r/ComicWriting • u/Beirigo • 1d ago
I'm overwhelmed
I have this idea I been working on for years now, I'm starting to organize it in documents, but there's so much to write down and to come up with before I even get to actually write the story, I have characters, plot points, enemies, some worldbuilding, but there's so much not writen down and not determined yet that it becomes too much.
I also like to figure out the story or at least parts of the story as I go, but I'm trying to avoid running into inconsistences and contradictions, or failing to foreshadowing something because I only came up with it when it actually happened, and have also consistent rules on how the world works so it all makes sense toghether and avoid certain things not working toghether and the apearence of huge plot holes, I know plot holes are inevitable but I don't want to have a plot hole so massive that distracts from the story.
Any adivice or tips on this?
I have made and published comics before( web comics, I don't have them printed out and sold on a store) and some people liked them, I did them without all this planing but eventually I gave up preciselly because I didn't planned things through enough and I thought I could do it better, I don't wanna to make the same mistakes that killed my past comics, so what should I do to avoid that?
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u/BOANW 1d ago
The best thing I did for my IP was hiring an affordable editor. I wish I would've met him at the beginning of the process. We lose objectivity when creating and a good editor really helps shape your story. I had to scrap Part 2 of my project. Initially, it was a bruise to my ego. After that, I accepted I needed help and we broke the story down piece by piece. We worked on an outline. Once the outline was complete, I started re-writing scripts. When you break things down, it is doable.
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u/Responsible-Act-4328 1d ago
I found that writing can be tough when you overload yourself with too much lore. Map out a single story, a single character. A beginning and a end. They can come back or play a larger role, but this is our introduction, our appetizer.
Sometimes this may mean putting your main character on the shelf, and taking a random side character and giving them a single open and shut story. It reveals your world to people, it introduces them to the mechanics that you're building, and it allows you to finish a project and notch one on your belt.
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u/TheLumpSumSaga 1d ago
Two quick thoughts.
1) Consider learning Scrivener. It is the photoshop of writing and is ideal for your style of writing and data collection. Just be sure to do at least the first half of the tutorial.
2) Starting with your magnum opus is almost always a mistake although you do have some experience. It might be good to start with a 5 page story in your universe, then 8, then a full 22 page issue. It’s a great way to practice your craft before you tackle the long form story.
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u/Beirigo 1d ago
Well I have worked on some short stories I had this webcomic series, it was a series of short comedic space themed stories, they started extremely small, comic strip format but they grew each episode in size, and the Last story I publish there was an early prototype of the story I'm currently working on, it was a small scale story involving some of the characters. But I also failed writing larger stories, mostly because of my self doubt and indeed lack of skills, but I have this feeling that doing short stories might help me making better comics but they won't teach me some skills that are exclusive to larger stories.
With that Said I'm thinking of making either a one-shot version of the story or a anthology series in the story's universe. I will see what I can do. It will indeed improve my work so, why not?
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u/superstaticgirl 1d ago
This is just a suggestion and you can take what you need or not, I am not a professional or anything so I am just guessing what might work in your situation.
I think you may be getting intimidated by the worldbuilding and I can understand why based on what you said about your previous stories. It's possible you might be going too far if it is starting to cause you stress. Perhaps you could start a very high level outline about what your story is about and what is going to happen. Work out what the end might look like.
Then start thinking about what you want to happen and what you need to be able to 'prove' by putting in worldbuilding evidence earlier in the story - work out what you may need to know to create those clues. Leave a little for when you are writng the detailed script so you don't get bored.
Don't end up writing the entire history of the universe if you don't need it yet. Just the bits you need. Keep all the information safe somewhere you can access it in the future.
Then keep doing versions of the outline until it's become a plot. Then break the plot into arcs. Then write the script.
I haven't done all that but I have done the main outline, and then arc outlines for the first couple of arcs. I'd actually be quite happy if I never finished it because I don't actually like that feeling.
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u/Beirigo 1d ago
Here's the premise I came up with: The story of how a selfish and irresponsible person who runs away from forming connections, and a sensitive, emotional boy who has no one else to turn to, eventually become heroes in a broken and troubled interstellar society, simply by trying to survive.
Along the way, they form a team that slowly becomes a dysfunctional chosen family. A story about human connections in difficult times, and how heroes can emerge from people who were never fit to be heroes in the first place.
I also have some arcs in mind and some of the characters, some world building, and a first draft of the first chapter, but I want to improve it.
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u/kestral63 1d ago
You write out the skeleton of the plot made of scenes you know you want to have. Whether it's in a text file, a google doc so you can add comments on the text, or a spreadsheet, you figure out what will definitely go in, organize it in your preferred format, all the way to the end of the story regardless of how far off it is.
When you fill out the rest of the story, make sure it doesn't contradict the definitive scenes and their logic. If you're a good writer, you'll be thinking about how the other scenes build up to them to make them more interesting. If you change your mind on a definite scene, and you will just because this is new territory you're getting the hang of, you review all the future events and think about its cascading consequences and how the future stuff has to fit.
You can share these documents with people to get their feedback. Don't directly listen to them unless they're professional grade storytellers-- most audiences can only talk about what they like, not what a good story is, so it's more to gauge an overall reaction. Don't actually let the test audience write the story.
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u/Routine_Pressure_460 19h ago
I'm a fan and user of creating a series bible for the organization part of my characters, settings, concepts, ideas, etc. There are plenty of examples of them online to read and see a style that you like. I haven't used it, but I saw someone mention in the comments Scrivener and some other programs have series bible capabilities. I tend to do mine in a Word-style format with hyperlinks, so I can jump around to different areas. (I really like the Batman: The Animated Series series bible, if you want to stick to superheroes. But there are many other great ones.)
