You will never get to write comics

>you will never get to write comics

I'm actually writing a comic right now.
Don't let your dreams be memes, everyone.
You too can make it if you try hard and get lucky.

how you do that?

But I've written several succesful novels.

Name 5. And tell me how you do it.

Learn to write a novel and then transition into comics

>Write shit tons of stories
>Attend every writing competition you can find
>Send good scripts to several publishers
>Once you get a contract shit starts rolling
Now I can pretty much just send a synopsis to get a publishing deal.

>read all the fucking time
>have ideas in my head for a sci-fi/fantasy novel I've been kicking around for more than a decade
>realize that I don't know enough about people to write believable female/non-geeky characters

I mean, I could just throw something together on Smashwords and call it a day, but fuck that I have too much dignity

If you really want to do comics, just do comics. It's not like you need any money, just a computer. It's not like you need any talent either. Look at most of the webcomic scene.

I mean, if you wanna do comics to become famous, or having them made into a movie, or be part of the "industry", or make money or have fans or any of that stuff, yeah it's a hard long road.

But if you just wanna make comics for the sake of making comics, just make a fucking comic! No one is stopping you or anything.

i did make a webcomic but stopped once i fucked up a page, but now im trying at it again lol

Fuck, I've been trying to for years now. There's just these brick walls in my way called depression and hating my own art.

I already do. I'm pitching a comic to a publisher in September.

Though honestly I wouldn't do this shit as an actual career.

are you me?

Just make all your characters male geeks then.

Good. Comics are for faggots and liberals.

I'd rather keep my self respect than associate myself with a society of politically-inept social defectives.

>boo hoo comics are hard
>muh copyright battles boo hoo hoo

Shut the fuck up Jew

Fuck writers. If you can't draw you're fucking worthless.

In all seriousness, even comic writers should be able to draw and understand basic visual art principals so they can work with their artist effectively.

If you want to write comics, start with a book that will teach you some basics in visual arts.

People who just 'write' COMICS without doing any of the other work are lazy shits

Writing comics is more like play or screenwriting.

What are the titles though

>posting on this board

This. Many of the greats are/where able to both write and draw their stories. Eisner, Herge, Moebius, Mignola, pre 9/11 Miller, etc.

but the structure of a basic story is more important in a novel which translates well to comics, even more than screenwriting

A novel doesn't consider a visual element, screenwriting and comics do. A novel with pictures is a massive disservice to what the interplay of text and visuals can achieve.

Even Morrison and Moore can draw.

Yes, add Rob Liefeld to that list and it's perfect.

I like Rob fine for what he does

Yeah, go look back at Grant's old comics like Zenith--he's not exactly a natural artist but at least he's done it and has that background so he knows what to ask for and how a page should be broken down etc.

why would he want to un anonamous himself? that or he's lying

You just do it. Actually, it works quite a bit similar to writing a query letter to a publisher if you're trying to write a book. I think you can pitch a comic to Image with five or ten complete pages. Now, whether they take it depends on how good it is, but craft comes with practice and a heap of reading.

I wrote a 1 page comic script. Got rejected, met the publisher a year later. He says "send it to me directly." Now I'm getting published. It's not what you know but who you know

Good my imagination is too full of stuff from movies and comics I'd prolly just end up copying their ideas without even realizing it.

You can actually skip the competition part. If you get your name out there with published stories (or if you build a platform and an audience via Amazon sales or your own website), you'll be more likely to sell to publishers interested in your work. You can also streamline this process with an agent. I have a friend who pitched a novel to Andy Weir's agent, and the dude was excited to see the results.

However, getting a novel (or a comic published) is not a ticket to fame and money.

Write the characters your bad at, and get feedback (friends, family, college workshop class, etc.). Practice your craft and build your confidence and start submitting to speculative fiction journals and magazines.

A webcomic is probably a great idea because if you build an audience, you can take that information to publishers. You'll become much more enticing if you can prove that you'll make them money.

Duoing with an artist isn't a bad idea, but I agree (as someone who is primarily a writer) that having some visual arts chops will help your writing. Paneling and all that Scott McCloud shit gets much easier once you understand the form you're working in. Even if you always work with another artist, knowing how to tell a visual story will make your work better.

>A novel doesn't consider a visual element
Well, that's not quite true. The text on a page is visual, even if highly abstracted.

By visual element, I mean an actual image instead of a description.

good, because i'm largely uncreative and have no ideas

Text is an actual image, and the novel, the artifact, is an entirely visual product; and writers have to consider how sentences, paragraphs, etc. work on the page. In fact, I'd call the care screenwriters need to take with visual information into question due to two concerns. First, they don't have nearly as much say with form given strict industry standards of how screenplays are formatted. Second, very few screenwriters have a say in how their screenplays will be presented on screen, so you tend to see bare bones descriptions of setting, character, etc.

>have this great cast for a murder mystery novel series I want to do
>also have a few of the murders already planned out
>never write anything because I don't know how to format it correctly
>Also because I'm afraid it'll come off as pure cringe
I don't know how to gain enough confidence to start.

