Getting through the "weaker" parts of your story

[MartaTod]

I guess we're all in the same boat here. For me, chapter one is what I feel is the "weakest" and I just want to get my readers to chapter 2 as the story gets more interesting and balanced from there.

The fear for me is because it's not like getting a finished graphic novel or a book. Because with those, a reader knows there's a moment where the slower/different chapter or scene will end and it goes back to the main mood. And they already have that next part.

Here, the readers have to wait a lot of time to see the resolutions. Honestly, if I could, I would be releasing my comic per issue instead of weekly updates, since every chapter is a complete story on its own with the main story overarching it. But it feels so hard to keep readers interested and algorithms happy with something like that. Not to mention the need to have so much more free time for these bigger releases.

[darthmongoose]

The thing that helped me through this was mainly discovering that the fear I had that any time characters weren't punching monsters, the readers would be bored, was completely untrue. Chapter 4 in particular, I was terrified because it's the only chapter with no action so far, and it's basically a "setup" chapter filling in a lot of necessary information for what's going to happen going forward. Luckily it wasn't so bad to bash on through and all the character conflict and mixing up characters in new scenarios or interacting with people we haven't seen them with before helped keep things interesting for the readers and for me to draw.

Honestly, just have faith that so long as you're supplying the readers with something fun or interesting, and so long as scenes, especially dialogue scenes, aren't dragging on for several months, you're probably fine. Sometimes readers will really surprise you and be way more excited about talking than anything else.
That said, if it's possible to avoid just two people in a room talking about what's going on by adding things that break it up or a sense of moving towards something, that's always best. A scene should ideally always feel like we're progressing towards some kind of point or resolution that has an impact on things going forward.

[smokesalty]

Funny thing is I was worried that my readers wouldn't enjoy my action scenes since my comic is super character drama focused

But yeah, I quite like when action comics take a break to spend time with the characters because I often feel it's a well needed break! I know for your comic I was quite enjoying seeing the story progress and characters spend time with each other- it makes the action later on all the more impactful.

[NickRowler]

I set up a romantic subplot for my old comic which I really wish I didn't. I sort of wrote myself into a corner with it. I never really created any pay off for it. I know if I ever add more to that series, I should try to add some conclusion to it. I guess it's sort of a pitfall I sort of set myself up for, maybe I should not have put one of the characters on the cover, it just makes it more confusing.

[Zhengo]

I was kind of worried about that too, since I have quite extensive periods where it's mostly characters talking either for setting up the next plot event or just them having fun.

But I kind of realized that those scenes should rely on the strength of the characters. If the dialogue is interesting and gets the readers invested then they shouldn't feel bored just because the content isn't flashy action.

[IndigoShirtProd]

That's how I feel about the early chapters of BBS, even after I rewrote the first chapter, I still think the 3rd one is the best so far. I'm one chapter 5 right now, but the next chapter, six, is pretty dialogue heavy, but I've t4ied to cut the script pretty short and threw in a flashback so hopefully it'll work out fine.

[Lady_T_Musings]

I feel you, though those parts are important to the whole, especially with long-form comics. It's easier to make things snappy in gag-a-day format, but full-blown stories will have periods of chill or establishing stuff, and folks that read long-form should know that.

With my story being a slow burn, I do find myself trying to find ways to reward folks that do read each update though and this has to lead to me revising my script a bit to move things along a wee bit faster, but like in no ways are we hitting Mach 5 speeds lol. It's still a slow burn, but I added more fun along the way hahaha.

It's all so interesting... I want to give a good read, but like these stories are being built up, not presented all at once, so that's what I TRY to remind myself when I hit a lul, but then I do try to think if there is a way visually to even through a side joke or cultural reference I can add a lil something to help it along.

[BoomerZ]

Every episode should be moving the story forward. As long as it is, the readers will follow it. But you also have to be careful you don't advertise something your comics/novel isn't. Starting your comic with a bunch of action and then having dialogue episodes will make readers feel you didn't deliver on what you promised. It's a tone thing. Just like if you started off making a slice of life then on episode 4 there is a boss fight with magic. It's not what you sold the audience. And here's the thing, you will lose the original audience as it is not what you advertised and you will not get the audience you want because the first episode doesn't make them want to read any more. Know your target audience and give them what they want.

