Promoting Reader Retention in Long Form Comics

Strontium 2016-03-29 23:15:52 UTC #1

It's the inevitability that all long-form comic creators must come to terms with: that there's no way your audience will be able to remember everything that has been in the comic. Especially those asides that will be meaningful later. Or that one knowing look character A gave character B in chapter 2. Nobody knows your comic like you do. But there must be ways to help your audience remember or at least, give them opportunities to re-read important comics.

Here's a few strategies that have worked for me:

Writing character's names in tags: Currently the Tapastic tagging system doesn't have much use except to decorate your pages in that one corner. That corner just happens to be very close to the comment box, which is why it's a great place to name the characters that appear in whatever particular page it is. Then when readers go to comment, they can just look to the side and get a nice refresher on everyone's name. As a person with a reading list of over 100 comics, I have a very hard time remembering names, so this is just a good practice for any comic.

Linking back to pages in the artist's comments: If you want readers to recall a very specific instance in a previous page, the best thing to do is link back to it in your comment's section.
HOWEVER, if you're going to do this, you have to be aware of two Tapastic-specific site limitations:

Links must be on their own "line" or indent in order to turn blue for the reader. if you're going to link something, you must press enter and then paste the link, otherwise your readers will have to manually copy and paste the link from the text body into their search bar and by that time, you've lost them.
Tapastic only shows the first two lines in your Artist's Notes section unless the reader presses the "More" button. There's an art to encouraging your audience to press that button, but the easiest way is to write a sentence that is three lines long. Then your audience will start reading the sentence, see that it continues, and most will click the more button to keep reading that one sentence, and will see the link.
Curious readers will likely press the button of their own accord.

Encouraging readers to re-read the comic: At the end of the chapter, it's always appropriate to say "Why don't you re-read the chapter and see it all in one go?" or "Now, as I take a break, would be a great time to re-read the comic!" That may not get a lot of people, but it might encourage people a little bit to go back and re-read at least the latest chapter.

Now I want to hear from other long-form comic creators. What obstacles have you encountered to promoting reader retention? What strategies do you have for promoting it? What do you think of my tips thus outlined?

Sanz 2016-03-29 23:28:16 UTC #2

This is very helpful for long series ! Im going to apply these ! Im horrible at slice of life and one shot comics. I do alot of long stories that im posting the future. This is great! Check out mine if you like first issue is almost over Los Esmeraldas

michaelson 2016-03-29 23:31:30 UTC #3

Has anyone tried to do story arc recaps at the end? I don't think I've really seen anything like this on Tapastic yet. Basically, for long form series that have very long narrative arcs, it might be interesting to do a recap episode. Just came to mind when I started watching Daredevil Season 2 on Netflix, they intro'd it with a 5 minute recap of Season 1.

Kura 2016-03-29 23:37:56 UTC #4

Regarding Arc recaps. I'm not a fan of full recap episodes. At all. Hate them. I have a good memory though, so they just feel like a waste of time or like I've gotten robbed of a legitimate update.

I know at the least recaps episodes the the bane of many anime viewers existence. Specially when they happen in episode 4... Highschool of the Dead... I'm ****ing looking at you.

I actually think the ONLY recap episodes I genuinely enjoyed were for Avatar the Last Air Bender, followed by the Legend of Korra recap episode.

As for the topic of making sure readers recall information. I know back when I read comics as a kid the pages that referenced previous points would have a note on the bottom of the page saying something along the lines of *Events of Issue # Page #

BUT a big thing I noticed in the comments section, is that the readers actually converse with each other about the scene themselves, bringing up 'omg this relates to' or telling others where to find the info and whatnot, and not in a 'I am confused' way but in a "HHASK GUYS!! GUYS!!!! HOLY SHIT REMEMBER _____ IT WAS LEADING TO THIS" FAN THEORIES!! way.

Honestly I wouldn't want to take that interaction and enjoyment away from them. (I like the idea of names in tags though, that CAN be confusing when you're reading through several slowly updating long form comics)

Strontium 2016-03-29 23:47:21 UTC #5

@michaelson Homestuck did recap pages for a little bit, but then they started getting so long, the recaps needed recaps! Haha!
But Homestuck also has a wikia, which is easy to find and fairly easy to navigate (wikia always runs up my CPU because of all the ads) and besides there's a blog called forgottenHSfacts which you can ask questions and they'll find even the most obscure answer in the comic.

