It turns out I officially have talent. Or half a talent at least, as I’m a runner up in comics publisher Top Cow’s 2013 talent hunt.
This is only the third time I’ve even tried to write a comics script, and I clearly got something right because they’re going to publish a short comic story written by me. It won’t be the one I entered in the competition, which is a shame because I’m quite proud of it, but this is still very exciting. It’s a great thing to have in my portfolio, and a way to sell myself when approaching other companies.
Writing a script was a very different experience from writing prose. It’s not just a matter of dialogue, it’s explaining other aspects of the scene in the right type of detail for your medium, in a way that will make the story flow. Comics have their own particular challenges and opportunities, and I’m glad I’ve read plenty of Scott McCloud‘s books on comics storytelling. If you’re at all interested in how to write comics, or just how they work, then I really recommend reading McCloud, he has a fine analytical mind and explains things very clearly.
So anyway, now I need to spend some time working out how to make the most of this opportunity, and of the possibility that I don’t suck at scripting. To the keyboard!
Wait, I’m already there.