[bulgariansumo]

My stories tend to be slice-of-life, so while the stakes can be a little high sometimes, that's more of an exception than the norm. I don't have to worry as much about making things super eventful. While it isn't always mutually exclusive, building the characters is more important than building the plot to me. That being said, I do find it a little hard to advertise since I either run the risk of giving too high expectations or making my stories sound really boring.

[UrMom]

I don't see why readers would think the mood shift would be 'meh', it's good to change it every now and then to put in some breathing room. If the story is constantly one mood all the time it can become stale, the story and readers need variety... within what fits the story, of course. Things can get a little slow during more chill scenes, but that's just webcomics, of course it's going to feel slow until the whole thing is finished.

With that said, I can relate to slogging through the "weaker" parts. Tbh most of my comic up until the latest chapter have been 'meh' for me just because it's generally pretty chill until that point, and despite me being nervous about what I'll be doing, I'm still excited because it's the major stuff that will be fun to draw. Although since it's been mostly chill up until some upcoming scenes my readers may have the opposite response, it may be too much too quickly, but who knows. I expect a lot of people unsubbing from my comic by the time this chapter and the next are done. Lol

[Calculus_Homework]

Heya. I hope this doesn't sound off-putting, but move away from the idea that you need to appeal to your audience with every update. Stop looking at the views and comments, or whether or not you got subs on every update. You WILL go crazy and you'll burn yourself out from it.
Also, slower parts in a story shouldn't be viewed as boring--it's all in the pacing. If things are changing direction, that's fine too! Readers who are interested in the story itself will keep reading it, regardless of the "aesthetics" or "vibes" initially given in the first couple updates. You're good to do with the story as you desire!! Since you're more concerned with the story, clearly, that's really good. And it means it'll shine through when people read on.

Don't worry about the slow parts. Don't fear something being less interesting deemed by your audience. This is YOUR story! You got this. Sounds like you're doing a great job, since you mentioned you worked hard on your recent updates to make it more enjoyable for YOU. That's awesome. Keep that up, man.

[Calculus_Homework]

I've only just started, and my story STARTS slow af. Like, it's a slow-paced first chapter. And only just this month will I be getting to a place that will kick off things that will take an interesting route.
Don't worry about it. Keep enjoying the work you do.

[Calculus_Homework]

This is super sound advice ^^^^
And that's awesome that you're telling the story your way, the way it needs to be told.

[EncryptedWriting]

I'm a writer, and I think I am picking up what you're putting down.

Sometimes there are hints in a chapter that are really useful early on, and the best advice I can give is feel free to take it slower if you need to. I notice that in chapters I claim to be "filler chapters" actually have more information in them than I expect while not having a lot fo action. I guess it's okay to not have a lot of action in a chapter/episode and to take things down for a second and add some information. Even if it is a bit "secretive", it is alright to keep things calm the first chapter or every chapter now and then. Just cause it isn't action packed that particular scene doesn't mean its weak.

[PapaDom]

Bruh, that's like the first couple of chapters in my case.

But I actually want it that way, tbh. It sucks there isn't going on that much in my story, but my readers don't seem bothered by it. It's all for the sake of introducing and establishing my characters to the audience. And once the action starts, I hope that the readers who stayed all this time around will be rewarded for their patience with my slow pace work.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

I feel like I've read stories that worked around that by mixing & alternating scenes within a chapter. Rather like a movie can flick from the action at one locale to that in another at either the same or even a different time.

[powerplantanimations]

I like to pepper little interesting convos in every episode I make. Just something that makes a person go "Oh wow, I didn't know that!" or make people go "Oh wow... I wish I didn't know that".

So whenever I'm doing an exposition, I'm like "OKAY! WHAT JOKE/FACT/FORESHADOWING CAN I DROP TODAY?!?"

This makes the slow moments so bearable.

[DualDragons]

*takes notes

[nkapit]

i just push through when I feel like it’s not as good a part in the story, because I’ve been doing this long enough to know that there are always highs and lows, and the latter are just part of the whole

[system]

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