How to Write a Comics Dialogue?

Writing dialogue for the comic is not easy. Giving characters their own unique voice is a great task. The dialogue must sound realistic and match the character you’re writing for.

Hence it is important to work on the character profile before you start writing the dialogue. This will help you to know how to write comic dialogue for the character.

a.What is a Dialogue?

1. • Dialogue is the conversation between two or more people. It is one of the major techniques to build a story and show character traits and character emotions.
   • Dialogues are written depending on the storyline, characters and theme.

b.What are the parts of the comic book?

Comics are always created in a layout that has various parts. Learn more about it below:

Panel: It is the image that is surrounded by a border. For instance, a square, a rectangle, a circle, etc.

Gutter: The empty space between the borders of the panels is called a gutter.

Speech bubble: The shape that circles around the dialogue the characters speak.

Caption: A box separate from the image, which usually gives context to what is happening in the story, is called a caption.

c.Break up Long Dialogues into Several Panels

Comic writing is challenging at times since you will not know if your dialogues will fit until the pictures are created. Sometimes no matter how great a dialogue you have written, when placed in the comic panel, it seems too much. Hence, you might have to edit it a couple of times to make it fit. A solution to this is instead of writing many sentences in one speech bubble alone, and you can split the sentences into various panels.

d.Check Your Sentences after Using it in Comic Strip

Just keep in mind that you will have to tweak your dialogue when it goes on the panel (In the comic strip). You have to determine what has to stay and what can be done away with. Sometimes the dialogue can be to the next panel.

Pictures can tell the story, too, in comics. There are comics where the pictures tell the story with no dialogue.

e.Balance it between Words and Images

Remember that you are writing for a visual medium like a comic. You have to decide whether the dialogue moves the story forward or the visuals. You will have to make the picture come alive by using sound words like boom, tring- tring, woof, etc. This would make your characters come to life. These words are usually used in the speech bubble or the shapes shown below:

Example:

f.Keep it Short

Too much text for comics is totally unnecessary no matter how good it is. Look at the comic and decide what must be said and what is unnecessary, even individual words in a sentence. If certain words don’t change the meaning of the overall comic, it has to go. Avoid giving internal monologues or long speeches.

Sample Dialogue Writing in Comics