Bite-Size: A Creator Discussion and Advice Thread

[UrMom]

Thank you for the welcome! I'm not very good at participating in discussions, but I love comic stuff so I'll do my best.

[Blozzy]

thank you

[Blozzy]

thank you

[At12MN]

Hello

Preferred Name: Em
Pronouns: She/Her
Genres you create: Romance (with MM/MF pairings most of the time), subgenres: Contemporary, Historical
Where you plan to take your writing journey: At this point, I just want to write as many as I can and see where that takes me. I've only started writing fiction seriously 2 years ago and had to study from scratch so I consider myself a newbie.
Link to Tapas Account: https://tapas.io/At12MN

---

I love reading discussions but usually forget to join. (Also because I fear my English is not good enough. ) But I'll do my best. Nice meeting you all.

[Blozzy]

sorry I didn't know i could reply
well here u go
--
it is about a girl called lea who have lived in the human realm for almost all her life, well at least 20 years, she knew she was not human and wondered what her real home is like.
When she finally entered the fae realm she realized that they are a lot of things she knows and doesn't know. She also her mate and while she is happy about it, he is not interested in her and he has feelings for someone else

that is mostly what we have for now though we hope we can get people to read and follow

[Blozzy]

Welcome to the thread

[Rhonder]

Yoo~

Preferred Name: Rhonder (username) / Alex (real name)
Pronouns: He / Him
Genres you create: Fantasy, Action
Where you plan to take your writing journey:
Short Term - Just continue to improve my craft- both the art and writing sides need a lot of work yet lol
Medium Term - I would like to dip my toes into self publishing and attempt to monetize my work a little bit. My specific goal for this is currently to get some work formatted for print this year and try out tabling at local conventions next year! Also maybe try to actually start populating my patreon/ko-fi with content lol
Long Term- I guess my "end game" is more or less building a large readership/presence as an author. To have lots of people enjoying and invested in my stories would be the best!
Link to Tapas Account: https://tapas.io/Rhonder

[KRWright]

Hi @UrMom! If it gives you an excuse to keep coming back then it's worth it I think!

Welcome @ar-ninetysix ! I'm looking forward to seeing what you might decide to create.

Hi @At12MN ! Don't worry about your english and just jump in whenever you want! It's totally fine, trust me!

Hi @Rhonder ! Short, Medium AND Long term goals. A man after my own heart there! It seems like you've got your heart set on the same kind of end goal as me!

[Chita]

Hey there!! This seems like a very helpful and profesional idea, thanks for making this thread!
Sooo, here's my introduction:
Preferred name: Chita
Pronouns: she/her
Genres you create: Fantasy/Romance
Where you want to take your writing journey: right now I'm taking it easy as a hobbie and posting my comic just on Tapas. I'd love to build a fanbase (even if it's small) and maybe one day sell a few printed copies at small local cons.
Link to Tapas Account: https://m.tapas.io/Chita

[KRWright]

Welcome @Chita ! I hope that this thread will be useful to you!

[KRWright]

New people - please feel free to continue to introduce yourselves!

Okay @Everyone ! It is very early Saturday morning for me and that means it's time for our first discussion. For the first few discussions, I'm going to drop some infographics that explains things. I may not always have time to make these, but sometimes I will so that the topic itself gets explained alongside the discussion.

[ar-ninetysix]

Oh, well, uhhhh

(might as well talk about my projects, I guess)

Ummm.. I really don't know how to describe my main comic project, but like I'm sure that there's some anime or manga like it out there in the world lol it's Japanese police officers hunting down yokai with super backhanded special abilities, the only real thing keeping it "unique" is the fact that the main character duo is an older sister and her younger brother.

The other idea is a short GL thing we're barely developing. There's room for drama, but I wanna keep it light-hearted as possible even if it gets crazy. The rough idea being that two best friends are close, but one likes the other.. thing is, she's about to move, and uhh.. silly shenanigans happen in a huge downhill run. I wanna have it have like just.. a fun, airy vibe, idk something like Studio Ghibli movies. Obviously not as skilled, but you know

[IndigoShirtProd]

Hey everyone!

