Comic writing is painful

I don't know whether it's just me. But I find the process of writing a comic book very painful. I'm used to writing for theatre. Where everything sort-of flows together. But with a comic: You have to break every action down into a separate panel. It can be quite frustrating.

I like to write as much description as I can. But sometimes I don't write enough. And it looks weird on the page. Maybe it's just me. Am I just messed up? At the moment,  I write about 8 pages a day. It takes about 20-40 minutes to do. Maybe I should be writing more. I'm currently on page 27. 

I think my spy-thriller Graphic Novel will be in-excess of 300 pages. So it's going to take literary months to write. But I suffer from Bi-polar disorder. So I have lots of mood swings that affect my writing ability and concentration. At the moment, I'm going through a depressive stage. So I can't concentrate for longs periods of time.

It's freakin' annoying!  Anyway here's an extract from Page two of my Graphic Novel.

PAGE TWO: (2 PANELS)
PANEL ONE

SIDE ON VIEW. Jodie sprints down the passage-way. She's PUFFING, PANTING, and WHEEZING. Her PSG-1 swings from side to side. In tune to Jodie's rapid motion. Just about in view, is the exit from the alleyway. There's a EGG-SHAPED, futuristic looking automobile parked on the edge of the road. Only the FRONT END is visible. More newspapers are being pelted around by the bittersweet gale-force monsoon.

CAPTION
"Must run faster. Need to make it to the apartment block."

CAPTION
"I hope Jess is there."

PANEL TWO

Jodie BURSTS out onto the street. It's completely deserted. Not a soul around. WE CAN now see the CAR more clearly. It has a hyped up REAR-VIEW SPOILER. Curled round slightly near the edges. A crystal windshield. With wipers. The top of the ENGINE prods itself through the HOOD. Out in the BACKGROUND are a few more CARS. All molded on the EGG-TYPE SHAPE. A few maybe more curved. Others more cubed etc.

STEAM bellows through the sewer grates into the ice-cold air. The BUILDINGS which form the wall of the alleyway are rotten, and muck-infected. Further in the BACKGROUND are TALL, GLASS SKYSCRAPERS. They have a odd-domed shape towards the top, with a RAZOR-SHARP needle billowing out the top.

A few flashing neon light signs further down the road, on BOTH SIDES: XXX, HARDCORE, GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS! You get the picture. The street we're on is BAKER-STREET. It's dirty, horrid, and certainly not the place you'd expect to see a young-girl like Jodie wandering down.

CAPTION
Baker Street; 00:01 AM.

JODIE SUMMERS
Ewww....!!

CAPTION
"Time's getting away from me. Must hurry up if I am to meet Jess at the apartment block. Target could've left by now. I bloody hope not!"

It just gets worse, doesn't it? :-(

This is my journey...

Hello!

This blog will be my pain relief as I write my spy-thriller Graphic Novel; Public Enemy. The journey that I have started a few days ago has so far been long and arduous. And I still have many months to go before I finish it.

I plan to send it off the Dark Horse Comics. Since they are the only ones accepting submissions from writers. It'll probably be rejected. But I'll never know until I finish it. 

So to kick things off. Here's an extract from the first page.

PAGE ONE (2 PANELS)
PANEL ONE

LOOKING DOWN an alley-way. It's around midnight. The full glare of the moon just above the whole scene. There's a few odd thunder clouds, but the coal-colored, star-blown sky, is mostly clear. On either side of the SHOT are two towering, thick, graffiti-logged brick walls. Splattered in multi-colored paint are these words: SAINTS. PATRIOTS. SKULLS. They're in beautifully crafted logo-esque design.

Tipped over trash-cans spill their filthy, dirty, contents all over the cracked paving slabs. A choppy wind pelts smudged, torn newspapers around. In the distance, a shadowy figure of a YOUNG GIRL runs towards us.


CAPTION
20th March 2039 - Newcity, England.

PANEL TWO

The Young Girl comes into view. It's JODIE SUMMERS.

Jodie is SEVENTEEN years old. And has PITCH-BLACK hair tied into a loose ponytail. A few odd strands run down her young, ethereal, face. She has DIAMOND-BLUE EYES. Jodie looks sweet, innocent. A GIRL-NEXT-DOOR type look. Jodie's a beautiful ENGLISH ROSE. She is clad, from neck to toe in a COLA-BLACK skin-tight LYCRA-SUIT. It leaves little to the imagination.

Jodie had a Heckler & Koch PSG-1 sniper rifle slugged over her left-shoulder.

CAPTION
"Must hurry myself up. I don't have time on my side."

Rubbish isn't it? I'll never make it. :(