What is Story Development in Comics?

Part II in the Intro to Developmental Comic Editors Series

Photo by Mahdiar Mahmoodi on Unsplash

So you’ve done it! You have the story idea that is going to be you’re magnum opus! But how the heck are you going to get it to move past an idea and into a comic? That’s were developmental editors swoop in and save the day! We help you make sense of all the ideas you have floating around in your head.

A story idea can get you far, but an editor is going to need more than that to get started. I can speak for the freelance way of editing comics and that can be a little different than soliciting a publisher. If you are going the independent route, meaning you own just about everything and will likely crowdfund to produce/publish, things can be very different. The pitch may not be as formal, and you may not know enough about your story to draft one. If this is the case, you must at least have a story sentence.

A story sentence is your character + what they are going to do + in order to achieve a goal. For example, if you are familiar with Lord of the Rings, this would be your sentence: A hobbit named Frodo goes on a journey in order to throw the One Ring in Mt. Doom. If you can write this about your story, you are golden! Everything branches from the story sentence so you have to have it.

So what happens when there’s just an idea floating around and the struggle is super real? You can have an editor help you with that! Be honest with your editor or prospective editor. We are here to help you and can aid you in coming up with your story sentence.

From the sentence comes the outline. The editor can help you put your specifics into your three acts. You also need this to move forward and be able to chart plot points that feed into character growth and worldbuilding. Once the outline is developed, you can start writing!

A pro tip is to create character sheets and a story bible. (Your editor can also help you organize your thoughts into these tools and make sure there is continuity.) Keeping details about each character on their own page can help keep everything in line and make things less confusing (especially if you have a lot of characters). The story bible is a document that just contains information about the story world and lore. It’s a document you can refer to as your sacred text, and allows you to clear you mind of all the details that make up your story, allowing for the scripting process to begin!

Read other posts in this series: