Opening remarks:

Prepare for run-ons, randomness, and disjointed thoughts.

Meat and potatoes:

So, given that I've had tons of time off I figured I'd get back into writing, and what could be better than writing comic scripts? Well, doing so for fun, personal progress, and any reason other than a for profit purpose makes it seem like such an endeavor can only end well, right? I don't intend to answer that any time soon, by the way. I figured, why not hone my basically nonexistent craft while I have the time to do so? Done. I started rehashing stuff I wrote from five-ish years ago and what have you, only to discover that I stupidly left a good portion of my already somewhat fleshed out story arcs, character profiles, and issue breakdowns back in Pennsylvania! I was (and still am) so pissed at myself for doing this as I wouldn't have had to "waste" time redoing stuff that was already done. That being said, I've mostly worked on expanding story ideas, character interactions, and individual issue plots, so too much time hasn't been wasted on recovering old ideas.

There aren't too many helpful guides to writing comic scripts out there, at least not as far as my dumbass has been able to find, so I started scouring the bonus sections of those more expensive (read deluxe, limited, or whatever ) collected editions that I did bring over with me for sample scripts. Thankfully I found one in Batman: Year One, several in the three volumes of Y: The Last Man, and even a good bit from Daredevil: The Man Without Fear. I'll also mention Storm Dogs as I take any excuse I can to bring up that series. Daredevil's features both more of a traditional script that I assume most publishers have adopted some form of, as well as that of a short story format that gets reworked into a more manageable script. Since I find it easier to start out in short story format, this one got me more interested, but strangely, it's not as helpful as the more traditional one. Color me confused. A while back, I stumbled upon (found by Google searching) some online script samples and someone from here also helpfully posted the same link. (I'd forgotten about it, hence the helpfulness) Additionally, there are guidelines that can be found on both Darkhorse and Image websites for both writer and artist submissions so I've included those for any who are interested. Phew! Time to break up this huge wall of text.

Advice:

Some helpful advice that I've heard about aspiring writers is to write every day and to write different things. Easier said than done definitely applies here but it makes total sense. Also, don't worry about getting everything perfect the first time- that's what drafts are for. Sadly, I can't remember who said that. Some other advice I saw on ehow was to just grab a random comic, and break it down page by page by analyzing what happens in each panel. It seems legit but I've yet to do it with a whole issue as that seems thoroughly exhausting.

Hilary Goldstein, offers some helpful insight into writing a comic script here. He also recommended DC comics guide to writing which I'll definitely end up grabbing. I bring him up yet again as I recently an invaluable tool from backing his kickstarter for his comic series Golem- a script book which features art layouts in addition to the script so it helps to better illustrate how the gap is bridged between the word and the art.

Closing remarks:

For now, especially that I have the luxury of time on my hands, I'll keep trucking along and doing something that involves writing or learn about writing every day. Thankfully, this also includes reading comics more conscientiously and paying more attention to what happens in each panel, how many on are the page, POV's, and the like. Best of luck to all of you aspiring artists! I wish you all the best as now is an awesome time to be a comic creator/collaborator. Comments, criticisms and advice are always welcome, especially from published authors. :-)