Getting to the Point

So, I tend to be long-winded. The mark of a historian, probably, or I maybe I just love to hear myself talk. But rarely does that become so evident to me as when I’m turning my comic script into actual comic pages. Suddenly what seemed like a brief remark is taking up half a panel, and I’ve either got to redesign the page to accommodate a bunch of text or do away with some of the dialogue.

Having realized this would be a problem as I illustrated my Prologue, when it came time to revise Chapter One I did my best to cut down what my characters are saying. My characters probably shouldn’t be talking like I do, in any case – that is to say, in meandering drawn-out ramblings. Easier said than done, though. I find that I’m cautious about taking out filler words, for instance, because they make conversations seem more natural to me.

One of the classic rules of comic making is show, don’t tell. By this token, if you can illustrate something rather than having a character explain it, that’s usually the way to go. There are definitely times when reminding myself of that works for me: does this character really need to be saying this, or is the sentiment perfectly obvious from what they're doing in the image? Sometimes a line that seemed necessary in the script can be cut once it's been illustrated.

Of course, a rule is never a rule when it comes to art! And there are plenty of comics that do lengthy diatribes well. I’m a big fan of graphic novel versions of classic literature, which are almost always pretty wordy. And obviously you need enough dialogue to allow for meaningful character development and so on. But for most comics, especially action-oriented or humorous comics, walls of text – even when it’s dialogue – can really weigh things down.


How do you keep your characters’ dialogue succinct? Or do you embrace wordy diatribes? If you’re verbose like I am, how do you keep your comic pages looking dynamic?

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