Writing Manga :: Part 1

First off, I'd like to say that every creator has their own process. I think it is something you have to figure out for yourself, and I feel it is quite egotistical for someone to say "this is the best way to write/draw/tone manga." Even celebrated Manga-ka shouldn't say this, because no matter how much I worship them their process can naver be 100% my process. Which is a good thing, allowing for variety and spontenaity in a medium of constant change. That being said, an aspiring manga artist is stupid not to learn the many ways in which manga is created, or feel they are somehow above learning the necessary skills and processes of the medium. Once they have learned the basics and are grounded in the traditional processes, I feel they will then be able to pick which is the best way of writing/drawing/etc, or at least know from where to start. Like the old adage says, know the rules before you break them. Or whatever the actual saying is. It also makes perfect sense to combine several processes; whatever works is what is best in my opinion. So while I am documenting my own process here as it shapes itself, I hope anyone actually reading this does not latch onto that for dear life and say "I must do it like that!" Because for all you know, our styles could be very different and then using my style will make you crash and burn. I make no promises that I am even doing it the best way for me! Also, as an aside, I feel the idea of studying the "how" of others and basic, tried-and-true techniques and then creating your own "how" applies to any medium in the arts or sciences, regardless of the background or the prestige of the medium. That is what art schools are for, and why people even attend them in the first place (besides it looking really good on a resume, of course.)

Anyway, enough for my tangent/soapbox of the day, and on to the topic at hand. Elicia and I are still in the process of how is best for us to write manga, but we have had some brilliant sources on the topic, which I will talk about here. These are helping us a lot, and are worth a blurb or two (or three.)

:: Playwrighting Class ::

Elicia took a playwrighting class last semester from one of the most brilliant profs on our campus, and shared her notes and thoughts from the class with me. Writing a play is different from writing a movie, book, and of course manga, but some of the basic principles apply to all of the genres, namely how to create good dialogue, characters, scenes, express the theme, etc. Her prof made great powerpoints which she printed off for me, and which I read voraciously. (if the links to the slides were still up I'd post them here; alas they are not! But she is taking the next level of playwrighting from him now, so if he has good new slides I will post those.)

Anyway, the topics of the slides break down into as follows: 12 rules for what makes good playwrighting (FYI they are have fun/entertain, don't try to be original/profound, displace/distract/amplify, lay ground rules early/know what you are doing, repetition equals emphasis, make your characters choose, bring characters into conflict, give your characters secrets, aim at urgency, speak in realistic language, use the environment, and observe the world carefully); thought and premise; language and diction; conflict and dialogue; and character. I'm sure there were more but Elicia didn't print them off for me. She also gave me a list of helpful vocab, which gives a definition for another wonderful sheet Elicia gave me, which is the definition of a diathesis. We are definitely going to use this when we write. The definition is:

Diathesis: The outline of a play's plot in the form of a graph with sequences and sections presented as a balanced structure that prioritizes complications in parallel sequences revolving around a central sequence; parallel plot elements necessary to express the play's thought; see breviloquence.

The bold words in the definition are some of the class vocab. Basically, it is an outline of your whole story showing how early actions tie in or parallel later actions or consequences. His diathesis example is of Euripides' "Medea." (If you don't know who/what that is, I would suggest some classical reading is in order, and stat.) For example, the beginning actions (Medea's past crimes: Jason betraying her and Creon's intention to banish her and her sons) parallel the actions at the end (Medea's present retribution: Medea triumphs over Jason and has a self-imposed banishment. And don't tell me I spoiled the play for you, as it is over 1000 years old and a famous story. It's like the comics where people say that someone spoiled King Kong for them; the joke lies in how can this possibly be spoiled for you, since everyone knows the story!) Apparently a diathesis also helps to prevent writer's block, as you already know where the story is heading and don't have to sit and guess. But there is also a lot of freedom too: the major actions and plots of the story only are outlined; the minor actions and all the dialogue is free to be spontaneous, but now has a clear direction in which to go so the writing doesn't get bogges down in tangents. A famous playwright who used the idea of a diathesis put it this way, when someone asked him how his play was going (to paraphrase): "It is finished; now all that is left is to write the words." Or something to that nature.

The idea of writing an outline of a story first and the script second greatly appeals to me. I've always been a pretty good essayist, mainly because I had the formula for an essay drilled into me in middle school, and have used that ever since to great success. As a graphic designer, I have learned to be my most creative when I have certain parameters set in front of me. If I am given a project, a booklet for example, and told to do absolutely whatever I want, I simply can't begin; the possibilities overwhelm me. But tell me that I need the booklet in this size using these colors and fonts and these specifications, and I am raring to go; the limitations free me somehow. I think that is one reason I am excited to do manga; you get to draw whatever you want, but it must be in black and white (most of the time) and it must be this certain size, etc. And the idea of drawing my layouts from a script, not drawing the layout first and having the words come to you later of fit into the prescribed space, is thus more satisfying to me. Knowing what the script specifies I draw will allow me to be more creative in what I draw. Granted, we haven't done a lot of layouts yet, but this method is the most appealing to me. Though it is many other ways in the manga world to great success.

