Block it Out!

By Tony Lee

I'm writing a lot of Doctor Who at the moment.

I know, I'm writing the ongoing series for IDW (that starts in July), and that's a 22 page comic a month, but currently I'm writing more than that. You see for the first three months following the IDW announcement in New York, I'm writing two issues a month of Doctor Who. And if that wasn't hard enough, I'm also writing them out of order.

What? I hear you say. Surely not? But yes. You see, the reason I'm writing six issues in three months is so that the art teams have a solid jump before the comic starts to come out. And the reason I'm writing them out of order is so that each art team gets them at the same time. You see, when Al Davison starts on issue #1, the first part of ‘Silver Scream' – I need artist TBA (who's work I've loved for years) to be starting on the first part of ‘Fugitive', which is issue #3. And so in February I wrote issues #1 and #3. In March I wrote issues #2 and #4. And in April, I'll be writing issues #5 and #7, making sure that the next art team get a solid jump, before easing back to writing one a month, in order. By that point we should have a good four months of scripts in the bag, and so we'll find it easier to work on.

But of course, writing a monthly comic can get confusing, having to keep sub plots bubbling, and making sure that continuity doesn't get screwed up – but when you're writing the next story, following on immediately from the cliff-hanger end of #2 – when you haven't even written #2 yet? It can get confusing.

Luckily for me, I'm quite anal about these sorts of things, and before I'd even gotten the job of writing the ongoing, I'd written a six and a half thousand word pitch, that covered my view of how the first eighteen issues should run, the main characters and a couple of paragraphs about each issue. That's right, all eighteen of them. And when we hit the issue breakdowns, I know exactly what happens where – so when I find myself writing #7 when the last issue I wrote was #4? It's not a problem.

When I write, I try to follow the ‘paragraph plan' that I was taught at school, but I'm honestly a little crap at it. I really hated the paragraph plan when I was at school. It's where you plan out the entire story, paragraph by paragraph before you even start to write. I know people who swear by this routine. I also know people who swear at this routine, preferring instead to sit there with a blank page and see where it goes. And, when I'm writing a novel, I'll do that very same thing – I remember a line that Douglas Adams wrote once where he said he liked to read the story for the first time, like a new reader when he wrote it – so he never planned anything. In fact, it almost ruined him in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, when he blasted the two main characters into space with no way of survival. He spent days trying to work out what happened next, but knew that however they were saved, it would be highly improbable. And of course, that's how the Improbability Drive was created, which saved them at the very last second.

But in comics, you can't do that. As a novelist, you get to write your first draft. Then you get to redraft it. You can change as many things as you want before you even send it in. But in comics, before you even start scripting (this is based on a work for hire basis, obviously if this is your own creator owned masterpiece you can do what you want) you have to know how the whole story works, from start to finish. This is the Synopsis, the High Concept, the overall Pitch of the tale – and I hate this. I suck at this. Because I like to roam free, leaping from tree to tree, and a pitch document reigns you in – well, that is it makes you work out the entire story there and then. Which is a good thing, really. Because when you actually have to sit and work out ‘yeah, this is a great idea for a comic, but where is it going? How does it end? ' You find yourself realising that it actually sucks a little. There's a reason that I have over twenty half finished novels in as many years. I get to a point where I go ‘Ah. Um.' And then have to gain some distance for a while.

But not with planning. I might dislike the process, but it's vital. Without it, I wouldn't be able to write a multi-part comic.

So how do I do it? Well, I have about six levels. First off, I'll have the idea. Usually it's a scene. It might be a cliff-hanger. I'll then work towards it and away from it in my head, visualising how the panels would go on the page in my head. If it's a cliff-hanger, I'll start considering how it'll link into the next issue. Then, when I've worked out what happens in the story, I'll write out a paragraph on each issue. So, a six part story would have six, vaguely detailed paragraphs. I might move things around, realise that part c is better happening after part d, or that the cliff-hanger to #3 is stronger if we wait until part d ends. After a while, you can work out what's likely to happen in an issue without it becoming too busy in about a hundred words. And as I said, I'll already be blocking it out in my head.

I'm not going to bother talking about the back and forth pitch process with an editor – suffice to say that whatever you wrote, is likely to be rewritten. Several times. But we're going on a scenario where everything is peachy keen. With the paragraphs worked out, you now put more meat on the bones. You expand on what happens in the comic. If a fight takes four pages, this needs to be shown. And once you have this done, you script. Right?

