• Ahdok@ttrpg.networkOP
    0·
    1 year ago

    This is a little separate to answering the query directly, but people interested in the writing process might find this interesting to read, so I’m going to expand a little on the general thoughts and decisions that go into making something like this. You can skip this if you’re not interested.

    Panel 1

    When writing a standalone comic, it helps if the first panel helps establish the scene. It was important for me to show that this was happening some time after the Previous comic, because that establishes that the characters have had some time to get to know each other better - to this end, I set this comic at night rather than in the day (they were leaving in the morning, and mentioned breakfast) - and I also changed Konsi’s clothes to armour to show they’re on the road. I also wanted to establish that the two conversations were not in earshot of each other, so I had to show Razira and Toron in the background.

    This is a lot of information to fit into a 2-inch by 2-inch square on a piece of paper (that’s the physical size of this) - so the dialogue HAS to be very short. I need to establish what the characters are talking about, and set up for jokes. To this end, I started the conversation in media res, trusting that the reader would be smart enough to contextualize what was happening. The phrasing “I don’t hold up to her” isn’t enough to establish the content of the conversation for a reader, it’s a little confusing, and you want the reader to grasp the subject matter quickly, so I reinforced it by making the reverse comparison. “I’m not in her league, she’s more impressive than me” - I threw a questioning tone in there to allow Faelys to respond, partly to establish that Konsi is talking to someone else, a trusted friend she’s known for a longer time, and partly to give me an excuse to elaborate. This is about as “punchy” as it gets, and I can’t afford more text, because I have to establish the scene in the same shot (the alternative is more panels, which is a no-no - six is a pretty hard limit.)

    Panel 2

    While I, as the writer, want my dialogue to be as concise as possible, Konsi does not wish to co-operate. Konsi is a chatterbox. She talks a lot when she’s nervous or anxious - it’s part of her character.

    The main “joke” I’m making is that Konsi thinks Razira is incredible and important, and Razira is realizing that Konsi is a much bigger deal than anyone else here (at least to her.) - because both conversations are effectively similar in subject matter, I want to establish a contrast in feel between them. Konsi is very talkative, Razira is very direct. Konsi’s concerns are unfounded and silly, Razira’s are serious and grounded. Konsi overthinks, Razira is blunt and hasn’t realized what’s going on here. To this end, I need Konsi to babble incoherently for a bit, which is going to take the whole panel… however, I manage to fit in a secondary gag here, a callback to an earlier comic.

    This text isn’t superfluous, it’s very deliberate - for readers of my comic, it delivers a laugh moment, which breaks the pacing up and allows me to shift focus.

    Panel 3

    Sequential Art writing isn’t just about dialogue and narrative, but also about visual narrative as well. You can use imagery to establish information to the reader, and thus you don’t have to write as much text - in an ideal world, the images and text should work together to both contribute information to the whole, and the reader should take in both at once as they travel through the comic. Many new comic writers don’t fully grasp this, and just “write a story” then stick random images over or under it. The dreaded “talking heads” comic (where two characters just talk at each other, and the images don’t matter at all" is way to common in webcomics, and it takes understanding of the medium to use both together synergistically.

    Because I’m moving scene focus, I need to re-establish the scene, this means I have to draw at least some background again. I also want to include a reason why Razira and Toron aren’t right in the middle of the campsite, and “gathering firewood” is a good enough one to serve.

    The dialogue in these four panels needs to accomplish a couple of things all at once:

    1. We need to get to the information that Konsi speaks directly with her goddess sometimes.
    2. We need to establish that Razira is just now learning this fact (i.e. nobody at the temple told her!)
    3. We want to give a little exposition about how this happened before.
    4. I want to reference an adventure the party went on in the exposition, because the first audience for this is my friends who play the other characters.
    5. I want to establish Toron a little as the more incredulous member of the group, who doesn’t really put much stock in this magic/faith mumbo-jumbo, because that’s part of who he is, and I haven’t really mentioned it in the comic before, he normally acts as a foil.

    However, as much as I want to do all of this, Panel 3 needs to establish scene, so I can only get one speech balloon into it. Razira’s dialogue is about as short as I can make it to establish the conversation, while leaving room to show a forest and firewood.

    There’s also a subconscious visual reinforcement of the character roles I deliberately chose here. Razira is holding the wood, and Toron is picking new sticks off the ground. This is because Razira has 19 strength, and Toron has 6. Most DnD players will naturally assume the full-plate-greatsword Paladin is “strong” and the rogue is “not-strong”, but not all of my audience plays DnD. Regardless, this panel is intended to just give a little confirmation-of-presumption in the characters’ relative physicality.

    Panel 4

    Toron’s doing the exposition I need here. He could say a lot less, but the details here help explain how unusual/strange an event this was for him, and also give the reader an idea of how “involved” this divine contact is. This isn’t a single sentence, or a vague vision, this contact took a significant period of time, and was an event.

    I vary the shotr here, mostly because I want to practice my composition work. Having Toron bend down to gather a stick mostly varies the visuals so they’re not one-note, but it does serve also to show that they’re currently collecting firewood and not just standing around.

    Panel 5

    This is the setup for the payoff. I know that my payoff has to be a single very short “oh no” kind of statement, so I have to get to the point right now. Toron saying that “Tymora took her to the temple” really hammers home that this is some kind of special contact - a goddess going to these kinds of lengths is somewhat unheard of in the Forgotten Realms.

    Razira is only just now realizing the gravity of all this, so obviously she tries to clarify it… Surely Toron means that Konsi just got a vague feeling to go somewhere, or a confused omen or something?

    Toron responds not only by confirming that no, this is direct divine communication, but that it’s not even a unique occurrence - it’s happened before. The fact that he doesn’t view this as remarkable enough to stop collecting firewood is intended to show that either (a) he’s gotten used to it, or (b) he doesn’t really understand how significant this is, or both. (it’s both, but that’s not too important to the reader - this is mostly like this to establish a subconscious tone of the conversation from Toron.)

    Panel 6

    Any more dialogue here detracts from the impact of the panel. No dialogue also works, but I find the little speech bubble with the smaller text rather comedic myself - that’s preference.

    So… that’s the thought process that goes into scripting and storyboarding something like this. I find this really enjoyable to do, and to develop as I go. A lot of the specific choices are restricted by my medium, or by the need to get to a gag before the comic ends, but a lot of them are informed by a study of the invisible rules of comic-writing, such as the need to break up pacing, make jokes as you go, establish scene, vary composition, and convey information through a mixture of art and text.

    Most of the time, anything I choose to write is performing double or triple-duty, it’s not just making conversation or filling space, it’s either setting up something later, making a secondary joke, providing supplementary information, or growing the reader’s understanding of the different personalities of the characters.