How do you keep it up? oo-er missus

[Telecoda]

Having a bit of a lull doing my comic at the moment.

I wondered if any of you experienced the same and how you got over it?

I'm thinking if I'm getting bored doing my comic I'm sure readers will feel the same.

Its a first time for me switching from single gag comics to a strip format.

Any advice?

[The Neko]

Two wrongs don't make a right. But three lefts do.

[Dotty]

Having a bit of a lull doing my comic at the moment.

I wondered if any of you experienced the same and how you got over it?

I'm thinking if I'm getting bored doing my comic I'm sure readers will feel the same.

Its a first time for me switching from single gag comics to a strip format.

Any advice?

Taking a break may be better for you, but you may lose some readers. The bigger guys in webcomics these days don't often do that....so you either need to find a niche, or you need to experiment to make it fresh and fun for you and the reader.

If you're happy doing gags, do gags. If you want to experiment...say you do 3 gags a week. do 2 gags one week, with some kind of thought provoking strip, a la calvin & hobbes. something to make the readerbase pause, and realize your characters aren't just 2 dimensions, they have thoughts and feelings.

Explore, and create. Have fun with what you do, but don't give up. It tends to hurt the readerbase if you do.

[RemusShepherd]

I'm going in for surgery next week.

This may cause the buffer to slip.

[AsterAzul]

The trick to having fun writing your comic is to write what you would want to read, in my opinion. When I get bored of my own storyline (which is happening to me a lot, because the whole comic is scripted and I drew the first few chapters once before), I think the elements that make my story different from another story, and whether another person would find them interesting. I look at the characters and emotions at play and ask myself if they're dynamic.

Basically, if your story bores you, take it in a new direction. Introduce a new element, maybe even a new element parallel to your current story that you would have to balance. Think about what could happen to the characters to change them, what they're currently going through and what needs to change for them. Making writing intellectually challenging is part of making it fun.

[MixedMyth]

Oh yeah, it happens frequently. Sometimes a small break is needed. I think, though, what kept me going was planning ahead. If there was something that I knew was going to happen in the comic, it'd keep bugging me until I got back to it.

Oh, and good luck with the surgery, Remus!

[Vorticus]

I try to switch things up. If I have ideas for plot stuff, I do that. If I don't I run more gag type comics.

[Cayen]

When I'm getting kinda burned out on the main comic, I usually do some fast mini pages of some idea swimming in my head...once that clears out I'm over my burnout and I can continue

[Kris X]

Take a break. I've been on hiatus a while and just now my creative juices are coming back. What you need is to experience the life, read other comics and create something to draw about. Listen to some music, take a stroll in a park, socialize with people, friends, strangers. Live to draw, don't draw to live.

[Jakkal]

I make my comic for my own amusement, not for my readers. I think it's just a perk that other people like my work as well. If you're not doing it for yourself, that might be a problem.

Also, I take a week's break between issues so I can clear my head, get my thoughts together, and work on the next issue. That really helps me out.

[Ida]

Yeah, I'd say that a short break won't hurt. The thing you have to watch out for is to make the break too long - the longer the break, the harder it will be to get back to the comic (plus the longer the break, the more readers you will lose). As for me, since I only update once a week, I draw the line at more than one skipped comic, which has worked pretty well so far. (Well... if you ignore that I'm currently 6 comics behind my original schedule ^^;)

[Jackhass]

Getting bored already are you?

Well, I dunno' what to say...maybe it's just a sign that this whole webcomic business isn't for you.

[Sput]

i get bored too. i was bored of OTC not more than 2 strips ago; the i threw in a plot twist for ME rather than my audience. got me back in the groove.

trying new stuff=win

[K-Dawg]

Getting bored already are you?

Well, I dunno' what to say...maybe it's just a sign that this whole webcomic business isn't for you.

That just sounds stupid; he's just in a lull. In no way does that mean he isn't cracked up to do a webcomic. Hell I did 3 comics before I did this one, none of them lasted over 25 comics..

That said all I can say to ya Telecoda is take a look at your comic and see if it's really what you want to do. If not then just drop and see if you want to draw anything new.

[Dutch!]

When you have a good idea and feel the urge to get stuck into drawing and producing comics, go for it like a bull at a gate. Work flat out on it and see how much you can produce. I work this way and have at times built up a ten week buffer so I can then sit back and just think now and then about how the next arm of the story is going to run. Then I can get excited about working actively on it again and go flat out like a lizard drinking once more and build it up again.

In short, don't get stuck doing a strip at a time a day before it's due up. You're working on it all the time then and get no chance to step back without taking the pause or hiatus.

[Telecoda]

I have up to 6 strips drawn in advance at any one time.

Its just the colouring that takes the time and slows me up.

Plenty more story to go but it just seems to take soooo long.

[Specterz]

When bored with the comic or the way it is headed, throw in a plot twist. That's what I did when writing for an other comic. The plot twist usally gets you 5-10 episodes of jokes or ideas, and at the end of that time you'll feel enthousiastic enough to carry on.
Just look at PvP, it seems to do that every week! One thing happens, and the rest of the week is jokes about that or taking that in a new direction. It works great!

Ah, but you say it's the colouring that is boring you, I see. Well, I can't talk from experience there, but it would seem to me that you need to make it fun for yourself. Listen to some good music while you're colouring, have your girlfriend massage you at the same time... hell I dunno. Maybe promise yourself a treat if you get the work done, like a new DVD or whatever. Or just think about the crazed fans waiting for your next piece of pure genius. Or, of course, switch to black and white/greyscales.

I don't think you should want to take a break/hiatus. If I'm not mistaken, your comic hasn't been running for too long, and you don't want to send out a message to your (potential) readers that you're bored with it already. Just find something new that will get you excited again.

Or, if you're still bored with it, think about closing the story/comic and starting anew, with a new concept. It's not unnatural to have to try different things before finding the perfect comic idea for you.

Wow, long post.

[TightSight]

First, it seems that part of your archive has disapeared, this happened to many people and you should be able to restore it by simply moving all the items in your public_html/comics folder into public_html/d/.

As far as motivation goes there are a number of things you can do. Somebody mentioned music and I have to say that for me music is critical, my strip wouldnt get done without it.

Another thing that you can think about is, obviously, taking less time to do your strips. Maybe do some in greyscale or make them smaller, whatever you can think of. They don't have to be large and full color every time you update them, just look at the newspaper. Unfortunately there isnt a lot you can do to shorten the creation time, sometimes you just have to chug through it (again, music really helps here).

[AsterAzul]

I think that there's A LOT of creation time that can be shortened out. If you practice your style, then you can learn to draw much faster than you normally do, and if you draw a bunch of your strips in one shot you can really get on a roll.

Of course, this is from a guy with a really sketchy and simple style, so take what you will from it.

[Ryuko]

Yeah. I have trouble with that. I sometimes think, "Why am I bothering?" "What is this webcomic business giving me?" I feel like I'm picking away at the plot piece-by-piece and as hard as I try, people aren't really going to understand me or the story I have to tell. I feel like my art's not good enough to convey what I feel, and I'm afraid that there might be something fundamentally wrong with my art that is turning people away, and I don't even realize it.

But I KNOW I have to keep plugging away. Because I know I really love what I'm doing and that I really love the story I have to tell. I feel like my comic gives something back to the people who read it, in the form of attachment to the characters or humor or story or action (someday) or even closure, as far as the people who are involved in the stories and the people in my life go.

I recommend, as long as you have plot already written up, finding a point sometime in the future of your comic, and looking forward to that. Continue being excited about this scene and continue making comics until you reach it. And then get excited about something else in your comic's future.