I was at WonderCon this year and "Publishing Your First Comic Book" (not necessarily self-publishing) was one of the panels I sat in on. Here's my notes (as terse as they are):
From another panel on "Writing Great Dialog", at the same Con, here's a few relevant tips:
Last bit of advice from the Con:
Best of luck to you. I was thinking of doing a comic book, but once I started to read The DC Comics guide to writing comics and Stan Lee's how to write comics I realized that I'm not a visual story teller and bailed. Good luck to you!
(Edited because the formatting didn't come through for all the bulleted lists)
I'm pretty new to comics as well. Just made my first Webcomic called Trust in the Lost Ones
But I know about creating and organizing stories. I've been doing that for like a decade now. What I would recommend is creating a document first. If you are still in the brainstorming phase it's best to write your ideas out somewhere. How I would section the document is characters, world-building, and lore. I also would have a page to put sources for research and inspiration.
After you're done with the brainstorming phase it's best to move on to the outline or timeline. An outline doesn't need to be that descriptive. It just needs to have the main points of each act you write. It also helps you understand how long your story is.
Acts are kind of like story beats for me. If anyone knows about Freytag's pyramid that's how you organize a story.
You can also write a timeline. A timeline is much more effective for longer stories and helps you see if have a plot hole or shows the lineup of story plots.
Once you're done with the outline you can start script writing. I would suggest you write 2 drafts. One is to experiment with the narrative and then the next is the final.
If you a better breakdown
Recently I read a book that goes more into depth about comic scripting. I recommend The Dc Comics Guide to Writing Comics by Dennis O' Neil.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/DC-Comics-Guide-Writing/dp/0823010279
I started down this path myself, and before hiring a graphic artist, I suggest you read (if you haven't already) The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics and Stan Lee's How to Write Comics both are very good books that help you understand what (and how) to communicate with your artist. I also found that hiring an artist is VERY expensive. (Are you expecting them to do this for free up front and split the profits? That will be a tough sell. Otherwise, how many pages are you going to have in your graphic novel? How much were you thinking you would pay them per page? Does that sound reasonable for a couple of hours work per page?)
Regardless, I do have some contacts from a Comic Creator Connection from WonderCon last year I could pass along. PM me if interested. Also, I would recommend going to a local Con and browse around Artist Alley then start talking with the artists. Bring a copy of your work so they can get a feel for what you're writing.
Good luck.
The single best resource I've found for comic writing is Denny O'Neil's dc comics guide to writing.
Personally, I set objectives and let the organically come out over a set number of pages. Example: I need to add A, B, and C over the next 22 pages. This gives you enough wiggle room to make changes along the way.
I host the Comic Book Creator Podcast that you can check out for more tips.