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barbarafettI'm currently writing and drawing installment 4.5 of my comic series, Digital Marchers. I started this series in my junior year of high school, and #4.5 is the end of the first story arc. I'm finishing it now because I really don't like leaving things unfinished.
I'm really enjoying drawing this comic. To my surprise, I'm finding that drawing it is teaching me something about writing. I've always avoided writing action scenes, because I'm not very good at writing exciting action. This issue of my comic is mostly action, and I've discovered two techniques that are helping a lot.
1) Make a storyboard. If you know in advance what happens in your action scene and in what order, you'll have a much easier and more fun time writing it out. (My storyboard is a stack of small pieces of scratch paper with one or two important events on each piece.)
2) Action scenes are better if you rely on visual images to show what's happening. As I look at my comic, I see a marked contrast between it and my written work. My written work is usually 95% dialogue, but drawing a comic is forcing me to get out of that habit, because in comics you have to use the visual element as your primary means of telling your story. I'm discovering that I am capable of conveying action effectively, without tons of dialogue and thoughts slowing it down. Pictures of things that are happening are so much more engaging for the reader than characters talking or thinking about what's happening. This knowledge will really come in handy when I write this year's NaNovel, whose plot calls for a number of action scenes.
ETA: I am planning on participating in 24 Hour Comic Day on October 7th. My plan is to draw as much of Digital Marchers #11 as I can on that day.
I'm really enjoying drawing this comic. To my surprise, I'm finding that drawing it is teaching me something about writing. I've always avoided writing action scenes, because I'm not very good at writing exciting action. This issue of my comic is mostly action, and I've discovered two techniques that are helping a lot.
1) Make a storyboard. If you know in advance what happens in your action scene and in what order, you'll have a much easier and more fun time writing it out. (My storyboard is a stack of small pieces of scratch paper with one or two important events on each piece.)
2) Action scenes are better if you rely on visual images to show what's happening. As I look at my comic, I see a marked contrast between it and my written work. My written work is usually 95% dialogue, but drawing a comic is forcing me to get out of that habit, because in comics you have to use the visual element as your primary means of telling your story. I'm discovering that I am capable of conveying action effectively, without tons of dialogue and thoughts slowing it down. Pictures of things that are happening are so much more engaging for the reader than characters talking or thinking about what's happening. This knowledge will really come in handy when I write this year's NaNovel, whose plot calls for a number of action scenes.
ETA: I am planning on participating in 24 Hour Comic Day on October 7th. My plan is to draw as much of Digital Marchers #11 as I can on that day.
