2.5 Drafting: Using a Panelled Layout

Write a draft of my graphic novel using panelled layout
Write dialogue bubbles and narration boxes to help move the plot forward

Authors take the ideas they create while planning and put them into the written form during the drafting stage.
During this stage, we write our ideas in complete sentences.1
Creating a draft is like making a rough outline of your story or how things will happen.
It’s a practice version before creating the final version.1

We have the freedom to explore and add more ideas. This includes adding supporting

details or examples to improve your story.1

Note: At this stage, the author doesn’t worry about grammar, spelling, or perfect wording. The goal is to let ideas flow and develop a rough draft.

The draft helps you organise your thoughts and see if you like the direction of the story. Then, you can make changes.2

Graphic novels use pictures to tell stories. Artists plan where everything goes on each page. They decide where characters, objects, and backgrounds should be to show the story’s feelings and actions. This planning helps words and pictures work together, making the story more exciting.2

Provides an opportunity for feedback: Drafts let us get helpful feedback. Just like when you show your drawing or story to a friend or teacher, they can give you suggestions and help you make it even better.

So, creating a draft is a helpful step that allows us to practise, plan, and improve our work before we finalise it.

Writing a draft for a graphic novel is different from writing other stories.

There are some important details to keep in mind while drafting a graphic story7.

Step 1: Panel Layout with Text

Fig 5.1: Example of planning the panel layout with text7

Step 2: Panel Layout with Visual Storytelling

Fig 5.2: Example of building on the panel layout with visuals7

Step 3: Panel Layout with a Balance of Text and Visuals

Graphic novel writers create dialogue that sounds like the characters and helps tell the story.
They keep a good balance between words and pictures, making sure there is not too much text that might hide the artwork.
The words should be easy to read and placed neatly in each panel.

Fig 5.3: Example of planning the panel layout with speech bubbles7

Step 4: Panel Layout with Dialogue

In a graphic novel, space for text is limited, so make sure your dialogues are short and snappy. Avoid long explanations or too much detail.
One needs to consider how the dialogue will fit within speech bubbles and how it will interact with the illustrations. When writing dialogues, imagine them in speech bubbles. Draw a bubble and write the character's dialogue inside. Remember to draw arrows to show who is speaking. Make sure the speech bubbles are placed in the right order, so readers can follow the conversation easily.
Thought bubbles can be used to show the inner thoughts of characters.
Narrative boxes can be used to provide additional information that the drawings and dialogue don’t tell.

Fig 5.3: Example of planning the panel layout with balanced text and visuals7

Taking the inspiration from the story map created during the planning stage, let us now see what the graphic novel story in the drafting stage looks like.

detective sophie black and white.pdf

Here are a few additional examples that show what a 6-panel graphic story looks like.

Glossary

graphic: visuals/pictures
panel: a single drawing depicting a specific moment in a comic; generally contained within a square or rectangular frame
structure: the way something is organised
perspectives: different opinions
feedback: to provide guidance to help someone learn and grow
layout: arrangement of panels, images, and text on a page
excessive: too much
snappy: quick and engaging
illustrations: images
visually appealing: something that looks nice and attractive

Summary:

Authors take the ideas they come up with while planning, and put them into the written form during the drafting stage.
Graphic novels are divided into panels, each showing different moments or scenes. To draft a graphic novel, we can follow these steps:

Panel layout with text: Consider the clear sequence of events and decide how many panels are needed. Include the events in the panels in a sequence and make a note of it in each panel.
Panel layout with visuals: For each event, sketch out the different settings and we bring our characters to life by sketching them out in action poses to show what they are doing.
Plan for the balance of text and visuals: Balance the amount of text with the visual elements, avoiding information overload or excessive text that may overwhelm the artwork.
Panel layout with dialogue: In a graphic novel, you have limited space for text, so make sure your dialogues are short and snappy. Avoid long explanations or too much detail.

Graphic novels show the story rather than tell it. Illustrations are an important part of the draft. In graphic novels, words and pictures work together to bring the story to life.

Extension/Further Reading:

To learn how dialogues can make a story exciting, read Writing Amazing Dialogue and complete the activity given at the end of this document.

References

1 Drafting. Reading Rockets (2014) (link)

2 Reasons Drafts Are Important To Writing. The Writing Cooperative (2020) (link)

3 How To Write a Graphic Novel. Writers.com (2022) (link)

4 Visual Writing in Graphic Novels. Kids Comic Unite (2022) (link)

5 Create a Comic: How to Plan and Layout Your Comic. Envato elements (n.d.) (link)

6 Teaching Dialogues with Comic Strips: Enjoy Teaching with Brenda Kovich (n.d) (link)

7 How to Make a Comic Strip: Get litt (n.d.) (link)

8 Graphic Novels: Teaching Books (n.d.) (link)

9 How To Write a Graphic Novel. One Minute Lessons (2022) (link)

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