I occasionally get my ideas from offbeat stories I read in the newspaper or a place I've visited like Berlin. Most often my stories come from a fragment of a scene that pops into my head just before I fall asleep. My mind races at bedtime: news, events of the day, a movie or television show, a song, something from my past, a dream for the future...and then a concept, I see it as the possible beginning of a story -- odd snippets, like animation cels, pieced together by a series of repetitious thoughts that build into a cohesive scene. I envision it like a movie (I'm a visual thinker). I get up to write it down (no, I don't. I should, but I don't. I'll remember it in the morning...if I'm lucky). Honestly, if it's a good idea I'll scribble it into a notebook. If it's a crazy, unimaginative, unrealistic piece of garbage I'm better off forgetting it anyway. I take that idea and play around with it for a little while, seeing if there is a larger story that can evolve from it. Sometimes there is, other times not, but that's okay because I might be able to use the scene later on in something else.
Here's an example of a scene I thought of, wrote, and passed on to Murad to draw (ignore the dialogue).
If there's something there, I flesh out a plot. Most of my ideas are plot driven not character driven; characters come later. I make sure I have an ending in mind. This is very important because I think you need to know where your journey ends. Once you have your ending, getting there is so much easier. Then, I start thinking about characters, fleshing them out; who's the protagonist, what does he want, who's the antagonist, why does he want something different? I take all that and formulate a three act structure that makes some amount of sense. I have plot points in mind but not every scene thought out yet.
For a comic book I make note cards for every page. I write the general idea for the scene and any dialogue I might think important. It also helps me organize the set-up pages and reveal pages. Set-up pages are the odd numbered pages (right side) of a comic book, and the reveals are the even numbered ones (left side). That way there's a momentary bit of suspense built into the turning of the page.
I'll write the first draft by hand, and then type my masterpiece on a program called Scrivener, which has a comic book format template. In a later blog I'll regale you with tales of writing programs, but for now just know I use Scrivener (it's cheaper than Final Draft). I might do another draft after that and then I print it out and show it to Murad who will hate it (kidding) and suggest changes. I'll contemplate killing him (again, kidding) and make the changes. Once we both like the script he starts his layouts and sketches. I'll add that during the writing process I'm constantly bouncing ideas off of Murad, which helps me come up with little details about the story or characters. He'll also share ideas and I'll work them into the story (he has some pretty good ones). Our collaboration has worked well for us.
That's pretty much it. I do a good deal of research before and during writing to get the details right. I also let the characters grow and follow them where they lead me. Sometimes it enriches the story and I keep it, other times it's crap and I have to get them back on track. Once I'm finished, the feeling of accomplishment is overwhelming. I'm tired and emotionally drained, but it's exhilarating at the same time. And then I get to see Murad's rendering of these ideas and it's another wave of fulfillment because something I wrote is expressed in artwork for others to see.
Here's a page we did for a short comic about Caesar facing a Congressional hearing (don't ignore the dialogue this time):
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