No. Well, you can – but I prefer to block out the 22 pages. I'll open up an Excel sheet and down the side I'll number 1 to 22 – and on each line I'll bullet point what happens on that page. It might sound a bit ‘overkill' to do this, but you'd be surprised to see how many times I write something in my head and only realise at this point that my right page turn cliff-hanger actually happens on a left page. Which means I have to either lose or gain a page before that. If I lose a page, I need to see where. If I gain a page, I need to know what can be lost afterwards. Only when I have all 22 pages ready, can I start to script.

I script in Final Draft, and I'll lay out the template with all 22 pages prepped. One of the worst things about being a freelance writer is that you have to write, or you don't get paid. It's an awesome job, don't get me wrong – but there are those days when you just can't get into the groove. When you have a cold, when you've not slept, when you've spent all morning doing interviews, or editing pitches – all this things can hit you hard. And you can find that these days are a nightmare to sit down and simply start a page. But, if you've given yourself a target of five scripted pages on this day, then five scripted pages you must write. And if you don't want them to be crap? Then this is where the blocked out page plan is your best friend. Because with this, you don't have to write the next five pages – you can write any five pages. When I wrote Outlaw: The Legend Of Robin Hood (out in June, Walker Books) in 2006, I found I hit a writers wall around page 70. It was killing me. I couldn't work out how to move from one scenario to the next. I just couldn't climb over it. And I ended up walking away from it for a week, in the same way that Douglas Adams did up above. But I had one advantage – after two days of getting nowhere, I moved on to a scene I did know, one I'd had in my head since day one. I did about fifteen pages of the early hundreds, got my fire for the story back and, in doing so realised something that with the story's hindsight, I could literally ‘go back in time' and start on the seventies again, as I knew how to link the two parts together with the bulking up of a lower level character, an idea I hadn't had until I jumped ahead.

And it's the same with a 22 pager. I need to write five pages a day to guarantee a 22 page story is written in a week. That's not including the time spent blocking it out, working out the paragraph plan, etc. But, when I write it, I can write any five pages a day. By doing so, by the fifth day, it'll be written. And, with this worked out to this level, I can do two five page stints in a day – one in the morning, one in the afternoon. That's two 22 page comics in a week. Granted, the legwork took me close to two months on each issue to get that week's work right, but nevertheless, it works.

It's the same with a novelist who only writes two thousand words of his book a day. You're writing a hundred thousand word book? That's the first draft of a novel in two months. And that's with weekends off.

Of course it isn't that easy. If it was, I wouldn't have a job, as everyone would be doing it. I had days this week where I started at 9 a.m. and was finishing at 2 a.m., just making sure the work I'd tasked for that day was done. But when that script is finished? That is a ton of work, from idea to plot, to pitch, to synopsis, to issue paragraph, to issue synopsis, to page by page line plan to script. But it's worth it. Because when you know how many pages you have between a and c? Then b doesn't look like a fill in.

Of course, the editor then comes back with a page worth of changes, and it starts all over again. But that's a different story for a different time...

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So the April Previews is out, which means that orders on the March issue are in. Which means that orders for Hope Falls are now in, and we're just waiting to see what we get. Until then, I'd just like to thank each and every one of you who went beyond the call of duty for us. It's much appreciated.

And so you know, Dan and I will be doing a small ‘Hope Falls tour' of sorts – on Saturday 9^th and Sunday 10^th May, Dan and I will be signing copies of the collected trade at the AAM/Markosia stand of the Bristol Comic Expo. And, if you bought yours from a shop? We will sign it. Bring it along. We'll also be talking about this book and many other things at 2pm on the Saturday, when Geek Syndicate interview us for an hour. We don't know what they'll be asking yet. Suggest questions.

And then the following weekend, Saturday 16^th of May to be exact, Dan and I will be signing from 2pm at Orbital Comics London – again, bring your book to be signed, but if you haven't ordered it yet, you can buy it there - the advert for which is below...


And finally, the following week, Dan and I will once more be in London, this time as guests of the MCM London Comic Expo, where we'll be signing copies at our table.

But that's May, and we're only just into April. Next week is Easter, but I'll be here for you, providing tales of Easter joy.

Until then, kiddies.

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© 2008, Tony Lee

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