How to write a good story(For comics and other...)


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10/26/2007 19:57:48

Sephiroth12
Member

Introduction:

Okay, as the title says: I'm going to help you(More like give you guidelines) on how to write a good, interesting story. First of all: DO NOT MAKE SOME CORNY FANTASY STORY!!! People don't like that, ie:

Plot: Main character finds a portal. It links him to another world. He finds more portals, he has to defeat the people guarding the

portals, each portal gives him/her a new power, etc. Or something stupid like that... Believe me, I know it's stupid because when I

was 10 I tried to make a comic with that plot. IT DOES NOT WORK. So, what do you have to do to make a good story? Find out

below!! And before you start to just write down or copy what I'm typing below for teh story, remember, that's just an example!!

Part One: Basic Storylines

First of all, you can't start plotting out the story if you don't have a good storyline. And for those who don't know,(Which is kind of sad

if you don't and your into writing) a storyline is what a story is about. So, to get started, lets make up a basic storyline:

Person is a dective. One day while on a case, he/she finds something that will change his/her life forever...

Okay, so lets break that up into what you NEED to include in the story based upon that storyline:(First lets add some stuff though)

quote:

Person is a dective. One day while on a case, he/she finds something that will change his/her life forever...

quote:

Person is a dective.

First of all, define who 'person' is, and what they were doing before or at the time of whatever the incident was.

quote:

One day while on a case, he/she finds something that will change his/her life forever...

Not really much for a storyline... So, what will we do to add to this? Add a little more detail and fill in the empty space.

quote:

Person is a dective. Person usually handles cases where the was suicide or murder; he/she wanted t know if paranormal activity was real or not. One day while on a case, he/she finds something that will change his/her life forever...

Add what's in the bold

Okay, so, we have our storyline, now lets define some things:

What we need to know is, like I said, who 'person' was, their gender, and what happened. And what happened to lead up to that event

(for flashbacks during the story) So, lets make a plot!!

Part Two: Plotting the story

So, now that we have our storyline:

quote:

Person is a dective. Person usually handles cases where the was suicide or murder; he/she wanted t know if paranormal activity was real or not. One day while on a case, he/she finds something that will change his/her life forever...

We need to make a plot. A plot is basically a skeleton of what will happen. Yeah, lets think of this as a body:

These are the elements that make up the body(main things):

Skeleton
Flesh
Organs
Skin(Also an organ, but lets not count it as that for now...)
Heart(Just counted as the heart for now, kind of like skin...)

So, lets translate that to a healthy body(great story):

Skeleton: Storyline/Plot
Flesh: Rising Action
Heart: Climax
Organs: Falling Action
Skin: resolution(end, it could also be a solution, ie in the end she/he gets rid of whatever happens)

So here are our guidelines:

Skeleton: CANNOT be pointless or corny
Flesh: Take it slowly, don't worry about how long the story will be; just focus on how good it will be
Heart: The middle; the greatest or most important event. Usually a twist in the plot, ie in the book The Bully the main character is afraid to stand up to a bully. The climax is he beats the bully up(This is a real book)
Organs: Also take it slowly, it dosen't matter if your series is 100 volumes long, as long as the story is good. And don't make anything go too fast; ie make them recover slowly(a few volumes maybe) from the climax
Skin: Finally, stories don't always end with happy endings. You don't have to make it end that way because you fear others will be mad; it's your story, not theirs. You don't see them writing a comic, and writing comics isn't easy. Usually, I like to end stories that I think of or write with a cliff hanger or a happy moment, though not always with a happy ending. Let me rephrase that: I don't always end them with a happy ending, but sometimes with a sad ending but a happy moment.

Part Three: Translating it to a comic format

Okay, this is the artsy part of this tutorial. It's GOOD to have a 100000 paged book, because the details in the comic will be shown as

drawings, so it won't take as many pages... Just remember not to write a 385 paged book and expect 10 volumes. That would get

you at the most maybe two. So, if you're working with an artist and not drawing it, keep in mind that it does need detail, but

don't chew them off for the actual comic book being only a fraction of how many pages it took for you to write. If you are planning

to work with an artist, instead of drawing it yourself(Not trying to be mean by that...), then the next chapters for you. If not, skip

to chapter 8(Part Eight: Conclusion)

Part Four: Working Together

So, if you're reading this you're probably wanting to work with an artist. So, a good tip is to post the basic storyline and

a little bit of the story, and see if they take the job. If so, then work with them slowly; they don't know what the characters

look like in your mind(Or anything for that matter). So, work slowly; making comics takes a long time... But, for those who

don't know what to look for in an artist, read on.

