Joshua Williamson is the author of 150 graphic novels! He works for DC Comics and Marvel, and is paid to write monthly short books (like magazines) which, when the story’s done, get compiled together into complete graphic novels. Mostly these are YA, but he’s written other non-DC books (e.g. Nailbiter) which might be aimed at a somewhat older audience.
How long did it take to become a writer?
He became interested in writing in 4th grade, went to college, studied art, and moved on from there. It took about 10 years to get from wanting to make a living as a writer to actually doing it. So we shouldn’t be discouraged when our dreams take time.
Where did he start?
Joshua started with mini-comics – copied at Kinkos and handed out at conventions etc. Sometimes he would hand out a book and find it afterward in the trash. But he persisted. So, don’t give up.
How do you work with an artist?
Joshua writes the script and the artist draws it. Often he will never meet the artist, perhaps until they’re signing the published book together. Artists might be in Brazil, Russia… anywhere. An editor puts it all together.
For an early book, Joshua worked with a roommate. He did the lettering (after all, he’s an artist too). They sent the final pdf to a publisher who had it printed in China
For the Superman comics, he writes the script in Portland, the artist is in Canada, the production team who put it together is in California. Writers, editors, letterers, designers and producers all work the manager.
What if the artist doesn’t do what you want?
Part of your job, as a writer, is to make clear anything that’s important to the story. Then the artist is free to interpret within those boundaries. There can be problems with communication, especially with translation. For example, a dark background with stars might mean a night sky or pictures of stars glued to a black wall; leave room for balloons might mean bright balloons flying around the room or space for the speech balloons. If what the artist has done hurts the story, you will usually work together to fix it. But I it doesn’t hurt the story, it doesn’t matter. (As writers, we should know that our stories exist in our readers’ heads when they read them, and might not be exactly how we imagined them.)
Openings and Endings
Openings and endings tell you a lot about a writer and their work. As a simple example, would a joke work without the punchline at the end?
- First lines – first impressions – count. They make the reader want to read.
- Twilight Zone stories all have a set-up, a middle for the fun and games, and an end for the punch in the gut.
- The end makes the reader want to read more – cliffhangers at the ends of chapters, for example, or at the end of monthly episodes.
- You might not want to start a memoir at birth.
Who Owns What?
Joshua owns the characters in some of his work, but not in his DC work. His DC writing is “work for hire”, and they own the characters. If you work for Marvel, they will own your characters. Which means if you want to write a Superman story, just for fun, you’re fine, but you can’t write a Superman story for publication.
If you want to write a story about a boy who thinks he’s Superman, maybe call him Superhero.
In the 90s a group of artists split off from Marvel and DC and opened Image publishing. You pitch to them. If they take you on, they support you through the publishing process, but you still own your own work.
Different publishers handle things differently. Some will claim the media rights while you keep the copyright. Some pay you an advance in return for media rights. Others pay nothing, but you get a percentage of the royalties. Percentages vary too.
What is Work for Hire?
Work for hire is like receiving and accepting an assignment. You might be told, we want a Superboy in Space story. You’ll send in a pitch. They’ll choose which pitch they want. Then you write the story.
For someone with Joshua’s experience, it works differently. He gets to pitch his own ideas.
- Lists what he wants: Superman story, all set on earth
- What he doesn’t want: no multiverses, no aliens
- Then he starts writing ideas
You don’t have to have a story before you start writing. But you do have to have a reason to write.
How does he plot his story?
On a huge whiteboard, he’ll write up 3 acts – beginning, middle and end. Then he’ll add pagebreaks (in a novel, these might be scene breaks). He won’t start typing until it’s all in his head – some musical composers do this too.
Does he ever change stuff?
- Pixar make each movie 3 times – first a loose script
- Then an animated version with the authors’ voices
- Then rewrite it because you won’t know your theme till you get to the end. Don’t be afraid to start over!
With Nailbiter, he knew he didn’t want it to be “Silence of the Lambs”, but he had to rewrite many times to find what his theme really was – what made his book special. You have to be okay with throwing stuff away!
How does he know what’s good?
When you’re writing, don’t think about an audience out-there. You are an audience of one, and unless you please that audience, it’s not going to work.
Where would you start a story?
Start at a normal, human place – somewhere the reader can relate to. E.g. the teenaged Clark Kent playing loud music in his bedroom. Dad tells him to stop. When he’s older, he’ll still have people telling him what to do.
This is a cold opening – it gives a glimpse of what’s to come, reveals something that will matter later, comes before a “cut” to something else.
The Superman cut leads to another cold opening – Clark Kent covering a wedding for the paper. It’s happy and relatable – openings are often happy.
Memorable novels start with compelling sentences – this is the story of how I died, for example.
How do you end a story?
The end is the last visual image in your head.
What about tone?
Happy is a good tone. Don’t get too dark unless you really mean it.
What about reviews?
Remember those books that got thrown away? Some things are judged badly when they first come out – John Carpenter’s “The Thing” for example – but end up being classics. When you read something, a lot depends on your mood as well as on the book and the writing. A book you hated last year might be your favorite now.
How do you pitch a story?
A one-page pitch tells us what the story is about, the twist, the tone, the beginning, middle and end.
Pitching for something that already exists is different. For example, a “Law and Order” TV story always begins with a crime, middles with an investigation, and ends with prosecution. The tone, characters, twist etc. matter more.
Comic book series have a pattern. Know the pattern and pitch character notes, tone, etc. Then the company will find an artist for you.
What about self-publishing?
If you’re self-publishing graphic novels, start small – 6-8 pages, maybe just a cold opening. If you’re not doing your own art, maybe find someone on Instagram.
Then go to conventions, book stores, etc. Hand out your book. Go to the talks – research which ones are interesting to you. Go to the panels. Meet people. Joshua went to an editors panel and was the only attendee. He got to talk with an editor from DC comics, meet an author, and gain lots of useful information… and ended up working for DC Comics!
Advice for Us?
- Read books
- Read books about writing, or about comics –
- Understanding Comics https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Comics-Invisible-Scott-McCloud/dp/006097625X is highly recommended
- also Words for Pictures https://www.amazon.com/Words-Pictures-Business-Writing-Graphic/dp/0770434355/
- Go to Rose City Comiccon https://rosecitycomiccon.com/ and other conventions
- Go to bookstores.
- Books with Pictures https://bookswithpictures.com/ has events. And Steve Lieber is a great resource there: https://bookswithpictures.com/events/
- Write what you’re obsessed with
- Write something you want to read but can’t find anywhere.
- Remember it’s a long process
Our thanks to our librarian Mark for setting this up, and to Joshua for a really excellent session!