Sebastian Chow

I once read that every story that can be told has been told already. Many stories are reconfigured, disguised in such a way that the audience is feels like they're seeing something new and different. I didn't want to believe it but the more I boiled down and reduced stories to their bare plot elements, the more this seemed so. So, what are those three plots?

That's it. Hard to believe isn't it? When you boil the story down, you will come to one or more of these three basic plots. Yes, this is reducing stories to the extreme, but these are not where you end. It's where you begin. Let's consider them one at a time.

THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER (Comes to Town)

Someone or something enters a community. The story built around this plot often follows one (or both) of these two questions: 

• What is this stranger's impact on the community? 
• What is the community's impact on the stranger? 

THE QUEST

This can be a search for anything: love, treasure, the identity of the Mysterious Stranger. All mysteries are built around the quest for the solution. You might consider some subcategories to the Quest. It could be said that the quest is too broad and you could break things down further, including such categories as the Chase and the Hunt. While these are all valid, they can still be seen as all being quests of one sort or another.

THE GENESIS STORY

How something or someone came to be. In comic book terms, this is the origin story.

When I thought about my favorite stories and I started to see at the heart of them is one or more of these three basic plots. It is an art, to find new stories to tell based on these plots. This is where artistic vision comes into play. We are all individuals, shaped by our experiences. It is our unique perspective on these three stories that will give our work a distinctive voice.

Remember if you are a duck there are special offers at Heinemann apparently...

Trying to create a my own comic book is not easy when you are a one man band. In most cases creative teams consist of a writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer and maybe an editor. There are times when a creator is able to fulfill more than one of these roles and in rare cases all of the roles. However this means a lot of cross training in all these steps of comic book creation. 

In my own case I started out as an pencil artist (not a great one at that) and tried learning how to ink, then letter, coloring and lastly writing. Learning to write a comic book has probably been the hardest. With the other steps there are scores of YouTube videos, on line How-To articles and books on how to put the visual aspects of comics together. However, writing comics isn't that easy, at least for me.

So, where do we start? How do you go from an idea to a piece of work that makes sense as a story?

A long time ago I read an online article that articulated how to make sense of an idea and progress it to a finished comic book. Unfortunately I can't remember the site and author although I would love to credit where I found this information.

I'll break the writing process into separate posts. But first lets talk about triangles.
Triangles... Doritos? Cheese triangles? Flying space triangles? No. The story triangle.

You will find that there are four basic elements in constructing a story as illustrated by the diagram below.

Lets break each part down one by one. 

The Characters
This is the "who". Who are the main characters? Who are the supporting characters? Are some heroes or villains? What are their motivations and characteristics? Do they have personality flaws? Are they following a certain stereotype? What do they look like? How do they dress?
Lots of questions when it comes to characters but this is basically the "who".

The Plot 
This is the "what". What do your characters want and what happens? It is the simple sequence of events. For example:

Rosie wants to be on time for work. Unfortunately, she wakes up late. Natalie makes her breakfast. Rosie eats breakfast quickly, dripping egg yolk on her shirt. Now Rosie has to change her clothes, making her even later for work. Rosie leaves the house in a rush, not looking in both directions before she crosses the street. Rosie is hit by a bus and dies. That is a plot. 

That's what happens. The plot is the series of conflicts and resolutions leading to the climax and ending where everything is tied together. 

The Story
This is the where, when, how, and why. Where and when are surface details, but they are important as they determine how the character and society act and react. People in feudal Japan would not act in the same way that Native Americans would act in 1800 America. 

The plot described above with Rosie would have to happen in fairly large, modern city where cars and buses exist. It could not be transplanted to France, circa 1100.

How expands on the question of "What do you characters want?" by exploring how they go about achieving their goals. We then ask the question of why should the events of the plot matter to the characters and the readers.

Ultimately, the story is the impact of Rosie's death on Natalie, the bus driver, other characters, and most importantly, on the reader. Why should the reader care about Jimmy's death and its ramifications? Therein lies the story.

The Theme or Premise
Every story sets out to prove its theme or premise. In the story outlined above, the premise might be "Remember to set your alarm clock so you don't wake up late." The consequences of not setting your alarm clock are then spelled out. The theme or premise does not have to be overly complex. It can be as simple as "Love conquers all" or "Crime doesn't pay" or "With great power comes great responsibility" (sound familiar?). 

It can be much more complex, perhaps trying to prove or disprove the existence of a higher power. It doesn't matter how simple or complex your premise, as long as everything in the context of the tale--the characters, the plot, and the story--all relate to the theme in some way, shape, or form to your theme. Ultimately, when someone asks what the story is about, they will usually zero in on the theme or premise.

That's all for now but this is extremely useful in organizing and transforming an idea into a proper comic book story.

Also here is a pic of a breakfast sandwich. Why? Because breakfast sandwiches rule.