Writing Exercise #1: How to write a one page comic
I’m interested in all forms of story telling. In fact, it’s the main reason I chose to start writing this blog. I see it as an excuse to explore the forms and means artists use to craft a good tale.
It probably wouldn’t surprise anyone that I cut my literary teeth on comic books. I would read and re-read the same issue a hundred times. Those stories worked their way down into my DNA. They inspired me to pick up a pencil and draw and write my own worlds into existence.
When most people think of comic books, they picture muscle bound, square-jawed men running around in their underwear saving the world from certain doom. Sure, there’s a lot of that in comics, but there’s other stuff too.
I will admit without shame that I still carry a great fondness for “kiddie comics.” Those are books like Donald Duck, Winnie the Pooh, and the Smurfs. I still enjoy the corny jokes and the simplicity of the stories. For anyone wanting to learn storytelling, I would highly suggest trying out this style.
These comic books were commonly composed of multiple stories of varying lengths. One of the story structures they would often employ is what I like to refer to as a “gag comic” This was usually a one page story that turned on some sort of humorous visual element or word play.
It’s an extremely condensed structure because there’s no space to be wasted. Each comic panel has to have a purpose. You have to really plan out the set up of a joke, the build up and the pay off. It’s truly an exercise in economy.
Don’t worry if you can’t draw. A strong gag can work just as well with stick figures, and, besides, I’m here to walk you through the process.
I’ve actually used this format quite a bit in past blogs when I was posting content for a friend’s company. But the example I’m going to walk you through here is from a children’s book series Little Dragons my creative partner and I created. It’s a one page comic featuring the characters Walmond the Wizard and Marlowe the Dragon. Fun stuff!
So, lets jump in…
From Here to There
We want to build a road map that gets us from point A to point B. In the above comic, I’ve laid out a 9 panel structure that takes us from the set up of a joke to it’s payoff. So, we need to think of everything being developed between the first and last panels.
First Impressions
In the first one or two panels we establish location, mood and lay the ground work for the expectations of our story. At this point the reader doesn’t really know where you’re taking them. With the dialogue and the imagery we’ve set up a dramatic stage where our diminutive magician is concocting a powerful brew- because we all know that’s what wizards do.
Stuck in the Middle
The middle section is all about misdirection. We’re building upon expectations that we’ve already established. This is the point in a card trick where the magician gesticulates wildly with one hand, so we don’t see him palm an Ace with the other.
Gotcha!
The last one or two panels of a gag comic are the punchline of a joke. Here we’ve subverted the readers expectations, and they love us for it. With Walmond and Marlowe, this happens in panel 8. Panel 9 acts to round off the joke. How it ends depends on weather we want our joke to end with a “bang” or a “poof.”
Aspire to Inspire
Of course, writing can’t be boiled down to a cold step-by-step process. However, we can begin to refine our process of story telling by giving ourselves parameters to force us to become more efficient. And, really, it’s just fun.
I really hope you were inspired enough by this post to create your own gag comic, and I’d love to see them.
Jason Wren is an Illustrator and writer. He reviews books and other media in the regular column Mixed Media for Centre, Alabama’s The Post. His illustrations can be seen at zuzuillustrator.com
