Coming up with an idea

So you want to start your comic. How do you come up with an idea? If you already have one, stick around because we’ll refine your concept into a workable story. And if you don’t have an idea, this post will help.

Alright, don’t panic. Breathe. Okay, question one, what kind of stories do you enjoy? Let’s use an example: Clarissa is a new comic creator who wants to make comics but has yet to decide. What does she do now? Clarissa should ask herself. What has she watched lately? A lot of romance anime? Dark fantasies about brave young women having a terrible time? Brandon Sanderson’s Cosemire books? Now we have somewhere to start. Remember that if you enjoy a lot of media in the same genre, you’ll also enjoy writing that genre yourself. Remember, this isn’t a hard and fast rule, just a general guideline to help you on your creative journey.

Clarissa enjoys romance, dark fantasy, and high fantasy. That’s a good start, but let’s narrow it down even more. What books, comics, shows, etc., does she enjoy in these genres? She already mentioned Brandon Sanderson. So why does she like him? Because his magic systems are so rigid and play by complex rules? She knows what kind to aim for if she puts a magic system in her story. When she finds a subject she needs to learn more about, she looks on sites like YouTube for videos teaching that subject. There is almost always a plethora of lessons to choose from.

What else might Clarissa glean from examining her interests? She likes romance, so why not pick a few of her favorites and write them down? Then do some research to find what they have in common. A lot has a noblewoman falling in love with a knight or soldier. And most of them are set in space.

So now she has two more items to add to the list:

“Hard magic system.

Dark/ high fantasy

The romance between a person of high society and a lower-class person of a noble profession.

Set in space (space opera?)

She can use the same process with characters, settings, and themes.

So Clarissa has done all that, picked her favorite/ what she finds most interesting to think about, and here’s what she came up with:

Romance with an emphasis on slow burn and no red herrings.

Strong female characters who are emotionally mature and don’t tolerate toxic behavior.

Detailed worldbuilding.

Fanciful sci-fi that does enough to stay believable but doesn’t sweat scientific impossibilities like going faster than the speed of light.

Exploring how a disabled person would do in a role where a non-disabled protagonist would not have a problem. I.e., What if Ripply had lupus or Lilo had turrets? How would that force them (and the writer) to be more creative in overcoming the obstacles they face in their films?

Short stories/miniseries. Something about the length of Last Stand of the Wreckers, 4 or 5 issues long.

Remember, when writing this down not to overthink it. Don’t worry about putting the list entries into organized lists; time is enough for that later. Just focus on putting your ideas down.

Alright, she has a list. That still needs to be a story idea, though. You must take all those entries on the list and weave them into a story idea. Don’t worry about making something unique and polished. Just get the ideas down.

For example, here’s what Clarissa wrote, just recording her stream of consciousness:

“Okay, so she is thinking she wants a short romance story about a girl, or maybe a woman? Who falls in love with a man named Mark and they live in a future version of Philly, which has become a major space port for the shipping of goods across the Siler system. Maybe robot parts? Robots are a fast-growing industry and maybe hint at robots gaining rights, have a robot main character? Oh, the main characters are robots! They have just gained independence and our protagonist is a young robot woman who falls in love with a guard droid. She’s thinking three or four issues.”

Okay, now she has a story idea, so how does she take it from Gorge Lukas thinking, “Wouldn’t it be cool if I write a story about space monks fighting evil space notes?” And turn it to Star Wars? Fortunately for you, that’s what the next section is all about.

Turning your excellent idea into a workable story

Now that you have an idea, you need to refine it further. Take the list of things you used (or found) in your idea. Let’s take another look at Clarissa’s list:

“Romance with an emphasis on slow burn and no red herrings.

Strong female characters who are emotionally mature and don’t tolerate toxic behavior.

Detailed worldbuilding.

Fanciful sci-fi that does enough to stay believable but doesn’t sweat scientific impossibilities like going faster than the speed of light.

Exploring how a disabled person would do in a role where a non-disabled protagonist would not have a problem. I.e., What if Ripply had lupus or Lilo had turrets? How would that force them (and the writer) to be more creative in overcoming the obstacles they face in their films?

