En date du 24 février 2000...

• Atelier de scénarisation en BD
  Voici une activité qui pourrait en intéresser plusieurs: Un atelier de scénarisation de Bandes dessinées:

  Le Quebec's Writer Federation (la contrepartie anglophone de l'UNEQ) organise un atelier de formation sur la scénarisation en BD. C'est bien de faire des beaux dessins, mais encore faut-il savoir raconter une histoire pour que le lecteur vous suive jusqu'au bout! Pour vous convaincre, voir le texte de Mark Shainblum à la fin de ce message (en anglais). L'atelier est donné en langue anglaise par le créateur de Angloman (dessiné par Gabriel Morrissette), scénariste et écrivain à ses heures.

  An Introduction to Scriptwriting for the Comics
  A QWF Writing Workshop
  Atwater Library, 1200 Atwater Street
  Mondays, 8:00 - 10:00 PM
  From March 6 to April 24 2000
  Price : $170 ($150 for members of QWF)
  Instructor: Mark Shainblum
  For information and registration, call Diana at 933-0878, or qspell@total.net

  Comics....

  The very word conjures up images of images. Pictures. Drawings. The obsessed artist hunched over his drawing table surrounded by pencils, brushes and bottles of India ink. For better or for worse, comics are seen primarily as a visual artform.

  It often comes as a shock to people that comic books, comic strips and graphic novels are actually written. Writers in the field are continually confronted by reactions of blank surprise when they tell people what they do for a living, usually followed by the stock question, "What comes first, the words or the pictures?"

  As if anyone would ask, "What comes first, the movie or the screenplay?"

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  Writing for the comics medium has its own special demands, its unique strengths, its peculiarities and weaknesses - but it is built on the same rock-solid foundation as every other branch of fiction writing:

  The words come first.

  More precisely, the story comes first. And that's what this workshop is all about.

  Writing for the comics medium is unique. There are unique script formats like the plot script, the full script and the nine-panel grid script. The comic book writer has unique responsibilities, in particular working with the artist to create the illusion of movement on a static page. Many comic strips and comic books are published on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, and writing for serial publication also puts unique demands on a writer.

  But the basic demands of storytelling remain unchanged. Plot, structure and characterization; subtext, style and voice. These are as central to writing comics as they are to writing novels or plays. There is no free lunch, no escape, no "get out of jail free" card. As a writer, the first time you allow yourself to believe "It doesn't matter, it's just comics," you've already lost the battle.

  Don't let that discourage you. Writing for the comics is fun and fulfilling. It's a wonderfully free and open medium where you can tell superhero sagas as large as the galaxy, or explore the inner workings of the human psyche down at the corner dépanneur. It's words and pictures working together to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

  It's the illusion of movement, a journey you take without moving your feet.

  Enjoy the ride!

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  WORKSHOP STRUCTURE

  As the name implies, this is not a formal class, but a workshop organized in a roundtable fashion. There will be both collective class work and homework "assignments." Participants will be expected to bring material to the workshop for distribution to all participants. Our goal will be for everyone to produce a script or script excerpt by the end of the workshop.

  It's likely that participants will be of diverse ages, from diverse backgrounds and with varying levels of writing experience. Some participants may be comic book illustrators who wish to learn how to write their own stories, others may be journalists or writers from other fields who wish to try out a new medium. Everybody is welcome. To get the most out of the workshop, though, there are a few basic things to consider:

  1. All participants should have basic word-processing skills and access to a computer or typewriter. Non-typists can still join, but it will be harder for them to participate.

  2. Have you read any comics or graphic novels lately? If not, we suggest a trip to a local specialty store like Nebula Bookshop, Cosmix, Capitaine Québec or an online comicshop like http://www.nextplanetover.com. Ask friends for suggestions and look for reviews on comics-related websites. You cannot write what you don't know.

  3. Read everything. Read short fiction, novels, screenplays and non-fiction. Read poetry. Read the back of the Corn Flakes box. You cannot write at all if you don't read at all.

  4. Be prepared to work in a group setting. All participants will be workshopping their material with the whole group. This can be a little intimidating at first, but it's an extremely good way to learn and grow as a writer.

  5. Comics are a medium, not a genre. Participants may be interested in everything from superheroes to autobiography to funny animals to high literary post-modern fiction. Open-mindedness is a virtue.

  Source: Steve Requin

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