Given my interest in discussing the process of writing (see my Writers Tips posts on this site), I thought it would be interesting to share the complete script for my recent manga book, UNDERTOWN. So I'm serializing it on Tokyopop.com -- a new page every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, along with "creator commentary" that either explains some of my crazy ways or offers some kind of behind-the-scenes insight.

Today is the end of week one, so there are already three pages up. Because I have over 1400 members of my online fan club, The Undertown Explorers, and because many of them are aspiring manga writers, I'm hoping that we can start a discussion not just about Undertown the story, but about the nuts and bolts of writing comics.

Also of interest is the fact that this is the "shooting script," which is to say that it's the version that Jake Myler used to draw the book. After the whole thing was written and the book was drawn in pencil, I went back and polished all of the dialog. So adventurous writers-in-training can compare this version with what was published and try to figure out why I made the changes I did.

The script serialization located here. I hope you get something out of this peek behind the curtain.

Labels: comics, manga, script, Tokyopop, Undertown, writers' tips

Having finished the script for Undertown Book Two, I find myself in a period of story development -- I'm working on the extended pitch for the manga series after Undertown, and I'm also fleshing out Undertown Book Three. This leaves me without a script to write on a day-to-day basis. And I think I'm going to try to schedule my time differently in the future.

I find that there's comfort and stability in cranking out a bunch of pages every day. It's much harder to feel the progress when you're writing a huge ream of notes for an upcoming project. As glad as I am that I finished Undertown Book Two when I did, if I had already been working on the outline for the next project, it would have been much easier to jump right into another script.

I've said it before, but momentum is one of the big keys to successful writing output.

Labels: writers' tips

I'm working on a series of small scripts for one of the major studios, and after three drafts of the treatment, I finally realized that I was spinning my wheels. More specifically, the value gained in outlining and understanding your story starts to diminish if you don't actually roll your sleeves up and start WRITING.

So instead of another version of the treatment, I just kicked out a full script for part 1 of 5. Suddenly, all the holes/weaknesses in the treatment became very clear to me, as did how to finish the remaining scripts.

My client said, "so are you going to finish the rest of the scripts and then rewrite the treatment based on that?"

I said yes.

He said, "I was joking."

I was not.

Remember: When stuck, switch it up.

Labels: writers' tips

Nick Cave describes some advice he got from director John Hillcoat. Hillcoat was talking about screenwriting, and Cave was applying it to songwriting.

Sounds to me like great advice for any kind of writing, especially in terms of building tension.

"Get into each scene at the last possible moment and get out at the first possible moment."

This is the same theory that Paul Pope evokes when he describes comics as "all act three."

Labels: writers' tips

Copyediting trick: Read your story backwards.

You can do this paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence ... or if you're only looking for spelling errors, word-by-word.

The idea is that you don't want to just sucked into the narrative/content of the story -- reading backwards allows you to concentrate only on syntax and the mechanics of your word construction.

Of course this is helpful for any copy editing, from fiction to health care contracts (assuming that someone is paying you to do that).

Labels: writers' tips

When vandals come and strip the road to hell of all its good intentions and sell them at the Long Beach swap meet, what will be left behind is the dusty trail of writers who "love to write dialog" (meaning: love to toss same-same quips together in a sly string of characterless one-liners) but can't structure a story to save their souls.

Still, there's no doubting that writing snappy dialog is a lot of fun. Amidst this fun there exist two major challenges: consistency and differentiation.

Consistency means that a character should sound the same from one scene to the next. Differentiation means that every character should sound different from each other.

A have a lot of tricks that I use to achieve both consistency and differentiation. I happen to have a ton of experience working with licensed characters -- from Buffy to Kim Possible to Hellboy. I discovered something early on that has changed the way I think about, study, and write dialog.

Before jumping on a project with someone else's characters, I build a dialog study.

I take some of the source material (usually a bunch of scripts), pick a main character, and retype all of this character's dialog. No description, no context.

Most of the people I know -- and this includes most fictional characters -- have very limited vocabularies. Even skilled rhetoricians often use the same words and phrases over and over, sometimes for effect, sometimes unconsciously. Looking at a person/character's isolated dialog should bring to the surface all kinds of revealing ticks.