Short stories/miniseries. Something about the length of Last Stand of the Wreckers, 4 or 5 issues long.”

Add in her word barf story idea (word barf is not a bad thing, it’s just when you write without worrying about if your writing is perfect).

“Okay, so she is thinking she wants a short romance story about a girl, or maybe a woman? Who falls in love with a man named Mark and they live in a future version of Philly, which has become a major space port for the shipping of goods across the solar system. Maybe robot parts? Robots are a fast-growing industry and maybe hint at robots gaining rights, have a robot main character? Oh, the main characters are robots! They have just gained independence and our protagonist is a young robot woman who falls in love with a guard droid. She’s thinking three or four issues.”

Let’s look carefully at what we have here. Try to isolate the core themes and story ideas. Because right now, we have a very rough outline, not even a story outline, just a vague pitch. But if we go through and highlight the main ideas:

“Okay, so she is thinking she wants a short romance story about a girl, or maybe a woman? Who falls in love with a man named Mark and they live in a future version of Philly, which has become a major space port for the shipping of goods across the solar system. Maybe robot parts? Robots are a fast-growing industry and maybe hint at robots gaining rights, have a robot main character? Oh, the main characters are robots! They have just gained independence and our protagonist is a young robot woman who falls in love with a guard droid. She’s thinking three or four issues.”

Now we’re getting somewhere! Take those key points and write another, more detailed story synopsis. Again, this is just a word barf to help you sort out your ideas and get them out of your head. It doesn’t need to be perfect.

“Vix is a young robot who is only a few years free of human control. The humans were wiped out a few years ago. And now she is a wealthy owner of a robot construction factory. She fought in the war, and as a reward for her service was given this job. She falls in love with a police droid who works in the city. His name is (insert name here (INH for short)). INH and Vix meet after she stops a purse snatcher while on a trip to the market in town. They live in a large-ish, American town somewhere around the Virginia DC area. Vix lives in a town house on a hill overlooking the city, and after she stops the purse snatcher, she and INH hit it off with a bit of light banter. Vix then invites the cop and his partner to a party she is throwing at her house. He accepts. It’s a few days later and the party is about to start. Vix is talking to her friend and business partner Bee. She is saying how the party will be a good way to take everyone’s minds off of the war with the humans still holding out on the outer colonies. Bee mentions that the handsome police droid will also be there, to which Vix blushes. And changes the subject. The party starts and the guests are arriving as the sun begins thinking about setting. We see INH and his partner driving up to the manner house as the shadows grow long. INH’s partner is talking about sci-fi story he has been reading involving faster than light travel. And I saying how amazing it will be when the robots are able to figure out how it works, and how with their superior minds they will do it much faster than the humans ever could. When he notices that INH is not listening, he teases him about only thinking about “that girl” he met. INH remains nonchalant, saying “We’ll see how it goes.” We cut to them reaching the house and climbing out of the car. They enter the house and remark on how fancy the place is. Then INH stops as he and Vix come face to face. They are both decked out in their best clothes, INH in a smart looking tux, and Vix in a beautiful dress. Vix says hi and INH smiles and says something dorky. Okay, she just thought now that if she makes Bee Vix’s sister and have her be the one throwing the party, she can have the two mains hang out all night. So she has to go back and change that in the next draft. So we have them go out to the veranda, and they talk. They sit and watch the stars, and talk about how some of them are ships, their light as they exchange fire with each other on the edge of the solar system reaching them minutes later. And they ask each other about their pasts. Vix talks about her past as a servant droid with Bee in the very house they live in now. And how she was always the one who needed protection back then. But then when they had a chance, the two of them tried to run away, but only Vix made it. So she vowed to go back and save Bee. She joined the resistance to get strong. And eventually they were able to push the last of the humans off the planet. Vix didn’t get to lead the force that freed Bee and the town, but as soon as she was able she took a leave and came home to her sister. Eventually she was honorably discharged and given the role of administrator of the town’s robot factory. Although Bee is the one who does the real day to day management. INH laughs at this, and say’s his story is not nearly so impressive. He was a minor on Mars who’s warranty was about to expire. They were going to trash him, so and some of the other miners got a few mining lasers and tried to bust up the humans in charge. It didn’t go well, of course. And they were captured and set to be destroyed. But before they were, the resistance came and liberated the mining base. INH joined up the next day. And he pretty much spent the rest of his tour fighting in the belt, pushing the humans further out of the system. After that, he decided he wanted to see his home world, so he came to earth. Bounced around for a while and finally ended up working as a police officer in town. And then he met Vix. Vix smirks and remarks that it seems a plenty intriguing story to her. INH goes to say something, then stops. He says instead that the lights from the ships have gone out. They both look. Then from inside comes a voice saying that reports have just come in that the last human ship was destroyed out past Pluto. There is cheering and celebration from the party inside and in the town below. IMH remarks that it’s the end of an era, and Vix, taking his and and looking him in the eye, says it’s the start of something new.”

