From Dictation to Marvel Style: Hacking My Comic Writing Workflow

The Pacing Block and the Need for Subtext

I have a theory on why I’m dragging my feet and going so slowly with drawing the Medusa comic book. I’ve been really just chugging along on the first page, and it’s because while I have all of the story beats worked out, I know that the pacing is wrong. I’m dragging my feet because I haven’t corrected or worked out that pacing yet.

What’s happening is that there’s really one central fight scene in the story. The rest of it is kind of suspense, drama, and a little bit of mythological light horror. I know how the fight scene begins, and I know how it ends. But in an effort to improve my writing, I’m really trying to make each page of that fight scene reflect or contrast with the emotional beats the characters are going through—or the emotional beats of someone else in the story.

Ideally, my goal for everything I write going forward is that fight scenes aren’t just fight scenes. There needs to be subtext underneath the surface. I haven’t fully worked out the subtext of this fight scene yet. If I work that out, I can make the movements the characters make, the weapons they grab, the obstacles they run into, and the environment they interact with resonate with the overall theme of the story.

Some people might think that’s me being too highfalutin and lofty—like I need to get the stick out of my ass, stop trying to be Shakespeare, and just tell a good story. But I think subtext is really important, and I don’t think I’ve fully developed my ability to use it very well yet.

Shifting to a Dictated “Marvel Style”

I’ve been thinking about what I can do to work through this fight scene. I’ve been dancing around it when I’m waiting for my wife before going for a walk, or when I’m waiting in line somewhere with a Google Doc open on my phone.

I need to do a word dump. Doing a “vomit pass” on a scene isn’t revolutionary—you do it with any story, dumping stuff out until you get a crappy version of the scene that you can rewrite to find deeper parts. But what occurred to me that is novel for my process is how I create these blog posts. Instead of typing them, I’m just talking. I’m using a voice recorder, pasting the transcript, formatting it, and making minor adjustments. I have never really thought of using transcription for my comic writing. Usually, I think of prose authors doing that with software like Dragon Dictation. But I could just talk through the scene and do a word dump that way.

Using dictation for my blog posts has lowered the bar for how much I’ll write and talk about. It captures my voice better because I’m not overthinking as much, and in the rambling, you get more of who I am.

While using dictation for comics might mean having a lot more to clean up in terms of formatting, cutting scenes, and moving things into panels, it opens up a new approach. I don’t see myself dictating “Page 15, Panel 1: Character walks in...”—that doesn’t feel useful for picturing what’s in my head. But what does feel useful is working “Marvel style.” I can produce paragraphs of prose with bits of dialogue, just talking through the story as if I’m telling it to someone. Once I have those paragraphs of prose, that becomes my plot script. Then I can take that aside and do my panel breakdowns.

Basically, I’d be becoming my own Marvel-style writer. Until now, I’ve tended to work full script for myself because I like to list all my shots and actions, writing all my dialogue before drawing so I can place speech balloons during thumbnails. But I’m always trying to refine my process and find a better workflow. Dictation has helped me in other areas, so I’m going to give it a try here and see if it unlocks this scene for me.

Do you think action sequences and fight scenes need deeper subtext to be engaging, or do you prefer them to be pure, fast-paced spectacle?

Have you ever tried dictating or voice-recording your story ideas instead of typing them out? Did it help you overcome writer’s block?

For comic creators: Do you prefer writing a full, panel-by-panel script before drawing, or do you prefer the looser “Marvel style” approach of writing a prose summary first?