How to stumble into becoming an editor in three rambling steps
Something a bit more focused this week.
###
Firstly, hello to all the new subscribers who are here after Ryan K Lindsay gave me a shout-out on his very own newsletter (go sign up if you haven't already). I'm humbled and delighted you're all here. I'm still figuring this thing out, so bear with me. As the sign-up page says, though, it's mostly links.
Secondly, that all said, there are *no* links this week. I know. Sorry.
BUT, there are a lot of links in the advice below.
###
Last week I spoke a little about editing for comics (on a freelance basis) and the fact the internet isn't exactly awash with advice for those wishing to go into it as a field.
So, with that in mind, I wanted to talk a little about how one might go about doing that. It is, as these things usually are, drawn from my own direct experience. Editing is something I kind of fell into. It's not something I set out to do, so your mileage may vary a lot here.
###
Firstly, be voracious in your input. Read, watch and listen to everything. Grab a pen and paper and pick it all apart. Some examples.
- List out pages from a comic in a notebook and write down what happens on each page, how scenes connect, character arcs. You'll get a sense of structure, what works and what doesn't.
- Look at panel flow and count on pages. Draw out diagrams, reverse engineer it all and think about why it works.
- Grab comic book scripts (plenty of resources out there for this) and do the same. Read them through, think about panel counts, pacing, etc.
- Read books about storytelling. Think of them as buffets, not strict guidelines. Take the lessons you want from them, discard the rest. Eventually, you'll come up with your own philosophy of what you think a story should be, structure, etc.
- Watch movies and jot down what happens in each scene, as well as *where* it happens in a movie. Again, this is all about pacing and also understanding the aim of each scene. If a scene doesn't have a clear purpose, it'll soon become apparent. This is important in editing. You have to be ready to kill someone else's darlings.
- Listen to audiobooks and podcasts for turns of phrase you can use. Non-fiction podcasts are good for this. You get a sense for how real people speak and the idiosyncrasies of speech.
- Read lots of plays. Dialogue is paramount in plays. It is the glue that binds.
- Read screenplays. Whilst they are a different beast to comic scripts I find *really* good scripts are fantastic at conveying the essentials about a character in a few sentences. Translate this across to character introductions in comics. A good example of this is Quiz Show. Go to the first page of that script and look at the description of DICK GOODWIN when he first appears.
Don't stop doing this, even when you gain traction (see Fraction for an example).
A lot of this advice, you'll notice, is awfully similar to something you'd say to an aspiring writer. The basic building blocks for becoming proficient in editing and understanding story are, of course, the same. You have to really get to grips with structure, dialogue, and pacing until it becomes almost second nature. Immerse yourself in it.
Secondly, if you can, gather around you a set of friends who you can to for guidance with your own work. Ryan wrote about this here. I was fortunate enough to have met Ryan, Ben, Grant, Shaun and others during my time as a tenured writer at Thought Balloons. But you could probably come across a similar group just by chatting on Twitter or joining a mutual group on Facebook. You'll know when you find them as you begin to talk to them outside the usual avenues of social media. You'll come to trust them with your stories, ideas, and pitches. In a sense, they become your first readers.
This is how I got started. I'd offer to look at the scripts of those friends in my group. It took away from time I could be spending on my own things, but I saw it as educational. Looking at someone else's work, analyzing it and suggesting solutions and ways to how it could be made stronger is only going to help your own work too. So, there were elements of selflessness (giving up free time) and selfishness (I can use it to increase my own creative vocabulary) to it. It's all learning. It's all leveling up.
As mentioned above, the more scripts you look at, the more you'll learn. The more you learn the better feedback and notes you'll begin to give. The better feedback and notes you give, the more those friends will come to you again and the more likely they are to recommend you to others. It's all momentum.
It's hard to offer up advice in some regards because I got into this without any ulterior motives. Editing wasn't the end goal. I looked at scripts from *anyone* who wanted feedback on something, offering it up left, right and center. I did it because I was genuinely interested in the way story worked, how it fit together and the way things could be made better through the creative/editing process. All I was after was a better understanding of that process.
I guess what I'm also trying to say here is that you need to be prepared to look at a *lot* of scripts for no monetary reward for quite a bit when starting out.
After a while, point out to your friends that you want to edit more, ask them to hook you up with anyone else looking for pointers on their script. Offer to look at someone else's script if they post about struggling with it on social media, Facebook, etc.
Thirdly, if you get stuck on something in terms of editing, or you have a specific question you can't find the answer to, ask your peers. They will, more than likely, share their time and knowledge with you. When I began to take the editing side of comics a bit more seriously I had a bunch of questions I could find no answers for through the usual Google-fu. So I emailed two high-profile freelance editors with my questions. They both responded and gave beautifully worded answers to all I needed to know. If you don't ask, you don't get. The worse someone can do is not respond (quick note: a follow-up email or two is okay, but don't ever spam someone with endless 'Why don't you answer?' emails. No answer after 2-3 emails? Move on.)
###
The above is a bit of a blurry mess. Next week I might try and get into some of the process side of things.
