T Campbell's Blog
Writer of Penny and Aggie, Fans (also called Faans), Rip & Teri, Search Engine Funnies and A History of Webcomics. Experienced webcomics editor, currently seeking full-time work and working on strange and interesting new things...Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Klurkor 11.
I've been trying to work this up into an essay, but I think it may work better as a meme right now. So let's go for brevity.
What follows is "Klurkor 11," a set of rules designed for better comics storytelling. These rules are especially important for action scenes in action and related genres-- fantasy, science fiction, superhero-- hence the name. (If you know where the name comes from, fifty geek points.) But they bear repeating even outside that playing field. They are a recipe for making worlds real.
1. In an "action panel," the time taken by dialogue does not exceed the time taken by an action. If two characters are embracing, paragraphs of dialogue are permissible, but if one is throwing a punch, only a few harsh words will fit. (This rule is likely to be the most controversial. Brian Michael Bendis is trampling it with his rendition of Spider-Man in THE NEW AVENGERS. There is a place for this kind of "StanChat," as there is a place for breaking the fourth wall and parody. But that place is not front and center. If you would make your world real, StanChat has to go.)
2. Dialogue must be motivated. Expository and otherwise. Dialogue must always emerge from character and situation. Characters in a crowd may call each other by name to clarify to each other whom they are addressing. If two characters are alone, though, they cannot call each other by name simply to clarify it to us. There are many other reasons to use a person's name-- and to mention other things about them or about yourself-- but there must always be a reason. The middle of a battle for your life is not an appropriate time to explain your Catholicism or discuss your homosexuality.
3. The absence of dialogue must be motivated. This includes "obfuscatory dialogue." If you're on the ground and your starship captain is back on the ship and he asks, via audio communicator, to know what the problem is, you may be too shocked to reply. But you cannot simply tell him "trouble! Big trouble!" for the sake of pith.
4. Smart people don't telegraph their moves. Master martial artists, in particular, do not waste breath by shouting the name of their attack before they make it. If a near-unstoppable monster ignores you for a second, don't grab his attention with words unless you're all out of bullets and you're trying to give someone else time to run. Also, see rule 2-- your opponents do not deserve an explanation of how you are beating them.
5. There is no "invisible mattress." Characters cannot survive the unsurvivable simply because the writer wants them to remain alive.
6. Power levels do not change arbitrarily. A hero who has been consistently outmatched by the forces of evil will not start winning just because there aren't many pages left and it's time to wrap things up. Also, getting mad can provide a brief adrenaline rush, but when the combat depends upon weapons or skill and not raw strength, emotions often cloud performance.
7. Smart people strategize. If you're writing experienced fighters at the top of their game, then you're going to have to give some thought to tactics and overall strategy. They certainly would. Read books. For real experts, consider writing a football-style playbook.
8. There is no "white room effect." Scenes take place in places. If Spider-Man is inside a living room he cannot leap around as if he were outdoors. If Superman is downtown in a populated area, he can't simply throw cars around and trust the writers that no innocent bystanders will get hurt.
9. The rare happens rarely. If you establish that an event is an unusual occurrence, the course of events must bear this out.
10. Nobody's perfect. Not even Batman. Even the master planners will occasionally miss the detail that no one could reasonably expect to be important. Emphasize "reasonably," though, and remember rule 7.
11. Reality is self-consistent. This is the rule from which the other rules flow. Like any medium, comics' greatest power is not to reflect reality, but to create reality. Yet an artificial reality soon collapses if the writer ignores or forgets aspects of it for the sake of narrative convenience. The reader will only believe in your world if it is real. And it will only be real if you believe in it. Believe.
Special thanks to Dave Belmore for rules 9 and 10, and for giving the initial draft greater focus. Nicolas Juzda inspired some revisions to rules 2 and 3.
Your comments?
What follows is "Klurkor 11," a set of rules designed for better comics storytelling. These rules are especially important for action scenes in action and related genres-- fantasy, science fiction, superhero-- hence the name. (If you know where the name comes from, fifty geek points.) But they bear repeating even outside that playing field. They are a recipe for making worlds real.
1. In an "action panel," the time taken by dialogue does not exceed the time taken by an action. If two characters are embracing, paragraphs of dialogue are permissible, but if one is throwing a punch, only a few harsh words will fit. (This rule is likely to be the most controversial. Brian Michael Bendis is trampling it with his rendition of Spider-Man in THE NEW AVENGERS. There is a place for this kind of "StanChat," as there is a place for breaking the fourth wall and parody. But that place is not front and center. If you would make your world real, StanChat has to go.)
2. Dialogue must be motivated. Expository and otherwise. Dialogue must always emerge from character and situation. Characters in a crowd may call each other by name to clarify to each other whom they are addressing. If two characters are alone, though, they cannot call each other by name simply to clarify it to us. There are many other reasons to use a person's name-- and to mention other things about them or about yourself-- but there must always be a reason. The middle of a battle for your life is not an appropriate time to explain your Catholicism or discuss your homosexuality.
3. The absence of dialogue must be motivated. This includes "obfuscatory dialogue." If you're on the ground and your starship captain is back on the ship and he asks, via audio communicator, to know what the problem is, you may be too shocked to reply. But you cannot simply tell him "trouble! Big trouble!" for the sake of pith.
4. Smart people don't telegraph their moves. Master martial artists, in particular, do not waste breath by shouting the name of their attack before they make it. If a near-unstoppable monster ignores you for a second, don't grab his attention with words unless you're all out of bullets and you're trying to give someone else time to run. Also, see rule 2-- your opponents do not deserve an explanation of how you are beating them.