The last handout from the class I will mention is the paper "Five Ways to Improve Your Dialogue" by Lou Anne Wright and William M. Downs, published in the Sept/Oct '99 Dramatist. Fabulous paper on how to write good dialogue for plays. Basically, it explains that you need to understand why humans talk in the first place; what needs and desires are motivationg the character you are writing, i.e. why they need to speak; and to create vigorous, concise sentences that are not everyday speech but a heightened and edited form of it. Then they talk about the five main things you should or should not do when writing, which I will list below.

1: Avoid Conclusionary Dialogue. It bores the reader and tells them exactly what to think. Instead write between the lines of a character's emotions or language. Basically, show us with their actions and what is not being said that they are happy/sad/depressed, not have them tell us they are happy/sad/depressed.
2: Listening. People in general filter words though their own needs, emotions, and views, which means that we misinterpret what is being said constantly. (Sad but true.) So the way in which your character reacts to what someone says can bring life to your writing and make it feel more natural, and reveal tons about the character.
3: Obvious Exposition. Exposition is important, and can work well, but when done badly it causes the story to stagnate and the characters to become boring. A common example of this is the telephone ringing at the beginning of a scene. (Example from Mangaland: In "Inuyasha," I found myself getting annoyed with the character of Myouga the flea but had no clue why. I've since figured out that since he is supposed to be very wise, he quickly became the Mr. Exposition for almost every episode he was in. That, and not Myouga himself, was what was getting on my nerves. I love Inuyasha, but I plan to not do that in my own works.) Ways to prevent this faux pas from happening are to weave the exposition into the storyline in a way that helps the story move forward, such as hiding it in conflict or arguments. After all, "a play is never about people who agree with one another," and I think the same thing can be said for manga as well.
4: Uneeded Exposition. Unless the audience needs the exposition to make sense of the story or the character's reactions and motivations, leave it out. " Good exposition is lean." Also don't feel the need to repeat exposition multiple times for your audience to get it, or you will begin to bore them. This whole topic kind of makes me laugh, because I can't think of one manga in which we don't have a flashback. (Some friends of ours were joking that if for a Naruto drinking game you took a shot each time there was a flashback, Sasuke's flashbacks alone would give you alcohol poisoning. I mean, there are flashbacks within flashbacks going on there. But because there is so much going on and because they really help to better explain the motivations of Sasuke, they don't get too boring in my opinon. But boy there's a lot of them! It almost becomes the Sasuke show for part of the season. And I loved Kakashi's backstory too, but again you learn so much about him and it is action packed, so it works well.)
5: Filler Words and Lines. Basically whatever takes up unecessary space between the real conflicts and ideas of the story. Keep the situations alive and spontaneous, and these become unecessary. After all, brevity is the soul of wit, and there is no room in manga panels for unecessary words.

Another important concept from the class is to get used to writing a lot. Start writing at least an hour everyday, and you will get in the mode of writing fast. I think this can apply to drawing manga as well. And also the fact that there are no new stories, only new ways to tell them, so don't freak out about being revolutionary. Just find a new situation in which to express an old theme, and you can't help but be successful.

So that is the brilliance that was Elicia's playwrighting class. What a long entry! One more helpful book before I close:

:: The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics, by Dennis O'Neil ::

This is a thin paperback that is becoming for me a must. If I was teaching a class on how to write comics or manga this would be one of the required textooks; it's that good. It's sort of a part of a series of books that DC has put out, which are all fabulous. He covers a lot of the same points Elicia's prof did (remember when I said that good rules for one medium appy to all? So true!), but also explains how both DC and Marvel writes comics and some good rules for any beginner to keep in mind. It also shows that comic artists actually write their comics in script format, so that is another reason why Elicia's playwrighting class was excellent. Don't let the fact he is not a manga writer throw you, because the info inside is really great. There are also hints on how to get a premise for a comic (i.e. a manga series) greenlighted. (Hint: it starts with a great story idea, no duh.) Sweet!

Now I will leave you, before this post breaks length rules or something. Seriously it's super long; how did that happen? Next part of this section will be on how Japanese manga artists such as Bisco Hatori write, with specific examples. Who knows when that will be, but pretty soon down the line I swear.