Possibly dumb question :p

pandora_6666 · Mar 18, 2009

I and a friend are working on a graphic novel. We have a script - mainly on *gasp* real paper and whereas it looks jumbled to the casual observer it makes perfect sense to us. However, are we going to need to submit this to an agent/publisher at some point? AKA do we need to type it up neat and tidy or do we end up being the only ones to see it? I've searched all over for the answer to this but I'm mainly finding advice on how to format it so your artist understands it, and we've already gotten to that point.

Thanks a lot!

wordmonkey · Mar 18, 2009

What a dumb question!

Kidding.

If you plan to draw up pages and have them all fine and spanky and looking like they are ready to be read by a comic-buyer, your script can look anyway you want it to.

Someone looking at submissions would rather look at a finished page than the component parts.

wordmonkey · Mar 18, 2009

It occurred to me that you might NOT be drawing this up. In which case yes you will need to make it follow some kinda comic-script format.

Additionally, if you plan to hire an artist and a letterer they will want to be able to understand the script, so again, some degree of formating here will be only a good thing.

If you plan to do more than this one project, I recommend that you actually DO work to a standard format. Good habit to get into.

Hope this (and the above) help.

BenPanced · Mar 18, 2009

You should also seriously reconsider your choice of adjective. The use of "retarded" in this context is rather offensive.

MacAllister · Mar 18, 2009

Er, yeah. Actually, there's a story behind why -- but we don't use the word that way on this board. I've taken the liberty of editing the thread title.

elae · Mar 18, 2009

If you plan on querying agents, then yes, you want to have it typed up all neatly-- most agents want to see a chapter or two of finished comic pages, and the rest in script form (so that when you sign with a publisher, any revisions the editor wants won't be horribly, horribly brutal, and you won't have to redraw the entire thing).

pandora_6666 · Mar 18, 2009

MacAllister said:
Er, yeah. Actually, there's a story behind why -- but we don't use the word that way on this board. I've taken the liberty of editing the thread title.

I apologize if I offended anyone. Thank you for the edit.

And thank you everyone. I guess we need to get it typed up all sparkly

I appreciate the help!

scottishpunk · Mar 20, 2009

Might I recommend using the program Celtx to format your script? I've used it for screenplay writing, and it's really intuitive. It has a comic book feature that I've not done anything with, but it looks pretty cool from what I've seen. The program is a free download from www.celtx.com

wordmonkey · Mar 20, 2009

Check out the Dark Horse website.

They have a template for script submissions.

While comic script formating is a little looser than movie script formating, there are some fairly standard structural layout elements.

And remember, anywhere you submit (and not just in comics), they are always looking for reasons to reject you. So the less reasons you give, the more they have to actually take your project seriously.

elae · Mar 20, 2009

scottishpunk said:
Might I recommend using the program Celtx to format your script? I've used it for screenplay writing, and it's really intuitive. It has a comic book feature that I've not done anything with, but it looks pretty cool from what I've seen. The program is a free download from www.celtx.com

I'll second that! I use the screenplay features to write my comics, it's great. I don't use the actual comic scripting feature, because I don't script "Page 1" "Panel 1"; those decisions come when I'm thumbnailing the actual pages.

Possibly dumb question :p

pandora_6666

Lost in the cyber jungle

wordmonkey

ook

wordmonkey

ook

BenPanced

THE BLUEBERRY QUEEN OF HADES (he/him)

MacAllister

Tired and worried.

elae

time to draw

pandora_6666

Lost in the cyber jungle

scottishpunk

wordmonkey

ook

elae

time to draw