Coiled Comics

Chapter 2, Page 10

The Writing Process

By Peter

A little while ago, I finished writing Chapter 5, which is a short scene between two characters you won’t meet until Chapter 3. I thought you might be interested in my writing process.

I originally starting writing Coiled as a young adult novel. I was working a contract in downtown Seattle, and I would take the bus to work and scribble on a notepad while everyone around me stared out into space and listened to their iPods. I got about three quarters through and realized that the story was just not coming alive. I put it aside for almost a year, when I got the idea to turn it into a graphic novel.

Converting the story into a script is an interesting process. I still do my first draft with pen and paper, writing in a scribble so messy that only I can decipher it. Then I type it up into the computer, editing it as I go. I read though it and edit it again, trying to find ways to say things that are even shorter to bring the number of words down as far as possible.

I find that with a graphic novel I can jump around a lot more than with a regular novel. I add flashbacks, and move around points of view, and do other tricks that would seem disjointed in prose.