McDuffies wrote:Uh-oh. I'm afraid if I follow those rules, I'll end up with "Cars".
Nonsense, there's no rules about having to invent an excuse to push your cheap toys on children
McDuffies wrote:Uh-oh. I'm afraid if I follow those rules, I'll end up with "Cars".
McDuffies wrote: 2. reconsider whether all that text is really essential, and whether some of it could be excised without any damage to the narration.
VeryCuddlyCornpone wrote:McDuffies wrote: 2. reconsider whether all that text is really essential, and whether some of it could be excised without any damage to the narration.
I feel this part is especially key. Especially when working in this medium where page space is precious and needs to be allocated well, learning to word dialogue/narrative in a way that doesn't hold things back while still maintaining character and atmosphere is a valuable skill. People are often surprised with how much they can actually say when limiting their words, if you use words properly.
Peripheral Descent wrote:This is just a personal preference, of course. Keep in mind that if I like a comic and I come upon a page that does have a huge amount of words, I'll read it anyways. A good example is Goblins - when one of the main characters received a magic weapon, the next comic page became a page of text to explain the origins of this weapon, which was a cool story. The next page, the character references things that happened in this story. Goblins uses text as fillers, too - but they're always interesting stories and facts about his world. I look forward to those.
LibertyCabbage wrote:Hunt's one of the best writers in webcomics, though, so you gotta give him the benefit of the doubt.
As for walls of text in comics, when I see 'em, I think, "Dude, if I wanted to read a novel, I'd be reading a fucking novel." Someone who can tell a story with pictures is gonna impress me a hell of a lot more than some "wordsmith" who thinks putting a guy's head next to a paragraph counts as "visual storytelling."
JSConner800 wrote:
Now, I haven't read the comic, so I'm only basing my comments off of what you're describing, but don't you think that sidestory about the magic weapon would have been more effective if it had been worked organically into the plot, rather than just stopping everything and devoting a whole comic page to the backstory of some random weapon?
Peripheral Descent wrote:What you're saying is completely logical, and in almost all cases, I would agree with you. There really is no reason to have a giant wall of text like that. However, the magic weapon mentioned was foreshadowed several times to be "something really cool", so when the story did happen, all I could think of was "Right on! I finally get to see what this weapon is all about!"
The story all around this wall of text was very action-packed and fast-paced, so it was a nice surprise to finally get that story. And in all honesty, I don't know WHY it worked, but it did. You'd think it would subtract from the drama and action, but in all honesty, it seemed to intensify it a little. And again, I have no idea why!
However, I do feel like that much text is probably only something that very good story-tellers should attempt. Beginners and intermediate story-tellers should stay away from that kind of comicing as a general rule, because it usually annoys readers. When I see a wall of text, I generally think, "Filler, because the author is too lazy to make a real page". It makes me a little less satisfied with the story. :\
The test is, is the text interesting and actually important to the story? Because it's easy for some people to go on and on and on about shit nobody cares about. Cue Monty Python: GET ON WITH IT!!!McDuffies wrote:Perhaps it's better for the rhythm of the story to spend one page narrating something through text, than five pages narrating the same through pictures?
LibertyCabbage wrote:It's a bold move. Basically, walls of text are saying, "I'm confident enough in my writing abilities to throw off the visual-verbal balance." If the creator's a really good writer, then, sure, they can probably pull it off. If they're just an "okay" writer, then this approach will probably come off as boring and tedious. And if they're a bad writer, it's gonna end up just being embarrassing.The test is, is the text interesting and actually important to the story? Because it's easy for some people to go on and on and on about shit nobody cares about. Cue Monty Python: GET ON WITH IT!!!McDuffies wrote:Perhaps it's better for the rhythm of the story to spend one page narrating something through text, than five pages narrating the same through pictures?
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