"Read comics. All comics. And then cut them open to steal their power."
-
Warren Ellis (via comicquotations)
This is a statement that affected my writing style. Once upon a time, I had no “style” except to tell the story. Chapters would vary in length, the prose would be stilted, etc. Then one day I sat down to write a book using the comic method: 12 chapters to represent 12 issues of a comic storyline, each chapter being a certain number of pages and no more. The plot centered itself, every chapter had drive to it, and I felt like I was filling in an outline instead of trying to figure out what shape I was going for. Now, even though I don’t use 12 chapters specifically, I still maintain a strict chapter page limit when I write to keep my aim focused. Think of your chapters as comic book issues, and you only have so many pages to tell your story and bring the reader back. It works. And it’s fantastic for streamlining the fat from the tale.
