How should I start?

i have a good idea and plot in mind and I thought about starting it from the end of school. Now its going to be a comic and the chapters can be as long as one yes one page. Some a lil bit longer. Anya is very rambunctious and wild even though she is 10 so how should I start? Her doing something mischievious?

Should work. You've got a lot of options, though: as long as nobody is left with a painful mark, and nobody physically or emotionally vulnerable is harmed, it'll probably come off well enough. Or, if she does accidentally do one of those two, she should clearly feel bad for her mistake and try to make amends.

Also, listen to this guy. (Though I might debate his comment on rambunctious — I've always had an undue and irrational love for that word, myself. It's as fun to say as to be.)

edited 4th Feb '12 2:58:26 PM by KillerClowns

Before we start talking about the opening - since this is a writing forum, I feel sadly obligated to hand out the following dose of grammar Nazism:

"i have a good idea" -> "I have a good idea"; I as a pronoun should always be capitalized
"now its going to be" -> "Now it's going to be"; its = "belonging to it", it's = "it is"
"as one yes one" -> "as one- yes, one!-"; Otherwise it is difficult to parse.

IMO The writing will be better off not using words like "rambunctious", it just comes across as over the top. You want people to enjoy your writing, not to feel like you're giving them a vocabulary quiz!

On the subject of the opening: that's one of the more difficult parts of writing. A lot of times writers go back to the opening after they're done with everything else, when they already have a "feel" for what the story is about and what needs to be foreshadowed, and rewrite the opening (even from scratch). But you're writing a comic, so you don't have that luxury.

I'm not an expert on comics, so the best advice I can give you is that you decide what kind of change Anya will be going through during the comic. One you've figured that out, you can emphasize and allude to how she currently is, to create a contrast for what she'll eventually become. Give her some feelings and put her in some situations that readers will be able to identify with. You want to get the "why should I care for this Anya person?" issue off the table as soon as possible.

Starting with her doing something mischievous is an option, yes. Your opening shouldn't amount to that. Be sure to give us a flavor of Anya as her own person, rather than a generic "hey look a rebel" introduction. Throw in something you've never read anywhere else. Make her stand out from the thousands of generic characters like her. Pretend she's a real person, and you're letting your readers get to know her.

Again, this isn't set in stone, and if you're good about it you can totally ignore everything I said and still make something worthwhile. Have fun writing and if you make some progress, feel free to let us know (and even have a look, if you're so inclined).

edited 4th Feb '12 2:44:01 PM by TripleElation

Same here. I also had trouble starting my story.

I'm having trouble setting up my characters and game rules in a story about quizzes. And work is a bitch.

My MC is Good with Numbers but sucks at everything else. That is, until he receives a vision of his deceased father granting him the "Virtue of Wisdom", which gives the wielder a Magical Database of "memories of its past wielders including the current one." The last part means the wielder also obtains Photographic Memory. Said vision turns out to be true, so he used this new ability to ace all his subjects in high school (middle school, for non-Filipino tropers), including those he sucked at before, except PE.

Also, I'm worried about giving some of my characters, including an entire opposing team, abilities that could turn out as blatant Game Breakers. Yeah, Magical Database, Photographic Memory, Time Master (Team Captain and his rival, but not the MC, has it), Shock and Awe*

I'm considering a webcomic, but what I have in mind right now is the idea of character faces with text boxes beside them containing their lines. This would be my MO until I can find a software that allows me to easily draw full-body anime characters.

edited 7th Feb '12 9:19:33 AM by judasmartel

Write a bit you'll enjoy writing, even if it's in the middle. Even if you don't use it. It will spark ideas

As it's a comic book (I assume 'graphic' rather than 'funny') write the words first. Once you are happy with the script then add the pics. It's a pain to find you need a extra couple of lines and you need to alter the art work. For example in my MS I thought I had finished the penultimate chapter, but had a niggle in the back of my mind there was something missing. It needed two lines right in the middle - I didn't realise until about two weeks later. If it was a comic it would have meant moving a load of panels.

Additionally when you write a section you may find it reveals something missing from an earlier episode.

edited 7th Feb '12 10:37:40 AM by LastHussar

An interesting backstory I had in mind is that of the Five-Man Band's resident Genius Bruiser. He used to be The Ace as a kid, but he was framed by jealous classmates of a crime he did not commit, earning him the "delinquent" label from his teachers.

He lost interest in his studies because he will never get good grades again no matter what he does simply because the teachers hate him. On the flipside, he used his "tough guy" label to defend the helpless from bullies, under the moniker "Weekend Warrior".

One day, however, he got beaten by the street thugs when a teacher drove the thugs off him. Said teacher took him as his special student and guided him on the path of Genius Bruiser, which he came into terms with since he finds it as the only way to get back at those bastards who framed him back in grade school.