By Editorial team
A useful transcript preserves the story’s reading order and the information needed to follow it. Write it from the finished artwork, after lettering and panel revisions are complete.
Begin each section with its panel number. Describe the action briefly, then identify the speaker for each line. Include written signs, messages and sound effects when they affect what happens. Use consistent character names so readers can follow who is doing what.
Describe what the image shows. “Mina hides the cracked cup behind her back” gives useful information. “Mina feels terrible about everything” adds an interpretation the picture may not establish. Include expressions or gestures when they carry the meaning: “Mina smiles at the guest, keeping the cracked cup out of sight.”
Avoid announcing a reveal before the comic does. If the first panel shows an unopened parcel, call it a parcel. Explain its contents when the reader sees them. Keep a silent panel in the transcript when its pause, reaction or discovery matters.
Here is a simple pattern:
Panel 1. Mina carries a small parcel into a kitchen. A label reads “Open together.”
Mina: “I waited.”
Panel 2. Sol puts two cups on the table beside the parcel.
Sol: “Then let’s begin.”
Match visible dialogue exactly, including meaningful interruptions and unfinished sentences. If generated lettering differs from the script, correct the artwork or update the transcript to the actual readable words. Do not silently describe a better version of the scene than the one on the page.
Keep image alternative text brief when a full transcript follows. It can identify the comic page and point to that text. The transcript can carry the longer description without forcing the same story to be read twice through duplicated text.
Read the transcript on its own. Can you identify the characters, understand the change in the scene and follow the ending? Then compare it panel by panel with the artwork. Both checks matter: a fluent text can still omit a small visual clue that makes the joke work.
Try this: transcribe a four-panel scene without looking at your original script. Compare the result with the finished page and mark every missing action, sign and spoken line. Revise until the transcript follows the same story.