Starting a Comic When the Plot is Still... "In Progress"

[KrispyKremeBits]

When I start prepping for a story, I have a basic idea of the plot I want and start to expand on it. What kind of characters do I want to have? Are they main or background? Who is the main character of the story and how do the effect the plot? Then I start designing characters, starting from main ones to background. I start thinking of the environment they live in, what's going on around them and how they deal with it.

After I establish what and who I want in the story I return to the plot and think about the situations that unfold to achieve it. What kind of conflicts will they face? Who lives and who dies? Keeping these things in mind I start to write up synopsis's and scripts while trying to keep things interesting for the viewer and keeping characters in well, character. After about 85% of everything is done I start to make layouts for the comic pages, I try to make about 4-5 pages before the release date I set for myself. Of course there are times when I re look at something and just feel it isn't working with the rest of the comic, in which case it gets a through redesign to fit the appeal of the story.

I admit, I don't tend to follow the scripts I make, dialogue is not my strongest thing and I tend to feel the way I write it to be forced or awkward so I usually change it at the last second to something that I feel the character would actually say.

[keii4ii]

I learn a lot about my characters as I draw them in the comic. So while I have the big events plotted out, there's tons and tons of subtle stuff (and even some not-so-subtle stuff!) that I have to learn as I go along.

[Marton]

My comic is a series of chapters with arcs and everything. I have a general idea of what will happen and how it end, but I don't write anything down until I'm about to start the chapter. I'm currently in Chapter 3, but I have only the first two episodes written down (each episode is about 6 to 10 pages), and only the first episode is drafted out.

I keep future parts just as ideas, because I know I things will be changed when I get there. That way I don't have to rewrite everything all the time.
It's a bit tricky doing it this way, as the story gets bigger it's easy to forget certain details. That is why I keep the number of characters in my story as minimal as i can; it's easier for me that way.

[divyadeep2007]

Man congratulations on getting your story sorted.. I love that feeling:D.. The comic i am doing is only half way planned out, and i have the ending fixed. The middle continues as long as i get ideas. Hence the "milking limit" in my title. xD

[aestheticderelict]

Congratulations on figuring out your story! I find that one of the greatest barriers that prevents most creators from actually starting on their stories is the fact that they never quite know what to do to get from point A to B. They know what those two points are, but the middle is usually the hardest to figure out.

Like with anything, be it writing or art, I choose to follow the advice of my teachers and just start making something. I'll maybe plot out the beginning middle and end of my work, making sure to note the key moments and story beats that I want to hit. This is where I start outlining some of the middle portions of the story, usually spitballing a number of possible plot points that progress towards the end goal of the story. Then, depending on how dialogue or movement focused my comic is, I'll go into my "scripting" stage. This is either in the form of an actual script, or a complete rough thumbnail version of the entire comic. This is usually where those tricky middle elements are hashed out and handled.

Hashing out these ideas before I actually commit to anything helps me spot out my plot holes and laziness in advance, and gives me a fairly solid outline of what I need to do to actually make my story.

[indagold]

My last comic I sorta wrote out the story, it took me three goddamn years to complete it because I kept pausing to do more pages, then going back to write more and not to mention the ending was redone a billion times. Big mistake for me. At least now uploading it again I can fix errors and plot holes but that was a really stupid idea. My even more older work I just was relying on memories of the plot and I forgot things when I took hiatuses.

Now working on a new comic I spent about six months finessing the story, getting people to read it and only now i'm thumbnailing it. I also made the decision to do a ton of pre production work to save me time in the future. I feel this was a better decision honestly because the more work you do beforehand makes sure you don't fail later on.

[WhatAHero]

jeez man I have a different process for each of my comics but writing the plot ahead of time is by far the better method of going about it. World At Strife is written off the cuff and currently has pacing issues because of it. If I had the chance I wish i could go back in time and write the entirety of chapter one before hand.

[MoonSquid]

I also started when things were pretty murky, story wise! I outline quite heavily and don't feel comfortable starting things without a very solid basis and understanding, but it was getting to the point where I was worried more about figuring it all out and not about actually making it. I ended up forcing myself to just start on the damned thing even though some middle and ending details were unclear to me. It all works itself out eventually, and I've finally completed everything just from having got the ball rolling!