#weshippocomic

Ok so first, I come up vaguely with what happens in the chapter.  So important things that moves the story along.   For example, for chapter 2, I think it was structured in my head this way: -Wes finds an underwater cave entrance (via the shiny pendant) -Wes finds the village -Villagers tells Wes about their problem (They are stuck underground and only exit is blocked by a monster) -Wes says he'll help, Milen says he'll guide him -Wes and Milen talks while navigating the caves -They find the monster and deals with it -They find the exit -They help the rest of the villagers get out While coming up with those elements, I do think about some specific parts too.  For example, I might not focus on what happens in the village as much or how Wes finds it, but I might let my mind come up with a scene or series of scenes about them dealing with that monster.  What matters is that those main story beats needs to be there in my head before I start anything.  I wouldn't want to get halfway in a story and be like "I don't know where this is going, now I have to force the rest of the story out".  I prefer coming up with a story by "letting it come to me",  which mean that I can't really force it.  Otherwise, I feel like it wouldn't be natural.  Which is why I think  that sometimes, extending a show beyond the seasons it was originally suppose to have will often feel awkward (see Legend of Korra season 2, not a great example since they still did pretty alright, just not as good as the other seasons). Once I have the main parts of the chapter set, I then start thinking more about the actual scenes.  It's like last time, but now Wes has to at least physically go to his destination.  Unless I plan on having a fast forward to another scene, the character has to be shown how they get there if anything interesting or important happens during.  At this point, I still mostly am not thinking about dialogue.

Once the chapter doesn't feel as "blurry" in my head, I can start writing it.  Now for chapter 2, I only wrote for a session then work on the pages until I ran out of script, then do it again.  That would give about 10-20 pages depending on how lazy I would be, but I also were just that, lazier.  Now I'd probably try to write the whole chapter before I start the chapter and see how that goes, but I don't think it matters as much since coming up with the actual scene with dialogues is where I feel like you don't completely have to "let it come to you"  or rather, it's easier to sit down and do it if you have the structure in place.  

My reasoning here is that if your characters are that, characters, then I think the natural approach is to know your character and make them say or do things based on their character.  In a real conversation or when you hang out with someone, everything you say or do isn't rehearse.  So I do think that understanding your character and writing the scene by making them say what you think the character would naturally say is my preferred approach to dialogue and making a scene.  I still have to guide them toward making them do things that are important to move the story along, but they have to do it their way.

But even with the "script" written in advance, the story doesn't have to be set in stone.  Once I'm about to start working on the page, the first thing I do is re-read the page and make sure that there isn't dialogue that are too awkward, or even a scene I don't like.  I usually read it with the previous page I just finished and will sometimes check the next page to see if I made all those page work right with one another.

I rewrote a lot of dialogue that way, but there are 2 scenes in the second chapter that were completely rewrote.   The first time because I felt like it was boring and was adding an unnecessary element to a character.  Basically writing a scene that I felt at the time that "it needed to be here contextually".  But I later realized that I was tacking on an element and pretty much made about 3 pages pointless.  I am glad I rewrote them.

The second one, I actually felt like the original script was straight up bad.  I even mention it in the description of one of the pages, comparing the scene to an anime.  But it was also making the part where Wes and Milen walking in the caves really short, like the monster was at the doorstep of their caves, but I never intended for the caves to be structured that way.  So I had to extend the scene with more pages, while adding a fast forward montage.  That allowed me to focus on Wes and Milen talking to each other more, having a bit more exposition while also developing the character to the reader.  Again, I like the newer version better.

This is why I expect that writing the whole chapter isn't something I really need.  It might help some people better - And if it does, do it! -  but my mind works in a way where i can remember the scenes enough that I don't have to write them down.  There will probably be lots of rewrite anyway, as I keep analyzing shows I watch or comic I read and understand how to make scenes and character interaction better.