Comic pacing? Too fast? Too slow?

DrSketchLines 2019-03-10 14:49:35 UTC #1

Hey, DrSketchLines here!

Anyone feel like their comic isn't moving fast enough? I'm under the impression that it's just poor pacing, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm so busy with real life.

Personally, I can only draw in the wee hours of the night, when my eyelids are heavy and my eyes wander onto a specific spot on my laptop screen before I realize that I almost fell asleep.

However, i'm also thinking that the reason my comic is moving slowly is because (well obviously poor writing, still working on that, but...) I'm trying to have characters interact a little bit with each other first before going on their adventure. I feel like I want to have the characters organically react and get to know each other before anything happens to them.

However, I read some comics that cut to the chase right away and are able to do the whole friendship thing a lot quicker. I guess I like to take things slower?

So what do you think? Do you also start your comics or stories slow? Having a slow rise before going on their adventure or do you have the comic drop right into the action? Any tips? Any stories?

unknown_user 2019-03-10 15:59:25 UTC #2

Unfortunately, I'm random as shit in it.

baasinsimple 2019-03-10 16:14:22 UTC #3

I'm the same way, it's tiring to keep a consistent release, I have exams coming up, which seem to be rather tense this year. Seeing as my schedule has already over packed despite the fact they don't start for another 2 months. It also doesn't help that I want to draw but I just can't seem to get my rear in gear. God, I'm so bloody exhausted.

DrSketchLines 2019-03-10 16:29:29 UTC #4

Oh wow. XD I had no idea that some people actually had diagrams for this kind of shit! That's super interesting! But I also tend to be random, especially the last couple of weeks a lot of it has to do with real life stuff and i was still writing the current chapter

DrSketchLines 2019-03-10 16:31:36 UTC #5

Oh, it really is tiring to keep it consistent. You have to write, storyboard, rewrite, make sure the storyboard is good, and that doesn't even cover real life Not to mention the fear of self-criticism and what not. It makes it super difficult to even want to pick up the pen again.

But I think you can do it if you push hard enough! Maybe lag behind a few updates and then make yourself a nice upload buffer

vothnthorvaldson 2019-03-10 16:35:54 UTC #6

I'm not sure if I can give you actual tips as I'm a beginner and still trying to sort that out too.

But because I just went through that kind of worry, I can tell you what were my conclusions.

I have the same time issues. I thought I could manage 52 pages a year to post one a week, but in the facts, even by keeping a very busy drawing schedule, I manage 40 pages a year at about 7-8 panels per page.

My first chapter is 33 pages (only 20 published for now) and I started to worry a lot about pacing because at the end of chapter 1, I barely even showed what genre the story will be. I tagged it as fantasy, but there is very little fantasy at this point. Secondary genres would be adventure, no adventure in Chap 1. Maybe romance, no romance in Chap 1. I would say Chap 1, if anything, is drama, but that's really not the genre I want to go to.
So I started wondering about the pacing and especially, if I was not taking too much time to introduce my story. Then I thought of that:

That is totally what makes my pacing slow at the beginning. And it's something I like when I read stories. It's not necessary, but I do appreciate when it's there. So in itself, no problem for me with that!

Then I went back to my comic and realized that in 33 pages, I introduced a different universe, my 4 main protagonists (not a the same time), including flashback to earlier years, several secondary characters, and, by the end of Chap 1, all the main plots elements that will drive the story are suggested.

Well, that does not look like slow pacing finally.

All that just to tell you that I managed to make the difference between the slow pace due to time constraints and the potential slow pace of the story by going back to the story and looking at the concentrations of things happening there. I don't know if you ever read your own story from beginning to end, but I would suggest you to do it (if possible after taking a break from the comic, for eg. if you were too busy for a few days to draw), and read it slowly while noting everything that happen and that is important in a way or another to the future of the story. You may be able to find pages/panels that are too much on the filler side (and know how to avoid them later), or at the contrary realize that your comic is already packed with important things!

