How long did your finish your storyline?

[hikizuu]

Hey guys~~~

I'm planning to make a comic and post it here in Tapastic. But first, I need to plan out everything first. I'm thinking that I should finish the entire plot before turning it into a comic form. It might take a slow pace since I'm an upcoming freshman in college so I'll get busy a lot.

For those who have already finished the entire plot before turning it into a comic, how long did it took you?

[scythe]

About five years, but it was very on and off.

[heterodont]

Seven-ish years but roughly two or three were just me juggling different plot ideas. The remaining years were spent fleshing out the world + characters + story. I didn't even finish writing the plot before I started on my comic (which I regret bc I missed out on early foreshadowing + explanation but what are ya gonna do).

I did figure out how the thing is ending like summer of last year though lol.

[AnnaLandin]

From the moment I had the first idea for the characters, to the moment when I had a workable outline with a beginning, middle and end, it took me about three years - but I spent at least one of those three years just ignoring the project altogether, since I'd hit a wall trying to come up with my primary antagonist.

Once I'd come up with the primary antagonist, I outlined the whole thing in less than two weeks.

[UzukiCheverie]

10+ years, still working on it u o u

[Marvin]

I began with characters I liked and wanted to use, then as they started to grow in my head (personnality, looks etc) I created the ambiance and tone of the comic.
It then took me a bit more than a year to have the overall storyline but some steps in the middle keep changing and aren't completely written. During that year, I wrote as much as I drew my character's designs, the places, the different tests of how my comic would look like etc.
And of course everything is not written yet, just planned out. I keep writing regularly, whenever a particular scene suddenly makes sense. (Most of the time I plan a scene and I'm like "I'll never be able to write this, I have absolutely no idea how to make it interesting" and then a month or two later, it just pops into my head while I'm in the bus. And I just let my characters do the talking =D)

So, depending of the kind of story you're writing, I would advice not to stall too much the start of your comic (if it's the death note kind, then of course it will have to be planned thouroughly :D)
If you have something like BEGINNING (Point A) ---> Event A ---> Event B ---> Event C --> Event D (etc) ---> END (Point B)
with the first(s) chapter written, then it's probably enough. Don't fix too many things in stone, you'll probably have ideas while drawing your chapters =)

[ashriott]

Urpp a long time... I was casually thinking of the story and characters of my current comic for years. I drew a few versions of it where I thought I could just dive in and come up with the story as I go, but I always end up dropping it cause of writer's block... and I hated on the art ><

Finally, I sat down and took it seriously, came up with a proper plot, did a lot of scraping and reworking and finally came to actually writing a very very detailed summary of the whole story. This part took about 2-3 years to complete. Even so, I won't say everything is set in stone, I am still changing a lot of the writing when it's translated to comic format. In total, it took approx 6-8 years to write. Though I was occasionally very on and off with writing, due to studies and all. I think it will take me another 10 years to finish drawing everything. Omg why, I'm gonna have to draw faster D:

[Doubtcent]

Let's see... it had to have been from when I started writing, so seven years old until I die.

[TristanJensen]

I'm not the best storywriter. I basically just got an idea 2 years ago while I was teaching myself how to draw in a manga format and I've been working since then to make it into a story... I recently got the plot put together about a month ago and I'm just filling in the blank areas now.

[joannekwan]

For Demon House I came up with the plot in a week and with most of the script it in a couple months. Just came up with an ending a week ago. So five months total. I'm still fleshing out the exact dialogue in the latter half, but there's tons of time before my drawing will catch up with the script so I don't have to truly finish it for a while.

For Heavy Horns I got the plot down in two weeks and I've got most of the script set. As with Demon House I'm doing the later dialogue as I go.

Usually I outline plots rather quickly, several months at most, it's just fine-tuning them and actually writing scenes and dialogue that can take years.

[SethJH]

I spent 10 years so far doing worldbuilding, and haven't really come up with a plot until about 2 years ago. It's not fully fleshed out yet, there are still some missing details and reasons for things, but I've already got the ball rolling. Even then, there are still multitudes of other stories I have planned to tell in the world I've built. I can imagine this project will last me a long time further, but fortunately it's something I enjoy and couldn't imagine what I would have done with my freetime if not for this.

[Cairas]

about two years for me, but I worked day and night, even at work i was writing down ideas. I worked very very hard to get it done that quick.

[fishy]

About a year on and off. I wasn't even planning on publishing it before my other ones until I realized the overall premise was kinda short. I guess if you put your mind to it it'll take a lot less time. Especially when you have a more simple storyline.
While I guess I do have the entire plot mapped out, it's just vague plot points that I can elaborate on or change up a little when I get there. I at least have enough future events sort of vaguely floating in my head to make foreshadowing.

[abbastudios]

One day to a few years.

Your mileage may vary.

[igneriss]

From the first time those characters appeared in my head to first sketch of pages I'm currently uploading, it's been about 6 years. BUT! After the first year I dropped the series for few years, and the current version is almost completely different. It took me about one year to rethink the story and finally start drawing, I think c: And some details are still changing

[Amymone]

From the moment, I first get an idea for a story, I keep it in a stash with other ideas and then slam them together over time, so by the time I need to start working on the official outlines from beginning to end, I crank them out like a factory LOL.

It took me about two months to outline the whole 30+ chapter story I'm presently drawing. After revisions, it ended up being 50 comic chapters long because I had to slice a few outlines in half/in thirds and add/cut things out. I'm actually writing the finale scripts right now.

My second project was different, because it's about a business that profits off of holiday sales, so every outline called for episodic stories revolving the chosen holidays. It literally took me only four weeks to outline through 30+ chapters.

As for my 50+ and 60+ stories, it took about four months each and I'm letting those sit and cool off for a few years before I start officially working on them.

I know outlining is not for everyone, but what I love about it is that it allows me to control the flow of the plot, because when I go in cold turkey and jump into the chaos I just make a tedious mess of excess plot. This way, all I have to do is build scripts straight from the outlines and emotionally negotiate with my original decisions through the revision process.

[Jrej]

I had fleshed out the main character way before the story arch.
It's hard to give an exact period as most of the writing I do is while I day dream.
I'd say I finished writing the whole plot in two months. it was pretty smooth but It must have been because I thought about it for so long!