I've recently fallen in love with manga books. I love the drawings and just the whole idea of it. I really wanna write a manga story but I don't know how. Any ideas yall?
I've seen a script for a comic book before so it should be the same for manga. Generally, the script describes how many panels the page will have. Then the dialogue for each panel is laid out along with the type of action that should be shown.
Though technically, unless you live in Japan, you cannot make a manga, as they are just Japanese comic books. But what you need to do is go to publishing houses for comic books with your story. If someone there really like it, someone might draw it for you. How Alan Moore did it.
Are you planning to draw it or just write it? I am currently working on a manga-inspired graphic novel (just as a hobby, not planning to get it published) and have been researching over the last few years. What I love about manga is the panels are very much part of the story telling. Thought goes behind the way the are layed out and a typical page will have the panels and speech bubbles placed in a way that the eye follows them in an 'S' shape (although I assume for a western version, it will be a back-to-front 'S'). The size of the panels are also important, the smaller the panel, the quicker the action. Check out the manga 'Fruits Basket' for an expert example of good panel placement. However different genres appear to have slightly different styles regarding this. If you plan to just write the graphic novel and get someone else to draw it, it is written as a script. Then, you could find a freelancer to draw it for you which is one path to take. You could find them on freelancing sites like odesk.com and elance.com, in the Jobs forum section of deviantART.com or there are specific comic creation forums to help connect writers with illustrators. Do your research if you take this route so you know the best way to find a long-term illustrator and the high costs involved. If you draw it yourself (as I am), I personally learnt a lot by researching cinematography in order to understand establishing shots and the best way to place elements in each panel. Reading books on comic creation should also give tips on this. I hope that helps!
I think this is what I will do. I can draw but drawing good enough characters for the story would be hard. Thanks for the advice
Like spklvr said, unless you live in Japan and your work is published there, it's won't be considered manga (the same way the show Avatar: The Last Airbender is not an anime), it will be a graphic novel or comic book. If you have an idea what you want your characters to look like, you might want to sketch out some ref sheets for them, even if you aren't going to illustrate it yourself. You could even maybe team up with someone you know who draws well and wants to help you with your comic.
A classmate wanted to submit a manga story as part of her university submission for a module, and the tutor said to set it out like a picture book. So basically, write the text but make sure you have an idea of the drawings because obviously they have to be connected. But I don't know much about manga, maybe an internet search on this will help you.
