How did you guys get confident enough in your story to start it?

[Harmony-S-S]

I had confidence in my story.

[punkarsenic]

i dont think i really did, i just... started. kinda regret it - if i had a complete plan actually drawn out before start, i think things woulda been easier. but then, your first comic is always.... interesting

really though, at your first comic, you need to stop giving a fuck. accept that therell be flaws, that itll be maybe not the most original thing, not the best writing or best art youll ever make. but its necessary to make something kinda crap to every make something kinda good - and itll prolly be less crap than you think!

that all said, make sure you have a plan of the entire plot before you start

[Heliox14]

You know, that's almost exactly my problem!
Background People was my first foray into writing. I had everything set up in my head: the characters, the plot, the interactions...everything! It was a breeze at first: writing down a chapter almost every week.
Then it kinda burned out. That's putting it lightly. It completely stopped.
I rewrote it, and I didn't like how it turned out. So I scrapped it, and started working on other things.

My point? Don't rush things. Don't think ahead that you're already thinking about how it's going to end. Spend some time fleshing out everything, even down to the little details. It's going to help, and when you finally complete it, it'll feel loads better. Trust me.
If you're feeling unconfident the first time, that's fine! You can always go back to your stuff, and rework it! It's only when you think it's good enough (after loads of revisions) that you can post it!

And another thing: write everything down. Write it down: plan your stuff, develop it, and then maybe share it to a friend or two. Maybe what he/she/they will say might help you feel really good with your stuff.

[SeraphicMayin]

I believe my confidence came from two things when I started:
+ I wanted to see the story exist in the world
+ and the only way this would happen is if I made it.

You lose confidence halfway if you try to judge and edit your work while still in the midst of creating the story.

The mind space for creating a story is expansive, imaginative, and just loosely controlled enough that you stay in range of your story but still allow yourself to explore.

The mind space for editing a story is cutting, tightening, making things concise, and weighing and ordering each scene so that it serves the story overall.

These two things move in opposite directions so doing both while writing is like going forward, stopping then going reverse and stopping and so on. You may still stutter-step ahead but it'll be a jerky and disconcerting process.

Nowadays I gained confidence through studying story and how it works for a visual format. Comic writing is similar to screenwriting so I recently finished Story by Robert McKee and man did it open my eyes to a whole new way of thinking about stories.

Confidence is a mindset. Don't you feel confident when you have a sense of what you're doing? Rather than feeling out of your depth? My advice is to earnestly study the foundation of Storycraft, especially screenplay and stories made to be visual.

I have a small series of threads on which I'm summarizing my notes on aforementioned book. If you'd like to check them out to see if you want to learn more from the book here are the links:

EDIT: Here's where I'll keep Links to the other forum posts I've made on the subject of Story Tips on Fundamental Story Structure Hello there! I'd like to discuss what makes a Story. We may feel as aspiring Storytellers that we have an intuitive understanding of 'what a story is about', but do we? Do we really? Our goal as Storytellers is to weave a tale as clearly as possible. Would it not follow that we should be able to define what a Story is about? Knowing our field will make us bet…

Hello all, I'm back with a long post about stuff I learnt that I wanna share with fellow creators. I hope this helps someone~ Again all of my notes here are derived from my notes on Story by Robert Mckee. All the definitions given are direct quotes, more or less. A "Good Story" means something worth telling that the world wants to hear, and I mean hear on a core Human level. A master Storyteller is one who can, from infinite possibilities, select but a few moments of a Character's life story…

Hello!~ I've made two other forum threads so far: What Makes a Story and Fundamental Story Structure, and now I plan on expanding into the topics of Setting and how to cure Cliche scenes. (>vO)/ Let's get right to it shall we? [As before, the following is from my notes on Story by Robert McKee. If you'd like a resource on fundamentals of Story, how it works, what it is, how to make an effective visual story, this is the textbook for you!] The Setting The primary method for combating …

[SeraphicMayin]

I don't think this is a sad point at all. If anything it's deeply motivating.

Human beings do not like to think about death but that's allowing fear to guide us and allow us to live in the temporary illusion that we will live forever.

Memento Mori means to Remember Death. Remember your mortality. It is a Stoic (As in the philosophy of Stoicism) practice.

Life is too short and I'm really happy you brought this up. I just want to say that it IS a healthy way of thinking. It's only unhealthy if you allow the idea of death to depress you into a "oh what does it even matter" mindset.

But if it motivates you, drives you to make something of our precious life here on this Earth! Then. Then you're simply walking the path that Stoics both ancient and modern are walking with you as well.

So please don't apologize; this is not a melancholic thought imo. But a liberating one.

[Penni]

I don't think it was necessarily confidence that caused me to start my story; it was just an overwhelming urge to write out the story that was playing out in my head. I wasn't at all confident sharing it in the beginning but I decided that if I wanted to be serious about potentially advancing my writing into something more, then I would have to get past the fact that someone was going to have to see it. Additionally, I knew I would never be able to improve if someone didn't see it.

So I took a chance and I think it's been pretty good so far! I know there will be bumps in the road but I am looking forward to growing and learning more

[FedoraSpooky]

It took me about 6 years to end up with what I feel is a solid story for my comic, and I'd rewritten it several times since I started thinking seriously about it. I think what really helped in my case was finally going "okay I've been fiddling around with various character ideas and the main premise long enough, I need an outline."

