How do you maintain interest?

Ripnormality · Post by **Ripnormality** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:32 pm

Chelsee wrote:One problem I've seen in both myself and a hundred other people is that sometimes, drawing a comic is tedious! In a written story, you can just say "He crossed the dirty street, stepping over a puddle"... but in a comic you have to draw the street, the filth ON the street, the puddle, the person stepping over the puddle...

The thing is, you have to find what you ENJOY drawing, because this is just something all artists must deal with. If you don't like drawing technological things, maybe avoid sci-fi. If you like drawing the human body, find a way to 'work into the plot' various excuses to have limited clothing ^_^. We all have our happy place in our work. The key to keeping interest is constantly stroking that little node in the right spot. Draw what YOU want to draw, even if it seems random in the comic. Look at published works and you'll find even professional comic artists will sometimes sacrifice 'logic' to include a few more drawings of what they love.

Added bonus- if you're enjoying yourself, it really shows in your work and your readers will enjoy themselves more as well.

That's really an excellent suggestion and something I failed to take into account when I picked my (formerly) current storyline.... I picked it to maintain interest in the sense of being able to keep drawing it, but I'm so bored with just drawing realistic things...I wish I'd picked something with more fantastic/horror elements.

Chelsee · Post by **Chelsee** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 8:53 pm

Well... if the story isn't moving you then I wouldn't advise you to stick to it for no reason... But know that if you like, say, even a few characters you can always change your style (and even your genre) without having to ditch the comic itself. It would probably just involve a pretty epic plot twist ^_^.

Ripnormality · Post by **Ripnormality** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 5:21 pm

Chelsee wrote:Well... if the story isn't moving you then I wouldn't advise you to stick to it for no reason... But know that if you like, say, even a few characters you can always change your style (and even your genre) without having to ditch the comic itself. It would probably just involve a pretty epic plot twist ^_^.

Sounds good

Though the continuity would be very, very sketchy. Personally I'd rather start one with new characters since the plot thus far goes with what I think of as 'urban magic' (i.e. not really fantasy, more surreality/unreality) than really fantastic elements. But then, I don't think I'm quite practiced enough to push out a fantasy.

Chelsee · Post by **Chelsee** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 10:20 pm

(wow, even better advice I'm going against - don't reply when you've been drinking!)
Again, go with what you want to do most! The strongest characters stay with you far before and far after a story! Make characters you love, and work a story around them. No matter how inane a story is, good characters (and subsequently good character interaction) will make it fun and interesting.

A good way of dealing with this factor: Make a single character you like. Then think: What character would interact interestingly with this character? And formulate a second character based on that.

Have a violent, passionate character? How would, way, a pacifist deal with them? Have a quiet, shy character? How would a character with strong self esteem and resolve interact with them?

These are interesting questions to face, and often involve a lot of honest soul-searching, even on the AUTHOR'S humble behalf!

Ripnormality · Post by **Ripnormality** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:40 pm

Chelsee wrote:(wow, even better advice I'm going against - don't reply when you've been drinking!)

A good way of dealing with this factor: Make a single character you like. Then think: What character would interact interestingly with this character? And formulate a second character based on that.

(Well, it does make things interesting....)

Using that technique implies that a story is built around characters...I'm honestly more of a plot person (using a rather loose definition of plot). My characters aren't defined by backstory; they're defined by what they do (when they're defined...though I've never been accused of two-dimensional characters). So...for me, starting off with a good plot & appropriate setting is paramount, which nicely circles back into the original conflict.

Chelsee · Post by **Chelsee** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:35 pm

Oh, on the contrary! I'm a plot person, too, so I know exactly what you mean. I wish I'd been more coherent when I'd said the previous message ^_^.

You're absolutely right - basing a story entirely around a character and hoping a plot would incidentally crop up is rarely the most productive approach. I was more meaning "I want a story with THIS plot, where a person does THIS. So I must create a character that would feel inclined to do THIS for-whatever-reason." *creates first character* "As a second plot point, I need a character that would interact with the first character in THIS way, to progress the plot in THIS direction..." *second character is created to fit INTO universe as plot needs*

I guess it's actually a variation of the same way you do it... It's just that strong need to JUSTIFY why something would happen in the plot based on the person in the story just being "themselves", rather than controlling what they would do or say to progress the story.

