Writing Excuses 20.51: Howard Tayler’s Personal Writing Process
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Dec 21, 2025 In this captivating discussion, Howard Tayler, the creative force behind the webcomic Schlock Mercenary, shares insights from his two-decade writing journey. He reveals his unique workflow using landscape Word text boxes and how he hand-inks laser prints to maximize efficiency. Howard also talks about adapting his process due to long COVID, banking writing time, and using index cards for storyboarding. His emphasis on satisfaction as a metric for success and practical hacks for improving productivity make this a must-listen for aspiring writers.
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Unconventional Comic Workflow
- Howard Tayler wrote Schlock Mercenary in Microsoft Word using landscape pages with pre-laid text boxes as comic panels.
- He laser-printed those pages, hand-inked them, scanned them, and sent them to a colorist for two decades.
Inspired By Bill Amend, Solved Hand Pain
- Howard adapted Bill Amend's Foxtrot method by moving panel layout and dialogue preparation to the computer to avoid hand-pain from handwriting.
- That 'aha' led him to computer-drawn panels with text boxes so he could draw pictures on printed templates.
Locked Tool To Preserve Workflow
- Howard locked his work computer to an older version of Microsoft Word because newer versions changed text-box behavior he relied on.
- He feared an update breaking his workflow and thus resisted upgrading that tool.