Do you guys believe that if something, "ain't broke don't fix it" but with comics/novels?

[AmazementComics]

Some people in the past have told me where they would want my universe to go in the future. I'm not an advocate of subscribing to fan service simply because the vision of how my universe is being shaped isn't in line with theirs and they think they can run it better than I can. Share your thoughts down below .

• Yes
• No

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[keii4ii]

Sooo I see two questions here:

A) "do you believe if it ain't broken, don't fix it applies to comics/novels?"
B) "how do you feel about changing your story to fit what the readers want?"

Genuine question, how are A) and B) related? They seem like two separate topics to me.

[AmazementComics]

Put it this way: If A means don't fix it, then you don't listen to what people are saying that should be fixed. B is taking the approach of what people are saying you should fix. Just think of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how its universe was established if that example didn't help.

[keii4ii]

I wouldn't change my story in a way I don't like, just because some of the readers want it that way.

That being said, just because my comic isn't "broken" doesn't mean I would not try to improve it... which is why I see this as separate topics. In fact, let me divide it into three:

I would not bend my vision and turn it into a watered down product.

I MAY make compromises to broaden my reach, as long as it doesn't alter my core vision. (e.g. I'm fluent in Korean and English, and my comic's dialogs are canonically in Korean and English. Ideally, I would write the Korean dialogs in Korean, and English ones in English. But that would limit my audience to bilingual people who understand both Korean and English. So I choose to write it in only one language.)

I may also try to improve my comic, even if it isn't exactly "broken." This would be for myself, to make my comic something I can be truly happy with.

[keii4ii]

I will also add that I can sympathize with your struggle. It can be very demotivating to have people tell you, "I don't like what you're doing. Change it like this, so I will like it better!" It really, really sucks. But you gotta stick to your guns, because this is YOUR comic. They ain't paying you a living wage to make it for them. They don't get to tell you what to do.

[MReddragon]

I believe my story is mine but if someone brings up a genuine plot hole I can address it. I've been on the side where people tell you where things should go... To me, that is not ok. People even tried to fix characters

[AmazementComics]

See, that's just not right. You can write you characters how you want them written.

[MReddragon]

Yeah, I was not happy about people wanting me to change character personalities just because the main character used foul language.

[DualDragons]

No and yes.

No: i would never seriously change my story just so people are pleased with it.
After all, the goal of my comic is to draw people to it who are genuinely interested in it and not those that want to change it to how they see fit.

Yes: fanservice/no fanservice aside, i do believe that everything can be improved on. This can be things like art style, writing, certain scenes. Doesn't mean that something is bad though. You could have a really good scene but there are always tiny things that can be improved to make it even better

[yansusu]

I wouldn't change my story's direction just because readers told me. I tried this once and basically took out a chunk of the story which didn't influence the direction but made the whole thing smaller. In the end, I'm putting all of that back in there now that I'm revising because I feel that the story actually needs this.
So I definitely wouldn't do it again. Readers can't see where things are going and they'll often miss the small hints that are strewn throughout the novel. If a lot of that goes missing because of arbitrary changes, then that'll make more trouble in the end and I actually believe that the readers who first suggested that change would be the first ones to abandon the story and go read something else. In fact, I believe that readers don't really know what they want. They just think they do but they'd hate the result if the author really implemented it (And yes, this has happened to me back then. The ones crying the loudest stopped reading.)

On the other hand, a bit of fan service is alright with me. Like, I'm often doing specials for my main series. If a loyal reader wrote a comment like "Wouldn't it be interesting if ..." and I agree that it would be interesting even if it doesn't fit the story, then I'm absolutely willing to pretend it's real for a special and give my readers some satisfaction. I think that's a good middleground.

[allenT]

My answer is Yes and No. And 'time' is the key factor.

Yes in most situation. Comics/novels need some consistency throughout the series. If you develop a style or formula you/they like, then good for you to keep them. A consistent formula also helps building an image/brand if you want people to recognize your work. On the other hands, some web-comics/novels are very experimental, they could be the exceptions.

But no if you're keeping the same formula for a very long time, even it is good, people will probably get bored. They'll think your stuff has become very samey. But i think most creators will have the strong urge to change something or jazz it up with a different approach. There's got to be changes, that's the natural way to be.

[Iris-Grimoire]

Slightly the same as everyone else - the comic is mine and I'm not answering a higher up, if I want to keep things that way because it gives me that good serotonin, sure, and if I want to change things, also sure.

On fan feedback, I'll make small changes that fit within the space I made for this (like say, I want more of these characters interacting, or this part of the plot is poorly explained/problematic/just plain bad, or I want to see more evidence of X fact), but I'm not changing entire estabilished and alright plots and scenes just to bend to someone else's will. I've been burned by that on other shows(especially ones that let theories and underdogs eclipse the original themes), I wouldn't do that to my fans either.

[darthmongoose]

I'm unlikely to change my plot due to fan input, and I'd prefer not to become the kind of writer who would change their story to be different because somebody in the comments correctly predicted what will happen based on the trail of clues I've laid out and how well I've got across how my characters think, because that never really works well in comics I've read.

