Choosing to tell a story by comic or novel

[redfish]

I found that producing a 'quality' comic takes too much time for me to go page by page, especially when some the stories I want to tell are quite long. But I do find it is so much easier and quicker for me to write! I had the feeling I may actually be able to see the end of a story project if I write it instead of trying to draw it.

This is especially during research, since for writing you only need to make mention of several things you found out, but for drawing, you need to somehow translate all of that into continuous art.

I've tried different modes of comic art, even letting them be messier and such. But the slight perfectionist in me still ends up spending so much time per page.

I'm confident enough in my writing so I thought I could do a web novel with lots of illustrations added in but the more I try to write, the more I wish I could just convert most of it into comic panels instead.

Has anyone else faced this problem? What made you choose between comic and novel?

[DualDragons]

Simple, I just like reading comics more than novels or books. That holds up for making them too.
That, and I felt my story would fit in more as a comic

[surenlicious]

I did both. Well sorta. I began with my novel and am helping that novel along with a mini-comic series. My story is better told as a novel however, but for the people who can't handle reading the whole things its why I made it easier to sample bits and pieces of it through my mini-comic series.

I chose to make tiny comics as it let's me have a better control over the quality of art, as I do want to deliver on quality and not on quantity. Still learning lots on comics though.

[ninjashira]

I consider myself an artist first and a writer second, so my default is to plan things to be a comic at some point, but it is definitely significantly more time-consuming to do a comic. A fast writer can finish a novel in a couple months, while that same story told in a comic might take 2-3 years to complete.

I think it just comes down to priorities. If it's more important to you to write lots of stories and finish lots of projects, then complete them as novels. But if you have one story that is really important to you that you want to tell in a visual format, then it might be worth it to you to take the time to make it into a comic.

Maybe also consider your target audience... Who do you want to reach with your story? For example, if you write romance and you do it as a novel, the people reading it will mostly be middle-aged women. However, if you make a romance comic, the people reading it will mostly be teenage and young adult girls.

[Freemints30]

Eh depends on how long the project is.

If I want a faster project due to the fact the content is rather packed and I have limited time. I would go with novel. If I can do it within 6 years and is relatively light I go with comics.

The content also determines weather I pick comic or novel since I know violence and graphic scenes have an easier time without someone flagging and being being on the app in novels compared to comics.

Its dumb but it is what it is.
So PG-13, G and Teen would be for my comics

Anything M rated Novels. Until the day where people stop treating ALL comics are children's media, regardless of content.

This is coming from someone who regularly reads Gorey horror manga.

[elyss]

I feel your pain, I'm in a similar situation. I've just decided to bite the bullet and do a comic. I got a great book on writing scripts and have learned ALOT. My story has a lot of trimmed fat now and I've managed to get the comic to 300 pages. I work quicker than most here, so to me that's winning by a lot.

[joannekwan]

Depends on a few factors

1. Length of story. If it's a really long story and you want it complete in under 5 years, writing a novel is the way to go. Heck, it took me 5 years to complete a comic that was only 50 pages in script format. Imagine translating my 350 page novel into a comic! It would take an eternity! (The novel itself was completed in like a year and a half)

2. How intimately you want your readers to know your characters. Prose allows for a greater opportunity to get into your character(s) head(s). You can write about their thoughts or feelings to a high degree whereas for comics, it's all visual unless you want to break the show don't tell rule and include copious amounts of thought bubbles or narration boxes.

3. How strongly you can visualize it. If the story plays out very cinematically in your head and you have a specific vision and need to relate what everything looks like, then comics will be a better choice.

[kitschensyngk]

I'm a pretty good writer as well as an artist, but ultimately I decided I was more of a visual storyteller.

Words or pictures - pick whichever one you're more comfortable with.

[rajillustration]

My comic was a novel that I wrote, turned into a comic because I didn't think it would get published anywhere, and then after I did it for a few years as a comic, turned it back into a novel and now I'm just releasing it here as a webnovel side by side. And while it's the same story, I consider it two totally different stories because the vibe is so, so different.

Like when you do a comic you have to cut so much emotional connection with the character because you aren't in their head all the time. You cut a ton of lore, you cut just...so much content. So while I enjoyed the fun energy of the comic and how I could tell jokes a certain way--it's a lot lighter than the novel and it's also a lot less mature--I was absolutely fine with letting it go when it didn't get enough subs and continue the rest as a book. Books are just more flexible, they take less time, and you don't feel as much of a commitment. With comics there is just...so much time being put into that. When you don't get back what you put in it's like...hard to justify finishing it

[Undertaildoof34]

I was ten when i began working on my first novel and i chose a novel because i felt my art sucked and at the time it looked better to my peers that i be writing than doodling. Because apparently drawing was somewhat wastfull or less valued than writing. So i spent a few years writing and i still practiced drawing.
Started getting decent at art and that's when Webtoon came out with their yearly comic contest and i knew i had to try.
OH my GOSH, i spent a hole month with my writing on pause for that comic.
I took time to write out the storyline make it sweet and then came the art.
Literally, my schedule while working on the comic was drawn, eat, draw, snooze for a bit and then repeat. But i did it i got a hole comic flushed out and colored!
That is how i learned i am able to write more than draw.
Now don't get me wrong i like drawing but a comic maker's life.... it's not for me.
but hey at least i finished the comic and right now I'm proud to say the novel series i started when i was ten is being finished up.

[johnnytuturro]

Obviously novels because I can't draw and because I have no experience in comics. I think that because I have more practice within the novel writing side of things. I'd like to draw illustrations for this (eventually) you know?