Mike: Hi, my name's Mike. I'm the Director of Mischief at Beano. (trumpet sounding)
This is Craig. He's a writer at Beano.
Craig: Hello. (trumpet sounding)
Mike: Craig can make characters say or do anything he wants and I love to eat my own bogies.
(Craig laughing)
Mike: Craig, did you write my script for this too?
Craig: Yes, I did.
Mike: Writing a story is a bit like climbing a mountain.
At the beginning we introduce characters and location, but you also need an exciting start to catch the reader's attention.
Craig: Remember to keep the first sentence short.
Mike: Now we're on our way up the hill.
We're in the middle of the story.
As we are climbing, something happens to the character.
What do you want to happen to your character?
Craig: Have they had an accident, encountered a villain?
Mike: Now we're at the top of the hill.
The top of the peak where I am is a dramatic event for the character to overcome.
Now we have to find our way down the hill.
This is where we look for our solution.
As we approach the bottom of the hill, what type of ending do we hope to find?
Craig: Happy, sad, twist, mysterious…
Mike: or even… cliff hanger!
Craig: We call this a three act structure because it has three stages.
Mike: Once you know what's going to happen to your characters, you need to add words.
Craig: In the comic world we do this with speech balloons…
Mike: Like this one!
You can also use thought balloons to show what a character's thinking, like this.
See, Craig doesn't know what I'm thinking.
Another way of writing your story in comics is to use something called the editor's caption.
Craig: These are text boxes that the storyteller, that's you, puts into the story to introduce new scenes.
Mike: Here's an example of an editor's caption, and we usually put a dot, dot, dot after it because that keeps the story moving.
Craig: That's called an ellipsis, you know?
Mike: Right! Using an ellipsis lets a reader know there's more to come.
So now you've written your story here are some tips to make your writing more interesting for the reader.
Craig: If you notice that someone speaks with a… lot… of… pauses, you can add ellipses into their speech.
Mike: Or if you notice somebody speaks really, really fast you can try running their words into each other.
The other smart thing you can do in comics is show the difference between what a character says and the way that they feel.
Craig: You can have a speech balloon saying one thing and a thought balloon thinking the opposite.
Mike: There's another clever way you can make your writing more interesting for the reader.
You can bring it to life using similes and metaphors.
Computer voice: Simile, when you describe something by comparing it to something else.
Craig: For example, Gnasher has fur like barbed wire.
Mike: And what about metaphors?
Computer voice: Metaphor, when you describe something by calling it something else.
Craig: For instance, Dennis has a thorny bush on his head.
Mike: But he doesn't actually have a thorny bush on his head. That's just a metaphor.
It's time for you to write your own comic.
Try to fit your story onto one side of paper and split it into eight panels.
That's plenty of space to tell a great story.
Craig: In comics, each panel is an important moment in your story.
Mike: But keep some panels without any words at all.
Not everyone talks all the time you know.
Now you know how to create comic stories.
Start using the story mountain.
Using speech balloons, thought balloons, and editor's captions, try turning your story into words.
Then use the language tools we've given you to make your story more interesting for the reader.
And finally, turn it all into a comic book using panels.
Video summary
Mike ('Director of Mischief') and Craig (Writer) from Beano explain how to create and structure a comic story.
They create a narrative using three acts (using a story mountain structure).
Language is explored, through use of dialogue and by explaining the difference between speech balloons, thought bubbles and 'the editor's caption'.
Techniques to improve the writing are demonstrated, including using similes, metaphors and ellipses.
Finally, Mike and Craig create their own comic book using an eight panel layout.
This short film is from the BBC Teach collection Beano: How to create a comic.
Teacher Notes
Task: Story Mountain
In this task, pupils use a three-act structure to create the story for their comic.