5. There is no "invisible mattress." Characters cannot survive the unsurvivable simply because the writer wants them to remain alive.
6. Power levels do not change arbitrarily. A hero who has been consistently outmatched by the forces of evil will not start winning just because there aren't many pages left and it's time to wrap things up. Also, getting mad can provide a brief adrenaline rush, but when the combat depends upon weapons or skill and not raw strength, emotions often cloud performance.
7. Smart people strategize. If you're writing experienced fighters at the top of their game, then you're going to have to give some thought to tactics and overall strategy. They certainly would. Read books. For real experts, consider writing a football-style playbook.
8. There is no "white room effect." Scenes take place in places. If Spider-Man is inside a living room he cannot leap around as if he were outdoors. If Superman is downtown in a populated area, he can't simply throw cars around and trust the writers that no innocent bystanders will get hurt.
9. The rare happens rarely. If you establish that an event is an unusual occurrence, the course of events must bear this out.
10. Nobody's perfect. Not even Batman. Even the master planners will occasionally miss the detail that no one could reasonably expect to be important. Emphasize "reasonably," though, and remember rule 7.
11. Reality is self-consistent. This is the rule from which the other rules flow. Like any medium, comics' greatest power is not to reflect reality, but to create reality. Yet an artificial reality soon collapses if the writer ignores or forgets aspects of it for the sake of narrative convenience. The reader will only believe in your world if it is real. And it will only be real if you believe in it. Believe.
Special thanks to Dave Belmore for rules 9 and 10, and for giving the initial draft greater focus. Nicolas Juzda inspired some revisions to rules 2 and 3.
Your comments?
Comments:
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I think it'd ironic if Spiderman just ended up being a really fast talker, and that only the people who know him can understand half of what he's saying.
I think the first thing comic artists need to learn is how to clearly depict action. No matter how realistic or clever the action is, if I can't tell what's going on visually, I won't like the sequence.
And most webcomic artists have a very hard time making it clear what's going on. Once they learn to do that, then your list becomes useful. :)
And most webcomic artists have a very hard time making it clear what's going on. Once they learn to do that, then your list becomes useful. :)
Yeah, all these points and more are in mind when I'm working on my comic, and reading others. I recently got a nice comment about lack of StanChat in my action sequences, that made me really happy.
yep - i'd agree with all of that.
point 1 (dialogue during fights) - couldn't agree more. real fist fights fights only ever have grunts and a bit of name calling. sword fights might be a bit different as there is plenty of oppurtunity to stand back and wave the sword and insults about.
as regards point 2 (use of names, etc)... i notice (in the real world) some people frequently use the name of the person they are talking to, even if they are the only two people talking. some people never do, so i guess there's some room for either. but i'd agree that forcing the name into the conversation for the sake of it does make it sound odd.
point 10 - WHAT? batman's not perfect????
point 1 (dialogue during fights) - couldn't agree more. real fist fights fights only ever have grunts and a bit of name calling. sword fights might be a bit different as there is plenty of oppurtunity to stand back and wave the sword and insults about.
as regards point 2 (use of names, etc)... i notice (in the real world) some people frequently use the name of the person they are talking to, even if they are the only two people talking. some people never do, so i guess there's some room for either. but i'd agree that forcing the name into the conversation for the sake of it does make it sound odd.
point 10 - WHAT? batman's not perfect????
I think an import rule that should be added to these (which are generally good guidelines) is:
"Addendum 12: in order to get away with breaking any of these rules, all you have to do is get away with it... but you have to get away with it."
Any of these rules can be broken while maintaining a good story (and I'd argue that there are situations where deliberately breaking them can in fact make a story better) but ONLY if the story has been set up in such a way that the audience is willing to buy in to it. That's the "Getting away with it part."
I'd add a corollary to that:
"Justifying breaking these rules by referring to Addendum 12 is invalid, because if you have to justify it you obviously didn't get away with it."
Also, there are storytelling genres that depend on a lack of realism to work. Traditional folk tales and fairy tales start with "once upon a time" and involve specific conventions that fans of the genre recognize, and tend to object to if they're taken out.
In some genres, action is depicted through exposition far more than in others. I would hesitate to apply K-11 guidelines across the board...
"Addendum 12: in order to get away with breaking any of these rules, all you have to do is get away with it... but you have to get away with it."
Any of these rules can be broken while maintaining a good story (and I'd argue that there are situations where deliberately breaking them can in fact make a story better) but ONLY if the story has been set up in such a way that the audience is willing to buy in to it. That's the "Getting away with it part."
I'd add a corollary to that:
"Justifying breaking these rules by referring to Addendum 12 is invalid, because if you have to justify it you obviously didn't get away with it."
Also, there are storytelling genres that depend on a lack of realism to work. Traditional folk tales and fairy tales start with "once upon a time" and involve specific conventions that fans of the genre recognize, and tend to object to if they're taken out.
In some genres, action is depicted through exposition far more than in others. I would hesitate to apply K-11 guidelines across the board...
2. Expository dialogue must be motivated.
I found this one particularly pertinent. I've fallen in the trap of unecessary expository dialogue before, and this certainly strikes home that a lot of people do this and to take better care at avoiding it.
Thanks for the list! It certainly brings up some excellent points that may SEEM like common sense, but are so often overlooked. :)
-Rivkah
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I found this one particularly pertinent. I've fallen in the trap of unecessary expository dialogue before, and this certainly strikes home that a lot of people do this and to take better care at avoiding it.
Thanks for the list! It certainly brings up some excellent points that may SEEM like common sense, but are so often overlooked. :)
-Rivkah
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