Writing the ending first.

Taiwanimation · Post by **Taiwanimation** » Fri May 19, 2006 7:11 pm

Normally when writing a comic I do the pages in sequence, first writing out a loose outline of the story, then drawing thumbnails of the pages, and then doing the pages from start to finish, often changing things along the way.

This time though, because of printing deadlines (the last page is on the other side of the back cover) I've finished the first and last pages before the other eight in the middle. At the same time, I laid out the pages facing 1 and 10.

As of now, pages 3 and 4 are fairly set, 7 and 8 somewhat so, and 5 and 6 is quite murky. I'll keep you up on how this whole adventure works out by next week when I'll be finished - in the meantime, anyone ever done something this way before?

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Fri May 19, 2006 7:27 pm

I always write thye climaxes to stories first, partially because it sets up in my mind what the end conditions are but mostly because they're more fun to write.

- Joel Fagin

Sortelli · Post by **Sortelli** » Fri May 19, 2006 7:34 pm

I've never actually drawn an ending first, but I've written them. My problem is actually getting to the ending.

Escushion · Post by **Escushion** » Fri May 19, 2006 7:47 pm

I usually have an end in mind, but if events before it can't work to it without being... well, crappy, I change it.

Garneta · Post by **Garneta** » Fri May 19, 2006 7:52 pm

I was gonna write the outline of most of my story before I started the comic...but that didn't happen. I really don't know how it's gonna end yet.

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Fri May 19, 2006 9:02 pm

I usually do that with my minor storylines. There's no particular 'ending' for my strip, so I don't have to worry about that. Eventually I might just do a Footrot Flats and tie up a few appropriate loose ends and finish with the characters walking out down the road into the distance, but that's a long way off if it's ever reached.

For little plot points, yeah, the final idea is where I want to get to. The beginning is where we're currently at. In the middle...who knows what happens? Usually I fill the required number of strips with a few jokes I can think of to match the situation or the characters and then start drawing in the order I have them. Often I think of something else in the middle so insert it as I go.

Dunno if that helps, but it's quite possible I won't understand that either when I reread it.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Fri May 19, 2006 9:26 pm

I never write chronologically anyway. I write parts in which ever way I feel like, so the ending probably comes before all of the rest is written anyway. Later drafts, though, I do chronologically.
As for drawing, I always pencil in chronological order but very often don't do that with inks. I often simply first ink parts that are the most interesting.

Incidentally artists sometimes, when they're pressured by deadlines and have really tight schedule, start from the end, so that the end would be drawn better.

Qwanderer · Post by **Qwanderer** » Fri May 19, 2006 9:34 pm

Well, so far I started with an idea of what would happen in the beginning of my comic, and just a bit of it has happened. I wrote and drew the first section of chapter four before anything else. As for each chapter or section, I never write them in order, and if I haven't drawn a page yet then chances are it will change from how I imagine it. For me what pictures I am interested in drawing shape the story. If I am bored and don't feel like drawing a picture it usually means the picture/story is boring at that point and needs to be reconsidered. Right now I am stuck on the fourth page of chapter four because as the plot is, the pictures are quite similar to others I have drawn for before and after it. I'm learning how not to write a story for a visual medium.

In the first three chapters I ran into problems because of my foray into chapter three before I had really decided how things were going to work, but as I get accustomed to the process and my style becomes more consistent I suspect that will become less of a problem. Yesterday I drew a picture for Chapter Eight because it was what I felt inspired to draw, and because of its place in the plot it should not matter when it was drawn. Even if my style changes between now and then.

As for long term planning I really have not much idea what happens after about Chapter Nine. Which in some ways is really when the story begins. What I'm doing now all seems like setting up for something.

Cope · Post by **Cope** » Fri May 19, 2006 10:14 pm

The ending is pretty much always one of the first things I think of, but I wouldn't ever try to draw it first. Basically, I'm hoping I'll have had enough practise to do my ending with a modicum of decency when I get there.

