By D. Lynn Smith
One of the most important things I had to learn about writing comic books is how to use panels. First, what is a panel? The following definition is from About.com:
“A ‘panel’ in a comic book in one part of a comic book page. Typically a comic book page is made up of individual panels that, when put together, tell a story in a sequential order.
One way to look at a panel is that it is like a scene in a movie or television show. The comic panel would be the most important part of the scene to convey the most information visually. Text in the form of word balloons and narration are used to complete the tale.”
Okay, that’s all well and good. But how do the panels impact the reader?
When I wrote the first issue of Gates of Midnight, I was following a “rule” I learned in a seminar. It’s a good rule, however as with all writing, the rules aren’t always right for what you are doing. You have to bring your own creativity into play.
So the basic rules are four panels for action and eight panels for talking heads. Six panels are a basic default page.
So my script called for a scene of high action, where a monster comes out of a gate that opens out of nothing and attacks an important character in the story. Below is Amelia Woo, my penciller’s, first thumbnail of the page. (A thumbnail is simply a panel that shows where people will be, the shapes of the panels, the action in each panel, etc. It’s not a finished product.)
When I saw this page, and the pages to follow, I realized that there was way too much happening on the page. It simply wasn’t telling the story I needed to tell. So this is the note I wrote to Amelia:
“I went back to my script, and was appalled at how little information I gave you in this fight scene. Also, I realized I was trying to do too much in too few panels. This is the most important scene in this script, actually in the entire series, because it is the inciting incident that causes Raven’s story to begin. So, I decided to rewrite this particular scene and get it right. What that means is that I added three pages to the script. Instead of trying to do this in two pages, it is now five pages.”
Most comic books are 22 pages. Gates is 23 because of this mistake in the first issue. I have one page with the action above with only 2 panels on it. The action is much more dynamic and has more impact on the reader. Lesson learned!
Next week I’ll talk about dialog and sound effects. Then I promise we’ll move off the writer and onto the artists!
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