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| Writing Advice.; Tips on starting a daily web comic. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 21 2012, 02:48 AM (345 Views) | |
| Ghost | Jan 21 2012, 02:48 AM Post #1 |
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Scum
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Hi, I hope this doesn't rub anyone the wrong way or anything, but I gave the rules a once over and I didn't see that there was anything against it, so I thought what the hell. I've been a long time Exterminatus Now reader, and a few friends and I want to start our own daily webcomic series. I've always enjoyed your series plot lines I kind of wanted to know how you guys do your writing process. I know Lothar's the main writer, but I know virus and silversword will occasionally write something. (I'm not sure what Eastwood does, but I'm pretty sure he's a idea person.) The main question is how do you guys decide who writes what? Does one of you just say, "Hey, I'm taking care of the plot this week?" or does something else happen? Plus, my group hasn't even started the damn comic, and we're fighting over different ideas but you guys seeming don't have that problem. Is there some sort of guidelines you go by to keep things running smoothly? I probably have more questions but I'm tired of typing. If other forum users want to jump in, feel free. |
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| Dakatsu | Jan 21 2012, 03:55 AM Post #2 |
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FLYING PRESS
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Wouldn't this thread fit better in the Pic-Logs Archive? |
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| Pixellated | Jan 21 2012, 10:58 AM Post #3 |
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Being responsible
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Aye, I guess it is about personal creative projects. Shifted it over. As well as getting advice from the authors here, I'd pick up a copy of How to Make Webcomics; it's written by several guys who've all become self-sufficient solely on their strips (Sheldon, Evil-Inc, PvP/The Trenches, Starslip/Chainsawsuit), and during which listen through their podcast, Webcomics Weekly (and here's episodes 40-83). Also, welcome to the forums. While I do already love you for having read the rules and being courteous in your post, I'm forbidden from saying you're my new favourite user, because the last time I did that, it came back to bite me in the arse quite badly. I'm still sore. |
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| The Virus | Jan 22 2012, 05:18 AM Post #4 |
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Keepin it odd like a motherfucking gastropod
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Lothar became the main writer largely by virtue of being the most prolific writer. He will toss out an idea for a story, we'll okay it, and he'll come back with a full set of scripts. Whereas the rest of us dawdle along and take forever, if we even finish the story at all. Who writes what is usually taken on an arc by arc, rather than week by week basis. One of us will have an idea for a story, and we'll go off and write it mainly solo, with varying degrees of input from the others, depending on if that person gets completely stuck, is unsure of direction it should go, or has a vision for how it'll play out and just goes ahead and does it. I think Lothar runs things by Eastwood a lot while he's writing, whereas I'm the type who doesn't like showing works-in-progress (the guys basically never see sketch versions of the comics, they're always as surprised as you are), so I'll usually come back with something in a more or less finished state. Because we write scripts in blocks of 20-40, and only update once a week, we're always written well in advance. We're therefore able to shunt our arcs around to optimise the sequencing. So say if we have two arcs written that involve daemon summonings, we'll probably opt not to run them one after the other. Maybe we'll slip in an arc about weird science and one about roving mercenaries in between. These shiftarounds can sometimes mean your story gets pushed back and won't be drawn for another six months, a year. I don't think any of us harbour much resentment over that, because it's all for the good of the comic's pacing, instead of "ooh, me me, do my story". It sounds like if you have a bunch of writers fighting for top billing, you may have to play around to find a balance that can work. Whether that means nominating one person to be in charge of working out the story order, or you order them as a group on a democratic basis, or I don't know. But everyone needs to have the goal in mind of making the best comic you can make. That should always take priority over ego. |
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| Ghost | Jan 22 2012, 08:03 AM Post #5 |
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Scum
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Pixellated: Thanks for the links, particularly the book recommendation. As far as what to expect for me, I really just plan on lurking through here from time to time for site news, especially since I don't know anyone here. I'm also not a big forum user, so I'll more likely just be a name you'll see pop up from time to time. The Virus: There's only three of us, but we all wanted to be the main writer. The building up the pile and choosing an arc system seems to be a decent idea. This way, no one is really "leader" and we can focus on what's important. Thanks for responding. |
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6:56 PM Jul 11