In addition to repeated key words (words like indeed, actually, I think, yeah, dude, etc.), you can find other things that might not be immediately apparent: Maybe one character doesn't speak in contractions. Maybe another starts speaking with contractions or other bridge words (and, but, so, well), while another never does this.

When I started working on the Hellboy Animated comics, one of the first things I did was take the two screenplays for the animated films and retype all the dialog. I was having a bit of a problem finding the character distinction between Kate and Liz. I understood (or thought I understood) the kind of women they were, but was having a hard time putting that into distinct words to come out of their mouths.

What I found was immediate obvious, though I hadn't seen in when reading the scripts: Liz almost never said more than two sentences at a time. Her dialog was largely very short reaction lines. While each time Kate spoke it was almost three lines of exposition. If all of the line I wrote for Kate were too brief, it simply wouldn't sound like her.

Let's say you are not working on a licensed project. It's a great idea to do this "study" on your own characters. Inconsistencies are much easier to find this way. You may even discover some of your hidden subconscious secrets.

Labels: Hellboy Animated, writers' tips

I am honestly surprised by the disproportionate lack of attention paid to the mechanics of writing.

By "mechanics," you may immediately assume I'm talking about the very basics: spelling, grammar, syntax. While a case could be made that not enough attention is paid to these building blocks of writing, the type of craft I'm talking about is the middle ground between the elemental (words and sentences, spelling and syntax) and emotional (coming up with ideas, dealing with writers' block). The middle ground includes:

How to write believable dialog.
How to create suspense.
How to develop an effective plot twist.
How to work scene transitions.
How to build meaningful chapters and story sections.

All sound like program topics at writers conventions or class titles at the Learning Annex, but in my experience when writers/instructors deal with discussing these topics, the lessons go straight back to the emotional -- write what you know or pour out what's in your heart and edit later.

Bull. Shit.

I imagine that a significant part of learning to be a doctor is developing the confidence to face a patient, the confidence to perform -- whether that means surgery or a simple routine examination. Still you wouldn't really expect to read a pre-med book on "finding your inner surgeon" or "unleashing the operation within you." Too often I've heard veteran writers, who have been "doing it" for so long their own process becomes transparent, not be able to explain the PROCESS OF CREATION in easy 1-2-3 steps. Or worse, they would have you believe that a large part of it is inspiration and you-just-need-to-feel-it malarky.

Writing is work, and work often means getting your hands dirty. If you can't stand the sight of blood, here's a news flash for ya: don't be a doctor. In fact, you might want to steer clear of the medical profession in general. I hear accounting is relatively blood-free, although the idea of a tax office stuffed with bloody accountants fills me with a cauldron of joy.

Writers should read every book a minimum of two times. A Pasconian truism: better to read fewer book multiple times than many books only once. Writing is not a cocktail party -- you don't get extra points for saying "I read that" if you don't understand HOW IT WAS DONE. This isn't elementary school -- you don't get extra points for doing a book report and knowing the names of the main characters and identifying the theme.

When a book makes you laugh, makes you gasp, makes your eyes well up -- figure out how the writer did it. It's all there, right on the page. You just need to dissect it.

For me, studying the anatomy of story involves stripping the emotional out of the equation and looking closely, clinically at the pieces. Makes lists. Pick a favorite book and write down all the adjectives in it, all the verbs, all the adverbs. Look at them collectively, like they are organs on a stainless steel table; study them in context and try to understand how they contribute to the live of the story organism.

Does your favorite writer use more metaphors or similies? Have no idea? Would you trust a nurse who didn't know if there were more bones or blood vessels in your body.

Writing IS a science, and writing IS magic. Like Houdini's craft, there are secret tricks. Also like Houdini, many writers (even those getting paid to TEACH) often guard these tricks very closely).

next up, I put my money where my mouth is and talk about one of my card tricks: the dialog study.

Labels: writers' tips

I have a friend who gets a lot of money to write screenplays. The other day I was talking about him with another friend -- hey, this is L.A.; we only talk ABOUT people, not TO people -- friend #2 says that Screenwriter has an amazing ability to WRITE ANYWHERE AND ANYTIME.

He went on the describe Screenwriter's home office, a dug-out hole in a mess of papers and books. He also told the story of sharing a hotel room with Screenwriter, and in the darkness, lit only by the glow of his laptop, Screenwriter kept banging away at the keys, churning out the pages.

