In the past, when I tried to create stories for comics, I would have several ideas. Then, I would start writing a script… and the whole thing would end up failing, because I would get lost in the details. As a result, I would end up getting discouraged and abandoning the script.
I would have another idea, get excited, and start writing another script… and, just like the previous one, it wouldn’t work and would be left half-finished.
Then I found this video, where the writer Carlos Canudo explains the essentials of putting together a story… and I understood what I was doing wrong. The video is narrated in Brazilian Portuguese, but subtitles are available.
This advice works in every field and is almost always true:
Are you painting a big scene? → Start by blocking up the entire composition.
Drawing characters? → Unless you’re a very experienced veteran, you begin with the gesture, the overall pose and the silhouette, not the eyes or the hair.
Writting a piece of software? → Start with pseudocode.
Working on an analysis for a scientific paper? → Outline your arguments first.
Designing user interfaces? → Create a basic mockup.
Animation? → Focus on the key frames.
And so on, and so forth.
The key is to start with the big picture so you can focus on the core idea behind that thing you want to create, test it, confirm its viability, and then full commit with the personality and details of it.
My biggest issue is connecting the dots in a meaningful (not boring) way. I often have some key scenes fleshed out (like a cool battle scene, a romance part or an important point of character development) but I am unable to fill the void between them, so far I never managed to get any comic done that is longer than a a few pages.
So, here’s an observation that might be helpful: The fact that you call them “the void” means it just isn’t important, and maybe can be left out. Which seems odd, but it might help to realise that a lot of ‘in between’ scenes in other stories primarily exist to build up the important scenes, which means you can work backwards from there: Why are the important scenes important? In a romance resolution, did you write the intro scene for each character yet, the one where they meet? Or if it resolves a relationship problem, did you write a scene where the problem is represented?
Similarly with an action scene, did you already write an introduction for the villain, or an introduction of the stakes?
It may seem some authors are capable of writing meandering nonsense all day long, but the truth is, that meandering nonsense in itself is important to some extend, otherwise noone would be writing it to begin with. Authors that work like that tend to rewrite, not so much to cut out the nonsense, but rather to refine and more clearly communicate the ideas that they think are important.
I myself too am more of a plotter than a pantser, so I do recognise the issue of not being able to identify how to go from p1 to p2. So, once you start laying out all the prerequisites for a given scene, you should end up having a much better idea of how to make things interconnect (or the opposite: the multiple plotpoints just don’t fit)
One piece of advice I read in an old style guide was that “Writing is mostly about cutting.” In other words, if you have dialogue, a scene, a character, or any other element that doesn’t help tell a story, try cutting it. If the story holds together or is better without it… then it was unnecessary.
I like to use this when drawing. If I add something to the drawing, I ask myself if it won’t take away from the main element: if it does, I eliminate it or change it.
A fellow artist showed me a comic page he did and asked for my opinion. His character was OK, the drawings were OK… the problem was the story itself.
The characters were gathered together, eating noodles and drinking, and at the end the main character says, “Screw it, I’m leaving.” There was no dialogue or scene that provided any information or anything that would interest the reader… or that pointed to another story that would clarify this. None of that in a whole page!
There was also no explanation about the character, nor about his world. A new reader who came to that page would read…and probably not come back.
There’s two types of writers: Those who plan and those who pants. Pants meaning writing by the seat of your pants, or just make it up as you go along. Some writers like George R.R. Martin swear by it. He uses wordstar 4 on an authentic MS-DOS machine, so what works for you or for him, more power to you.
Very reductionist in my opinion, there are not two kind of people in anything
Also George R R Martin do have a general plan and then improvise in the details, he says that he not plan the details of his stories, plus that does not mean that he does not plan his stories.
It wasn’t meant to be a literal statement of one or the other in a sense of absolute binary options 1 or 0. But in general, there are two types of writers: Those who prefer to just write without much planning to see how things go and those who make very elaborate planning going on for weeks or months before they even begin the first draft. There is absolutely overlap, a pantser will have some degree of planning and a planner will have some degree of winging it. I can clarify further if you want me to.
Oh, not necessary to clarify. The context of the post and the way i read/you wrote your response probably made me missunderstand your meaning
But it’s a lot clear now.
This is AMAZING!!!
OMG I feel like i just found a hidden GEM!
I was coming here to write my first post about how after discovering Krita 5 years ago, It has changed my life.
Than i read your post and it blows me away…
Like yes,
A thousand times yes…
Ive written a million stories that meandered and went nowhere, no idea why,
and this, simple comment is perfect, it explains why and what to do about it, and the responses here are gold.
Because having ADHD, every minute of every second of every day, i have a million new brilliant ideas, which i never put into practice, but reading peoples comments here its essentially block it out, and see if its doable.
Wow, i came here to gush, and say how great Krita is,
I came back with gold in Advice.
This place is amazing!!!
Well, what I’ve realized lately is that those stories of mine that failed weren’t viable at that time and in those situations.
An example: there was an old character of mine, none of the stories I tried to write for her went ahead… but maybe the character didn’t fit in that: she was, so to speak, out of her element.
Today I’m thinking about putting her as a narrator or occasional character and that approach seemed much more interesting to me. Maybe it would work better that way.
Get an end. If you know how it ends, you can begin the story. And don’t be afraid to leave a story unfinished. After some times, work on it with a new eye. It takes me years to concretize a story.
