Creating Comics #3: Class Begins Next Week

I've been busy crossing t's and dotting i's on my syllabus for the class I'm teaching this fall at the Newburyport Adult & Continuing Education Center called Creating Comics! Scriptwriting for Comics and Graphic Novels.

I've planned a six week survey course to cover a number of topics relevant to writing for sequential art. The class will be a mix of mini-lectures, comics and comics literature discussion, short writing exercises, homework readings, and workshopping of student scripts. The culminating project for my students will be to leave class with a finished 8-page comic script ready to be handed to an artist.

Here are the major topics I'll cover over the six-week course:

Week 1
Talking Comics: The Terminology of Visual Storytelling
What Does a Comic Script Look Like?

Week 2
Sequential Storytelling Tips and Tricks:
Smooth Transitions & Word/Image Relationship

Week 3
Creating & Writing Great Characters

Week 4
Genres & Style & Form
Print Vs. Digital

Week 5
Comics Collaborations: Working with artists to achieve your vision

Week 6
Good Writing Means Re-writing: Refining & revising
Comics Marketing: Marketing your comic and yourself

If any readers have suggestions on must-read materials, books, links, etc. on any of those topics I'd love to hear them.

My class begins next Tuesday, October 14. For more information on the class, go here.