It's easy to imagine that Screenwriter's motivation comes from the very large paychecks he collects. Hundreds of thousands of dollars would motivate YOU to write, wouldn't it?

This is a myth.

Money does not motivate. Or to be more clear, money doesn't create motivation where there once was none.

Sure, it's easy to work on a writing project if you have an assignment as opposed to working for yourself. It's easier to write if you're getting paid as opposed to being not. And I supposed it's easier to write if you're getting a LOT of money (and can quite your day job) as opposed to nominal checks that don't add up to the price of a daily Starbucks fix.

But the motivation to write? The ability to accomplish something, even small, every day when you have obstacles and obligations, pressures and procrastination to fight you back? That comes from somewhere else.

If you're waiting for the money to find the motivation, be prepared to keep waiting.

Labels: writers' tips

Some may not consider thirteen tips to be a lot of tips, but come one ... it's time for an index! Even if I don't put out tips as frequently as I would like, I'm glad that I've been able to stick with it -- and that you've been able to stick with me -- for lucky number 13.

And here's another request to donate to this site. Your support will keep me in riceballs and vodka.

Writers' Tips

000 - Proto-Tip! (from WAY back in 2003) Smell
001 - Two Colors
002 - Writing Chronologically
003 - Devil in the Details
004 - Multi-Window Work
005 - Save
006 - What Characters Do
007 - Start Your Engines
008 - Research is Not Writing
009 - Beware the Middle
010 - Background
011 - Medium vs. Genre
012 - Permission
013 - Walk

...and the fan-favorite non-tip:

Godard is Dog

Labels: writers' tips

I had a particularly busy week these past five days, consecutive 18-hour workdays filled with the various jobs I've got brewing. On Wednesday, my longest and toughest day, I decided to take a walk at lunch -- even though I was initially filled with a guilty feeling that this hour could be better spent.

I was wrong. It could NOT have been better spent.

While many writers would feel lucky to have "too much work" (read: any work at all), the problem of burn out is a real one. It's just as likely to result from a particularly grueling day job, in which you find the task of finding free time to write nearly impossible.

You might be surprised how a walk, a bike ride, or a trip to the gym can be better exercise for your MIND than for your body.

Labels: writers' tips

During an interview, a famous writer was asked, "who gave you permission to write such that?" The interviewer was referring to the author's controversial but critically acclaimed new book.

The response: "I gave myself the permission."

An editor can give you "permission" to publish a story. A publisher can give you "permission" to get paid for a story. Only an author can authorize the creation of a story. That permission is yours and yours alone.

Labels: writers' tips

My UCLA class has begun! A hearty welcome to all of my students. Posting comments is welcome, but don't expect extra credit, you filthy suck-ups.

Today's tip takes the form of an open-ended question. A student asked last night: is there a particular genre that comics doesn't do well?

This question really throws me, because I immediately open it up to a broader scope: is there any genre that any medium doesn't handle well? My first response has to be no.

But that's too easy of an answer. There has to be an exception, right? I can think of plenty of genres that comics do well -- arguably better than other mediums. But genres that don't work? I'll suggest two.

1. Science Fiction. On the surface, sci-fi seems a natural for comics -- you can do huge "special effect sequences" that would blow the top off a film/tv budget. But maybe that's the problem. Neuromancer works because it paints a world that the reader must assemble in his/her mind. When you paint that world literally in comics -- as people have tried -- you fail. It's easy to fall flat. But this doesn't explain the fact that there are classic, excellent science fiction films (certainly many more that classic sci fi comics). Any Warren Ellis fans want to call me on this?

2. Horror. What? Am I crazy!? Horror comics are a staple of the American comics industry. From the glorious EC comics of the 1950s to Alan Moore's terrifying Swamp Thing run to the current work of folks like Steve Niles -- not to forget Japanese classics like Ringu -- you can't say that there aren't any horror comics. But the hard thing about horror in comics is that horror often depends on quick movement and sound (things that film does better than comics).

I've always wanted to do a horror comics that is throw-across-the-room terrifying. Is this even possible?

Labels: writers' tips

While talking with Mike Mignola about an upcoming project, he dropped me this line of schooling:

"The background is as important as the foreground because that's where the supernatural exists."

