@darthmongoose has incredibly solid advice here. I would listen to all of it.
First the most important advice:
Just tell the story you want to tell in your first draft. no editing, just creation. And focus on just these three questions:
+ what does the protagonist want more than anything?
+ what obstacles can I make that constantly prevent them from getting it?
+ And given this situation, knowing what I know about the character, if I were this character, faced with this obstacle, what would I do?"
Then after the character's action, repeat questions 2 and 3. Each choice is a point of no return. The consequences—however minor—should not allow the character to go back to weaker and less risky actions. How will they grow otherwise?
Writing is less about what YOU want to happen, and more about what the Character wants to happen given the circumstances you've set up for them and the obstacles you put in their path.
It's the cycle of action and consequence that helps write a story. And once you reach the end, then and only then, do you go back and edit.
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I would also add that it is a futile exercise to figure out what others want. In my experience, most others have no idea what they really want. They see what others like or create and follow.
As a creator you have to just know very clearly what you like and stick to your guns.
+ What do you want out of a story?
+ What comics and genre do you like to read?
+ And is there a void that these stories aren't filling that you want to see?
Example: I want female driven stories that I can relate to. I want BL and Romance with plots that are more than just the characters romantically circling one another. I want said romance and BL NOT in a school setting. Etc.
So I still love genres that are "popular" but I want them to be good stories too, but some times I take what I can get cause That's all there is. even online.
The reason the Genres popular on WT and Tapas are popular is because those readers are underserved by the mainstream publishing (Romance, LGBT+, BL, GL, female led fantasy and scifi, etc). Where as stories in genres that ARE served my mainstream sources don't do as well unless they can be better than the mainstream (Action, adventure, Epic Fantasy, Scifi, Superheroes, Horror, Mystery, etc) because that readership can find better executed stories elsewhere. They're literally competing with the mainstream where as underserved genres are not. Less competition, better chances of being a trendsetter. It's basically supply and demand.
Regardless of genre and literally anything else, what matters most is a story well told. That is: with honesty and acknowledgment of humanity. Cause we have more in common as humans than what sets us apart.
There is a difference between the superficial parts of a story (Dialogue, Cast, Gimmick, Tropes, Atmosphere, Art Aesthetic, and even Genre) and the manner in which the story is executed (Storycraft).
Example: I watched all of Breaking Bad, it was the first to break the mold by actually having TV characters not be static and change over the story instead. I find the content of the story terribly depressing and in the end I don't like it.
BUT, I deeply admire the manner in which the story is structured and told. It's tight, character IS Plot, and it keeps moving forward--pushing the main character deeper and farther to force the character to make more meaningful choices. and every choice has a damn consequence. Nothing gets reset back to how it used to be--just like life.
Change is vital in a story. If nothing changes, what is the point?
Many beginning writers focus too much on the outer layer of the story, which is the polished finish that we seen in stories we read.
But actual writing deals with the underlying structure of the story. It almost has nothing to do with the physical act of writing.
And the underlying structures of stories follow similar Forms*. A story is about someone who undergoes some significant and permanent change by the end and through conflict.
(*not formulas--those are breeding grounds for cliche.)
(Also yes there are stories that break away from archetypal forms but those only do well if the creator has mastered archetypal form in the first place before breaking away from those principles)
The best advice I have for you is to look up not only story structure but how good tv and movie screen plays are written.
Comics cannot dawdle like prose. It would be too much to draw and go too slowly (Trust me I'm a line artist for a comic adapted from prose and I'm finishing lining an episode where exactly one thing of supposed significance happens and there's no consequences for the hero for it- 70+ panels on which nothing of significance changes. Don't let this happen in your stories people.).
In this respect they are closer to a TV series than many other mediums. This doesn't mean comics cannot be literary, but remember that even literary is a genre with tropes and conventions.
Once you learn the basics of plot structure then you set aside that editing tool and just create.
How to create? Go back to the top of this post.