For comics without large fanbases having a recap seems like a bit of a waste of time, in my opinion. Besides, readers usually remember the big points, it's the small stuff that I want readers to be refreshed on because it will likely come back later in a more significant way (just like in Homestuck.......)

michaelson 2016-03-30 00:02:27 UTC #6

iamABLE 2016-03-30 05:00:05 UTC #7

well I dont think an arc recap is needed.... if you look at the korean model they give a brief recap b4 each episode of the episode prior to it.This treatment closely resembles television shows; I think it works well.

They do have season recaps as well but only at the start of a brand new season.

Remember people enjoy re-reading stuff they like... dont ruin the experience by overdoing it.

thesisterscomic 2016-03-30 05:49:10 UTC #8

My thoughts and things I've done:

Multiple establishments of important items, Chekov's Guns and what not. Always useful, especially if props are important. Someone having a gun, or knowing that someone is good or bad with guns because it has been established in some scenes prior can add a lot of tension in a scene where a gun is drawn and we can't tell if they're going to totally wuss out or go through with something terrible. Give something a panel if it is important, and if it shows up again; put in the scene prior to it being brought up but don't draw too much attention to it until it is needed. It can lead to a good pay-off. For The Sisters, we've got a thing trapped in the basement that shows up in Issue 1, lays silent until Issue 3 (where our protagonist silently tells it to hush while a hot guy is down there) and finally talks again in like, Issue 6. It's that middle item where it is present and does nothing that tells the reader we know it is down there, but it isn't coming up yet.

Watch a mystery movie or a thriller and you'll see this happen a lot. Watch "Suckerpunch" if you want to see how to establish a lot of good props that have absolutely no value on the plot and really suck at being useful; but are still well established by way of the camera. Or watch Daredevil in the first season, Wesley does it with his gun and it is nice imagery pay-off.

When it comes to characters and character development, it may also help to show off a new dynamic by putting characters in a similar dynamic but with a different character. I'll toot my own horn here: We established our Zak Bagans-expy, Craig; as being a huge jackass when it comes to hanging out with his little brother and his girlfriend's little sister. We eventually get to see Zak interacting with his girlfriend and his best friend; during which he is a much more agreeable and fun person. Later we see him hanging out with both groups at the same time and he's pretty much splitting the difference in attitude. It feels like logical progression, it is something we can buy into. He's a jerk, but he's not always a jerk, and when he is with his friends and the people he's a jerk too; he is something less of a jerk.

I'm not big on flashbacks or monologues proper especially for the purpose of exposition. If someone ever gives exposition, especially to hint at plot points or previous plot points; don't make it feel forced. If someone is talking about a plot relevant event we've seen, show how they feel about it. People react. We did a murder and when people talk about the killing or the man who was killed, they talk a little different colored by their own actions and how they remember him. This also helps show the reader that the event had purpose and the cast sees things differently from one another, which does justify how the reader may view the deed differently than the characters too. It'll remind them to remember how they felt.

Linking pages helps too. I've found I often get by with making a pun regarding something that shows up later. People will remember my terrible dad-tier joke in the description and when it comes up they say "Oh god damn it." One of our big fans got very upset when I made a bunch of word play regarding a character she liked; all of which related to getting killed. Of course our baddy also leaves a lot of hints at him being bad that are really only apparent on a second reading; so people noticing the word choice like "take care of the girls" rather than "see if the girls need help" becomes a hint of things to come and sort of a reminder of what is going down.

OBVIOUSLY, if you go super far ahead and are in like, multiple hundreds of pages and years of length; re-caps and such are probably needed. But you can get by with less effort right now. Focus that on making sure people are reading your work in the now, rather than making sure people will read your work once there's more of it. But that's just my thoughts on it. I'm aware not everyone puts out multiple pages each update, so not everyone works with a very direct scene-by-scene framework.

I guess, don't expect people to remember -everything- but if they need to remember something; make sure it has some importance. Even our least important prop had a panel to it that spelled out clues; and I think it was easily forgotten because everything else around it was far more intense.

AnnaLandin 2016-03-30 05:53:33 UTC #9

I do this one, every time I go on chapter break! So far, it seems to be working out okay - I take a week (two, this time, because I got some sort of hideous snot-plague) to prepare the posting of the next chapter, and readers can take that time to catch up, or re-read, or whatever.

I've also noticed that I have a bunch of readers who wait until I've posted a lot of pages, and then they catch up all in one go, which is a neat way to do it too. Since I only post one page at the time, my story gets spaced out a bunch, so waiting until there's a bunch of pages to read is totally understandable - though my most active readers tend to read page-by-page.