Take a moment to consider this topic from the following different angles.

- If supernatural = mood, how does this apply to non-genre stories?

- Is there a way to read "background/foreground" not literally to apply this to non-visual works of prose?

- What lives in the foreground?

Labels: writers' tips

When I say beware the middle I'm not talking about the infamous second act desert in screenwriting. Screw that. You can take that middle act and, well, tell it to stay the hell off my lawn and if I ever catch it there again, I'll take it's ball. And when the middle act is crying and screaming about how unfair I am, its mother will come over to try and make peace. Oh yes, I'll invite her in for coffee while the poor middle act has to wait out on my porch and watch through the screen door and through its own tears as I feed its mother my best bourbon, telling her that "kids will be kids."

I will do this. But that's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about the middle of your career as a writer.

The third act of a successful writing career -- something very few live to see -- is that wonderful place where everything comes together and you get to call the shots. You're U2 and you can release Zooropa if you want. Go ahead.

The middle -- and not many make it here either -- is where you risk losing patience in getting to the end and start to do what other people want you to do. For some, this is a joy and an end in itself, especially if those people calling the shots are studio executives or high-powered literary agents.

Where this tip turns into a full-fledged tip is in the beginning of your career. DO NOT try and write what others want or tell you. That's a lot of chasing tail. And that's what the middle is for, when you have already stated your case as a writer. If you're writing a spec script or your first novel, it better be 100% you -- because now is the time. Now is the time when you don't have to listen to anyone tell you how it's not going to play in the fly-over states. All you want to do, is make connections and establish yourself as a writer ... a writer of good stuff, not half-assed shit that you think everyone might want to read.

That's for the middle. And when you reach that point, stay the hell off my lawn.

Labels: writers' tips

There few things worse than feeling defeated before you have even started writing.

I try to always be aware of what I'm doing when I'm supposed to be writing, but I'm not actually writing. Am I thinking? Am I reading over what I've already written? Am I looking something up?

Now one would think that all of the above are better things to be doing that checking email, playing minesweeper, or organizing your iTunes playlists. And yes, those things are "better" if they move your story forward. But -- and this is the big but -- nothing is writing except writing.

All the thinking, all the reading, all the research do no add up to words on the page.

"Research" is its own special trap. I'm not suggesting that research isn't important and necessary, nor am I suggesting that it's easy and shouldn't take a lot of time. But in my own experience, I've noticed that I can subconsciously use research as a procrastination technique.

I was working on a noir short story that takes place in a North Florida paper mill. I don't know anything about paper mills. For a long time I delayed writing the story (oh, I made lots of notes), because I felt I needed to prepare more.

At some point I cracked with a great realization. I'm not writing a history book. I'm not writing non-fiction. What the characters do and how they do it and why they do it should be based on them as human characters, not on dug-up facts about a place or a thing.

You'll find that research actually get easier if you know what you need to research. Do you need the specific name of a machine? A description of it? Do you need the mill's hours of operation? What street it's located on?

The flip side is rarely true: if you're having a hard time starting a story, more research won't make it easier. Starting is hard. You just have to do it. Trust me ... or better yet, trust yourself and your story.

It bears saying again: only writing is writing.

Labels: writers' tips

I can't stress enough the importance of warm-up time.

As someone who likes to keep very busy, balancing more deadlines than I can often handle, I strive for the hard-to-reach ideal of writing in every free moment that I have.

What I've found is that spare half-hours here and there are better suited for administrative tasks: responding to email, making to-do lists, editing what I've already written, researching, assembling a list of questions/problems that I'll need to deal with in my story, etc.

If I try to actually WRITE during a short span of time, it's too easy to find that an hour has flown past with only a single new sentence on the screen.

If I give myself up to an hour to get the blood flowing -- especially if I know that I have a couple more hours in front of me -- then I feel like the words are ready to come.

There's a tip in the inverse of this as well: think you've been doing well and you deserve a break to browse the Internet, get a snack, or update your MySpace page ... you may find that your creative engine has cooled too much at this pit stop. Then you need to warm up all over again.

During your time in front of a keyboard (or a blank notebook), always be aware of your ratio of writing/not writing.

Labels: writers' tips