I can read your comic if you give me the link, although as I said that won't be very skilled feedback.

ar-ninetysix 2019-03-10 16:54:57 UTC #7

I haven't really put my comic together yet, but I'm working on it. So take my advice on pacing with a grain of salt lol

Look at a scene and just describe it in a simple sentence. If your sentence is short, that's a quick scene. If it's a long one, well.. the scene's also long. You run the risk of dragging it out, and being too fast if you stick too either one. That's just for a scene, but for a whole issue, do the same thing but in a paragraph. A short paragraph tells you that there's not a lot happening, but a long one will tell you that there's a lot going on. It's up to you to decide where emphasize the pacing.

And that's fine, take it slow if you want. You'll have an advantage of bringing the characters much closer and establishing a better connection between them and your readers. You can do it that way if you want!

Is there any reason you can't have them get to know each other as the adventure is starting? You can still have a slow start in that sense and still have them bond together over what might be the easiest part of their shared journey. It's a little different than having them hanging out at campfire or whatever, but you might as well have them talk with each other as they're heading towards their destination. Like, this part doesn't have to be some filler "look at 'em have fun" kinda stuff lol develop the friendships while they're on the go, you get me?

All in all, do what you want, it's your story. If you wanna go slow, go slow. Just be aware of the readers; perception of it lol I'm starting mine after the climactic action, the aftermath, as a prologue, and going slow from there.

DrSketchLines 2019-03-10 17:06:03 UTC #8

Ah thanks so much for your response. I'll have to work on the "friendship on the go" situation a bit more within writing. Haha! Really though, thanks for the feedback! And interesting how you're structuring your story. To be honest my comic is more 'off the cuff'.

Thanks so much for telling me how you're planning on doing your story as well. I'm a super duper new beginner at writing and only recently have gotten into actually writing and things. I think around chapter 2 is where I actually started writing. I noticed when I read chapter 1 that it just dragged on and on and on because there was no script or anything. NO writing in place. So having an experienced writer describe how they'd go about doing things (and explaining their mindset) really helps~ Thank you!

DrSketchLines 2019-03-10 17:12:08 UTC #9

Wowee! That's honestly an incredible pace for your comic! I can only really muster 4 comic panels at a time My poor readers, which isn't very much (not pulling pity card, promise).

That's interesting, thank you so much for the feedback! I'm going to have to write more of the story then really sit down and read it to make sure it lines up well with what I want from it. I haven't really thought about it like that before, to be honest. I haven't started actually writing my comic until around, I think, Chapter Twoooo??? So i'm a super duper beginner! Any kind of feedback is great! Plus I do love hearing how other writers write and structure their comic/story. It really helps me to envision what I should be doing!

https://tapas.io/series/A-Wizard-and-A-Cat. Here's the link for the comic if you'd like to read it, though please don't feel forced to do so!

Just be wary about Chapter 1 :C Like i said, i never really started writing until around chapter 2, and chapter 1 really drags on due to not having a script or any wort of writing. Chapter 3 is where writing is in full force, but I just started the chapter :F Again, feel free to read it, or don't! I'd hate to force you to read it, just to garner views or something like that.

punkarsenic 2019-03-10 17:20:15 UTC #10

webcomics across the board have weird pacing - its rare to see a webcomic update faster than maybe four pages a week, an average i see is 1-2 pages a week. no matter how you pace that within the story, it takes a looooong time to get somewhere.

because of this sloggish update pace, webcomics as a medium favour snappy pacing - pacing that would be enthralling in a graphic novel can be wholly unsatisfying when chopped up into teeny little bites. i dont think this means everyone making a webcomic must maintain a snappy pace - i think its worth people being aware of what each update adds to their story, and of pageturn hooks, but i also think that slow, understated, meditative pacing can work in a webcomic, particularly with the option to binge. but it likely wont be as popular as something that grabs peoples attention.

my webcomic used to be increeeeeeeeedibly slow, with 20 page dialogue scenes coming out over several months. but when i changed my writing setup i started putting two standards on every two page chunk:

1: the story must move forward in some way
2: the audience must be left hanging on what happens next

2 doesnt necessarily need to be a life-or-death cliffhanger, but just cutting off a conversation on a question, introducing a new character, a character gets a text - whatevers gonna happen in episode 2 should start to happen at the end of episode 1, so people can easily leap from chunk to chunk.

imo if you do that, plus maybe fill this time with some foreshadowing and good dense character establishment, a slow buildup wont feel redundant or slow at all. starting in-media-res (the funky term for when ppl cut straight to the action) is only one technique for making a story engaging, and wont work for every comic.