Guess what I'm trying to say:
Fitting a plot with a character that can carry the plot: Good!
Making said character a plot device: Bad.

Hheh, guess it's not really advice at this point, though, since you seem to already have a grasp of that ^_^.

Geekblather · Post by **Geekblather** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:51 pm

People will watch interesting people do boring things much longer than they will watch boring people do interesting things.

Chelsee · Post by **Chelsee** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:04 am

Haha, so true...

Uncaringmachine · Post by **Uncaringmachine** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:12 am

depends on if it's a story comic or gag. I don't like to do story comics because I have a short attention span and get bored easily. I just do gag comics and the new comic I'm doing is just two heads talking about stuff, mostly real life with a hint of comedy. But I totally understand the running out of ideas just not feeling like it thing. It can end up feeling like a job.

Levi-chan · Post by **Levi-chan** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 1:48 am

geekblather wrote:People will watch interesting people do boring things much longer than they will watch boring people do interesting things.

Sig'd.

Geekblather · Post by **Geekblather** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:07 am

Hee. Well- it's true. I mean, even if you have an interesting character just writing recipes people will still find a way to relate to them, and won't be able to wait for what recipe they write next.

... or something like that.

Ripnormality · Post by **Ripnormality** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:30 am

geekblather wrote:Hee. Well- it's true. I mean, even if you have an interesting character just writing recipes people will still find a way to relate to them, and won't be able to wait for what recipe they write next.

... or something like that.

(nod) It's all about presentation. But even with an engaged audience, the question is, how does the author stay engaged? I can't imagine being satisfied with one formula...which might be an indicator that I need to stay away from doing storylines entirely.

Geekblather · Post by **Geekblather** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 12:41 pm

I have a squad of annoyance monkeys that poke me with sticks when I don't work on the comic. After a couple of hours those sticks really start to sting.

Chelsee · Post by **Chelsee** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 2:25 pm

Which I suppose takes us all full circle ^_^. There are some pretty interesting comments that I suppose I hadn't considered before (that could, through context, apply to anyone).

I like the comment about keeping scenes/strips short for those of the short attention span... Even if you're in the middle of a scene, cutting it off can make a convenient cliff hanger... AND you get to draw other things/people/circumstances!

Levi-chan · Post by **Levi-chan** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 9:37 pm

Perhaps you might find that drawing/planning/writing shorter arcs/stories is a bit easier.

It certainly works for me.

Guyford · Post by **Guyford** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 5:30 pm

Levi-chan wrote:Perhaps you might find that drawing/planning/writing shorter arcs/stories is a bit easier.

It certainly works for me.

That's what I do also.

I've got the whole plot figured out and outlined for my story, but when it comes to drawing and scripting, I try to organize things in terms of scenes/story arcs of 2-10 pages. For each arc, I try to get some point across (characterization, fight scene, information, hints, etc) and try to advance the plot at least a little as well. I don't necessarily try to have some epic plot twist at the end of each scene either.

It just makes it more manageable for me to think "I've got finite amount of pages to get this point across" instead of "I have soooo much to cover before I get to the end". And if I start to lose interest, the knowledge that there is an end to the scene and I get to draw something else after helps me stay motivated.

Ripnormality · Post by **Ripnormality** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:15 pm

Chelsee wrote:Which I suppose takes us all full circle ^_^. There are some pretty interesting comments that I suppose I hadn't considered before (that could, through context, apply to anyone).

I like the comment about keeping scenes/strips short for those of the short attention span... Even if you're in the middle of a scene, cutting it off can make a convenient cliff hanger... AND you get to draw other things/people/circumstances!

The trick, however, is balancing that with reader interest. Cliffhangers are a great tool, but, like chainsaws, they can be overused.
I've discovered that keeping really short story arcs keeps me creative--when doing a longer story, I burn out of both ideas and interest. Hmm.
Part of the problem might be that I'm not totally 'Whoa, I get to draw new things if I finish this!' because I also think, 'I could be drawing something different right now....'