How to Write a Manga Story: A Four-Page Exercise with a Panel Script

Start with a story small enough to finish: one goal, one obstacle and one decision with a visible consequence. You do not need a twenty-chapter world bible to practice telling a story through panels.

This guide contains an original editorial exercise, not a page from a published manga or a professional course. You will produce a four-page outline and a rough first page. The example demonstrates choices you can test; it is not a rule that every manga must follow.

1. Write a premise that contains a decision

Our example is The Last Delivery:

A trainee courier must return a borrowed sketchbook before the last ferry leaves. At the dock, she discovers that a child has dropped a treasured drawing into the water. Helping will mean missing the ferry.

The premise gives us a goal, a deadline and a competing need. The interesting question is what the courier will do when she cannot satisfy both.

Now make the character specific:

“Become the greatest courier” is a series ambition. “Return this sketchbook before the ferry leaves” is a scene goal you can show now.

2. Give each of four pages a different job

For this exercise, use four pages to keep the task manageable. The number is a workshop constraint, not a publishing requirement.

The ending answers the promise established at the start. We do not need a villain, a new power or a surprise backstory. If you want a different ending, change the final choice and trace its consequences back through the outline.

3. Turn page one into a panel script

Describe drawable actions. A panel cannot directly show “she wonders whether her ambition has made her selfish.” It can show a hand gripping a bag strap, a glance toward a departure board or a foot stopping mid-step.

Here is the first page of our example:

Panels 1 and 2 prepare the reader to understand why helping is costly. Panel 4 lets the image do the explaining. Panel 5 ends with a decision still to be made, giving page two a reason to exist.

4. Sketch the reading order before drawing details

A rough storyboard, often called a name or nemu, lets you plan panels and words before committing to finished artwork. In Shueisha’s interview with My Hero Academia editor Koike, he describes developing concepts through discussion and sometimes while working on storyboards. It illustrates revision during development, rather than one mandatory sequence for every author.

Draw the character and props as simple shapes. Place the speech balloons while the artwork is still rough. Check that the reader can tell where the courier is, where the drawing falls and which panel comes next.

Try a second version with panel 3 split into two small panels: the gust, then the falling drawing. Compare the rhythm. Choose the version that makes the event easier to follow, rather than assuming more panels are always better.

Illustrated version of the example

Compare the plan with the illustration below. Notice how the wider middle panel makes the interruption visible and the final close-up leaves the choice unresolved.

5. Revise dialogue against the image

A first draft might give the courier this thought:

“I have to get the sketchbook back, but that child needs help, and if I help I will miss the ferry.”

The page has already shown the sketchbook, the child and the ferry. Repeat all three in words and the reader has to process the same information twice.

Our revision removes the thought and keeps the worker’s “Last call!” The close view of the courier’s hand carries the hesitation. If a reader still misses the conflict, first check the images and their order; adding an explanatory monologue is only one possible fix.

6. Test the draft with a reader

Show the rough page to someone who has not read the outline. Ask them to describe what happened before you explain it.

• Can they identify the courier’s immediate goal?
• Do they understand why the sketchbook matters?
• Can they follow the drawing’s movement?
• Do they notice the choice between helping and catching the ferry?
• Is there a panel they read in the wrong order?

Record where the reader hesitates. Revise that part and test again. A finished-looking drawing can still tell an unclear story; testing the rough version makes revisions cheaper.

Page count and submission requirements

Check the specific publication before preparing a submission. Shueisha’s 2025 Jump+ notice states that serialized installment page counts are not fixed. That notice is an example, not proof that another magazine or competition accepts any length.

For your first exercise, finish the four pages before expanding the world. Then change one constraint: tell the same story without a phone message, move the deadline earlier, or write a different consequence for the courier’s choice.

For context, read what a mangaka does. To understand publishing numbers, see our sourced industry statistics.

Return to the manga guides to explore another question.