Part B(Chapter Four)

Okay, so you're probably just starting out with picking an artist to work with. I'm both an artist and a writer, so I can help you

both ways with this one. So, make sure that your story is easy to understand, and easy to read. It'd be better to give them

a typed story rather than writing; it'd be easier to read. So, try to type it. What an artist looks for(if they can't write) is a writer

that knows exactly what he/she's doing. But, at the same time you should be friendly, kind of like a buddy doing a small comic

for fun together. These are all the tips I can give you on this for now; I write and draw my stories, so I don't really have any

experience in this area.

Part Five: Good Panneling

First of all, when you turn it into a comic, you have a have a good sense of where everything will be on the page. An example is the

picture below(NOT A GOOD EXAMPLE!!!):

Map it out the way you want it to be. That would be too much for a page. Pretty much try to make it look good, but not too much or

too little on the page. This was by far the shortest chapter because there's really nothing else I could really say about the topic... Also, what I meant by all that was that each panel has a meaning... The meaning depends on the story, which is up to you...

Part Six: A Good Title...

One of the hardest parts of writing a comic is coming up with its name... At least for me it is... So, I'm going to help you with it!!

Okay, first of all, DO NOT make the title before you start the story. Wait until you get towards the middle, and come up with a good

title. And make sure it's GOOD not CORNY. But if you really want to get to the point, it depends on your storyline. If you have a

simple storyline(DOES NOT MEAN SIMPLE PLOT), it'll be easier to come up with a storyline. Well, let me rephrase something:

It depends on the storyline AND you. If you're better at coming up with names for simple stories, then you should probably wait to

name it if you have a complex story. Vice versa; if you're better at naming complex stories, you should probably wait to name

it if it's a simple story. Plus, the title MUST comply with the story, ie The story is about a depressed man, the title shouldn't be

"Happy Land" or something that has nothing to do with him being depressed.YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE CLICHE.

You want to be original and creative, so just remember, let the title come to you AFTER you start the story, but don't make that your

main area of focus.

Chapter Seven: Different Genresb]
Some genres are...
Fantasy
Science-Fiction
Romance
Horror
Action
Comdey, and a mix of some of the above. You should have this in mind when you are coming up with your story :)

Part Eight: Conclusion

So far we've learned:

Writing a basic storyline and plot.
Building out our "body"(Story)
Translating our story into a comic
Working With artists(Optional)
Good Panneling

So, there you have it: Your own proffessional(about half way there) story!! I hope this tutorial helped, and until next time, make sure

you see my other tutorial: Drawing Manga!! Cya!!^^

Edit:

Okay I'm just fixing up typos right now, I'll add more chapters later...

Edit Edit: Well, I thought this was deleted... I fixed some stuff, and I decided that it's not ONLY going to be about comics... It can work for anything, I guess :) Chapters to come:

Thumbnailing

< Message edited by Sephiroth12 -- 3/23/2008 21:08:39 >

_____________________________

"Don't believe in yourself. Believe in the me believing in you."

Post #: 1

10/26/2007 21:18:19

Grafh
Jade Rose

Since comics are GoCA art, this is allowed.

Also remove your sig before I do. Max height is 100. Yours is 110, add the text typed under it makes is 117.

Post #: 2

10/26/2007 22:54:05

rikimaruw**
Banned

Wow, you went into great detail there, nice work.
When I have the time I will thoroughly read through.

_____________________________

Post #: 3

10/27/2007 12:47:16

Sephiroth12
Member

Thank you, and sorry about the sig... Okay, I just thought of something. More chapters will come in. List of chapters to come:

Different Types of stories(kind of like a genre, a genre is a type of something, ie Rock music: Heavy Metal, Punk Rock, Christain Rock, Rap Music: Pop, R&B, Hip Hop, etc.)

Beefing it up
How To write a good Cliff Hanger(Optional)

And as I write these I'll probably come up with more... Also, here is an example of an okay story(something I did a while back at like 3 am when I was bored out of my mind...):

Quest For The Legendary Blade

The arrow stuck out of the demon like a knife in butter. The monster fell to the ground, screaming in pain. It writhed on

the ground, only rubbing to scent of it’s brother’s blood on it’s body and ragged cloth armor. The archer smiled,

“One down, one to go.” He whispered silently. He pulled an arrow out of his swamp colored pack, aiming with his bow at

the next monster. The bow was special, branded from a demon’s fangs, with a small jewel in the middle.

