Starting to Write a Story For Real

With the framework mapped out the next stage for me was to write the story out.

I just jumped right into it (as you do), armed with common sense and a laptop. I produced the first 2 pages in full which is the cover photo for this page and realised that this simply wouldn’t work. I needed a more robust plan. I needed a full manuscript. This way I get the chance to see the entire story before I start to actually produce artwork. The bonus of this is that i’ll know what I’m drawing and why i’m drawing it. Going in blind will likely have you return to the start to re-draw everything – and I wasn’t having that.

So my new plan involved taking my list of major plot line sections, considering them as chapters and breaking them down further until I was listing out the chapter title, then page number, frames (and comic frame design) and dialogues for characters.

Again, chats with my media friends gave me the insight into efficient manuscripts – which led me to undo everything i’d just done (again), and i’m glad I did sooner rather than later. It simply changed the format, made it more readable and allowed me to progress through at a significantly good pace..

Something was becoming apparent to me as I started writing however, that this was no little task. I had characters coming to life and scenes taking shape in my mind. All of these elements would need to be designed by myself. The next scary point was the fact that i’d already mapped out 90 comic pages on the laptop and I was nowhere near even half way through the listed chapters. This graphic novel was going to be a beast! Trust me to dive straight in at the deep end, but hey, go hard or go home right.

Un harmed by these thoughts though I pressed on.