DrSketchLines 2019-03-10 17:34:29 UTC #11

Yeah, to be honest I was debating whether or not to update weekly or to just not, and upload a fully finished chapter once it's finished, probably ranging to a montly release.

I'm going to have to work on the 'page turner'. I know that Junji Ito was super great at it, but when doing it myself, I'm kinda left clueless! XD

"in-media-res", oh wow :o I looked it up and it doesn't feel like that method is for this particular comic. Thanks for mentioning the term and also pointing out that character establishment doesn't always have to equate to slow pacing or plain redundance! This was one of the biggest things I was bitting my nails about, thinking to myself 'Oh god... maybe I should speed the pace up???'.

Those two points i'm definnitely going to have to keep to heart! I feel it's really important. Thanks so much for sharing your input and experience! I'm really glad I get to learn from a community that's more experienced in the world of webcomics.

vothnthorvaldson 2019-03-10 18:01:17 UTC #12

(I realized that I only have 5-6 panels per page now, My mind stayed stuck on my first layout that I changed quite quick).

So I just read (you don't force me if I'm the one who proposed to read ), and I think you already have a good understanding of the situation. Chapter 1 is too long and does not go anywhere, and you already know why. There is a huge improvement after, so I do think you are going in the good direction.
(I like this idea of a very normal (for the reader) person trying to fit in in a bizarre community which is that world's normal, and that the protagonist don't understand. You can certainly get something out of that idea).

Merle 2019-03-10 18:44:40 UTC #13

After being confused with what pacing really is and how to define it, I came to the conclusion that I rather ignore it lol.
I go by two rules:
1. Whatever is happening, make it interesting. When you can make the peeling of an Egg interesting (that´ smt my dad would say haha), you´ve truly mastered your Craft.
2. Let whatever happen, that you think needs to happen, and cut out all the rest.
Maybe I´ll be paced one day and enlighted, but for now I´ll be sticking to this.

ble 2019-03-10 20:57:10 UTC #14

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JeanGuillet 2019-03-10 21:10:48 UTC #15

I've actually been very surprised that my initial estimates for the entire comic production schedule are bang on target. I knew this was gonna take forever! At the time I thought I was making a wild guess, but it's turned out exactly as I figured it would with production vs. the pace of the story. It's turned out to be about one comic 'episode' per single-spaced prose page, except for fights, which take much longer in comic format and much shorter in prose, and that's held remarkably consistent.

Last year (my 4th year of CG) I drew 1204 panels, which if you figure 6 per page is 200 pages, and if you figure 22 page issues, that's 9 comic books. Nine comic books you'd expect to move through quite a lot of story, and I do...yet people are still sometimes confused because of the large amount of information that's going into the story. So I'm getting these mixed signals, audience on one hand tends to enjoy the slower pace...me on the other hand says - ugh must draw faster....never enough time in the day is there?

nixxusnibelheim 2019-03-10 23:54:44 UTC #16

I'm kinda a slow starter too but I learned that you should always know where each scenes or conversations go.
Everything should have a purpose.
Knowing where you want to go/say in a sequence, help you see the fluff you can cut out.

If you like to set up a scene organically, make sure that the "set-up" doesn't overpowered the actual purpose of the scene.
If you can link the"set-up" to the actual core of the scene, it's definitely better and will feel smooth !

I struggle a lot with it because I have the tendency to go on tangent xD so I usually write one scene multiple times until I have something I'm happy with (cutting out the unecessary stuffs, writing straight away what matter etc)
Hope it helps !

StorySeamstress 2019-03-11 16:44:38 UTC #17

Totally this! It's so much easier for me to see what needs to happen within that two-page chunk when I have some sort of goal/cliffhanger/value change in mind for the final frame.