Joshua Williamson on Writing for DC Comics

 

Joshua Williamson on Writing

 

Joshua Williamson enjoys writing for comics. Yet despite his productivity, he sets clear limits on his writing time. He generally devotes 7 am to 1 pm to his writing, then spends the rest of his day with his family. By comparison, he notes that Scott Snyder writes 24/7. Joshua gets calls from his friend at all hours as Scott works on the plot and fine-tunes his ideas.

 

While he co-wrote DC K.O. with Scott Snyder, Joshua’s style is completely different. Joshua has to know the entire story before he begins writing. He may spend a week figuring everything out, then take two days to type out the story. Joshua said Scott Snyder works out the plot first and spends a lot of time fine-tuning it. Only when Scott has the plot the way he likes it does he start working on the dialogue. (Joshua contrasted Scott's approach with that of fellow DC writer James Tynion IV, who starts with the dialogue, before moving onto the plot).

 

While Joshua limits his writing time to focus on his family, one impetus that drives his DC Comics work is uniting the superhero families. He feels as though, all too often, the struggles superheroes went through tore their families apart. As a co-architect with Scott on DC All-In and the Next Level initiative, Joshua wants to bring the superhero families back together.

 

Joshua may not run an online writing class like Scott Snyder. Still, Joshua Williamson has some advice for aspiring comic writers and artists. He suggests that writers limit their early stories to between eight and twenty pages. Joshua also suggests making each story a 1-shot.

 

By concentrating on self-contained stories, as in the Twilight Zone TV series, you can work on writing a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end. Joshua Williamson also advises hanging out with other aspiring writers and sharing your ideas with them. He says, "If you can't sit down with someone and tell them your story, you don't have one."

 

Thanks to DC Comics, Joshua Williamson, and WonderCon 2026 for sharing this with us.

 

 

 

For an example of Joshua Williamson's recent writing, see my preview of Superman #37.

 

 

 

For an example of Scott Snyder's recent writing, see my review of Absolute Batman #19. 

 

 

 

For an example of James Tynion IV's recent writing, see my preview of The Nice House by the Sea #9. 

 

 

For more on Joshua Williamson at WonderCon 2026, see Joshua Williamson on DC All-In and Next Level comics.