What is your biggest regret in comics / novels?

[DualDragons]

Not writing out a rough outline for the plot before starting with drawing pages

[BlunderingAlbatross]

I regret procrastinating so much I'd sit down to write and get distracted by things on the internet. It would've gone so much faster if I got on with it.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

I don't know, maybe planning the thing.

[MorganaMevil]

I regret the first novel I ever published for “realsies” on Amazon. I don’t regret the act of publishing it, but the story was written when I was a wee babe in high school, and I wanted to be done with it, so I published it this summer. I’ve gotten a lot of positive reviews, but I got one bad one and that wrecked my view of the book entirely. It shouldn’t have, but it did.

And, more than anything, it sucks that this is the first book I published because it’s not my favorite. It’s not the best of me, or the genre I think I shine in. It’s a good story about sisterhood, dystopian society, and lots of drama (think Hunger Games meets Downton Abbey), but it’s not really who I am as a writer anymore. And it’s the first book of three, so I’m gonna have to write those second two.

[CommanderMarty]

I regret trying to make my masterpiece first.

[MrOwl]

I regret the first novel I ever published for “realsies” on Amazon. I don’t regret the act of publishing it, but the story was written when I was a wee babe in high school, and I wanted to be done with it, so I published it this summer. I’ve gotten a lot of positive reviews, but I got one bad one and that wrecked my view of the book entirely. It shouldn’t have, but it did.

And, more than anything, it sucks that this is the first book I published because it’s not my favorite. It’s not the best of me, or the genre I think I shine in. It’s a good story about sisterhood, dystopian society, and lots of drama (think Hunger Games meets Downton Abbey), but it’s not really who I am as a writer anymore. And it’s the first book of three, so I’m gonna have to write those second two.

Congratulations for your success, even if you don't like it, you're awesome~

[MrOwl]

I regret trying to make my masterpiece first.

You can always reboot/remake it.

[drawnbyyannan]

I regret not starting sooner!

[foxnflames]

I also regret not starting sooner. I bought a notebook to write in and did nothing with it for a year. But I do appreciate the confidence I have now to write. So things happen when they’re supposed to. I also should have better planned all my cover and to update more frequently on the front end

[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