Page Markers Open every new page with a hash, the word Page, and a number indicating which one it is. The # marker is special and will become useful later.
# Page 1
Essential Guide
How to Make a Manga in Google Docs
Open Google Docs, follow along, and you'll have a 3-page manga script by the end of this post — no art skills required.
The manga and comic script format rules (quick overview)
You don't need any drawing software, special editor, or paid tool to write a manga — Google Docs (or any plain text editor) is enough. Here is the format you'll use so that what you write is readable to someone other than you.
(If you want an example of how to make a comic also in Google Docs see - Let's write a comic about Wolverine.)
The same five elements drive every manga, comic and graphic novel on the shelf — whether you're learning how to write a graphic novel script or formatting a manga, the rules are the same
Panel Markers Each page can be made up of any number of Panels, which must state the word Panel then the number. Optional bracket tags can be added to tell the artist what type it is.
Panel 1
Action Lines These are plain prose describing what we see in the panel. Present tense, visual, concise.
The Protagonist (Hero) attacks The Antagonist (Villain)
Character Names & Dialogue ALL-CAPS name on its own line, dialogue indented underneath.
PROTAGONIST
I am the shining light.
YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE A MANGA TODAY
In the words of Hirohiko Araki—creator of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, "Manga is an amalgmation of different fields"
You are not purely an artist or writer. You are a producer of arts.
Step 1: How to make a manga starts with a clear goal
Today, I'm going to write a 3-page manga and you are coming along for the ride. If you delve into a dozen books or forums about what you need to create a story, you're going to get a lot of faff. One will say you need an outline, another will say you need to "just finish the draft".
I will argue that right up there next to having lived experience to write a story is having a clear goal of the story you are trying to tell. In our case, what is the manga you are trying to make?
If you do not know the story you are trying to tell, then every single bit of advice is absolutely useless. Why would you need an outline if you don't have a vision?
Today, my vision is to help women. I am going to write a manga using Google Docs that will do the one thing I love to do to people I love: make fun of them. Walk with me.
In a manga, we have limited pages to get to our objective. I've arbitrarily decided on 3 pages because I am short on them. I'm busy with A BOY NAMED DOROTHY.
Step 2: How to make a manga in 3 pages
The vision I have is of a man claiming he wants to help women then the twist is he is helping himself.
If we treat each page as a clear part of a structure, The Setup, The Progression, The Land/Twist then we need to think out some ideas.
- Page 1: The Man is seemingly doing a good deed
- Page 2: The Man moves through the world.
- Page 3: The Deed is revealed.
You may be wondering, where the heck is the plot?! Here's the fun part of writing a manga: you don't need one yet! Manga live and die from the first 5 pages, and in fact this also applies to WebToons, Graphic Novels and Comics.
The typical jargon for this is to say that your manga needs to have a HOOK in the first 5 Pages.
I hate lingo, it's for a hiding grounds for has-beens.
This is what your manga reader is thinking...
I have a Steam library full of 1000 games on my wishlist, and another 200 unplayed games that I have paid full price for.
You as the author of a manga have to break through that wall. You have 5 pages to break through to your consumer and tell them why they should pay attention to manga instead of devoting their attention somewhere else.
Did you even write this story yourself or were you prompt-slaving ChatGPT? These are honest 5-page reactions that must be dealt with as the author of a manga, comic, webtoon; in fact, anything in the modern world.
Since you know the length you are going for, you can write out the events that should happen at roughly the time it should happen in the Manngaplay Format.
You can do this in Google Docs, Obsidian, Plain-Text Editor, NoteApp, whatever.
Drop the skeleton into Google Docs
Open a new Google Doc and type the skeleton below exactly as it appears. Don't worry about fonts or margins — the format is plain text on purpose, so Docs' default settings are fine.
# Page 1 INT. SOME PLACE Panel 1 A man is doing a good deed. His name is Barnicus??
# Page 2 Panel 1 The conversation continues.
# Page 3 Panel 1 The twist is revealed.
The above script tells the reader, writer and artists that we are in the INTERIOR (INT.) of Some Place. There is a man doing a good deed, a conversation happens then a twist occurs. There are three pages and each page has one panel for now.
The format is clear, concise and tells the story with minimal baggage. No-one needs your 1000 word lore dump. What we need coherent thoughts.
Step 3: Tell the actual story and make it count!
Now we have the location set where things roughly need to happen which is an excellent starting point. Now we need the setup of a story. I initially wanted to take the story in the direction of two babies having a showdown at sunset then their fathers pick them up but, looking at the bottle of Soju in my fridge, I think I can do better.
We will have a guy in a dark atompsphere, people everywhere boozing. He's on the phone discussing "something" then comments he's helping women and we see the reveal. Infact, the location will be THE TWIST!