However, I might have to change my plot if say, a big movie or show came out with a really similar plot to what I wanted to do. It doesn't matter that my story is already all planned out, people would still think I was ripping it off, like how people treated the series "Zombie Powder" by Kubo Tight really badly by saying it was too much like Trigun, which came out just a little time before, or similarly Percy Jackson actually predates Harry Potter, but people call that a ripoff. It's annoying, but what can you do?
Also if a real-world tragedy happened and something in my comic was too similar in a way that'd feel insensitive, I'd potentially change things a bit.

If the comic got popular enough to have a decent sized community with fandom memes, I'd probably incorporate references to them in easter eggs. I regularly put in-jokes I have with my friends into backgrounds in comics I make anyway, and it's a fun way to show the readers that I value them.

I'd also potentially change elements of my world, characters etc. if there was critical backlash about how I was portraying marginalised groups from people in those groups. I can't please everyone, obviously, but if say, a lot of people of east-asian ethnicity were saying, "You're portraying your east-asian characters in a problematic way" I would definitely want to talk to them about that and perhaps look into changing how I do things, even if it meant changing elements of the world and plot.

Basically, I'm open to changing my comic if it makes it better, or avoids upsetting people. I have plenty of ideas, so I'm not scared that if I have to change it I'll never make anything else as good, but plot-wise I do feel like changing it is hard to do well if I've set up clues that clearly lead to a different outcome.

[AirisKiahin]

There's no perfect formula for any story, so it is really hard to have any objective opinion on the stuff happening. That's why there will always be people who think they know how to make the sorry better. Well, they don't

You are the author so it's you and only who knows how to tell the story. Changing the main plot just because of the readers may ruin the whole story causing logical holes. Or you may just lose interest because your "child" is now too different from what you love.

If the readers so desperately want to see something they imagined, maybe it's better to offer them to write fanfics. Because most of your readers just read YOUR story and enjoy YOUR story. They are here for YOU, not for other people.

However, it is good to hear what your fans say. And then it comes to fan service.

As for me I do things the following way:
My main plot follows the original storyboard. I may add some additional scenes on some occasions. For example, people were too worried because of one of the character's intentions. I didn't want them to feel this character as a pervert, so I needed to find a way to explain his behavior. And I've added a scene of his thoughts and explained he didn't intend to do anything bad. That didn't change the plot but helped me to communicate with my readers.

Many people ask for NSFW stuff or just ship characters hard. But characters relationship develop too slow and I don't want to turn my comics of relationship into some porn with poor plot. And here is the decision: Patreon

There I try to communicate with my fans, they vote on the bonus art and bonus comics. I listen to their wishes and respect them. I mean, these are my true fans, they even pay for that. And I draw (almost) whatever they want. And it works great, because:
- main story doesn't suffer and I keep it as I've planned
- my fans receive what they want
- I even make some money of that

[AVXP]

I'm not an advocate of subscribing to fan service simply because the vision of how my universe is being shaped isn't in line with theirs and they think they can run it better than I can.

Your first two words are "some people" and really, I think, the answer to all of this is stickied right there.
How many or what percentage of your readership is "some people"?

If it's a huge number, then somewhere there's a failure to guide their expectations in a logical direction. A creative breaks with the projected course to add a surprise - and usually, if done right, YOUR ideas are better than theirs.
A known fact is that you have a huge % of your story in your head (or written down somewhere) - fans are only going by what you already gave them- and using that history to imagine what comes next.

Wanting MORE of something makes sense too and it's up to the creative to satisfy the readers and be true to the original vision that made them readers in the first place.

If it's a small number then I don't think this needs a ton of scrutiny. I mean, who hasn't heard terrible ideas from readers?

[AmazementComics]

Your first two words are "some people" and really, I think, the answer to all of this is stickied right there.How many or what percentage of your readership is "some people"?

There's no need for a percentage. You don't necessarily need to calculate what number of people are trying to tell you to change your stories. The majority of the people who give me suggestions aren't subscribers. Yet they try to tell me why it's not good to them because of some plot point they don't agree with.

[AVXP]

I don't think you understood my comment. If a lot of people are telling you something, it means more than if it's only a few.

Long as we're here.
What is your poll for?
Yes means yes to what and no means no to what?

[AmazementComics]

Yes means that the formula your using to create the story is working without fan output. No means that you allow fans to have a little authority over how you create your story. It's in the question if you think about it carefully.

[AVXP]

I know it's your thread and I don't want to go off the rails, but that's why I asked.
My answer is yes to both choices.

Yes, I know my story works by the amount that dig it and also yes, I can make small adjustments to bring clarity or increase the stuff they like and decrease the stuff they don't.
Now, in this case, you seem to be talking about your entire universe and you don't say what specifically they have some issues with- so it's hard to tell.

[AmazementComics]

That's just my example. It can pertain to your story/novel, etc. There's no shortage of possible fictional worlds you could incorporate into any story. My example is MY comic's universe of stories. So technically, you're answer should be Yes and No.