Vermillion Works

This also means how to avoid rebooting a comic several times as well. As a former Reboot Queen, I thought I would post this for new webcomic creators or even ones who’ve been at it a while and are just feeling kind of uncertain about their work.

I actually posted this on a forum first, but thought someone here might also find it useful. XP Note that these are not unspoken rules or anything! First and foremost, do what you feel you need to! Everyone learns in their own way.

1: At the beginning, aim shorter. If you’re just getting into webcomics, try some experimental one-shots first. It’s the comics with no end in sight (or an ending waaayyy too out of sight) that are more likely to be left unfinished. If your projects involve characters or plotlines you REALLY want to use again, you can always leave them open-ended to continue them, or just move on to your grand, epic project after getting the hang of things a bit first. XP It’s just better to start out kind of slow and learn your strengths and weaknesses. Or even if you’re not new to comics, this is still a good way to experiment.

2: NEVER start a comic on a sudden inspiration. You want to make an art or some short comics when this happens, cool, but what seems great to you one month may seem kinda lame the next. I mean, sure, we all have moments where we’re not as interested in our comics, but if you pick subjects you truly love, it makes it easier to plow through those downer moments. XP Heck, this advice can go for ANY sort of project.

3: If possible, avoid rebooting old chapters because of amateur art/writing. If you absolutely need to for publishing reasons or to change some plot elements, then do what you must, but doing this can REALLY slow things down. That old art/writing may make your eyes bleed, but remember that most readers really don’t mind and even enjoy seeing an artist grow.

4: Even with a longer series, have an ending in sight. Again, kind of related to tip 1. Basically, unless you’re making a comic strip or slice of life or something, make it possible to reach the end of your comic in your lifetime! Consider trimming unnecessary bulk from your story.

5: Don’t let readers’ opinions sway you! I don’t mean ignore helpful constructive criticism, I mean people who question how a character acts, or say “I hope this doesn’t happen!” or anything that might be making you second guess parts of your story. I actually spazzed out and changed an entire character because people were considering her too ‘Mary Sue’, and a lot of the reboots I made were partially influenced by reader opinions as well! Make the story YOU want to make, don’t worry about your characters being cliched (heck, even if they are), or people having a different opinion of your characters than you expected. Stay the course! XP

So I made that original post way back in 2016, and while I still mostly stand by a lot of that advice for avoiding rebooting a webcomic a ton of times, or starting a new webcomic and then immediately dropping it, my opinions have also changed a bit, and since people still repost this, I thought I'd set the record straight so hopefully no one overthinks starting a webcomic as a result of some old Tumblr post of mine.

At this point, I say if you have a passion webcomic project that you're dying to make, whether it's a huge epic or not, and whether you're an amateur or not, just make it. With webcomics, the only way you'll figure out your writing strengths and improve your art/comicking is by doing, and it only makes sense to work on the story you're currently obsessed with. Avoiding the project you really want to do will probably only stifle you and kill your motivation.

As much as I find it ridiculous that I rebooted one webcomic three times and hate how much time I wasted doing that, I also know I had to learn by doing, so perhaps no matter what it would've had to play out that way. I just dropped that past advice to try and help people avoid needless reboots for the wrong reasons, as my reboots were in part for the wrong reasons.

Now I'm going to go over my past pointers with my current thoughts-

"1: At the beginning, aim shorter." I think this is good advice, but only if you want to do some experiments beforehand so you go in with more of an idea of what you're doing, or if you have some shorter story ideas you think would be fun to do first. However, if you're just too into your BIG idea...then just make that. You'll enjoy yourself more and you'll learn your strengths and weaknesses either way. If you reboot it later, then you reboot it. That's webcomics. :P

"2: NEVER start a comic on a sudden inspiration." I still stand by not starting a BIG webcomic you just recently became inspired to do, but that's because I personally have a very fickle brain that can be totally into one idea for a couple of months, and then all of a sudden I wonder what the hell I was thinking. XD But that advice was really only for people with similar mindsets.

I also now say to make as much art or writing as you want for it while you're into the idea. Nothing at all wrong with riding your newfound inspiration and at least getting it out of your system! It'll also probably help you decide how much you're really into it or if it's just a passing fancy. And then if you start the webcomic and end up dropping it early on anyway? Oh well. Any practice is good practice.

"3: If possible, avoid rebooting old chapters because of amateur art/writing." I mostly stand by this when it comes to rebooting because of art (unless you have no choice because of publishing reasons or really want to fix some errors or inconsistencies), because you will always look back and cringe a little, because you'll never stop improving!

Rebooting because of writing I understand more though. Sometimes you just outgrow concepts and storylines you came up with when you were in high school or just newer to writing, and you start to feel it. If you think it's time for a change via reboot or new project, then follow your gut. You've learned more about your strengths and weaknesses and upgraded as a writer and artist! It's fine!

Also, as much as you may love your past OCs, don't be afraid to try out making new ones! There is no "betrayal" in moving on from your old characters. Or you can even take old OCs and put them into new projects. There are no rules with webcomics, so make yourself happy!!

"4: Even with a longer series, have an ending in sight." Another tip I still mostly stand by, only because it makes things easier to know where things are headed. But honestly, webcomics are slow-moving as heck and you'll have plenty of time to change things as you go, if you want to, and that includes the ending. I also like the idea of coming up with a list of multiple endings. Pretend your comic is like a video game with many possible end results depending on what path is taken. Even explore the "bad" endings you'd never use just for the potential ideas that can come from it!

I also mention "trimming unnecessary bulk" in the story...and that I consider more subjective now. I do recommend it if you feel like something is kinda boring to you and it's possible to avoid it or speed it up in some way, but of course, some "unnecessary" moments are in fact, necessary. Moments of character bonding, quiet or atmospheric scenes, they can add a LOT to a story. It doesn't always have to be "jump from point A to point B".

"5: Don’t let readers’ opinions sway you!" Okay, this one I REALLY still stand by, because so much criticism can be based on personal taste. You really have to use your own judgement on whether someone is giving you criticism that you believe can actually help you improve, or if they're just wanting you to change your story/characters to what THEY want to see. If you're writing a horror story, would you listen to advice from someone who hates horror? If you want to write a timid character, should you listen to someone who gets needlessly mad about timid characters and only accepts tough ones?