Start on a smaller project first, you dork.
So many stupid writers want to start with multi-book series and shit.
Short stories should be your best friend until you're actually good enough to write long form prose.

Or the equivalent, 1-5 page comics that tell a single or just a few gags or a very short story

An interesting exercise is to take a modern Marvel or DC comic and rewrite it to be five pages. What's really essential to the story and what's just filler? Learning the difference will help you a lot when you want to make an original story

Precisely.
Like, for the 'novel' I'm making, I'm making it an anthology type piece with like a dozen short stories in it that are all connected via setting.
Instead of writing 200 pages, I only have to write 10-20 a dozen times. I dunno, seems easier to me especially as a novice.

>10-15 years ago
>wanted to write a comic in tandem with an artist for the end of high school project that exists in my country
>was denied because you don't actually see the work of the writer on the page, so I would have I had to do 50% of the art to get credit
>lost contact with artist
>never wrote a comic
I did write short films later so... yay?

Found the Disney exec. Shouldn't you be in the muppet thread

Why not just learn to draw? Then there's absolutely no barrier between you and creating your own comics.

It's also more rewarding, or at least you get the satisfaction of achieving something more often, which is a good motivator.

That's the 2000ad advice, and any British anons hoping to get published should keep an eye out for when they're accepting applications and Future Shocks.

>get script writing software
>write a comic script
>????
>you've written a comic

The reality is that you're a lazy uncreative "ideas guy" faggot who even if you had an artist, inker, colourer, and publisher completely at your disposal you'd piss around doing nothing and maybe shit out some barebones cringeworthy attempt at a story after a long long long time and that's about it. Kill yourself, to be quite honest, it's not like you're living anyway. You're complaining about something that you can literally just go and do right fucking now, but instead you're shitposting on an autism awareness online help center chatroom. How pathetic.

it never fail to make me laugh when an user tries to act high and mighty on a website dedicated to debating Tibetan rotoscoping.

>write a script
>artist is drawing it at this very moment

Can someone post some bad webcomics so I can build some confidence?

Can you actually pitch comic scripts without an artist, though? Where? I've been looking and all publishers usually want to see finished art before even considering a script. And before you say, learn to draw, I'm a passable artist, but I don't have time to both draw and write and keep my day job.

It's so rare that you might as well consider that it never happens. Better off finding your own artist friends and going in with them.

I always start writing stories, but always run into one of two problems.

A) My anxiety takes over and I get scared people will linch mob me if they don't like the story or

B) I have no idea how to write endings.

No Publisher will take just a script. I've got an artist working with me and I met the publisher at a previous con. So I've got that to my advantage.

That's what I figured. Oh well. Need to keep looking for an artist, then.

Digitalwebbing forums

Thats where I got some good artists. Just say you're paying and your inbox will flood with messages.

Here's a trick: write the last scene, or even just the last line, of the story first. Then work on your outline with that ending already fixed.

Can't help you with the anxiety tho sorry.

>realize that I don't know enough about people to write believable female/non-geeky characters
This is where reading things outside SF/F, comics, etc. helps, especially reading literature and the classics.

>write a script
>artists not drawing anything to do with it at any moment because I don't know where to find artists looking to produce a work for commercial distribution

Or, ya know, actually interacting with real people face to face.

You know user this one post out of the million of other similar posts worked and now I will inexplicably do what you say because you are mad this is how conversation works and you can definitely convince people of things by bitching and insulting them and I will now kill myself as you instructed.

If you're decent enough at writing to write a comic but aren't good at art, why not just write a novel instead?

Thanks, I'll check it out.

And this is why when you die the world will be no different than had you never existed.

Short stories are fundamentally different objects than novellas, novels, or novel series; getting good at one doesn't necessarily you'll be good with the others. However, since the time involved in writing shorter works tends to be shorter, starting with stories is a good way to build confidence and certain skills.

You can also trick yourself into writing a novel this way, where you maintain the same characters in each "story." The result is picaresque, but that can always be changed with some revision.

Not to my knowledge. You need completed pages for Image, and they're the only comics publisher I looked into.

As to how busy you are...well, you're probably not busy enough to justify your statement. You have to give something up. I haven't written or revised much all summer partially because I've wanted to do some drinking, reading, and wandering out of doors. I'd need to change that schedule. That's true for everyone who wants to write, produce visual art, etc., even people who call themselves writers, artists, whatever. Very few of these people do that sort of thing for real pay. Most need to keep another job.

Novels, short stories, comics, etc are all suited to different kinds of narratives and writing. I've got folders split into comics, novels, short stories, and others because each idea is suited to a different form of storytelling.

Basically, the end goal is learning empathy. However, writers worried about writing realistic characters should remember that you only need to convince your audience that this person is real. You've gone off the rails if you begin asking "Would a woman, Kryptonian, person other than me do X?" Convince your reader that this specific person will.