Until then...
###
Firstly, hello to all the new subscribers who are here after Ryan K Lindsay gave me a shout-out on his very own newsletter (go sign up if you haven't already). I'm humbled and delighted you're all here. I'm still figuring this thing out, so bear with me. As the sign-up page says, though, it's mostly links.
Secondly, that all said, there are *no* links this week. I know. Sorry.
BUT, there are a lot of links in the advice below.
###
Last week I spoke a little about editing for comics (on a freelance basis) and the fact the internet isn't exactly awash with advice for those wishing to go into it as a field.
So, with that in mind, I wanted to talk a little about how one might go about doing that. It is, as these things usually are, drawn from my own direct experience. Editing is something I kind of fell into. It's not something I set out to do, so your mileage may vary a lot here.
###
Firstly, be voracious in your input. Read, watch and listen to everything. Grab a pen and paper and pick it all apart. Some examples.
- List out pages from a comic in a notebook and write down what happens on each page, how scenes connect, character arcs. You'll get a sense of structure, what works and what doesn't.
- Look at panel flow and count on pages. Draw out diagrams, reverse engineer it all and think about why it works.
- Grab comic book scripts (plenty of resources out there for this) and do the same. Read them through, think about panel counts, pacing, etc.
- Read books about storytelling. Think of them as buffets, not strict guidelines. Take the lessons you want from them, discard the rest. Eventually, you'll come up with your own philosophy of what you think a story should be, structure, etc.
- Watch movies and jot down what happens in each scene, as well as *where* it happens in a movie. Again, this is all about pacing and also understanding the aim of each scene. If a scene doesn't have a clear purpose, it'll soon become apparent. This is important in editing. You have to be ready to kill someone else's darlings.
- Listen to audiobooks and podcasts for turns of phrase you can use. Non-fiction podcasts are good for this. You get a sense for how real people speak and the idiosyncrasies of speech.
- Read lots of plays. Dialogue is paramount in plays. It is the glue that binds.
- Read screenplays. Whilst they are a different beast to comic scripts I find *really* good scripts are fantastic at conveying the essentials about a character in a few sentences. Translate this across to character introductions in comics. A good example of this is Quiz Show. Go to the first page of that script and look at the description of DICK GOODWIN when he first appears.
Don't stop doing this, even when you gain traction (see Fraction for an example).
A lot of this advice, you'll notice, is awfully similar to something you'd say to an aspiring writer. The basic building blocks for becoming proficient in editing and understanding story are, of course, the same. You have to really get to grips with structure, dialogue, and pacing until it becomes almost second nature. Immerse yourself in it.
Secondly, if you can, gather around you a set of friends who you can to for guidance with your own work. Ryan wrote about this here. I was fortunate enough to have met Ryan, Ben, Grant, Shaun and others during my time as a tenured writer at Thought Balloons. But you could probably come across a similar group just by chatting on Twitter or joining a mutual group on Facebook. You'll know when you find them as you begin to talk to them outside the usual avenues of social media. You'll come to trust them with your stories, ideas, and pitches. In a sense, they become your first readers.
This is how I got started. I'd offer to look at the scripts of those friends in my group. It took away from time I could be spending on my own things, but I saw it as educational. Looking at someone else's work, analyzing it and suggesting solutions and ways to how it could be made stronger is only going to help your own work too. So, there were elements of selflessness (giving up free time) and selfishness (I can use it to increase my own creative vocabulary) to it. It's all learning. It's all leveling up.
As mentioned above, the more scripts you look at, the more you'll learn. The more you learn the better feedback and notes you'll begin to give. The better feedback and notes you give, the more those friends will come to you again and the more likely they are to recommend you to others. It's all momentum.
It's hard to offer up advice in some regards because I got into this without any ulterior motives. Editing wasn't the end goal. I looked at scripts from *anyone* who wanted feedback on something, offering it up left, right and center. I did it because I was genuinely interested in the way story worked, how it fit together and the way things could be made better through the creative/editing process. All I was after was a better understanding of that process.
I guess what I'm also trying to say here is that you need to be prepared to look at a *lot* of scripts for no monetary reward for quite a bit when starting out.
After a while, point out to your friends that you want to edit more, ask them to hook you up with anyone else looking for pointers on their script. Offer to look at someone else's script if they post about struggling with it on social media, Facebook, etc.
Thirdly, if you get stuck on something in terms of editing, or you have a specific question you can't find the answer to, ask your peers. They will, more than likely, share their time and knowledge with you. When I began to take the editing side of comics a bit more seriously I had a bunch of questions I could find no answers for through the usual Google-fu. So I emailed two high-profile freelance editors with my questions. They both responded and gave beautifully worded answers to all I needed to know. If you don't ask, you don't get. The worse someone can do is not respond (quick note: a follow-up email or two is okay, but don't ever spam someone with endless 'Why don't you answer?' emails. No answer after 2-3 emails? Move on.)
###
The above is a bit of a blurry mess. Next week I might try and get into some of the process side of things.
Until then...
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