Monday, February 18, 2008

Being a writer

One of the hardest thing that I found in the entire comic book production, is writing the script. Making a plot (story with no character dialog) is much easier for me. But creating a script and breaking down the entire plot into 20 sequential pages is very brain draining.

Many year ago, I always wonder why is the script writer always comes first before the artist. And now I know. It takes alot of brain power to create a script.

I often create the plot of my story, way ahead of the script. As of this writing, I already have a plot up to Kalayaan #15. I often create the plot during my commute from office to our house. When I got that itch to create a story, I will write it down immediately. Those moments are rare and I tend to make the most of it. Even if the vehicle is moving, I will write the idea down and just revise it at home.

After the plot comes the creation of the script (the complete story with character dialog). I only create the script only when I am ready to draw the entire issue. It is hard for me to write a script without drawing a simple sketch of the page layout. It is much easier for me, if I will create the page layout with the character dialog simultaneously.

So ... that is how I do it with my comics. I wonder if the other independent comic creator also has the same or similar procedure as I have.

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