Nonlinear storytelling

[Reit]

Nonlinear narratives have always intrigued me, and I was thinking of doing it for my wip comic (actually I think there's no way I can tell it linearly, if that makes sense. Also, people say they see their story like a movie in their heads. It's the same for me, except the story progresses nonlinearly). I was looking for examples of them when I noticed that there were not many nonlinear stories in the comic/manga world. It works very well in film/anime/video format, but not many have tried it in a graphics only medium. It seems like it might be much more difficult to keep a cohesive story with only graphics to support, but there's a first for everything.

Do you have any suggestions for nonlinear manga/comics? What are your thoughts on this?

(I don't consider flashbacks as nonlinear. Maybe only if the flashbacks are continuous and tell a full story themselves. I guess a prime example of my definition of nonlinear would be Baccano.)

[mg78]

imho nonlinear style work with movies because u spend 90min in there. memory work pretty well in that way.
in a comic it's not the same because some titles can spend even years before reach an end, so if u have to remeber something happened 5 years ago in volume 5 page 48th all become quite hard to work... (without thinking about the creator that have to plan everything with a precision inhuman)

[joshuashima]

I think it should be the same as in film or TV. I don't think there's not much to it. I mean I reckon you write a script and then you translate it to a page...Well, I do get that there hasn't been a lot of nonlinear comics, but I think it's quite simple to make it...I don't know, maybe there's something I'm not getting

[ToonDoctor]

I'm doing something nonlinear but not too complicated right now in my comic. I'm running too very related subplots with the same characters and they eventually merge together. Did this just over eight pages. Nothing that will confuse the reader much. It's small but it helps prepare myself and readers for more complex storytelling in the future.

[DavidPerry]

As far as nonlinear storytelling, there's no reason it can't work in comics. If you're new to it, I'd suggest writing it out as a linear story first, then reordering the scenes as you'd like them. Then you'll know what information needs to be presented at what point in the story.

Nonlinear storytelling is tricky. You have to keep track of everything, which can be challenging. I'd suggest using note cards to build it up and create a timeline. What you want to keep in mind is that "mystery" and "confusion" are two very different things. In nonlinear storytelling, it's important to work toward the former and not the latter. Make sure that your story works nonlinear, and avoid doing it as a gimmick. Readers can smell a gimmick a mile away, so you've got to be careful.

[Jabbage]

I'd be really interested to see some comics that have really pushed a non-linear format.

The only example I can think of right now is a comic called Elena which hops around between various scenes and it takes a while for you to realise exactly how everything slots together. Then there's the infamous Margot's Room, which definitely does have an order but it's up to the reader to decide to read it in that order. I could see a similar interactive scene where there is no "correct" order at all.

Two of my comics (Breaking the Lore and The Art of Monsters) are mostly comprised of extended stories that a character is telling to another character, so the "present" day scenes are bookends "past" events. That's as close to non-linear as I get!