How much narration is too much?

[miramiee]

I'm running into a problem in my comic where there might be a lot of narration...but I'm not quite sure if it's too much. Of course each set of narration adds a new layer of information to the story but I don't know what the limit is per each chapter without crowding it.

What are some solutions to over-narration? Also, how could you tell when you've done enough?

[TheGentleArtist]

One good solution is the "show don't tell" technique. You can tell when the narration is starting to tell what was already known that a reader can figure out

[darthmongoose]

There are no hard and fast rules really, but I tend to use a general rule of thumb of "Do the pictures actually need to be there, like are the pictures getting across any key information that enhances the setting, tone or action, or are you just using them as a pretty accompaniment to the text?" And usually, when the pictures are just there to look nice, but the narration is imparting all the info, you've got too much narration.

An example might be a panel of somebody being hugged with the narration, "she hugged me tightly". That narration would be pointless, in my opinion, and a big panel with a drawing that really captured that tight, emotional hug would be way more effective.

Or your protagonist walks down a street and the narration is like, "This city used to be the jewel of the north. Now it's fallen on hard times. Closed shops, thugs on corners." If you do the drawing well, you only actually need that first sentence. "This city used to be the jewel of the north" as we SEE this run down, grimy street with boarded up shops and "closing down sale!" posters and gangs in hoodies glaring at the protagonist from street corners, casually brandishing bats. If I wanted to remove the narration completely, I'd set it up so the protagonist or somebody describing the city as the "Jewel of the North", maybe show it in a flashback, or show an image of how it looked in a guidebook or a poster for contrast.

As a stylistic choice to make my current comic more cinematic or like watching a TV show, I chose to use pretty much no narration. At times it's tricky because I have to imply so much through just what people say, how they act and what my backgrounds tell you, but people have praised how immersive it makes the storytelling. So no narration is totally viable as an option, but I'm also a big fan of Homestuck, a comic with absolutely loads of narration; it's practically all narration with panels mostly used to support the jokes or action, sometimes ironically.

Basically, find a balance that works for you, but try to avoid using narration as a crutch. You'll make a more immersive and impactful visual story by working hard on backgrounds, poses or expressions.

[jensrichard77]

Thank you @darthmongoose I needed that

[Lazu]

When I write comics I usually try to drop the narration as much as possible.

Since I really want to use the medium as much as I can to make it shine by itself. Especially since I have a habit of jumping into narration as I'm usually writing novels. -So I save the narration for those when I can.

So what I usually do is:
Read everything through without narration text - Does it make sense?(Maybe ask a friend to read it through without the narration text as well and see if they have questions) Can I make it make sense with adding some imagery somewhere without having to explain? Is it something I can make sense by adding dialogue somewhere instead?

Often, it's a big yes to all of that, and it then cuts my narration down considerably.

I then try reading it through again with the narration, cut all of the narration I just added something else for, and try to rewrite the narration that's left (If it's still there) To lead up to the edits better.

This is solely how I do it, ofc, but I thought it might help you a bit with cutting it down a bit, if you feel like there is 'too much'

On that note, I don't think there is such a thing as too much or too little narration, as it's up to the individual.
However, as an example, I read books and novels when I want to read bulks of narration, and reading a lot of it in a comic usually makes me drop it - Again, personal preference.

I definitly feel like narration shouldn't make up more than, like, 10 percent of a chapter though. But that's kinda loose as some chapters might need a "Story telling narration" sometimes, which usually fit the story within a story, so it also depens on 'what kind' of narration, I think.