- Explain that writing a story is a bit like climbing a mountain. At the beginning we need to introduce characters and settings and hook the reader’s interest. One way to do this is by using a short sentence! Can we come up with an example as a class? E.g. ‘Everything changed the day of the food-fight.’ Agree on a setting and a hook as a class and add to your story mountain.
- In the middle, something happens to your character. What do you want to happen to your character? Encourage pupils to discuss in pairs before sharing their ideas. Agree on an idea as a class and add to your story mountain.
- At the top of the mountain, there is a dramatic event for your character to overcome. What could happen to our character? Can we agree on an idea as a class? Finally, agree on a solution: ‘the way down’. Encourage pupils to think about a range of endings: happy, sad, twist, mysterious or even a cliffhanger.
- Provide pupils with time to create their own story mountain using the structure sheet provided.
- Click here for a story mountain template (PDF, 1.8MB)
- If pupils have watched episodes 1 and 2, encourage them to use the character they created and the setting planned in their story.
Ideas for differentiation:
- You might provide pupils with an example of comic book three act story with a child protagonist who has a problem (a grown up who makes an unfair rule), confronts the problem (breaks the rule) and then deals with the consequences of their actions (the punishment for breaking the rule).
- Click here for an example of a three-act story (PDF, 2.2MB)
- Pupils could innovate this given story (for example, by changing the rule that is broken and the punishment received) or another familiar story (link to reading curriculum at your school) to support them to create their story mountain.
Task: Add the words
Explain that in the comic world, speech and thought balloons are used to show what characters are saying and thinking.
- Another way to tell the story in comics is to use editors captions. These are text boxes the storyteller puts into the story to introduce new scenes. Clarify the use of an ellipsis. What is its purpose? How can we use them in comics? We can use them to show that something is about to happen. We can also use them to show pauses in someone’s speech. Come up with some examples as a class.
- Explain how we can also use opposites to make our writing more interesting. Link this to synonyms and antonyms.
- Synonym: a word with the same, or similar meaning.
- Antonym: a word with the opposite meaning.Explore these definitions then come up with antonyms for a range of feeling words. Use the example in the video - delicious/yuck.
- Model how to add speech bubbles and thought bubbles to a character to show a difference between what a character is thinking and what they are feeling.
- Finally, provide pupils with an opportunity to independently experiment using editors captions to introduce scenes, speech balloons to show what they are saying and thought balloons to show what they are thinking.
Task: Similes and Metaphors
- Explore what we mean by similes and metaphors.
- Simile: when you describe something by comparing it to something else.
- Metaphor: when you describe something by calling it something else.
- Present pupils with a picture of Gnasher from Dennis the Menace and the following example: ‘Gnasher has fur like barbed wire.’ As a class, come up with a list of similes and metaphors to describe Gnasher.
- Provide pupils with an opportunity to write out their own list of similes and metaphors to describe the characters in their story.
Ideas for differentiation:
- Provide younger pupils and/or lower ability writers with sentence starters, for example:
- ‘… has fur like …’, ‘…’s ears are like …’
- Next, model turning these into metaphors before pupils complete their own.
Task: Making a comic layout
Recap what you have learnt so far as a class. Use the summary at the end of the video to support.
- Explain the best way to create a comic is in 8 panels.
- Ask pupils to make their own comic using 8 panels. First, ask them to draw out the events in panels, before using editors captions, speech balloons and thought balloons to tell the story and adding their own details such as onomatopoeias for sounds.
- Use the following tips to support pupils to create their comics:
- When you make a panel, you should aim for Approx. 1/3 text to 2/3 art.
- Leave some panels with just art and no text.
- The maximum number of words in a single balloon should be around 15.
- Provide children with a structure such as the one below to help them write their comic:
- Click here for downloadable version of teacher notes. (PDF, 728KB)
This series is suitable for teaching English and Art and Design/Expressive Arts at Key Stage 2, 2nd Level, and Progression steps 2 and 3 across the UK.
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Constructing comic worlds. video
Learn about comic book settings and how to create a world for characters.
