How well did you plan out the plot of your comic?

[Zanreo]

Well, my "plots" are mostly just based around real-life game history and news/events so ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[Chronitis]

You made me think of a follow-up question.

[Chronitis]

Follow up question: How long did it take you guys to make it this far with having your plots planned out to 40% or higher?

[Onestroke]

I recommend you make a beginning and end and make the middle as you go through and try not to get out of hand because you could write yourself into a corner

[Chronitis]

So would starting a story off, somewhat episodic and then getting to the meat of the plot, later on, be a good idea?

[Vanesalisa]

well you think of a story that come in your mind then you write it down the plot once you did you fix it some errors and mistakes

[Onestroke]

That depends on the type of story you have and what it focuses on

[kyupol]

I didnt. It all just came to me like a direct download from somewhere else...

[Chronitis]

@kyupol haha maybe I should update myself and download it aswell

[dan]

I started writing it as a straight up novel actually. Got through to about Chapter 5 of my comic in terms of plot, with the rest of the story loosely planned, before starting to work it into a comic.

[Shanny8]

@DexterityMaxity I'd probably say I'm operating below 50%- but it's a strong "below 50%". Like now- I'm kinda struggling to finish off scripting Ch 2(which I will be starting on soon), but I have a clear idea of what's going down in Ch 3. I have a gist of the main story going on in Ch 4; I most likely will be introducing another element as well coz the main part of Ch 4 is generally the prominent plotline of the whole series. I have an idea of where I'm going with the series for the most part, but it's the "filling in the gaps" that is challenging.

[joannekwan]

I think as long as you have an idea of that larger plot in mind it will help in "seeding" up to it. Like you can add hints to something greater in the early/middle episodes. Then your readers will think you all the cleverer, haha.

[artsy_oleander]

at least bulletpoint out vaguely what your ending is, and how you get there - its a big weight off your mind.

I agree! I think it's very important to have an idea how you want it to end, even if it's summed up in a single sentence. The stuff in the middle can easily be changed, as long as it leads up to the end you want.

I have a general outline of my whole story from beginning to end, but I've tweaked a bunch of stuff and added scenes and taken away others, introduced minor characters I didn't originally intend to, and written others out.

SAME XD
In my current story, I'm actually in the middle of changing how the scene goes! It's fun and frustrating all at the same time.

[kambreapratt]

Like a lot of people on here Shadowbinders has the ending and major plot points planned first and the rest is made up as we go along.

[MST3KFan]

My comic had its beginning well planned out as basically it wasn't originally to be straight up a gag-a-day, but shortly after when I knew I wanted to introduce more characters as time went on, I had to start creating backgrounds for many of my characters.

Over time, I devised all the character pasts and where I planned to take them in the future, and if I were to decide to end my comic, have an ending in mind. But it hopefully won't be still for quite some time before that happens.

[heraclus]

DON'T READ THIS !!!!
I'm so impatient that i uploaded my comic when i had an idea of it and that was like living it my self , but problems were starting pop out like hell , so don't do that , i almost killed my protagonist xd , My advice is to write your story down first , then be open for some changes in the process . I hope i could follow all this advices from expirienced comic makers but i can't ahahah , I love to improvise...thats how i am...having fun , that's the most important, enjoy , creation is the most beautiful thing in the world , woahhahaha i'm crazy !!!!!!

[Starfestival]

I didn't. My plot has been like a slowly crawling baby over the years trying to get up.

[ryoko]

Having an idea how you want your comic to end is a good idea so that you're always working your storyline to eventually reach that end. For me, I've been working on my comic for many many years and I know how I'll be ending it, down to the last couple of chapters and even the last scene I plan on using. I also have a good sense of how I'd like the story to progress, but sometimes I end up revising or reworking entire chapters because I need certain characters to grow or develop in different ways while still keeping in mind where I'm ultimately heading.

I guess I'd say if you can think through where you want your story to end, that would be really beneficial to you in the long run.

[colonel_ressentiment]

I actually spent about a year rough-draft-storyboarding every page of my comic before I let myself start drawing any final pages. But this is because I'm the sort of person who gets stressed out by uncertainty very easily; I knew that if I started trying to keep to a weekly schedule without having an exact path, I'd get discouraged the moment I ran into a plot point I wasn't sure how to address, or start going off on a tangent, decide I hated it, and stop drawing the comic entirely.

Forcing myself to outline every scene and dialogue before I started gave me some freedom - I could put a draft down for a couple days and come back to it when inspiration hit, without having to worry about the next update being due soon. My case is probably an extreme version though, and I have a relatively short comic I was actually able to plot from start to end. Everyone's situation varies.

[kyupol]

Updating still leaves traces of viruses... Reformat and reinstall...