Preferred Name: Indigo
Pronouns: She/Her
Genres you create: Fantasy, Action, Drama
Where you plan to take your writing journey: My comics are a way to improve my skills and build an audience. I have story ideas that I eventually want to publish, including a short story I'm having trouble finishing. My goal is to make a career, even if it's a side hustle, on my creative works because I love the process and end results so much
Link to Tapas Account: https://tapas.io/IndigoShirtProd

So, most of the of the work I'm putting out as of now is general audience friendly. I draw with the idea in mind that a lot of people might it (even if that's not the case now), and that will reflect back on me. I try not to alienate anybody. Of course, I can't really accomplish that but still. Now, the literature I write is all the way on the other side of the spectrum, at least the one I'm working on now. I think the thing keeping me from finishing it is that, in all honesty I've never finished a project before. Not only is this project far removed from my norm, it is also such a hard reflection of the major issue I have in my writing: shallowness and a lack of structure. So I'm hoping to get some good advice and interesting perspectives from this thread.

[KRWright]

Welcome @IndigoShirtProd !

[At12MN]

• Personally, I think the purpose is to show the progress/change in the story and its characters, whether the end result is positive or negative.

• It is popular because it keeps the reader engaged throughout the story.

Those are the things that I can think of at the moment.

[saintc]

Contemporary, Historical

I just started in Historical! It was shaky, but I loved writing the book. I'm more of a contemporary writer. Which one do you prefer? Do you have a preference between contemporary and historical fiction?

• I would like to dip my toes into self publishing and attempt to monetize my work a little bit. My specific goal for this is currently to get some work formatted for print this year and try out tabling at local conventions next year! Also maybe try to actually start populating my patreon/ko-fi with content lol

So many people who want to go into this! Maybe one day we'll have a discussion about self-publishing. Welcome!

I guess my "end game" is more or less building a large readership/presence as an author. To have lots of people enjoying and invested in my stories would be the best!

I'm sure you'll get there!

@Chita Welcome to the thread.

[saintc]

Answers to the daily discussions!

What do you think is the purpose of the three act structure?

I think it's main purpose is to over a template for proper story pacing.

Why do you think this structure is the most popular amongst storytellers across the world?

Just like "The Heros Journey" it's a simplification of what works---it's one of those things that people also do subconsciously when telling stories. We all know that we need to introduce a character, and that we need to tell the important bits of our stories, and that we need to end a story (3 act structure.) It's used because it works and because it's engaging enough to an audience.

What issues do you think sticking rigidly to a three-act structure could cause?

The three-act structure is fine for most genres, but in genres like Mystery and Crime where most storytelling uses parallel timelines, and disjointed act arrangements to keep the mystery hidden, it becomes ineffective.

What novels can you think of that use a simple three act structure?

Most contemporary romance novels.

What novels can you think of that break the rules of the three-act structure?

Master Of The Game, Kiss The Girls, Tell Me Your Dreams (all Mystery and Crime novels.)

[thatcalamity]

Name: Cal
Pronouns: she/her
Genres: fantasy, horror, paranormal, romance, western
Writing journey: I honestly have no idea right now
Link to account: https://tapas.io/calblackwriter

[joannekwan]

The three act structure is basically your expanded 'every story has a beginning, middle, and end' explanation for elementary school. I'd say it's the most popular structure because it's the easiest to adhere to and gets the point across effectively. But I suppose adhering to it strictly can snuff out a lot experimentation.

Most works I've come across use the three act structure, while varying the lengths of each act of course. But I think one that does this beautifully is The Breadwinner (highly recommend it. It's on netflix!). You're introduced to the protagonist, her family and living situation. Shit goes down. She overcomes her fears and finds the courage to embark on a difficult journey where we witness her trials and tribulations. And there's a resolution for her and her family at the end.

Things that break the structure can be anything not intended to tell a set narrative with a problem to be solved or characters to be developed: the Travels of Marco Polo for example, or any sort of historical/factual account.

[MakaylaSophia]

Hello,everyone! Big thanks to @KRWilliams for starting this thread. A lot of valuable information to go around!

Preferred Name: Makayla
Pronouns: She / Her
Genres you create: Fantasy and Paranormal romances. My tag line is “romance that bites”!
Where you plan to take your writing journey: I want a combination career of writing serial fiction and traditional publishing.
Link to Tapas Account: https://tapas.io/makaylasophia