Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone knew where it could be possible to get my hand on some graphic novels script (anything from Alan Moore), or if anyone know how the format of a graphic novel should look like? I heard its suppose to be very similar to a movie script...but I guess there must be some important difference nonetheless.

Thanks

Obviously I don't know which part of the world you hail from, but graphic novels are readily available to buy online, if not in shops locally - try Amazon or similar.

As to how to write them - again, there is plenty of advice online. Very basically, when you write comic books/graphic novels, you are setting out panels per page, so it is unlike a screenplay in many ways.

My PDF Scripts website has a section devoted to comic book scripts that may be what you are looking for. Follow this link:

http://www.mypdfscripts.com/category/comicbooks

PAGE ONE

Panel 1
Establishing shot of a dark sedan racing down a city street with two police cars in hot pursuit.    Lights are flashing.  Sirens are wailing.
    sfx:  WOOOOOOOOOOO

Panel 2
Two armed men sit in the front seat of the sedan.  The passenger has an uzi in his hand.  The driver looks nervous.
    Driver:  Man, what the hell we gonna do?  What're we gonna do?
    Passenger:  You just drive--

Panel 3
Passenger leans out the window, firing the uzi at the police.  He smiles a sinister smile.
    Passenger:  I'll take care of the cops!
    sfx:  ratatatatatatatata


--next page--

Start each new page of comic book page with a fresh page of script.

Whispers are done in broken balloons (bkn).
Thoughts are done in thought balloons (tht).
Screaming is done in jagged balloons (jag).

Generally, each page starts with a wide-angled shot.  The last page is generally a close up.

Unless you're Alan Moore, leave some room in your description for artist interpretation.



Phil

Hahaha sorry Niles...stupid mistake I meant graphic novels scripts (anything from Alan Moore). Anyway thanks for the link, I appreciate.... but I heard that comic books, and graphic novels weren't using the same script format. Am I wrong?

I can't imagine why not.  Different comic book companies have their own formatting rules, but there's no reason to have different rules between comic books and graphic novels.


Phil

As "graphic novel" is just a fancy way of saying comic book, thought up by people who were embarrassed to admit they read comics, there is unlikely to be much in the way of variation in basic script form.

The big difference is that a story in a comic book is going to be episodic - with cliffhangers and the like, spread over multiple issues, whereas one written for publication in book form is going to need a different structure (more like a feature film).

So anyone know the format for Darkhorse. I'm looking to submit there.

http://www.darkhorse.com/Company/Submissions

They include a link to a pdf showing the format they accept as part of the writers guidelines section.

I still didn't find any scripts from Moore, but got some other scripts, which could come to some help...

First of all Dark Horse are kind enough to have a "making of a comic" section, which includes everything from the script to the final "product". Here's the link, and they got quite a large selection of various comic book. http://www.darkhorse.com/Features/Making-of-a-Comic

The only problem is that they only show the first five pages, and it of some well established comics... so it's can be messy to understand the logic of the script.

The second script I found is from the comic book Julius, published by Onipress and written by Anthony Johnston. The script covers the first 35 pages of the graphic novel, so it give a better insight of building the story and different climax. Furthermore, there is a some tips given on the website as well. http://www.antonyjohnston.com/resources/forwriters.php

If anyone else have some practical links or even books on the subject, be kind enough to share.  

There's a bunch of excerpts from Alan Moore's comic book scripts right here even one from Watchmen.

Wow, cool thanks! I appreciate.

You can grab tons of free Comic book scripts from here, also graphic novels...

http://www.comicbookscriptarchive.com/archive/the-scripts/

Also Google, Andy Diggle he has a site up with some of his work.

The comic book scripts are wrote in various ways, it is the same for graphic novels, some are are wrote very similiar to screenplays, but again this depends on what the standard is for the company. Dark Horse, last time I checked had a script style that was very close to screenplay format. I write comic book scripts/graphic novels but I have adapted my own style - I use the the template that I got from Andy Diggle.

Anyways hope the link helps.

Might not be of any help at all (to anyone ) but Celtx scriptwriting programme (free download is available quite commonly) has a Graphic Novel option as well as the usual Film, Stage etc stuff.  

Quoted from One Northern Soul Might not be of any help at all (to anyone ) but Celtx scriptwriting programme (free download is available quite commonly) has a Graphic Novel option as well as the usual Film, Stage etc stuff.

And Final Draft has a tutorial as well. I think it also has a few graphic novel scripts too?