What's your writing process? What have you learned?

[Moesakuara]

With a lot of us being writers and artists, I am curious about what the process is like for you, and what you've learned from that. For example, by penciling and fully inking a project that still needed way more editing on the story side, I learned not to jump into the final artwork/post before your story and script is 10000% nailed down.

What about you guys?

[nathanKmcwilliams]

For me this is something always in flux. I haven't 100% nailed down what works for me, and I'm sure I probably never will.

So far for my main comic, Dragon Sparking, all I've done is use a bare bones story outline and pantsed everything else.
For The Last Reindeer, it was the first time I plotted something out entirely from beginning to end.

[Moesakuara]

I also have nothing set down... I feel like you share the "planning pansting" with me, where I'm all over the place doing all these different methods on every story, or even on one story, but it is all very outline and planning based chaos... if that makes sense

[TheLemmaLlama]

I have a broad outline, listing each arc and the general direction each arc is headed. This is more or less set in stone by now in that I haven't felt compelled to make major changes for a while

I have a finer outline for each arc, listing the scenes. This is still in flux; I'm still shifting scenes in and out, figuring out how to most efficiently fit in the climactic moments and necessary information leading up to them in a sensical way without getting bloated. Sometimes I changes major scenes as well, deciding a better way to hit home the point of the arc.

Then I have the scenes themselves. I write down scenes whenever they come to me, regardless of whether they fit my current outline, and I may or may not use them. If I really like them, I try to give them a provisional slot in my outline if it fits. Otherwise I still keep them around in case I want to make an afterstory or something

I've also technically started my comic, so the first few scenes are already fleshed out. I imagine I'd have to actually deliberately sit down and write the next scenes if my drawing catch up to the finalized part of the script. I miiiight get stuck with something suboptimal as I haven't nailed down the rest of the story yet, but I feel like if I never started drawing until I did that, I'd never end up getting anything done XD

I'm not far in so I wouldn't claim to have learnt anything profound, but I guess having at least an arc-by-arc vision of your story will make you feel more motivated to stick with your story and hit those climaxes. I've abandoned many stories in the past where I had no idea where my story was going, and I realised loving your characters and world isn't always enough :'D

[zeitybitey]

I sort of work backwards, it's kind of weird -
Usually, I start with the ending. Then how do we get to the ending? I usually have things in dot points of rough ideas of what may come to play, but never set in stone. I usually don't have a true 'start' until I'm near the end of my writing (not including editing).

It's strange, because I usually start designing my characters when I barely have the structure completed at all, and then slowly build up the world as I start working on character interactions. I usually invest heavier into character interactions, and build the world around them as I go. I personally find it easier to work this way, as it helps me add more depth to the world and come up with ideas of how we get from point A to B.

The only thing about my work structure is that it's constantly a lot of back and forth editing - I don't work chronologically at all, and tend to add in new scenes whenever I feel it's appropriate, which of course will affect some other interactions and such.

But overall, I need a general 'complete' plan that I'm satisfied with before I can begin writing the real story. I feel lost with all my ideas if I don't!

[Moesakuara]

I've heard the write backwards advice before, I don't think you're alone! And it makes sense, as the story should lead the ending anyway :0

[Maps]

I learned it’s important to have multiple chapters ready at a time to publish, if the work isn’t already complete. Having to keep up with a deadline and force yourself to write to keep a schedule is not ideal and makes the quality of the story and the writing a lot worse. I wish I didn’t drop post like… 30 chapters when I first joined.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

Totally makes sense. I take it on a project by project basis.

[NickRowler]

I sort of found it efficient during the scripting/paneling phase to write down vaguely what I want a character to say and rewrite it once I add text to my pages. I feel like it makes my dialogue flow better and sound less robotic.

I also like to write one or two chapters at a time. I used to write chapters far in advance but ended up scraping almost all of them due to continuity errors and story changes in the previous chapters.

[TheLemmaLlama]

It's strange, because I usually start designing my characters when I barely have the structure completed at all, and then slowly build up the world as I start working on character interactions.

Haha I think a lot of us are like that; I came up with most of my central characters way before I decided on their current plot to the point it was so long ago I don't even consider it part of my writing process anymore XD That's not to say I didn't come up with plot just after I came up with the characters either; it's just that I decided the plot was not great but I'm attached to the characters now and want to keep them so instead of reinventing the wheel for the new plot, I just transplant my new characters into it

I sort of found it efficient during the scripting/paneling phase to write down vaguely what I want a character to say and rewrite it once I add text to my pages.

Same, but for me it's just because I can't think of the exact dialogue at the time XD If a nice piece of dialogue does happen to pop into my head, I'll add it to the script and use it in the final comic, but often I don't have proper dialogue prepared when I get up to drawing that part so I have to come up with it while thumbnailing (which also helps to balance the text with composition, I guess) I also barely write ahead of what I draw but mostly because I'm lazy :'D

[JWZagst]

I usually dream up the basic narrative skeleton in my head before I actually start writing it down, and once I have a firm idea on what I want, I begin creating the outlines. For my current novel, The Ballad of Mallory Dane, which is reworked from a previous unfinished novel of the same name, I started by creating a 15 page synopsis, which then grew to 19 pages. Through that, I planned out 210 chapters, each split into 7 Tapas episodes, for a total episode count of 1,470. However, there are currently only 9 episodes live on the site (most recent one just went live today), and the exact count may change as I flesh out the individual chapters.