>novel is less than three chapters away from completion
>already going to edit the fuck out of it to fix minor errors and establish consistency
>desperately want an actual editor to go over it

honestly even if it goes nowhere I'll be satisfied just knowing that I tried my best and actually have a finished product

sup, hywfag?

What draft are you on? If this is a first draft, you have a ways to go still. Unfortunately, few editors do developmental work, and copy editing—while important—is a last step sort of venture. You might want to find people to read and comment on elements such as plot, character, etc. However, if you're feeling confident, shopping for an agent isn't a bad idea either.

First draft, yeah. That's actually a relief, knowing that I've got a ways to go. I have plenty of time to approach the mammoth task of actually putting my manuscript out there in a professional sense. I'm gonna run it by my friends, and then maybe a professor at my community college as well. My plan is to give some questions to my "beta testers" to help kind of guide their critique and recommendations.

I've also thought about getting on social media to network and build connections but in the wake of all of the Hugo drama and the state of social media in general, that's kind of counter-productive and I could be pigeonholed into some sort of tribal struggle.

I assume this is a how's your writing/webcomic?
More the former, and not at all the latter.

its all good.

Having questions for your "novice" readers is a good way to keep the critiques targeted, but building up a community of writer or would-be writer friends is great for workshopping with knowledgeable people outside of a classroom setting. Admittedly, I need to recognize that it's not always easy to find a community of writers, so you may consider building up a community from people you know who read a lot of the kind of genre you're working in. If you have friends who are big speculative readers or who work in bookstores, etc., I'd start there before wading into new connections via social media. I don't know of any speculative forums, but I bet there's a big audience on the internet too. I don't know which way you lean on the whole Hugo thing, but wherever you seek your readers, you'll get a sense of who you want feedback from and who you don't. Thoughtfully, disregarding feedback (even good feedback) is as important a skill to cultivate as learning to take feedback.

It would probably be doable with a less crazy day job, but I work at a game studio, and the intermittent crunch times are killing me as is. It may seriously come down to switching careers in the end, but I do deeply care about my day job (which does also involve creative writing, just not comics), too, and don't want to leave it if there's a chance to manage the juggle with my sanity intact. At least I still have time to write, drawing is the time sink.

What kind of hours are you working? What about your weekends? I know it can be hard to build written and visual work on little free time, but it's what most writers and artists have to do. Almost all the artists and writers I know are teachers or students, for instance.

I dunno. I seem to do okay. Ongoing webcomic. Crowdfunded anthology. OGN coming out from a publishing house in Fall 2019. Publishers and artists alike want to work with me on new projects.

I got extremely lucky though. But I can't draw a lick and have seldom had any money at all until now.

How do you kidnap an artist for your webcomic?

>my friend is becoming an english major
>has an interest in writing comics
I don't have the heart to tell him his writing sucks, he can kind of draw though.

In the end, you're almost always gonna have to pay to play. The trick is to find a way to not pay a cent yourself. Which is much easier said than done. But it can be done.

Whether it's joining a collective that pays out, crowdfunding, pitching to a publisher who's cool with a webcomic to print transition, or just finding a really generous benefactor, people have done. Just don't rely on it. As I said, I got super lucky myself.

stop being a pussy and meet your deadlines. if you can't even do that, you shouldn't be doing it at all

So long as you can figure out dialogue, you don't need to be a GREAT writer so long as you have a competent artist pulling you along.
It's not an ideal situation, but not impossible, either.

As some one who can't draw do to nerve damage in my hands I find this greatly disheartening.

My uncle didn't learn to draw proper till he was 23, now he's a storyboard director. He learned drawing caricatures at a theme park. 100s a day.
It all comes down to practice.

You're right user. I've had a lot of problems with deadlines in the past, I need to learn to meet them or just quit. How do you keep yourself on track?

>nerve damage in my hands
Didn't read this part, sorry user. But in the words of the great Stan Lee "Fuck artists"

>tfw you're 23 and you still haven't learned to draw properly

mfw writing and publishing a comic with a trio of really good friends of mine based off of HL2

Which is generally September to March. I once wanted to try and do a drive of threads on Sup Forums to convince anons to put in a Future Shocks story.

His writing should get better over the course of his degree. No one begins a writer.

Try getting site-blocking extensions so you don't blow your time on Sup Forums. LeechBlock is working well enough for me.

Best way to get into the industry is to self=publish a wed comic. You can get a bit of add revenue as well pending on popularity. Anyone can write a comic, writing a good comic would be a better non-shit posting title.

I get in o a mindset where if i don't meet deadlines, something really terrible s going to happen. what is your strongest motivator? something you would be devastated without? Well, your going to lose that if you don't meet those deadlines. you'll be on the street. it's basically a fear motivator, but it's not extreme like death to where you'll be clouded, just "oh shit I better do this or else" sort of thing. the thought of loss is a huge motivator for a lot of people. writers block is normal and you should allow yourself to take breaks, but make sure those breaks aren't hours at a time. heck, get yourself on a schedule, set goals for yourself and meet them.