His long, straw colored hair dropped down to his shoulders, and was dirtied with blood and dirt. His long, pointed ears

twitched as he grinned, his sharp teeth gleaming in the setting sun’s light. His usually tan skin was darker now from the darkness, and

the stains of the orc’s blood. He shot the arrow, and hit his target.

The arrow shot clean through the orc’s head, and into another’s.

“Gotcha’.” He smiled even wider. This man was a demon slayer. He drew another arrow and ran up the dark hill. The orc’s

bodies filled the whole hill, turning the dark grass black. The large castle that lay before it was built of dark gray stones and bricks,

and had an almost perfect structure. The only thing wrong was the flag.

Black filled the whole flag, a white orc skull in the middle with human blood splattered over it. He shot at the orcs

defending the caste, each row carried cross bows. Red orange arrows darted towards him and the rampaging army of guardians.

Some were hit, falling to the ground, but the un-scarred men continued on, slashing through the orcs, trying to get into the used to be

guardian tower.

“Raaaaagh!!” a nearby guardian roared. He held his sword high, and it glowed a faint yellow color. The thunder of mighty

winds filled the air. In an instant, the large green dragon swooped down and obliterated the monsters. His dark horns were now

black, and his fierce eyes now red with hatred and power.

The elf readied another arrow, and released it into the last standing orc.

“Good job Ismair!!” the guardian that summoned the dragon congratulated the elf. He simply gave him an evil glare for

mentioning his name. He put his bow away, and took the sword hanging from his waist.

His swamp green vest was splattered with black, the yellow lining darker than usual. His swamp green pants were creased

with folds, also splattered with blood. The blade in his hand was rounded triangular towards the tip, and had many sharp places that

stuck out of it.
It was the legendary Blade Of Awe. He held it to wear it looked like he was about to strike, but simply swung it out,

sending yellow waves spiraling towards the ground. He walked first, nearing the entrance. Now he ran, roaring as if he had been

wounded badly. He charged and slashed the large door down. He charge in, and was engulfed by the darkness. He stopped, aware

that there were orcs surrounding him. He held his sword high, and exclaimed, “Earth Spikes!!” Instantly, the ground shook as if in

rage, and the orcs each now had a large part of the earth imbedded in their body. He ran forward, grabbing a torch. He sprinted up

the stairs for the horse stable, going straight to the forbidden area—the room that the staircase in the portal room led to. He barged

in, and saw the guardian captain. He was surrounded by elite orcs, and their leader.

“Huh, so you made it?” he asked in a raspy, evil voice. “Well now you have to deal with me!!” he shouted, and bolted

forward. He drew a large blade, and rushed forward. “Feel the wrath of Vorporal Edge!!” he screeched.

Ismair took out his bow, and quickly dodged, shooting each of the other orcs with deadly precision. Each was shot in the

head, falling to the ground. He put the bow away, and once again wielded the Blade Of Awe.

“Ready?” he asked the captain. The man nodded, and stood up. He drew an elite guardian blade, the only one of it’s kind.

He pointed it towards the orc, and Ismair pointed his sword in the same direction. The orc gulped, and started sweating

tremendously.

“Die!!!” Ismair shouted, and he and the captain moved as one force, killing the orc.

Chapter One: The Blade of Embers

A few days had passed since the war, and people were just starting to get settled in again. The streets of FalconReach had never

been as filled as that day. Ismair walked among the townspeople, making sure to keep the Blade of Awe hidden.

He wore a large over coat to cover his guardian armor. His armor was that of an elite guardian’s, it’s base was blood red

and the trimming was yellow. It was the same as the fire plate, but different because it’s special ability was to summon a creature of

immense power. Only he and the captain wore it; they were the strongest of the guardians.

He was the co-captain, 2nd in command. But that never stopped him from hanging out with the regular guardians, settling

for what they got instead of the pampering he was supposed to get. Ismair walked cautiously towards the small red moglin that stood

upon the rock in front of the town.

“Twilly,” he said quietly. “I need for you to teleport me to Granemore. I have some unfinished business.” He finished. The

creature looked up at Ismair’s face, and held up his staff.

