Just a few days ago, I actually got an idea for a comic that for once, didn't feel like a fluffy/stereotype rom-com, and didn't feel like me forcing myself to be deep and meaningfully philosophical. :D
It feels like a really challenging short story to do, as there really is "nothing" going on inside it, but I have to convey the something in that nothing, dialogue has to be natural and nondescript, yet pack the meaning of my story... Which is why I'm trying Fehed's advice of actually putting more thought into the scripting of my dialogue.
In the past when working on my own projects, I'd do that usual artist-cum-writer thing of plotting out a general sequence of events, approximate dialogue like "Rai makes fun of Mary's klutziness", and generally make dialogue up when it came to pencilling in the speech bubbles, and "edit" dialogue when the speech bubbles get too big and full of words.... Really not a good way I guess. It's just me being lazy and wanting to get the comic DRAWN and done already, which results in pretty artwork but dialogue that sounds fake, stilted, formulaic, stereotypical... like lines from a bad cheesy movie.
In this case, though the comic will rely heavily on the visuals, it will also be relying heavily on the dialogue. No chibis, no crazy funny faces, no comedy, no bish, no pretty shoujo hair and tone doilies to help ease the way. So less room for laziness or error.
I have to say, I'm finding this "planning my script and dialogue properly" feels very daunting. I think it harks back to the knee jerk reaction that writing something down in proper format, editing it, re-editing it, cutting out bits that I thought was pretty but actually is pointless, reminds us of the boring non-arty days of school/ office when you had to write mind numbing essays about history or something boring like that. The weeaboo in me is just whining about "I JUST WANNA DRAW MANGAAAAAA". It is an interesting experience (and slightly scary facing that page and trying to think intelligently of lines and speech), which hopefully will pay off when it comes to actually drawing the comic. :D
ps> Also since I cringe at the idea of sullying my sketchbook with my chicken scratching handwriting (possibly containing a lot of bullshit), I have hijacked one of Fehed's many abandoned writer notebooks to write my notes in (pictured above). LOL I R SRS WRITER NAO. XD
3 comments:
Hey!! My Notebook D:
That's great! It's always pretty terrifying when you actually sit down and meticulously plan a story. Like you're investing so much of your time and energy (not to mention "yourself") into it that it had better be good 0_0
Be careful, though, or you can end up spending years and years planning one stupid project. (trust me on this -_-) Something has to be said for spontaneous work as well. Just make sure your long idea never loses that initial spontaneity. (see: Nana's post)
Good luck!
~John~
PS: I got a thank-you letter from you guys that looked like it was written by a six year old. XD
I'm at this stage too! I normally do very spontaneous short stories with little Leno dialogue, and now I've got a longer cornices that requires a bit of planning and much more actual writing. It's not easy.
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