What Makes a One-Shot Manga?

[Reign]

I’m planning on posting a One-Shot on here, but I’m wondering what actually makes one? Ideally it’s to test the waters for the actual manga. So would it be a good idea to just make the one manga piece as the main characters fighting and defeating a baddie? Just a fight scene? Or is it better for more to be in a One-Shot? I’m wanting it to be 60 pages, but I’m still stuck on the concept of telling a whole story and how to do it effectively in 60 pages.

[spicy_sweets]

Have you read any oneshots for reference?

[Reign]

I guess that’s a good point. I read a book that talked about one-shots a little bit. But I guess I just don’t understand if a one-shot is supposed to convey a whole story or just a snippet of the idea that can be ellaborated on later.

[Pandastrophic]

From the one-shots I've read they're 1 chapter that could stand alone as a story, like it has a beginning, middle and end, they'd introduce the characters, have a point of conflict and a resolution and while they might have things that they build on later they'd feel like a completed story.
I'm not sure what your intentions are with the story, but since you're testing the waters then maybe list a few things you want to test out while creating this one-shot and base the story on that? like if you want to practice drawing a fight scene then it can be just a story about your main character defeating a bad guy. I've also seen one-shots that were about the backstories of the characters in the main story and it seemed like a great way of practicing creating comics while also developing the characters.

[qwerty]

The ability to stand on its own as a complete story is basically the point of a one-shot IMO. Even if it's acting as a pilot for a longer series, I think the idea is like, "it's an experiment, but even if the longer series doesn't work out at least I'll have something complete to show for it in the end".

As for telling a complete story in 60 pages, it's totally doable! I'm no expert, but I did recently make a ~20 page one-shot - https://tapas.io/series/The-End - and am currently working on a more action-oriented one that's around 25 pages (not complete so I can't show). I feel like you have to approach the storytelling a bit differently - cutting right into the action without much buildup, being concise and willing to strip away everything but the necessary core of the story.

[sprite_1ww]

A one shot should have all the main story points from start to finish. Of course you could change it or refine it later down the line but that's generally how one shots work

[Reign]

@Pandastrophic @spicy_sweets @A_Toad @sprite_1ww

So how do you do all of this without the story being rushed or lackluster? My series as a whole has to do with a boy keeping his father safe from the gods with a powerful object that aids him. If the gods get their hands on the object it means death to the boy’s family. I was thinking of the one-shot being him trying to retrieve the said object from one of the gods after it’s stolen it from him.

[Kelheor]

One shots for manga are usually a pilot: the beginning of the story, a prologue or a first chapter. You can cram in a little more of course, put some more description of what's going on, but it shouldn't end it with a cliffhanger. The size is the same as a usual chapter - around 30 pages.
Upd: try finding some manga one shots like Berserk or Kenichi (just from the top of my head) and compare them with actual manga!

[Kelheor]

But of course, if you want your manga to be 60 pages, you don't need 30 pages of prologue

[Rhonder]

A one-shot, as I understand it, is the equivalent of a short story in writing. Basically it's a complete story that's told in a short number of pages. Some people use them in a similar way to a pilot episode to a TV series (where if it does enough, they'll either keep going from where the story ended, or even just start over with a proper "chapter 1" for that story), and other ones are just standalone short stories, not intended to be expanded upon regardless.

For example the comic I'm currently drawing and uploading (Shameless plug~ xD) is a one-shot that's intended to be +/- 60 pages as well (I think it'll end up being closer to 70, tbh). But I've already decided that I'm enjoying it enough that I'm going to continue it as an episodic series for a little while after.

I definitely feel like I was a little over-ambitious with the amount of content I tried to pack into this many pages though, so my pacing feels a bit rushed overall :X If you'd like to see the storyboard for it feel free to shoot me a PM and I can show you~ If you wanna get a feel for what something this length might look like*

*by a total comic newbie, granted.

[spicy_sweets]

Errr
I only read one shot mangas, not make. Butttt, I've written short stories and the importance is to introduce the main story, conflict, and how it gets wrapped up in a neat way. (or open ended, if you're into that)

[qwerty]

Like I said I think it's basically about being willing to just jump into the plot and either cut out unnecessary details or save them for later. I don't think stories feel rushed just because the action/plot starts/proceeds quickly, but rather if stuff like paneling and dialogue are handled poorly. Just for example:

Same number of panels and the same amount of plot happening over the same period of time, but one seems much less rushed and awkward than the other (at least IMO).

Also, here's a one-shot that I'm a pretty big fan of -

Catma (Completed) | Tapas

I actually studied this one a lot - how it began and ended, how panel and scene transitions were handled, etc., while making my own. So I definitely recommend finding some one-shots that you think are good and examining them to see what worked and why

[spicy_sweets]

Ahh Catma was super fun!

[sprite_1ww]

Take for example Naruto and My Hero Academia. If you're familiar with these series and their general plot, try to read both of their one shots and see how that compares to the series as a whole. Sometimes it isn't even necessary to make a cut down version of your overarching story. Sometimes you can just make a sort of "a day in the life of--" type of thing to just share a taste of the world.

[Klaustasya]

The first comic i posted was a one-shot.
I didn't even know how to make one, it just came out of the blue, cut scene after cut scene XD
I think a one-shot is a story and starts and finish pretty quickly and it doesn't need a "to be continued" because the plot just explain itself enough