“Well,” he said in a squeaky little voice, “You’ll need some potions, and need to be healed—“

“I already have 3 potions, and I’m fit as a frogzard, now let me go!!” he shouted in a whisper.

Like I said, it's really nothing though... To me, at least... But, in the chapters to come I'll explain more on how to get a good story(better than this one)

< Message edited by Sephiroth12 -- 6/16/2008 12:18:52 >

Post #: 4

10/27/2007 17:59:07

Irish_Ninja
Member

Good job!! I think it'll really help people!! Keep up the good work!

Post #: 5

10/27/2007 18:22:33

Abiogenist
Member

I find your guide lacking and inadequate especially the panel explanations. Each panel size has an individual meaning; you just can't say do them any size you want, that's winging it. You also haven't introduced thumbnailing which is an important process in creating a comic. Also, your guide is disorganized, and scratches only superfluously to creative writing.

Post #: 6

10/27/2007 21:33:02

Sephiroth12
Member

I know that... I was just trying to go over a few things... Plus I said that I'm not done with it yet and I know it's not really much but at least it's something. I stayed up two days straight before writing it so I know that it needs work so until I fix it up and actually write something that is good and useful deal with it

< Message edited by Sephiroth12 -- 3/23/2008 21:09:19 >

Post #: 7

10/28/2007 14:47:41

Eilyus
Member

I'd like to agree with Genetic. I'd also like to add that I think you missed a big part (to me) of writing a graphic novel: the theme & genre and the characters. For example (probably one of the most known too) Batman's theme is vengeance. The theme of a story doesn't always have to be obvious, but it's still important and one should at least think about it before writing a storyline. Theme should also not be confused with genre. Horror is not a theme, it's a genre. I understand you'll be touching up on genre later, but you should've gone over it before going over storyline. As for characters, they're your story's blood. I feel you should've had more to tell about them than the tiny insert you made when talking about the storyline. They aren't just gender, age, etc.; they play an important role of showing the theme of the story, not to mention that without them there is no story.

Last thing that irked me but it a bit irrelevant:

quote:

Kind of like Bleach; it has a great story but a random name. But the story makes up for it. And don't be cliché and choose some random name because Tite Kubo(Creator of Bleach) did.

Just wanted to point out that the title Bleach does have something to do with the story. If my guess is right, it has to do with the hollows, as they are "bleached" figures of a person. It's a title you have to think about and pay attention to understand. It's also not cliché to pick a hard to decipher name. It's cliché to name your graphic novel after the main character, but that doesn't mean the writer shouldn't do it.

Post #: 8

10/28/2007 20:57:49

Sephiroth12
Member

Okay, for one: I said that I'd add those...

quote:

Thank you, and sorry about the sig... Okay, I just thought of something. More chapters will come in. List of chapters to come:

Different Types of stories(kind of like a genre, a genre is a type of something, ie Rock music: Heavy Metal, Punk Rock, Christain Rock, Rap Music: Pop, R&B, Hip Hop, etc.)

And whoa now that you think about it that is true... (Bleach) My bad about that one but like I said, I was up for a while(Two days) and

was just bored and wanting to make a simple, quick guide. Plus I know that it's not much; I wasn't exactly aiming for a

perfect or proffessional story... I was going for just a play around comic or just a test comic not anything to get published... And I

know that it needs some(A LOT) of touching up, but I'm going to fix it... So, just remember that this is just something I made out of

boredom... I put something about cliche in there...? I was more tired than I thought... But, yeah, I WILL MAKE IT BETTER AND

ACTUALLY GOOD.... This is just a little something I made for some reason...

< Message edited by Sephiroth12 -- 3/23/2008 21:10:29 >

Post #: 9

10/28/2007 23:36:04

Eilyus
Member

No need to repeat yourself so much, I understood that already. I just wanted to point out some things I felt you should mention, probably when you update ;P

And like I said, I know you said you'd add genre, but you really should've gone into it before talking about story development. That was my point. I look forward to this better version you speak of. It's nice to read through more than sig tutorials in here :)

Post #: 10

3/23/2008 21:12:38

Sephiroth12
Member

Well, I forgot al about this... It's been what, about a year? And also note:

I'M NOT A PROFFESSIONAL STORY WRITER :P So please remember that it's not all going to be perfect. And If you don't like what I wrote and will write, deal with it(Not trying to be a jerk...). And I guess I will continue this :) Though it's been a while since I've actually written anything...

AQ	Post #: 11

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