John and Craig welcome Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Good Omens) to discuss the serialized storytelling of comics and screenwriting. Using Neil’s script for issue 24 of The Sandman, they look at how comics are written, communicating with other artists, using the medium to your advantage, and finding unique ways to deliver your story.
Neil also shares how he developed his voice as a writer, from the origin of his religious and mythological curiosities to the importance of doing it wrong, defining style, and his advice to young writers.
In our bonus segment for premium members, Neil sticks around to talk with John and Craig about the projects we never got around to writing.
Links:
* [Neil Gaiman](https://www.neilgaiman.com/) on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/neilhimself/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/neilhimself)
* [Read Neil’s script for The Sandman #24](https://johnaugust.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Sandman-24-Neil-Gaiman.pdf)
* [Starfield](https://bethesda.net/en/game/starfield)
* [An American Puzzle: Fitting Race in a Box](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/10/16/us/census-race-ethnicity.html)
* [The Riddle of the Traveling Skull](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/90892.The_Riddle_of_the_Traveling_Skull) by [Harry Stephen Keeler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Stephen_Keeler)
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* [Check out the Inneresting Newsletter](https://inneresting.substack.com/)
* [Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription](https://scriptnotes.supportingcast.fm/gifts) or [treat yourself to a premium subscription!](https://scriptnotes.supportingcast.fm/)
* Craig Mazin on [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@clmazin) and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/clmazin/)
* John August on [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@johnaugust), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/johnaugust/?hl=en) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/johnaugust)
* [John on Mastodon](https://mastodon.art/@johnaugust)
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Owen Danoff ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))
* Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by [Matthew Chilelli](https://twitter.com/machelli).
Email us at ask@johnaugust.com
You can download the episode [here](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/616standard.mp3).
**UPDATE 11-15-23:** The transcript for this episode can be found [here](https://johnaugust.com/2023/scriptnotes-episode-616-the-one-with-neil-gaiman-transcript).