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sweetbea
Dec '18
1

I've noticed a thin line between the portrayal of crucial story information and thrilling, edge-of-your-seat drama in a single Webtoon Episode that makes or breaks a reader's interest in your comic as a consumer and creator.

As the title suggests, I'm curious if any Webtoon-centered creators have any advice regarding the balance of necessary story information and exciting moments in a single Webtoon Episode (for reference, about 30-40 panels). Of course, any comic creator's insight is helpful-- however, following the Webtoon format, there seems to be a heavy emphasis on intricately designing and pacing each panel to have the reader begging for more each week.

How much information is too much, which overwhelms readers with excessive exposition and foreshadowing?

How much is too little, which bores the readers with mindless action and drama that doesn't contribute to the story?

Is there an effective way to merge both elements seamlessly in a single episode, or is it better to dedicate certain episodes to a single element?

Ultimately, I'm just curious as to how comic creators can balance telling a great story while simultaneously keeping readers engaged and interested, even through the more plot-heavy moments.

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    Dec '18

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    Dec '18
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paperwren
Dec '18

I think in this isn't something that is Webtoon specific, in general when making webcomics because of the time in between pages you need to think about having a question the readers want to have answered next, or an experience they're enjoying. Some people are more invested in character dynamics that driving plot for example, and will return because they want to see those interactions and the relationship develop. For practical purposes in terms of pacing and rising and falling tension, you can't have action constantly. I think having a hook at the end of the first episode is important, but beyond that it's more about asking how is this moving the story forward or building things. What questions will the reader have? Have I answered any in a satisfying way? Will they have something to carry them to the next episode? There's no set way to do this, but I think being critical of what you want to accomplish each episode is a good base to start from.

indigodrawing
Dec '18

One storyline I'm working on (a side-story, but a fairly important one) involves a time frame of several months. I was originally trying to shoehorn it all into a single story but then I realised that if it's going to happen over the course of several months then it would not dominate the affected characters' lives all the time, they'd worry about these events, then have their attention diverted to other things before the events in this story become relevant again. I've decided to split the story into blocks, between which other things can happen. This seems more natural to me, and as there's some heavy stuff to deal with in the story in question it will give both the characters and the readers some respite.

JeanGuillet
Dec '18

I've found that there are a wide range of patience levels. Some readers are frustrated that not everything is immediately explained, others love suspense. (my comic tends to be suspense heavy) it's all personal taste, and not everything will appeal to everyone.

Still, when figuring out how and where to break a scene for an episode update, I find that if there's no real way to avoid an awkward break, derailing the entire scene by adding a joke never seems to go amiss. Then you can just pick back up on the storyline next week and continue like nothing happened. It's even funnier if it's inserted into a moment of high drama.

ar-ninetysix
Dec '18

Not that I know how to properly do it, but I'll try to give advice anyway.. because why not? Okay, so excessive exposition comes out of two things in my opinion. One being that you're being to wordy with everything you're trying to explain. Try to get the point across with the fewest amount of words as possible. The other one being, you're probably making it too complicated for what it actually is. With both of these, I like the approach of rewording it as if you were talking to a ten-year-old. This way the exposition is more quick and easy to digest for a reader of any age. Remember, as a writer you spend weeks, months maybe with the story, and you gotta introduce it to them in five minutes or even less! Introduce as much as you need to introduce within the chapter.

This is a bit of a loaded question, but I tend to think about it like this.. I like having my characters make more sense than the entire situation itself, like all the time. I think the interesting part of reading the characters is seeing how they deal with said situations. Now if I have to take a magic system into consideration here, I'd explain the most basic aspects of it like.. how can it be used and can it be used by anyone? Easy immediate questions like those. If it's lore about the world, that's where I can't give a definite answer, you're on your own.

Merge. No way around it for me, personally. It's very easy to kill the flow of a story if you're dedicate time to explaining something for too long. And it's also somewhat easy to go off into action and just not explaining anything.. but you run the risk of losing readers who aren't following along casually. I'm currently trying to deliver constant yet subtle, bite-sized bites of exposition as the plot is progressing, so yeah.. I just hope that's how it comes off if someone were to read it though.

seru
Dec '18

I usually have this formula for every episode:

1) Present a tension/problem (from the past episode)
2) Rising Action
3) Climax
4) Resolution
5) End - present another tension/problem as a cliffhanger and the cycle goes on.

Emevsa
Dec '18

We aim for between 30-40 panels per episode. This gives us an idea of how much to include in each episode. We have a loose outline so it means we move things around if need be but there are things we need to hit.

Each episode we pose a question by the end of it and aim to answer it within the first half of the next episode then pose a new one. It keeps things moving along whilst balancing the drama and plot. So far, it's been a good strategy.