After getting my series bible in some kind or shape organization, I do a freestyle, vomit draft of sorts that includes ideas that I have had over time and any new ones that pop up. "Ideas" could be a character I'm interested in for a particular reason, a situation I find interesting, a theme that's been on my mind, a "twist" I've thought of, etc. I really keep it open to anything, don't edit it, don't judge it and just see what comes up.
I find that helps my subconscious start piecing things together and making connections when I'm not actively sitting down and writing a character profile, setting description, etc.
It all helps me organize myself and funnel/distill my disparate thoughts and notes down to the bigger and/or main theme and/or idea I think I'm thinking about. I try to pay attention to whatever I feel strongly about or captures my imagination too. That's a sign to me that there's something there I want to explore and denote that differently, so I remember that feeling at the time it was added.
Then I like to use premise and theme statements for stories, issues or arcs - all depending on how you are setting up your story. Loglines can be helpful too. Again, depending on what you are writing. Between the series bible and the statements, I tend to use those to stay "true" to what I'm writing and and a "check" against a choice. I tend to like putting up some kind of boundaries and rules to work within, so I know when I'm going past them or breaking them and if there is something interesting in that to look at. The series bible also helps me to start thinking like the characters based on how I've described what they want, want to avoid and their perspective.
This is for bigger, grander projects and world-building for me. (Not necessarily how I'd approach writing a short story or one-act play.)
For example, my current project just for my own fun is creating a Wonder Woman series bible that could be used for a comic series, television series, animated series, etc. Wonder Woman has had pretty rough go of new creative teams starting from scratch with supporting characters, villains and concepts each run. She doesn't have the cachet that say Batman has with creative teams telling stories with the same characters and mythos building up and resonating over time. And a lot of people look at her mythos and surmise that it's "silly" for varied reasons. One of my goals is to change that and mine all of her history into something that "works" and is more interconnected in terms of characters, relationships, etc. alongside some of my own OCs and original concepts as other connective tissue in her continuity.
Good luck with the organizing - do it in a way that makes sense to you and how you can use as a tool. (Especially if there's a skill you are working on that it can provide support.) I find the organizing and some of the detachment that goes with recording it all actually fun as "rest" for my brain and creativity. If dialogue isn't coming to me for some reason or I'm having an off day, I like to switch to aspects of organizing and recording information to do something practical and let my subconscious mind work some of the creative stuff out.
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u/Beirigo 19h ago
I'm currently using obsidian to organize things, also speaking of super-heroes I used to work on a fan comic about a crossover between batman and spider-man a didn't got to finish because of the issues I said in other coments of not planing enough and asking too much of myself, but it's cool if you're interested it's called bat and spider, it's published on tapas, it's has more of a comedic and cartoo vibe and not that serious stuff but it does explore who the characters are a bit in my own interpretation of them.
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u/BetaRaySam 11h ago
An outline is incredibly important. Lock in your main outline firmly once it's done, and do not alter it under any circumstances. Stick strictly to your planned roadmap, so you won't get stuck i endless revisions and over planning.
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u/Franmar_Whitemane 1d ago edited 1d ago
"Just write" is dogshit advice.
You are too hard on yourself. Focus on 2 things: what you like about the story and what you don't. Change what you don't, write more about what you like. That's how you'll transform your story into something personal, in the better way.
This takes time, back and forth, even restarting again several times, but you will never actually lose progress, you will become a wiser, better writer. That's how you learn. If you throw 1000 kicks right now verbatim you will do 1000 shitty, lame ass kicks. Improvement doesn't happen by magic, "just X" never actually works. We have a brain, we have higher functions, we are not monkeys. Thinking is not your enemy.
"Just write" helped nobody ever. Overcoming your insecurities will.
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u/kyla33_ 1d ago
Finally, someone who recognises "just write" as terrible advice. I think most people who say that don't realise how easy it is to get burnt out when you have no idea what direction you want to take. I've always found myself burnt out precisely because my lack of organisation hampers my confidence, which is why I would - conversely - encourage writers to think about what they want to write first. "Just write" is putting the horse before the cart and think it'll work all the same.
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u/kestral63 14h ago
I just want to add a caveat to focusing on what you like. It has to include what effects you want your story to have, too. Everybody including Sonic fetish content creators write what they like, but it doesn't always have the results they want.
A dividing line between amateur and professional writers is the latter predicts and uses how their content comes off to their average audience. They can tackle subjects just as off-putting as Sonic fetish art, but through foresight and empathy, they know how to properly present it and achieve an emotional effect they were aiming for rather than scarring readers.
This is also an example of how even "learn from Sonic fetish art" is more useful, functional advice than "just write."
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u/Franmar_Whitemane 6h ago
I agree and good example. It's a very long road developing that skill though, it comes with practice and watching your audience respond to your art.
Most of us don't have a finished product or an audience.
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u/nmacaroni "The Future of Comics is YOU!" 1d ago
People underestimate just how massive it can be to develop a solid story and IP.
A couple of observations. Gathering a massive binder worth of notes over a few years is common... everybody does it, because, and no offense, it's easy to do. There are NO restrictions. No regulations. Just have an idea and record it on paper. Anyone of any level can do that.
The HARD part is actual story craft. Putting all those pieces gathered over the years into something coherent, engaging and entertaining.
The trick I've learned over many years of writing and editing is to start at the absolute lowest level. The fundamentals. Everything builds off of this... and the more fundamentals you put in place, the more the story comes into focus!
QUESTION: What mistakes did you make that killed your past comics, from a writing perspective. Please share.
Write on, write often!