# Page 1 INT. SOMEWHERE DARK - NIGHT
Panel 1
Dark purple lights soak the leather interior of a private booth inside a building. The area is sparsely packed with men — heads low, eyeballs averting one another. GLITTER sparkles from somewhere, out of focus.
Panel 2 [INSET]
CROCODILE SKIN SHOES slam on a table. The motion rattles empty bottles of Soju.
Panel 3
BARNICUS is sunk deep into a couch thrice his size, his lanky legs extending onto the table. He picks his teeth while yelling into a cellphone.
BARNICUS
I know we sell soju, but walk with me...
Panel 4
A male with a HUSKY voice eviscerates the ears of Barnicus.
HUSKY (O.S.)
No! We are now wealthy legally, so quit it with these stupid get-rich scams.
HUSKY (O.S.)
I'm on my way to you right now.
Panel 5
Barnicus looks at the phone like it's about to chew his hairline.
# Page 2
Panel 1 [INSET]
Barnicus takes a deep breath.
Panel 2
He leans into the phone preparing to tell the universe about the next bing thing.
BARNICUS
This is generational wealth in our lifetime.
BARNICUS
The product takes 24 hours to make, then sells for $10,000 a bag.
Panel 3
Barnicus stares at the phone with both hands.
BARNICUS
Hello?
Panel 4
The phone slumps over in a sigh.
HUSKY (O.S.)
Continue...
Panel 5
Barnicus sets his foot on the ground, back upright, face beaming to the brim with confidence.
BARNICUS
I knew you still loved money! We won't even leave the country this time.
# Page 3
Panel 1
Barnicus gestures wildly to the heavens with the phone pressed against his ear.
BARNICUS
We pay some mope to hire another mope in Africa. Have him and his Zulu buddies collect coffee beans.
BARNICUS
'Cos you know over there, coffee grows like grass and all that. He then feeds the beans to an elephant til Dumbo takes a massive golden dump.
BARNICUS
Here's the best part, He cleans it up, sells the poop-coffe to us for 50 cents a kilo, and we re-sell it to millionaires in Thailand.
Panel 2
Husky's voice — sharp, distinct and quiet.
HUSKY (O.S.)
Where are you right now?
Panel 3 [INSET]
Barnicus freezes mid-grin. The teeth-pick stops moving.
Panel 4
A pull-back. He is in a VIP Booth. Outside is a pole on stage.
A STRIPPER mid-pirouette, blows him a kiss in slow motion. The "men with heads low" are trucking notes from their pockets to the women on stage. Soju bottles everywhere.
Panel 5
Barnicus waves a fistful of money. The grin returns, full force.
BARNICUS
I'm at a single-mother fundraiser.
Yes. I wrote this story, right now. It took about 30 mins. I asked myself Who, What, Where and When, and this is what I came up with for a 3-Page Manga that I'll call Back To Africa.
You can evaluate for yourself the quality and even copy the structure.
How did you come up with it being a strip club? It seemed like the appropriate place to make a joke about women.
How did you come up with his name, Barnicus? I thought about Barnacles.
What made you choose the events of a Hustler being rich? I asked myself: what type of person would be at a strip club?
Why selling alcohol? I'm literally looking at a bottle of Soju right now.
How did you come up with the joke? 50% of readers will not find the single mother dialogue to be a joke.
At this stage it is a first draft but is more than usable. I tend to not use outlines, but instead constantly ask myself questions until something coherent comes out of it. In the end we got the following story:
- Barnicus is a hustler of some kind who has made legitimate money selling alcohol but he has not changed. His business partner is on the way to confront him.
- Barnicus pitches a $10,000 a bag scheme, Husky the partner is intrigued.
- The pitch is elephant poop coffee.
I'm sure you have more questions, but I feel this practical example of how to make a manga is a good demonstration of how to format a manga.
Telling the story is the most vital part, you do not need to be able to draw.
I have intentionally left off shilling my own software, Mangaplay Studio to focus on showing a practical example in real time of structuring a fresh story.
But if you look closely, I have already thought out the panel layout. A tag like [WIDE] tells the Artist that this panel is going to be extra wide with no borders.
[INSET] tells the Artist that the panel is small and will be placed inside the panel after it.
I have intentionally not dug into each tag for panel. In another practical guide I will go into detail, or if you're eager you can read the syntax here.
This is a beginner guide after all, repetition is king.
How can I download a copy of this story?
I strongly recommend this format for writing manga, comics, webtoons and even graphic novels. Yes, I made the Mangaplay Format but its mostly a successor to the Superscript.App and a mixture of other formats.
This format is a superset of the Superscript.app format + Fountain. It gives us an inbuilt method to produce screenplays while working in plain text, no expensive software.
You can download the sample in your favourite format here. Fountain, Final Draft, Mangaplay etc.
