Something interesting that I’ve noticed about comic fans is how many of them want to make comics. Sure, it sounds trivial, but think about it: while there are tens of thousands of rookie bands in the world, they’re only a fraction of the world’s music lovers; likewise, not everyone who loves film wants to be a director or an actor. It’s partially because we are all fans of a niche medium — while people across the world may love music to varying degrees, pretty much everyone who is into comics really loves comics. The comics internet is always ablaze with questions of how to break into the industry, what scripting program to use, or how to balance being a comics pro with being an utter badass. Thanks to a new project called ComiXwriter, it looks like one of those questions has been answered (not the last one — that’s what Steranko’s Twitter feed is for).
For the most part, comic writers in the digital age — let’s not even talk about the typewriter days — have been restricted to two choices when it comes to word processing: either simply using a basic word processing software such as good old Word and taking the time to fiddle with your formatting (a process that can easily waste hours if you haven’t set any templates yet or simply don’t have much experience), or shell out the cash for a film scripting software such as Final Draft. The downside of buying most film scripting softwares, though, is that the bells and whistles you are paying for tend to be film-specific. For those who plan to write both comics and film scripts, this is no big deal, but for those who are only interested in comics, it might seem like a waste of money.
ComiXwriter, on the other hand, is — as you’ve probably guessed — tailored for writing comic scripts. On the most basic level, it’s designed to make it so all you need to use while writing are the keys on your keyboard: the letters and such for, you know, writing, and the enter and tab keys for all of your basic formatting needs (captions, dialogue, page breaks, panel breaks, you name it). When I first saw this, I was a bit hesitant; after all, everyone formats their scripts differently, and some publishers require scripts to be formatted a certain way. However, ComiXwriter allows you to have switch to different formats according to preference or gig. Even neater, though, are the collaborating functions ComiXwriter promises. As the pages come in from the artist, you can attach them to the corresponding script pages and insert notes for the colorist, letterer, or whoever else might be looking.
The ComiXwriter team is trying to hit a goal of $35,000 — pretty damn modest for software — and is currently a little bit less than halfway there. If you’re like me and not an actual aspiring comic writer, but still want to see this project succeed, there are plenty of lower-price tiers, including the graphic novel Lives which helped lead to the creation of ComiXwriter ($14, which includes shipping). Let’s be honest, though — most of you are looking for the software itself. The anticipated retail price of the software is $99, but through the Kickstarter, you can get it for $50 ($45 if you’re quick). There’s one specifically for letterers, too: for $60 you get a selection of fonts from lettering genius Richard Starkings. There are a few other tiers, but those are the ones that stick out to me — sift through the options and see if there’s one that applies most to your interests.
Whether you’re a would-be comic creator or an established one, ComiXwriter looks to be like an application you need on your hard drive. I’m sure you don’t need me to hype it up any further, though — get donating and get writing… once the software is available, that is.
