What is Reddit's opinion of The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics?

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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):

• Have a strong characters and a good back story
• You have to really like your idea. Commit to it, but be critical as well.
• Develop your own voice. The more 'you' you bring to the idea the more unique it will be. Don't imitate. Be unique, but make it relate-able.
• You'll need to develop your cover, and at least 6 pages of art (with letters and inked). Maybe include some character design. Then do your 'Treatment' (full story issue by issue - keep it short, no one wants 60 issues from someone they have never heard of, 4 issues is a good number), introduce the team. Then pitch to publishers. Expect rejection.
  
• You may need to publish the first issue. (This will help you pitch it better) Have good names behind you if possible (the artists). Find good artists at conventions. Find an artist that really works with the style you're looking for.
• Develop a one page pitch. Characters and themes. Also have the 5-6 page doc that's the treatment. Send the one pager with the comic and mention more information is available if they are interested.
• Boom or action (no recollection what this meant, sorry. Maybe someone else does)
• Comixology is a place to do self publish and present to a traditional publisher. Maybe do the comic as a podcast as well (they're big right now and they need content).
• The publisher is betting on you too (not just the story). Tell them why you're a good candidate. Now is a great time to try to break in if you're a woman (which it doesn't sound like from your username).
• Twitter, tumbler, Facebook is a good way to connect to artists.
• Check the publisher site. Most times they want email.
• If you see someone at a con, get their business card, then give it a week or two before you follow up with them. (Having a known artist for ink/pencils will help a publisher pick up your comic.)

From another panel on "Writing Great Dialog", at the same Con, here's a few relevant tips:

• Don't have soloquies that go on (particularly in comic books). (Look at Lilly and the unicorn book/comic strip.)
• If you're a writer you're probably an introvert. Instead you're really a salesperson (selling your story). Take an improv class. Become comfortable around people.
• Dialogue that is explaining something about a characters is not something to lead with, you have to bury the info. There's three levels of dialogue:

1. Direct
2. Speaking to a tangential topic (i.e. in Die Hard, "that's a nice suit")
3. You speak but never connect it to the action. (in Red Tide, there's dialogue about horses which is really about privilege and race) You want to stay in 1 not 3.

• In a fight you don't dance around in dialogue. You can have dialogue but keep it short and relevant. (Spiderman is a nervous talker)
• Characters that are ciphers (non emotional) are not interesting. You can't create a lot of personality for them. They are mostly used as villains. Give them a tick that comes out occasionally. This can be used to help expose the disguise.

Last bit of advice from the Con:

• Diamond books - this is direct market - they use a monthly book called "Previews" to sell to comic book stores. You will need to write the marketing copy. The comic book stores will order what they think they can sell (one copy, maybe two for an unknown). When it's sold through Previews, you get cash in pocket. There are no returns.
• Book channel/market - this sells to Barnes and Noble and Amazon type stores. They may order a lot of books, but they can be returned to you, and you'll have to refund the money for the ones that get returned.
• Build your audience. Twitter, YouTube, Patreon. Engage your fans. Get the book sellers and libraries involved. You will need good in store and in market support.

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.