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I saw a bit of debate again about use of captions in comics. There seems to be a perennial down on using captions, tied in with a suggestion that it’s an old fashioned or amateurish technique. I don't agree, with caveats.
Captions can be a versatile and useful tool that allows you to overlay contrasting dialogue and action, help you shift, slow or speed up time...
...and are particularly useful in areas of your story where you want to compress time or events to add to the pace of your story, like in climactic scenes for example.
However, I do very much agree they should be used judiciously. Unless your story is a noir, neo-noir or is in some other kind of style where first person narration is a key motif, I’d personally avoid using it.
It can’t just be saying what’s happening. Usually, you must be showing not telling.
But for me, captions very much have their places and I tend to see very few strong arguments beyond fad for getting rid of them entirely. I think a lot of it comes from a shift towards comic writing that's really coming from the perspective of a screenwriter.
Obviously, these are different mediums, with aspects that aren't especially interchangeable. But I think its fair to say many writing comics maybe started writing for the screen, or learned via screenwriting books, classes, scripts etc. So no surprise to see the prevalence.
An example - I've just finished a script where two armies are converging. As one character talks, the images are intercut to show characters in both armies as they near each other. So its a combination of speech bubbles and captions to indicate the immediacy of events.
However, if I just had my character musing in caption boxes about what was happening, that would very probably be leaden and extremely boring. Its about what works.
So, I suppose I'm saying trust yourself and don't throw away any tools unnecessarily.
So, I suppose I'm saying trust yourself and don't throw away any tools unnecessarily.
BUT, absolutely do try to write a full script with no narrative captions boxes whatsoever. You'll learn a lot from it. Wrestling with how to get across the story in only action and believable interaction between characters will improve your writing no end.
