Writing is hard. And whoever told you otherwise is a liar. I often praise Dave Hine for being a wonderful mentor. He certainly was to me. When we started working on Spider-Man Noir together, I certainly knew how to write articles, essays and more, but comic book scripts? Not really.
After teaming up with Dave, I certainly was able to know how to write a comic book script, but I was still not mastering a key element in storytelling: the pacing. And the more I was writing, the more I was feeling something was off in the way I was handling my chapters/issues.
Enter Laurent Duvault. Laurent is not a writer. He’s not an artist. But he’s a super smart guy who was in charge of editorial and business development when I was a freelance editor at Soleil (he’s now in charge of production and development of all entertainment at Media Participations, one of the biggest publishing and media groups in Europe). After I completed Black Box (with the late Tom Lyle), in 2011, he told me I should use an excel spreadsheet to help me with pacing.
He was so right. So I started doing that for every issue and I am still using it to that day. It’s a very simple tool, but you can quickly see how your story unfolds and serve it better. In comics, because of the serialized/periodical nature of our medium, pacing is crucial.
I’d say it’s even more important right now with a struggling market. Retailers often base their orders on their impressions from issue #1/chapter 1. If you can’t convince the audience to beg for more within the first 6-10 pages? You’re screwed.
So here it is. It’s my simple, yet effective, tool to help writers give more muscle to their comics.
https://www.dropbox.com/t/AaUbhxm86i1WNrDF
Click the DropBox Link above to download this spreadsheet!
Attention: it expires on 05/09/2020. After that date, please send a DM and I’ll send it to you directly.
You’re welcome. Now, if you allow me, I have like 5 projects to write. I’ll be in touch! 🙂
To be continued…
–Fabrice