)

My goal with this is to figure out what really draws me to the chapter. I'm making this story for myself more than anything, so I find the bits that make me really excited. Chances are, if they excite me, they'll excite my readers. Things that come up in this part are vistas/set pieces I want to draw (I have a wintry forest scene in mind for Chapter 4!), emotional beats or particular expressions or lighting schemes, and anything that really hits that Heart that I'm going for in the story.

Once I have a basic set of set dressing like that, I start trying to think through it chronologically.

Usually I'll chew over one scene at a time, going back and imagining and reimagining, changing and building it up better and better. I do this over countless nights until I can repeat it beat for beat, image for image, more or less consistently. That means it's pretty solid, and ready for the next step.

Then, I do one of two things.

Either I start scribbling images down, trying to capture the sort of emotional essence I'm going for, or maybe doing some updated character designs as needed.

Or I sit down with my lined notebook at Starbucks and I write.

Sometimes I do both.

The Script

As much as I want to write first drafts on the computer, it just doesn't work for me. It feels too organized and structured and final for me to just brain splat onto the page. So instead, I write in a notebook.

When I write the first pass of the script, I'm mostly doing the following things:

I'm breaking scenes into pages, and pages into moments, and moments into panels. I'm also capturing dialogue, and any notes I want to keep for myself about visuals.

In general, I try to keep scenes to 4 pages, where a "scene" is typically a topic of conversation. For example, when Nora is comforting Belfry in Chapter 2, that sequence is two scenes: where she's comforting Belfry, and where new information comes up about Tamberlane's whereabouts. 

I find that ~4 pages is a good balance between the chunk of time it will take to read it in print and how long it will take for readers to get through that scene via weekly updates. It's very easy to get bored or exhausted with a story when you can only read in drips and drops, but on the other hand, when you're reading a comic all in one go, everything goes by very quickly. 4 pages strikes an okay balance between the two.

So, after I have my first draft, which may have jumped around or had unsatisfying parts in it, I sit down in the computer and transfer it to Storyshop.io. As I type it up, I'll fix mistakes and shore up weaker parts as I think of them, look for any NEEDS or WANTS I'm missing or didn't quite hit and any emotional beats that are falling flat.

It changes so much. So often. Help.

I've also got an overarching theme for the story that I try to check conflicts against. If it doesn't fit the theme -- Love vs Duty -- I try to find a way to make it fit the theme. If I can't, I have to decide if I'm going to nix it, change it, or leave it.

This is the second draft, and it's as close to done as I'm gonna make it before the comic gets made. A girl's gotta draw!

That's it for Part 1. Stay tuned next week for Part 2! 

PS, thanks for your input on topics you wanted to see covered! It looks like Geography is the winner, and coincidentally segues MUCH better into the chapter than surnames did. You guys are the best!

If you enjoyed this offering, let me know! I would love to make some more comic process posts like this. I'd love to know if this helped you!