I started FAUB with the idea that a graphic novel was around 500 pages which would mean that I'm still pretty much setting up the stage for the later events in the story. It should be obvious by now who the important characters are and even if I haven't identified why certain characters are important I really felt like I had given out enough information for readers to get a general idea of what was happening. But, as Al Schroeder said, "FAUB is great, but I have NO answers so far." The way I read this, my comic is too slow to be fulfilling for readers even though, to me this isn't an issue.
In paper comics, storylines generally run around 4 issues (80 pages). To me this is painfully short. It leaves very little time for buildup and half the time you know the finale before you read it. Is it just that readers' attention spans are that short or is it something to do with the periodical nature of comics? More needs to be told in less space?
French comic book standard in 44 pages A4 format (which, I guess, counts as double). To me, that is just too little. I consider 100 pages to be fit, not too much, not too little, for a serious story that would include introducing characters, story flow, and not too fast conclusion. However, 60 pages show good results in a story belonging to series, where characters are pre-established. Most of Spirou stories are 60 pages long, and those are, if I may say, masterpieces of the adventure form.
In a 44 page format, it appears that most often, astablishing characters and story takes first 15-20 pages. Again, that's too much of the entire album. That's why such albums cut on an ending, that is, they have too quickly wrapped up ending with no conclusion. I specially hate when there's no conclusion on inner state of characters, in a psychological story this is unforgivable. But authors often get preocupiet with outter parts of the story, action and plot, that they spend most of the space wrapping up those parts.
I have to add, movie scriptwriters usually use form 25% introduction, 50% exposition/action, 25% conclusion; Hmmm, actually, I think this is incorrect, but I can't find a source of this, but it's certainly close to original scheme. Anyway, it's a scheme I agree with, exceptions included, of course, if you have a reason to det the story different, do it. But it's standard and generally gives good results. Plus, usual film script is 120 pages long, which seems close to my 100 pages estimation.
As I said, in lack of space, authors turned this into 50% introduction, 50% everything else, but I've still read some good books on this.
Now, Faub, things go a bit different with ctories of the size you intend. A story should be 500 pages long because it's got more things happening, not simply because things happen slower. Of course, comics tempo can be slower or faster, but you can make 100 pages of my estimation into 150 or 200 pages by slow tempo, not exactly into 500 pages. I assume there's a lot of things going on in your plans for Faub, lots of supstories, lots of events. That's why aproximation I mentioned up there shouldn't work, 500 long comic isn't simply a 100 long comic 5 times stretched. Introduction, as a supporting pagt of the comic, should take relatively less.
My estimation? 80-100 pages for introduction and setting of main characters and tone of the story. Keep in mind, this is a mere rough estimate, I never actually thought of making that long story.
This is in part a writing critique request. I would like to know how and where my comic went wrong and whether it would be too late to fix things. The second part to this is about pacing in general. What importance does it have in your comic? How long are your storylines? How much emphasis do you place on pacing?
Hmm. Well, I suppose at some point things just stopped happening. Or more precise, happenings turn the circle, at the ending, story is back at the beginning. This might be a little banal metaphore, but imagine an adventure comic: now, characters are traveling, then one of them gets kidnapped, then others find the kidnappers and set him free, and they continue the trip. This story usually accomplishes nothing, maybe some establishing of characters, but it's a small accomplishment and if the story is in it's advanced part where readers are expecting plot advancement, it's a mestake. Instead, story turned a circle, and at the end of it, readers are back at the beginning.
Teretrous said:
I think as far as webcomics are concerned, you need to try to stagger the way your subplots close off. We all know the standard method in writing is to introduce a ton of subplots throughout 90% of the story and then wrap them all up in the final chapter. However, this doesn't work so good in webcomics because you can't just keep reading a comic that isn't finished yet if you want to find out what happens next.
Yep, I agree. It's not neccesarity a type of storylines that I have, you have supporting characters and they have their own stories behind the major ones. But there's another way too, and that is what I actually plan to do with Little White Knight:
LWK's first part, 180 pages that I mentioned, is planned as 5 or 6 episodes. In every episode, I plan to give a part of mistery away. At the end of every episode, I reveal a bit of things. It's hardly a rounded up story, as the only story is the big one, 180 pages long, but episodes are more like chapters in the book.
What I'm saying,
reader needs catarsis from time to time. That's probably the only way to make a comic or novel of that size. Someone would say, reader needs a little gift, but I'd rather call it catarsis. Obvious example is slasher movie, where each murder is a catarsis of sorts (ironiocally said, a gift for the audience). Putting murders too often is a mestake, but also having a movie going for an hour without and murder, is mestake.
But there is another issue: each one of them has to advance a story a bit. I wondered a bat there, but I think that what Al and Joel complained was mostly that the catarsis in Faub don't advance the story. (there are catarsis. On top of my head, a scene in police car).
Is Faub generally a mistery comic? Is it supposed to end up by giving answers to major questions? Cause mistery novels have that problem sometimes. A story goes along, and reader has impression that story is not advancing. Things happen that are important for final picture, but reader doesn't know that. He doesn't know their place in the picture until the end of the story, because writer himself made them that way in order not to make answers obvious. I don't think it's a generally good idea to make a 500 pages long mistery story. Simply, you'll have aroung 400 pages of story that is not progressing. Actually, it is progressing, and you know it, but readers don't since they don't know what importance events have - not until the end. It's simply too long to keep reader's attention.
That's why I suggest giving pieces of information more often during the story.
I went over my head again, did I? Did I even make sence?
If you want a bad example, take "Akira". It's, what, 3000 pages long? You think that story is revolving, but after 1000 pages you realise that everything before was just a kind of introduction. Long and dragged introduction that doesn't look like introduction. Also, Akira has a lot of those pointless actions that don't accomplish nothing, the likes of kidnapping story that I mentioned earlier.
With all respect, it's a story that shouldn't have took more that 500 pages.
the worst pacing I've ever seen?
the spider-man newspaper comic.
took the punisher 3 weeks to reach the top of the stairs.
Even worse: Elf life on Keenspot.
FAUB, I figure if you stay true to the heart of your story, then screw everything else.
Screw hits, screw ratings, screw "you sux hobag". It's your story.
Wrong! We're not talking about his artistic vision, not compromising it. We're merely talking about some technical questions. Faub knows a lot about storytelling, but everyone can learn something new, and learning some purely technical stuff certainly won't make his comic worse.
Please, I mean, too often artistic vision is used as excuse for not advancing.
i was concerned that magellan might suffer a similar fate - i have a very broad story that i want to tell. what i'm aiming for though is to tell stories that get resolved within the larger story, so that chapter by chapter (or part by part) the larger concept unfolds but within each chapter/part something gets advanced as an issue and is resolved. that way there's some closure and pay-off (hopefully) for the reader. enough of the small pieces will have been put forward by the time it's time for the big finale. don't know if it'll work, but that's what i'm hoping for. i guess shows like buffy have a similar set-up (a little bit about the season's baddie each episode, even though the episode might be about something different, but it builds up to a big showdown).
Oh, that's easy to handle. Just don't do all introduction at the beginning, but leave some for later, after a story or two. Not all characters have to be introduced at the beginning. Specially if there's a lot of them.
I gotta mention that most of webcomics have an awfull pacing, in my opinion. Actually, it makes me feel that most of people, used to this, find my pacing too fast. But it's just the way I think is right. It's simply wrong to me when I see a comic with ten pages of idle chat that basically leads nowhere. Idle chat does not constitute as characterisation. It's mostly more dynamic and more impressionable events that make characterisation.
Telling story fast and sublimed is a skill. An honorable skill.