Once I figured out how I wanted my story to end and what the main conflict would be, the rest just kind of fell into place by working backwards from there, if that makes sense? It really helped when it came to working out character arcs as well. I did have to toss aside some cool scene ideas and stuff that I'd clung to since the beginning since they no longer made sense, but really it was for the best.

So yeah tl;dr - Once you have your main plot and ending figured out, as well as the character arcs for your primary characters, I'd say that's a pretty good launching pad to start from.

You don't need to have it all scripted out to the most minute detail before you get started on pages either, I've been keeping the details like dialogue and paneling fairly loose just so stuff remains interesting to me as I work on it. So long as I know what needs to happen next, it's all good!

[spadesart]

oh i Definitely made some terrible decisions but i learned you gotta just. do it and dive right into it. i learned from pushing back starting a project for 2 years because i didn't think it was 'perfect' enough to start that sometimes you just have to risk it.

[Allanbrito]

I think that there is no a bad story, there a bad presented story. The thing is that you have to present your story in a way that the viewer or in this case, the reader can understand enough to have questions about somthing and leave the reader with the sensation they want to really know what's up with the characters. I believe that it's not about the style and perfection of the drawings, My comic is not perfect, the drawings are weird sometimes but still I focus a lot on the writting, how the characters interact and let the characters to explain whats going on.
With time, training and a lot of effort and patience you'll get something good. Don't worry. You don't have to be confident, just keep posting stuff, and finish you projects with dignity, because to me, having a project incomplete is really undignifing for that project.

[chickknightgreenleaf]

I simply write it out first then review what I had just written logically, looking for plot hole, inconsistency, any illogical flaw in the story line, fix all the flaw you can spot, rewrite again, publish it, and... hope for the best.

[CarolRiverArt]

I start thimking about a story, then I made changes (i read over again in case it needs changes), you know, to get it better. Then I publish it without thinking it too much. You should lose the fear of critics, people do that anyway, and those things are even good for you!. When you read your story, and you share it with close friends and feel that is finished, you can publish it!, and then, you will learn in the way, with people comments, with other experiences.

But my recommendation is, publish it!!

[moonfixer]

I just end up putting myself out there because I got tired of everything being more important than what
I love to do. Also, the comic i have on tapas now is also there to help me get back in the habit of drawing regularly.

[joannekwan]

I think what boosted my confidence the most is to just ignore that there are other people out there. Do the thing you love for yourself. I get a lot of pride out of just seeing a project complete so that's what I'm always aiming to do, have another piece finished under my belt even if they're not masterpieces.

Don't burden yourself with what others would think, do it for you!

[Shanny8]

Never was an issue of "becoming confident"- just a matter of doing something that really interested me to the level of "I GOTTA do this!".

[DiegoPalacios]

While i was confident in my story because most people i showed it really enjoyed it , i wasn`t confident in my capability to post consistently. During that time i developed a habit to draw one page per week during 2 months (on average 9 pannels). This helped me to build up a buffer. After some encouragement from my mom, i got the courage to start uploading here on Tapas.

[CarolRiverArt]

That's my secret captain...
I´m never confident ORZ

[BobbyjoeX]

same here, but also i knew if i stayed in the planning stages i would never get out

[kybrehowe]

Great question, aqua03!

To be honest, I didn't have confidence at all when I first started publishing on Tapas. I kept telling myself "The story's not finished. I'm still unsure how it will all end. I need to work on the lore more."

And that was my problem -- I was so much of a perfectionist that I kept myself from the most crucial aspect of artistry, which was to take a dang step forward.

We live in a wonderful era for the arts, especially for writing and illustrating, because we can publish an amiable product. True art is like a living being: it always changes and is improved upon. So we have the freedom to go ahead and publish, even if we may not have all of our shit together. Having that support system of readers behind your back truly becomes your main drive as you push forward to finish your story.

So do I know how my story will end? I got an idea, but only time will tell. In the meantime, allow the readers to enjoy the ride along with you, because storytelling is all about the journey, anyhow. And if you ever need to go back and edit a page or two, go right on ahead! It will only make your storytelling that much stronger.

[fleohr]

I was having a lack of confidence when I started working on a comic for LW's contest. First, I tried to make a romance, then a thriller, and finally a horror + thriller. The reason I kept changing is because I always thought my ideas weren't good enough or someone already made something similar or even I'm overthinking about the plot

Recently, I realized that I don't always have to make something that is logical or makes sense. So I can let my creative side try to make something unusual, but cringe

There's a comic called "Tales of Unusual" the Beauty Water episode is the most non-logical I've read, but the story is pretty good and funny in some parts

TL;DR Since comics are fictions based on something we read/experienced, we can choose to change it and make a complete different story, even if it's non-logical and unlike to happen

[NickRowler]

I think I was just really really sad and I felt like was drawing. So I kept going and going until I made about 40 pages, I then took a break then came back and did another 40 pages. I was having a hard time telling people what was happening to me IRL, so I posted the comic as my cry for help.

I don't think my way is necessarily the best way but that is how I got used to posting.