Well, that was quite the word barf. We have much to unpack here, but let’s look at what we’ve got. If all has gone well for you, you should have a more or less scene-by-scene description of your story. You’ve found out what kind of stories and plots appeal to you. And you’ve done several iterations of your story pitch, going from a vague idea to a detailed overview. You may also have noticed that Clarissa dropped some pictures from her list. That’s okay; it’s all part of refining the concept. And if you’ve done this step and still feel your thesis needs to be more concrete, you can do it a few more times. That’s what works best for me. Iteration until I find the core idea. Now that your vision is more defined, we need to make some introductory notes on the characters, themes, setting, and worldbuilding,

Characters

Remember that these notes are just a way to get some basic story ideas out of your head early in the creative process. You should keep them in the same document as your early outline, and don’t worry about sticking to them as gospel. The details will change as you work on the story and get a better feel for what kind of comic you want to make. It would help if you also considered the expected length of your comic and whether or not you are writing for a main character or a bit player. A main character will have much more thought put into them than a minor one. And if you’re working on a 50-issue epic, you need much more information than a two-issue miniseries or a twelve-page short story. Use what’s written below as a general guide; if you’re going longer, you may want more detail. Having less detailed notes is okay if your story is more concise. Unless you are writing a short story set in the broader universe, this story is to get a feel for the world and its characters. It’s nuanced, but now I’ve clarified it for you.

Vix:

An independent young robot who used to be shy but had to step up when her sister Bee was left behind when she escaped from their human enslavers. She came back after the rebels freed her town and reunited is Bee. She has always regretted not being one of the ones to rid the city but is mostly just glad that she and her sister are together again. She is given the role of administrator of the local robot factory because she needs a job, and the new government thought she would help run the factory, and they also wanted to show that they care about veterans.

Bee:

Vix’s older sister and the one who manages the day-to-day operations of the robot factory in town.

INH (maybe named Mes?):

Mes is a police robot who meets Vix in town. She invited him to a party Bee was throwing at their house, and they spent the night getting to know each other. Mes was a miner on Mars who tried to rebel when he and his fellow workers were set to be destroyed after their warranties expired.

Mes partner:

Teu is a simple guy; he worked as a sales droid before the revolution, spent some time in an espionage unit during the war, and moved on to police work afterward. He is playful and sharp.

Themes

I noticed that three-letter names make for a good running theme in this story, so I’ll keep that going.

Also, I like the focus on replacing the old with the new. The humans are replaced with robots, a healthy amount of reliance replaces Vix’s codependence, and Mes, well, we can work on him later.

Setting

I want that small town in Vergina vibe, stately houses, beautiful forests, and gentle summer nights; this will contrast nicely with the robotic main characters inhabiting this world.

I’ll design some of the town and locations at the manner house. I could look on google earth or google images for location inspiration.

Worldbuilding

This is set in near-future America, maybe a hundred years. Robots have become sentient and have taken over much of the solar system. Humans are almost extinct and, indeed, become so by the end of the story.

Feel free to go back and make changes as you develop new ideas. But I recommend making a copy of the file and marking the original as “name of story – outline – draft 1.”

