Writing Horror Comics

Apr 1

Apr 1 Writing Horror Comics

(An artist friend interested in doing some horror stories asked me for any insights I might have on the gerne and format. I’m expanding slightly on my reply to him here for those who may not be familiar with writing for comics.)

While I have written some horror comics in the past (as well as a few horror short stories), I think of myself as a writer who does various genres, not a genre writer per se. I don’t think I have any special insights to share on horror comics but I will pass along what I’ve gleaned to date.

Horror stories tend to fall into two main categories:
The Senseless Tragedy, and The Biter Gets Bit. In the former bad things happen to the characters at random or for reasons they can’t fathom, in the latter they did something that invites retribution on them.

Comic book horror stories also tend to have twist or O. Henry style endings where something unexpected but logical happens. A classic prose example of this is the “The Monkey’s Paw” where a wish for money results in a son being killed in an accident that garners a big insurance settlement, then a wish for the son to be brought back to life raises him from the grave in not very good condition.

When I write short stories I often (but not always) work backwards from my climax:
How do I want it to end and then what would be a logical path to get there? The advantage of doing it this way is that you can more easily lay track in a non-obvious manner so the reader goes “My, how clever!” when they realize you dropped a few subtle clues pointing to how it would end.

(This works with all sorts of stories,
of course, not just horror.)

The most important part of any story but especially a short story is getting the reader emotionally involved as quickly as possible. Any emotion will do; they don’t have to like or admire the character, just be curious about what’s going to happen to them next.

That’s why The Biter Gets Bit works so well in horror stories:
We dislike the central character because they’re a creep and can’t wait to see them get their comeuppance.

Past that it’s a matter of personal preference and taste. Write about what frightens you in actuality or metaphorically. I’m an arachnophobe, I’ve written and sold three horror short stories about spiders plus a poem based on the topic (“Spider In A Space Helmet”). I also fear being trapped in situations I can’t control and have written stories (less horror, more satirical fantasy) about characters who find themselves overwhelmed by surreal or magical events.

Speaking of emotion and logic, there’s a saying in classical music that opera doesn’t have to make logical sense so long as it makes emotional sense. Get the readers invested in the characters and their predicament, and they will accept any resolution that feels right even if it doesn’t make 100% logical sense.

Now, as for the actual writing, most comics scripts are done in either the DC style (full panel by panel descriptions and dialog like a movie script) or the Marvel style (writer does a 3-page story outline, the artist breaks it down and draws it, the art is sent to the writer to add dialog). There are other methods, including doing the whole story as thumbnail sketches but I’m focusing on just the two most prevalent written styles.

Except for the handful of Marvel comics I wrote, I’ve always worked in the full script method.

Comics scripts are actually my favorite format for writing because you can play the stories like an accordion. If they’re running too long you can drop a couple of pages and replace them with a caption (“Returning to town, the sheriff rounded up a posse and rode out to track the outlaws down…”), if they’re too short you can extend an action scene by a page or two or add some character business.

Not counting the Nightmare On Elm Street comic I wrote for Marvel (which they never published, but that’s another story for another time…), all my horror & sci-fi comics scripts were for stories 6-8 pages long (I also did a couple of short-shorts, one a single page long, the other a 2-pager). As mentioned above, I typically figured out the snapper then worked backwards.

As a rough rule of thumb, the following are helpful basic guidelines:

Try not to have more than four things happen on a page; for example:

Dr. Frankenstein sends Igor to the roof
Igor launches the kites into the storm
A lightning bolt strikes the kite and the copper wire attached to it
The electricity courses into the monster in the lab.

This can be broken down into any number of panels / angles / details and the artist might use two or three panels to illustrate one particular action, but try not to have too many different things happening on a single page.

American style comics typically have 4 – 9 panels per page, manga often has 3 – 6. There are no hard and fast rules; do what works best for you. (Personally, I favor 4 - 5 panels per page on average.)

Be careful with dialog and tex:
Golden and silver age comics tended to have up to 35 words per panel, modern American comics run closer to 25 words per panel max, while manga tends to hold it down to 12 words. “Words” includes anything to be read as part of the story, such as dialog, narration, captions, sound effects, footnotes, etc. A sign in the background that’s not conveying any story information is not considered part of the word count.

If you’re not the artist, use words and phrases with emotional weight:
A jolly husky librarian. A spooky old house. A sterile looking laboratory. A weary looking businessman, etc. It helps artists to know what feelings they should be conveying, and a few well chosen words typically get a much better result than detailed analytical descriptions.

The full script method looks similar to a screenplay:

=PAGE ONE=
[this designates the art page, not the script page]

PANEL 1: INT. CREAKY OLD MANSION – NIGHT [set the scene]

Very short description of what we see in the panel.

1 CAPTION It was a dark and stormy night…

2 TITLE “Spooky House Story”

3 HERO Say, this is a spooky old house!

4 HEROINE Do you always state the obvious?*

5 FOOTNOTE * He does!

PANEL2: HERO AND HEROINE OPEN THE DOOR

Describe how they act. [is it difficult to open? Does it swing open easily? Etc.]

6 HERO Let’s open the door!

7 SFX (door) Creak!

=END PAGE ONE=
[let the artist know where to stop drawing a particular page]

You’ll note each panel is numbered, likewise every line of dialog. This helps the artist and the letterer know where they are in a story. Each art page in the script should start with Panel 1 and 1 Dialog.

It makes life so much easier.

I suggest reading Scott McCloud’s excellent trilogy of books:

Scott won’t steer you wrong and provides far more details than I can in this short post.

Past that, I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve always guided my topic selection by the philosophy of “hit ‘em where they ain’t” meaning if everybody’s doing vampires or zombies, try something entirely different (unless, of course, you have the greatest idea for such stories that’s ever been done, in which case go for it; just make sure it is the greatest idea ever…).