Writing a Comic Strip for Newbies

Writing your first comic strip? Script writing is fun but time consuming. It takes a lot of gumption to sit down and to try to make your stories real. You'll find that the act of actually writing out your script helps to distill your thoughts. My creative process tends to be more chaotic. During the day, scenes will come to my head. I'll imagine what I want the heroes to do, what emotional notes I want to hit, and what cool lines do I want to deliver. The problem is that in my head it's all just a swirl and to any other human being it would be a jumbled mess of ideas.

Scripting is not just vital for planning out what you're going to draw. It helps you to process the story you want to tell and to nail it down concretely. You must have a guidepost to where you want your characters to end up physically and emotionally. Today I'm going to talk about how I write the scripts for "Journey to the Middle Kingdom" and compare what I wrote to the final product.

In my case, there is an added layer of complexity because the artist I work with, Dimas Yuli, must interpret my writing. It's easy for me as a writer to just assume the artist can read my mind and understand the mental state of a character, or what I'm going for. Believe me, sometimes Dimas and I are totally in sync, but sometimes not so much.

The way I order my scripts is to spell out panel by panel what is going on. Then, I write 2-3 sentences about what is physically present in the panel, and any notes about how the characters think or feel. If there is dialogue, I write the character's name with all caps and what they say. Here's an example:

The Princess of Yelang (夜郎公主)

Today, we're going to talk about the upcoming Issue #2 of Journey to the Middle Kingdom and the story behind it, the Princess of Yelang!

China wasn't always China, the country with the borders we see today. In the past, there have been various kingdoms with different names that controlled different regions. Yelang was one of those kingdoms, way back during the Han Dynasty. And by way back, I mean 300 B.C. Yelang was situated near modern day Guizhou. I've never been to Guizhou. The closest I got was Chongqing. 

This area is of China is interesting in that there is a wide variety of geography in the area, and honestly it's just pretty. The "Princess of Yelang" (夜郎公主 Yelang Gongzhu in Chinese) is a story that originated from this area of China. The story goes like this:

The Princess of Yelang was a talented young woman. She was a skilled archer and understood affairs of state from a young age. Her mother passed when she was young, and her father married a woman who grew jealous of the princess and the adoration she earned from the people. The queen hatched an evil scheme. She tricked the princess into drinking a poison brew, robbing the princess of her voice and covering her in hideous boils. The queen convinced the King that the princess had an infectious disease and that she should be banished for the safety of the kingdom. 

The princess is kicked out of the kingdom and forced to wander the wilderness for survival. The princess wanders the forests outside the kingdom for years, hunting game and living off the land. One day, she saves the life of an eagle. The eagle is grateful, and tells her of a cure for her illness on Mt. Lao. The princess journeys to find the cure to the poison brew, gets it, then is healed. The princess returns to the kingdom of Yelang and the peasants are with her. She overthrows the Queen and recovers her father, and becomes leader of Yelang.

 The story has elements of Snow White and the Little Mermaid, in my opinion. The story has an evil stepmother who is jealous of the princess. Snow White and the Princess of Yelang were both forced into the wilderness. I am reminded of the Little Mermaid in that the princess has her voice taken from her and cannot communicate her plight to anyone. 

It's a story about maintaining one's dignity even in the face of adversity, and believing that life will be better one day. The princess is saved because of her good heart. For each issue of JTMK, I choose a Chinese character I think best exemplifies the meaning of the story. In this case, I chose 尊, which means respect. Having respect for oneself I think is so important in life, and the Princess of Yelang exemplifies that.

Legend of the White Snake (白蛇傳)

The Legend of the White Snake Maiden is one of China' four great folktales, the other three being The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Lady of the Great Wall, and Butterfly Lovers. The story was put into print form in the Ming Dynasty in 1624 by a guy named Feng Menglong, but probably existed long before that. That's just how old stories go. The story has many renditions, and there was even a movie with Jet Li which I think more Americans are actually familiar with.

Jet Li doesn't give in to temptation.

The core of the story is a human scholar, Xu Xian, and a snake spirit, Bai Suzhen, fall in love. Their love is forbidden by the laws of nature, and a Buddhist monk named Fa Hai uses his power to separate them. Fa Hai eventually succeeds in trapping Bai Suzhen in Leifeng Pagoda, separating her from her husband and child. Eventually, Bai Suzhen's friend and spiritual confidante, Xiao Qing the Green Snake Maiden, heads to the arctic to train. She eventually becomes more powerful than Fa Hai, defeats him, and frees Bai Suzhen from captivity.

This version came out in 2006.

What's interesting is that this story has been retold with different interpretations and aims. The most popular version is the love story version. Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian fall in love and their love for each other is pure and sincere. Fa Hai is portrayed as inflexible and driven by a desire to force his interpretation of Buddhism on the two lovers. There was a live action version of Legend of the White Snake that took this angle. Fa Hai was deeply in love with Bai Suzhen, and caused deep seated conflict between Fa Hai's devotion to ridding the world of "evil" spirit beings and his love of the White Snake Maiden. The 2006 live action show uses this angle. Fa Hai is played buy Liu Xiaofeng who I think gave an excellent performance.

 

When stories are this old we get so many interpretations and remakes of the same characters you would be forgiven for forgetting the original tale. Some versions of Legend of the White Snake portray the White and Green Snake Maidens as temptresses and seducers, and that Fa Hai must overcome them. In other versions, Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian's love is a distraction from the main focus of their lives. Bai Suzhen is training to achieve enlightenment and become an immortal in heaven, and Xu Xian is a scholar who should focus his energies on medicine and improving himself. Their love is a distraction from their duty. Fa Hai represents the order of the state, setting the two away from that which distracts them. In other versions, the emphasis is on how good intentions can lead down dark paths.

Stories are malleable. They reflect the standards and needs of the time they are told. The fact that this story has endured for more than 400 years speaks to the fact that the themes and ideas at the core of the story appeal to people across generations. I felt it was the perfect backdrop for the first story arc of Journey to the Middle Kingdom, and I hope you enjoyed reading about its background.