Faub · Post by **Faub** » Fri May 19, 2006 10:30 pm

I had an ending in mind at the beginning. Then the characters just ran off with the comic and I haven't seen the end of it.

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Fri May 19, 2006 10:58 pm

faub wrote:I had an ending in mind at the beginning. Then the characters just ran off with the comic and I haven't seen the end of it.

My characters have written some of my best stories.

- Joel Fagin

Blackaby · Post by **Blackaby** » Sat May 20, 2006 3:19 am

I usually get one funny joke and then write a script around it.

Jackhass · Post by **Jackhass** » Sat May 20, 2006 3:58 am

There's no "ending" to my comic, but when I do storylines they usually grow out of various events or plot points that strike me or dawn on me might be cool. I get a good idea (or a few of them) for an image, or a certain gag or dramatic event that I want to make happen...then I come up with a story to tie it all together. I often don't really have a specific ending to the storyline in mind to begin with.

For instance, in you read my comic you'll know there where was recently a little story where one character (Angsty the Octopus) breaks up with his girlfriend (or more specifically, he gets dumped). The storyline started because I had two ideas a) a comic where the two of them argue whether the water is blue or green (making fun of the utterly inane arguments couples often have) and b) a comic where two people desperately try to avoid aknowledging each other even when it starts to, for various reasons, become totally absurd not to.

So I had these two ideas I wanted to do and I started to formulate a storyline to make them happen. I had never originally set out to break them up actually, but it allowed me to be able to do comic idea B, plus it could be good fodder for more funny and/or dramatic situations in the future. I still don't know how the storyline will end (although of course I have my ideas)...it may not ever end in a neat tidy fashion. We shall see.

So there...a look into my twisted mind as I write this stuff.

Escushion · Post by **Escushion** » Sat May 20, 2006 5:45 am

Joel Fagin wrote:
faub wrote:I had an ending in mind at the beginning. Then the characters just ran off with the comic and I haven't seen the end of it.
My characters have written some of my best stories.

- Joel Fagin

Same here. In fact, that's the best way of putting it.

TheSuburbanLetdown · Post by **TheSuburbanLetdown** » Sat May 20, 2006 7:01 am

I have my ending. I just need to get to it.

Christwriter · Post by **Christwriter** » Sat May 20, 2006 8:59 am

I've found that I write most effectively when I have the last climax + aftermath in mind. That way, everything I write is done with that ending in mind, so it's a little more difficult to write myself into a corner and not know how to end it...I KNOW how it's going to end, I KNOW what happens to all the characters and I know why. All I have to do is be careful I don't screw up the rythem of the story, and things should be good.

CW

Jeffy · Post by **Jeffy** » Sat May 20, 2006 12:36 pm

closest I've come is to know the end result I want and build the rest of the story up to that point. Haven't tried to actually make the end page since I don't constrict myself into having a set panel layout on each page, and a future comic may well be far enough in the future that my artwork would get drastically better or just change in general by the time I get there

Jim North · Post by **Jim North** » Sat May 20, 2006 3:25 pm

I generally have the beginning and end of any story I come up with set in my head to start off with. The middle I worry about later. And the end I have planned . . . well, that generally depends on how the middle part works out. I've found that having an end in mind is a good thing, but setting it in concrete might end up muddling things.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Sat May 20, 2006 4:05 pm

Funny, though, I usually have several scenes from the middle in mind. Without that, I usually don't even sit down to write.

Kilre · Post by **Kilre** » Sat May 20, 2006 6:28 pm

Escushion wrote:
Joel Fagin wrote:
faub wrote:I had an ending in mind at the beginning. Then the characters just ran off with the comic and I haven't seen the end of it.
My characters have written some of my best stories.

- Joel Fagin
Same here. In fact, that's the best way of putting it.

Not to sound repetitive, but that's exactly what I'm doing. I know where I'm supposed to be headed, but the characters are taking their time in waltzing there. I think I'll see the light soon enough...

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Writing the ending first.

Writing the ending first.

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