#pacing tips

Yes it certainly is and thennnnk you for coming over to the tumblrs and posting this question so I could post this answer! :)

I just love the vibrant discussions we get into here and on AO3 about how to do stuff and processes and tips and tricks, etc. etc. I've done a lot of sharing when it comes to how I get ideas for comics, but I guess I haven't shown you guys what my notebook looks like in the space between idea and finished comic. So here it is:

So, that text and the amazing thumbnail art next to it is how I often lay out the story treatments for each page. I think I've talked about getting a sense of "pacing" as you work on stuff, and how that's often a constant struggle between "I wanna get to this part and talk about it by itself for 14.5 pages", so this method allows me to work within the constraints of what feels natural for an audience to read while keeping myself in-check with the parts I really, actually want to write about. :)

In other words, I might write out a multi-paragraph scene in my notes that I really want to show you guys... Something like "Charles gets drunk and hits on Murderface", but intriguing as that idea is, I'm sure it might get old if I filled 22 pages of Dethkomic with just that (or maybe not? Maybe I should live a little). And indeed, when I look at the parts of the story that I want to cover in any given update, I'll notice I probably don't have the room to spend on that Charles/MF scene for as long as I'd like... so I pace it out!

I first try to break up the story into pages (3-5) per update, and then I sketch each page in a little thumbnail like what you see up there, to make sure stuff flows. By that I mean, I not only want it to read well, but I want to be sure there's enough space and consideration given to dialogue that needs to happen, like this panel:

I want to be sure that, if we've changed scenes and are in a new location, or the location has somehow BEEN changed, I put in an establishing shot, like this:

And if there's a joke, or something that comes in rapid-fire succession, I want to give that enough panels as necessary to pull it off:

So you can see, it's a lot of consideration for something as trivial as how much of a story actually ends up making it into the final drafts. If you guys let me write out every idea for Dethkomic I've had since I started it, despite the fact that it's already based off of a story I already wrote, it'd go on for years and never be finished. :)

So anyway, whether you're writing a comic or long-form prose, or a script, or whatever, I highly recommend writing everything out, breaking it down into parts, and breaking those parts out to pace. A lot of editors say a finished draft is often 20% shorter than the submitted manuscript. You often hear me say "I'd write a shorter story if I had the time." And this is what is meant by both of those things I guess.

Keep everything you can, though. Yes, simplify them on a different page, but don't just delete your notes. You never know when you'll gloss over an important detail you only managed to write out long-form on your initial concept. And those things will also help you to remember things that need resolving that you might be forgetting.