What is your biggest regret in comics / novels?

[LadyN]

Not outlining my comics or stories. I just don’t have the time to do that.

[domisotto]

Yay! Fingers crossed for you!

[Hazumirein]

Starting a comic when I was 13 and only had the first chapter written It turned into a massive story that I worked on for over a decade before I finally gave up because I was spending more time trying to write my way out of plotholes from earlier on than getting anywhere with it.

It's being rewritten and rebooted as a visual novel series now, this time with a full outline in advance and a much better grasp on what it is and where it's going.

[kmlangleyauthor]

I regret not always listening to my inspiration and stopping projects because I was trying to figure out ways to make them “good enough” instead of just doing them. I never showed my stories to anyone, anyway, but it created a really bad habit of not finishing storylines - or not even thinking far enough ahead about the end goal of the story - and I wish I had realized a decade ago that an okay finished story is a better starting point than a “perfect” first chapter with nothing else written.

[MrOwl]

I wish I had realized a decade ago that an okay finished story is a better starting point than a “perfect” first chapter with nothing else written.

Put bad stories out, learn from them, get better, then put your masterpiece out, or be lucky and put a masterpiece right off the bat. xD

[MrOwl]

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[DeleteThisAccountFag]

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[kmlangleyauthor]

then put your masterpiece out, or be lucky and put a masterpiece right off the bat. xD

I think people should always strive to put out the best version of their work - writing, art, anything. But I also think it’s okay to realize that we might never create what’s considered a “masterpiece” and that’s still okay.

I’ve met far too many people in my life who have said some version of the phrase, “I was planning on...” or “I always wanted to...” and my theory is that I would much rather regret doing something (like uploading an okay ish novel) than regret not doing it. And if I’m so focused on becoming the best of the best, I might lose the joy in what I’m doing.

I feel like a lot of our generation (which I’m using as a very broad term) was taught that perfectionism is the only effort that counts, but in doing so, we lost the joy, the inspiration, the doing stuff for the hell of it. It took me way too long to realize that, just because something isn’t making a monetary profit, it isn’t worthless, and just because something is on a well known list, it doesn’t automatically make it amazing.

[NickRowler]

Mostly my long hiatus periods for health reasons. I am quickly learning that my health is not improving, it is maybe getting worse, and instead I need to just tough through it and stop hoping for some miracle cure.

I went a year without drawing a thing and I need to never do that again, I feel like I set myself back.

[domisotto]

It's a good way to look at it. I'd rather have done, than dreamed of either.

[kmlangleyauthor]

I’ve had people tell me that I’m “brave” for some of my life choices and I’m always like “wtf? Am I “brave” or are you just a coward?” But I also don’t say that out loud because I’m an assh*le in my head but I try not to be in person

[domisotto]

That's why I don't regret anything. I did the things that I wanted at the time and they are all mine.

[kmlangleyauthor]

Yes!! Even when things didn’t turn out how I hoped or expected, that’s still my experience! Plus, I’ve noticed the nostalgia factor helps with some of those less-than-stellar experiences, anyway

[MrOwl]

just because something is on a well known list, it doesn’t automatically make it amazing.

Popular/Well known stuff aren't exactly quality stuff, just look at modern pop music, they're mediocre at best in comparison to classic music, but they're still hella popular, a lot of pop singers now sing about "genital organs" and make millions... lol.

[mcarrowolga]

My biggest regret is self-publishing my novels in Russian. Lost money, got a ton of negative experience and unwanted emotional baggage, lost all interest in writing in my native language

[RyzaCobalion]

Honestly, not keeping track of it for a while or update it regularly back when i started back in 2018. i mostly posted when i got time in between my life and school work from college but now that i do have more time and have been working on it nonstop. But biggest regret is not working on my series consistently back when i start back in November 2018

[mrtoontastic]

My biggest regret in my comics? Not expanding and finishing on ideas I had laid out early on.

For Novels? Similar situation, but rather its for chapters I planned but never seemed to really say "Yeah! I should write that right now!"

[rajillustration]

for me my biggest regret is Scope Creep. Just some projects got out of hand way too complicated and I had to dump em.

[MoseyP]

My biggest regret is not doing more writing sooner. I went through a phase in my teenage years where I was too scared to write in fear of writing something subpar/copying someone else's work accidentally. Now that I'm older the fear is gone! I just hope younger writers know that they shouldn't be afraid to write something 'bad', they should just write what they like!

[eochoa92]

Waiting to start as late as I did.
Back in 2013/2014, I met and started talking to an artist that would eventually become a good friend of mine. We shared many common interests, but clicked on Ninja Turtles. When he found out I did some writing, we got to talking of doing our own Ninja Turtles origin story.
We would go back and forth on the script and art every week, never really getting anywhere near a finished product.
As much as I was stoked about actually working on something, I wanted to have something to show when I said I was a writer. Thankfully, no one ever asked me to show them my work because I wouldn't have anything to show. And I didn't want to stray away and do something else because I thought my artist would feel betrayed.
Eventually, I went ahead and did my own thing. But I feel like I'd have more of a following if I did get started earlier.
Oh well.