Comic Book Writers: Add This to Your Shelves!

I wrote the foreword to James Powell's new book for comic book writers looking to level up their scripts!

If you’re anything like me, two kinds of books dominate your shelves:

1. Awesome graphic novels.

2. Great books on the craft of making comics, writing and storytelling.

If that resonates, I’ve got one for you to add to your collection.

My friend James Powell (Dark Horse Comics) recently wrote a highly practical book for comic book writers to help them sharpen their scripts called “Self-Editing for Comic Book Writers.” This title has just gone live on Kickstarter and I’m thrilled to see it’s already funded.

Billed as “a practical guide for fixing the storytelling problems that keep good scripts from becoming great comics,” I’ve had the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this books and I highly recommend it. In fact, I even wrote the foreword!

Here’s some of what I wrote for the foreword in James’ new resource for writers:

Working with a great editor is one of the most valuable experiences a writer can have. But learning to become your own editor is a different and equally essential skill. A writer’s job is to produce the work. An editor’s job is to make that work function. The two are not the same, and they usually don’t come naturally to the same person at the same time.

This book is not a replacement for working with a great editor like James. Nothing is. But internalizing the practices he lays out here will sharpen your experience of writing itself, and make the eventual editorial collaboration far more productive.

It will also save you from a great deal of unnecessary pain. If your next draft can survive the checks, tests, and critical examinations detailed in these pages, you’re going to find that the yeses you truly want are easier to come by. A script that makes it through the gauntlet of self-reflection James provides here will be far more likely to get yeses from potential artist collaborators, publishers, backers and readers.

Over the years, I’ve sent many a writer James’ way for story consultations and editing help, so I’m confident this distillation of some of the best tricks in his toolkit will help both aspiring and seasoned writers alike.

Whether you’re struggling to get started writing your next comic or you just finished a first draft and need to hone your editorial chops, “Self-Editing for Comic Book Writers” is worth your time.