Tip of my own:

Don't be afraid to be funny. A lot of my story is pretty serious and dramatic, so to lighten things up a bit, and get the audience to feel included (and signalling that it's totally okay to do this), I use my author's note to tell jokes about the current page. I also use the tagging system to tell jokes, kind of like alt-text - and a lot of readers pick up on that and run with it. Invite the readers in, tell them it's okay to crack jokes, or make fun of the character's actions, or just participate in general. If they get involved, they're more likely to stay around, because they've got a stake in it, you know?

whovianandwriting 2016-03-30 06:57:36 UTC #10

Marvel put a catch-up page at the beginning of each issue.

zetina 2016-03-30 07:48:33 UTC #11

im with @kurapikasuki in that i would prefer to see readers connect things themselves and share that info with each other in the comments. i get that small readerships are less likely to do this... and we authors want everyone to notice the foretought we put in... but i value a story speaking for itself and being able to see whether it's speaking clear enough or not. all the author participation i'm up for is to make fun of myself and my characters.

it's a bit different when there's A LOT of info... BUT i think encouraging re-reading (finding foreshadowing and other things adds so much rereadability to a story''') and tagging with character names is plenty :'> i think im gonna start using the tags for that, as well as making dumb jokes. i dont wanna go pointing at a specific scene and going "LOOK SEE WHAT I DID??? IT ALL MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW, HUH"

jacintawibowo 2016-03-30 12:21:33 UTC #12

I've seen Ms. Abbot and the Doctor post either doodly recaps before she posts another batch of pages, or simply post a picture encouraging readers to re-read the stories before reading the next batch =)

dglisson 2016-03-30 12:21:38 UTC #13

For this, I actually recommend frequent updates so your readers don't lose the thread. I have some very engaged readers for Beast Bait and the fact that I update three times a week makes it so they're always excited to see what happens next AND don't have to wait long to find out.

I also use minor expository dialogue at the beginning of each chapter to call back to previous chapters. I think I'll start using the link in the comments idea a bit more though, I was already planning it for one page but I think I'll do it more when I call back to previous chapters.

angelfire 2016-03-30 17:12:30 UTC #14

I like the way Amy does her recaps in the chapters of livNPC:
https://tapastic.com/episode/197091

It's a quick short blurb that she has every so often that helps in summarizing what is going on in the pages so far. She doesn't do it for every page but every FEW pages. Seeing something like this is super helpful rather than a whole arc dedicated to recapping.

This post is really helpful by the way. I'm about to start a long comic soon and having this information by my side is super!

UzukiCheverie 2016-03-30 19:42:24 UTC #15

This is exactly why I didn't enjoy Deadpool to the full potential that I would have liked. It was a good film, but the fact that they chose the "Point B to Point C, while recapping Point A" route INSTEAD of just doing "Point A to Point B to Point C" really peeved me off. It made me feel like I was being robbed of the main story because they spent all the film time in the pre-story/origin story. Flashbacks that extend that long just make me salty. It's why I have problems reading One Piece as well - it follows the same formula of:

1.) Go to new island
2.) Meet new people, also new bad guy who's probably causing shit for said new people
3.) Flashbacks to new people's origin stories which are only relevant when they choose to be.
4.) Beat the bad guy
5.) Rinse and repeat.

My own methods of helping my readers out so far have been including character bio's of the most significant characters (so if a character hasn't shown up for a while, then we're not gonna touch on them, unless they make an appearance in that volume and they need to be recalled); as well as brief summaries that include the most significant points of the previous volume. All this goes in the volume introduction before the new volume begins.

I also just got my official Time Gate website going, Project Reaper, and I'm taking it slow with updates there for now to ease new readers in, and maybe give current ones an opportunity to re-read the series - I'm only updating one chapter a week, starting from Chapter 1, until it's caught up with Tapastic updates, and from that point on, it'll only update when chapters are complete (vs. where I upload multiple pages at a time here at Tapastic, until the chapter is finished).