I use the narrative skeleton as a guide while I write, but generally wait to detail out the specifics of each chapter until I am actively creating it. For instance, the skeleton may say "go here, do this, go there, do that, fight this enemy, say some words, do the thing," but I'll wait to choose the exact descriptors, dialogue, emotional expressions, etc. until I am actively writing that chapter, following my gut to see what fits best in the moment.

To give you an example, here was how the first two episodes looked on the synopsis:

Battle between Mallory and Sadowa 18 months in the future, in August 2024. Roll back to February 2023, Mallory, Emmett, Sully, Selena, and Linnie are at Roth Deckard Hall’s 49th Annual Battle of the Bands, where they are competing as their Folk Metal band, The Heralds of Osvael, which is based on their D&D characters. After losing the competition to K-Pop girl band Malachite MatriX, the teens go home defeated but thankful for the opportunity.

And then as I wrote, I expanded that into almost 2000 words between the two episodes, as well as changing some details, such as the name of the competition. You can compare that to what is publicly available to see how the scenes evolved. XD.

[powerplantanimations]

Aight so I promised another Tapas User I'd reply so here I go:

First I come up with the idea, then I do an outline. I usually do three drafts. Now despite me making an outline, everything is not set in stone. I still change a lot of stuff. I try to be as adaptable as possible when working on the next issue.

Anyway, so I slice up storybeats to create small episodes (20 Panels each episode). I make ANOTHER outline, do some page breakdowns and some panel progressions. After that I do 4 drafts of the episode. This might sound long, but I just read the dialogue for fourty minutes in the morning and at night. DIALOGUE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN DESCRIPTIONS. At least, for me.

Everytime I read four minutes I add a 5 to the draft. I started at Draft #1.0, but I read for forty minutes, so it's #1.5. And tonight I read 40 minutes so now it's a #2.0. Again I do this until I hit 4.0 (Or 3.5). The FINAL time I do this is for descriptions.

After that, I look back at my outline for the entire series and I make tweaks so everything can flow together. Just so I won't be like "OH DANG IT! NOW THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!!!!". I read through EVERYTHING.

What have I learned from this process? OCD is your best friend. Try to hide in as many details as possible so people can re-read your story. Focus real hard on implications. Make sure EVERYTHING YOU DO IS INTENTIONAL. Hindsight is key.

I make a playlist for music. Lyrics match up with the themes of the comic. I listen to this to give me motivation and to remind me of the themes so whenever I write, I won't be lost.

What else... oh yeah. Write what you know and be adaptable as possible. That is all c:

[Chocolate]

Thank you! This was super helpful to read and learn! :3

[descendantsofether]

My writing style has been described as Chaotic. Goes a bit like this:

1. Identify who the main character of the episode is.
2. Identify supporting characters of the episode.
3. Think about them really really hard until I fall asleep.
   4a. Dream about the characters (continue to 5.)
   4b. Don't dream about the characters (continue from step 3.)
4. Start writing keywords and identifiers from the dream
5. Repeat from 4a. until a cohesive thought is formed
6. write the entire chapter in one sitting because I know if I get the slightest bit distracted I'll have to start the whole thing over.
7. Be disgusted with my work for a few days and refuse to look at it, knowing it's full of typos, grammar mistakes, and plot holes.
8. Send it to my editor for reassurance and a confidence boost.
9. Clean it up and send it to my artist(s)

I will not be taking questions at this time.

[Lensing]

I learned to use the story circle and the hero´s journey and that makes it easier.
There has to be a problem/solution/goal in the story and it´s good when the flaw of the
character is connected to it.
The character of my old stories could have been replaced by any character, the
character of my new stories can´t be replaced because the story is connected
to her personality and backstory.
The more backstory for characters the better. What do they read? What´s
in their fridge? What´s in their medicine cabinet? Stuff like that. I know who
their parents were and how they grew up.
I still suck at this but I´m getting better. I still have the tendency to write around
situations that I want to draw or get distracted from the main story by interesting
side situations

[Moesakuara]

me gradually working on less and less of a queue until I'm literally going pages on the fly

But jokes aside I heard this as a common mistake from people which is why I post the way I do (bi weekly) probably hurts my numbers, but it keeps me sane and the pages somewhat good quality

[Moesakuara]

Wow, this sounds like full on rehearsals for a stage play. Super in depth, awesome!

[smokesalty]

I've learned that planning everything is necessary for me before starting my comic. I like having my entire script written out because I've realised how much aspects of the story have changed from the outline when it comes to actually writing scenes.

I like being able to read through my script and visualise the exact dialogue and actions that happen, and it allows me to as much editing and foreshadowing as I want. Sometimes I'll come up with things and add them later.

I also model my own backgrounds, so knowing what rooms are needed and what needs to be in each room is extremely important to me.

I've also stopped scripting in episodes, and I instead organise my script by scenes, which helped better with pacing because I wasn't worried about how much I could cram into an episode. I also know to set a writing schedule for myself in order to get my script done sooner, because otherwise I get barely anything done.

I'm just really big on prep work because it leaves less stress for when it comes to actually drawing the comic, if that makes sense.

[Moesakuara]

Makes total sense. It's funny though, you mention needing that control of your comic so doing full script, which is actually the exact reason I don't do full script... I'm sure that hurts me lol, but I literally just say "this needs to happen in this scene" and let the needs of the page composition and speech bubbles do the rest. I don't even usually write full dialogue, just what the characters absolutely need to say in order to progress plot or flesh out character. Anything else is thought up at some point along the way or completely ad libbed for whatever will fit in a bubble on the page. Now that I write it out, I'm pretty sure I'm a lunatic. But it's the only way I finish full stories

[Moesakuara]

I was waiting for you to say "then I toss down chicken bones and read the story from how they fall."