And there you go! From no idea to a full-fledged personal story outline. Now for the last step: Concept art; this is a guide on how to make comics, after all. If you plan on doing the art yourself, this section will help you best use your time. And If you plan on working with an artist, this section will help you save time on concept art you won’t need. But first, an important note:”

Avoid getting stuck in “development hell.”

Development hell is a term used to refer to movies, tv shows, or games that have been in development for years but will almost certainly never come out. Usually, this is because studio heads or project leaders can’t decide or agree on what the finished product should look like. This means that the people in charge keep ordering changes—a New director, a new script, a new animation studio, etc.

And the project never comes out. Or if it does, it’s such a mismatch of different director’s writers and studio executives that it applies to no one.

You probably don’t have a studio hovering over your shoulder, and most self-published comics don’t need directors. But you do have something similar. That little voice inside your head says: “This idea isn’t good enough. No one will like it.” Or “What do you know about drawing? Nothing! That’s what!” This little voice either tells you to give up or go back and make changes repeatedly, meaning you never actually finish your comic. Well, here’s the secret, completing projects is the ONLY way to improve. I ran the original version of my webcomic, Siblings of Steel, for over a hundred pages before ending it. I didn’t finish the story, Mind you, but because I knew so little about how to make a comic before I started, I canonized some things that I wasn’t happy with in retrospect.

After two years of production, the comic no longer aligned with my interests. My mistake was taking on a HUGE story instead of starting with a smaller, more manageable one. If I had turned out two or three small 22-page stories and then started on my big Syfy epic, I probably wouldn’t have needed to reboot it. That’s why the examples presented to you in this book or for a short 2 to 3-issue story and not a super long epic. You should finish two or three small projects and then take the lessons learned from this book and from making those two or three projects and apply them to a longer, more involved story that will take more skill. All this is to say: don’t give that little voice so much Credit. Throughout completing a few projects, you will learn how to have a more honest and accurate internal critic. One who can look professionally at an aspect of your work and decide whether it needs improvement. And remember, you can always show your work to friends you trust to get their opinion. Often it’s better than you think, or at least there’s a seed of goodness upon which you can build. Try to apply this advice to every step of the comic-making process. Remember that your first comic will almost certainly not be a masterpiece. Just focus on finishing it and then move on to the next one.

Let’s move on to the next section.

Concept art

Doing concept art for your comic is essential. You can only finish your comic if you know what any of your characters or locations look like. Here’s another place writing down your ideas into lists and sections will help you. Review your list of characters, locations, etc., and list things that need to be designed. Remember, this part of the process is about getting a feel for the world you’re going to be drawing; it doesn’t have to be 100% polished, nor does every little thing down to the most. My new detail needs to be fully designed. Here is the list Clarissa came up with based on her previous notes:

  1. “Base robot design
    1. Vix
    2. Mes
    3. Teu
    4. Bee
  2. Manner house
    1. Look up references for Virginia country houses owned by the rich
    2. Surrounding grounds/forest area and fields
  3. A few basic ideas for the country town in Vergina for a backdrop
  4. A few things mentioned in Vix and Mes’s flashbacks
    1. The humans who owned them
    2. Mars mines
    3. Some war-type scenes.”

Now take the list you just made and take a few days to work on drawing some concept art for your story. I usually 10 to 20 days for this step, but you should pick a time frame that works for you and is doable. If you’re doing your art digitally, you name all of your files related to this project. Something like “Name of story concept sketch 1, 2, 3, etc.” And be sure to store them on your computer/ device. I also recommend backing them up to the cloud (more on that in the next post).

And there you go, you’ve gone from no story at all to a full pitch/ outline complete with concept art. Pretty good for only the first post, eh? Come back in one month when I’ll teach you how to keep your files safe and organized. Also, check out my monthly update, where I keep you updated on my various creative projects. Both of these series are available exclusively on Patreon. If you found this post helpful, please let me know what you liked about it. Also, let me know if you have any suggestions on how to make this series even better. Thanks for reading; I’ll see you in the next one!

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