Sooo yep, that's how I try and deal with it. You're always gonna have people who forget stuff tho, either cause they're forgetful or they're the type to speed read and therefore might not take in information as much as they could. There's also tons of comics here on Tapastic so you can't ask everyone to remember absolutely every character and their attributes and such from the series they read - that's why you have to give them a reason to, by providing said information where it's convenient, having characters and a plot that sticks with people (which is where good writing comes into account), and most of all, being patient. If someone asks a question where the answer should be obvious, remember that you're the creator, and they're the reader - it's easy for you to remember your stuff, but if someone asks something and you get irritated, don't be rude, don't be a dick, just answer the question nicely to remind them, and they'll appreciate it. I've seen creators get all huffy whenever someone asks something like "who is this again????" and it's usually always because they just forget that they're always going to know the answers, because they're the ones creating the content. Do what you can, and your readers will appreciate it in return

shazzbaa 2016-03-30 20:46:37 UTC #16

Yeah, I second this approach! It may be kinda obvious, but I feel like "oh hey, when this comes back up it will be literally months or maybe years since the last time readers saw a reference to this" is a good thing to consider while scripting the story! and it can be really effective to find places for actual organic reminders within the story. I think it's a lot better for readers to go "wait who's that" on a little reminder and then keep that element in mind going forward, rather than to see the payoff and go "wait who's that" and have to go back to the linked page and go "ohhhhh, OHHHH YEAH, hey, wow, I guess that came back up!"

marfivemai 2016-03-31 01:53:34 UTC #17

In the brilliant and awesome show, Stargate SG-1 (NOT SARCASM! I LOVE THAT SHOW) they would always have an episode in the mid-season that was a giant recap of the season/show up to that point in the series. It would be a rundown of everything important that had happened, things you needed to know going forward, in one giant, funny, episode. Basically, "THE STORY SO FAR..."

And it worked.

That's what I plan to do with my comic, The Dragon Tutor. In-between 'books' or 'chapters', post a recap section so that new readers, and even old readers, are reminded of important things that happened up to that point. It keeps the readers and ME, fresh

Vanadis 2016-03-31 08:57:27 UTC #18

These are really good tips. I didn't know about the link issue, I did wonder why sometimes links wouldn't display for me, so thank you for pointing that out!

This is an issue that does worry me since my comic is going to be preeeetty long, and also involves Time Travel. There's a fair amount of foreshadowing and tie-ins to things that will happen later in the story (not necessarily later in time) but I'd imagine most of this will go over reader's heads. I'm trying to write a plot with more simple catchy elements for the more casual readers, and deeper in-depth stuff that is there for those who look closely enough. This is really hard to do though.
I colour code my characters, I think that helps when names can get overwhelming. I'm considering colour coding speech bubbles etc too.

I think a 'Story so far' summary could be a good thing to post for each new chapter. Just to summarise the main events, where the characters are and what they're trying to do next.

AngieVX 2016-03-31 09:33:25 UTC #19

I'd like to say more, I don't remember everything that I wrote in my comic either! XD

thesisterscomic 2016-03-31 17:54:42 UTC #20

Time Travel. Oh boy, that's a can of worms. Self-correcting linear time, with back-tracking rippling loops? If they go back in time do they have to avoid running into their past selves for the purpose of not triggering the auto-correct of the timeline and ruining the influences for why they went back at all? I think if you do it smart and give your readers enough trust, you might be able to pull it off without too much effort; like Back to the Future time-travel, or time-travel in the Flash. It looks confusing, but then you see the "Ohhh, that's why" part of why it makes sense; and when the future is changed, it is subtle and the only one who notices was the traveler. And the audience of course; and when they see the consequences it becomes an easier get.

Some general ideas:
You could also double-screen it. As in, say in Timeline A the bomb goes off but in Timeline B the Hero clips the correct wire. Show both, mirror the images on the page. Show us the explosion and show us then, also, the plot continuing as one timeline is disregarded because the hero would be dead; and the other continued because he's still alive. Could give you some fun language and dialogue mirroring, with the tone changed depending on how these timelines have gone. "I can't believe you" can be said before you get kissed or get a lamp thrown at your head. Could be playful and fun to see.

Consumers are getting more used to time/space travel as a plot element, it's all over the popular culture. If you establish your rules of buy-in and internal logic; and stick by those (except when something else is breaking those rules in-universe) it might not be hard for your audience to follow. That being said doing a line graph of "Timeline A" and "Timeline B" and how one connects to the other and where jumps were made back; is always a good idea at the end of a chapter or on a white board in an office in the comic itself.

For a good example of this with great visual differences, the television show Awake. It's about a cop whose reality sort of shattered into two timelines; one where his wife died and one where his son died. His captain, his partner, his shrink are all different in some way (sometimes a different person); but they're all still functionally the same. The butterfly effect does some cool stuff with it. Plus I remember one world being more yellow and one being more blue; and that struck me as clever.

Good luck.