Bots & Bits: Pacing Your Work, Pacing Yourself
Hi again!
It should come as no surprise that my updates are based on the things I'm thinking about at the moment and, often, what I'm going through. Something I still struggle with a lot--despite helping other people manage it for themselves 5 days a week--is pacing.
I tend to be a burst writer. When I get into the right headspace, I write constantly. Last week, I knocked out four scripts of different lengths--one's probably going to see the light of day in 2023 and the others... who know? Since then, I've got I think 2 half-written WIPs (that I plan on getting back to this week) and the early brewings of something else.
It feels really good to be so productive, even if the majority of it never does end up going anywhere. I had been having a real dry spell and now I feel out of my funk. I know it won't last, though. Burst writing for me is having alternating off-and-on periods where, times like now, I knock a ton of stuff out, and then probably in about a month, towards the end of this year/beginning of 2023, writing much of anything at all will feel like a major struggle. It'll be half-chore, half-insurmountable barrier that I have to overcome. Time will pass and I'll get back into writing and have another burst and another bust and so on and so forth.
But knowing this about myself and paying a lot of attention to what has been working for me, I've actually maybe found a solution to my personal pacing issues in how I pace themselves.
Your Story is as Long as it Needs to be
One of the absolute hardest things to know before you start is how long your story is supposed to be. Granted, you're rarely starting totally blind. If, for example, you've been asked to pitch a comic to a company, they're usually giving you an idea of your limitations up front, be it page count, issue count, or a combination of the two. There're exceptions--particularly when you're coming in with an original project rather than being asked to pitch on an existing title--but if you aren't told a length up-front, that's a discussion that'll happen quickly.
When you are asked to put a story together, you're outlining to that length. I find a lot of the best pitches I read pace to about a 1-2 paragraphs per issue for the overall synopsis and then between like 25 sentences and/or 5 paragraphs per issue breakdown. With the high level overall synopsis, keeping your explanations short focuses you on the major incidents that forward the plot beats. Using my own work as an example--the big beats for Wreckers: Tread & Circuits issue #1 were the Wreckers are broadcasting a stunt that gets interrupted by Mayhem and the Wreckers go to Velocitron to investigate. The next step, the issue breakdown, comes out to be about 1-2 sentences describing the overall action of each page and is something I often use when going to full script to create a basic pacing.
And while those are hugely important skills to have when you're working for someone else, when you're doing work for yourself, what I've discovered is it can be a lot easier to not go in and impose a limitation on yourself for the story. To let it flow as it will and breathe and you'll know when it's done. I said earlier I wrote four scripts last week. The longest was 18 pages, I think, and the shortest was 1 page. Both are a full script, but with very different demands. What I haven't really done yet is go back and edit any of them. I think there might be a 20 page version of the 18 page one where I let a couple things breathe more. Or maybe it goes the other way and has a couple extraneous pages that I can cut. But by writing it out to what felt like the proper length in the first place, I have room to expand or contract to make it best version of the story possible, while not losing the story in trying to make it fit a certain page count.
Why was the story 18 pages? It's part of an exercise I was trying to purely write an incident as a story. That is to say--it's a weird little one-shot with characters who've never been seen before and who'll never be seen again and it's only covering the information needed for this moment in their lives. One of the reasons that's helpful to me is by getting rid of the need for lore or a balance between a current incident and the set-up for the next (A/B/C plots), it focuses my writing and helps me get words on paper (or, rather, screen). And I do think there's something to covering the main incident first and then building up around it when you are writing with those other things in mind, because they are inherently meant to be secondary. It also lets me play with the pacing of the specific incident. How much action has to happen on a page? Letting a gag play out for as long as it needs to. Figuring out what the defining sub-incidents are and making sure those are hitting the page turns. Even looking at things like spaces where as a writer, I don't want to define the exact breakdown that much because I think a page will benefit from the artist taking the lead.
It's Going to be Different for Everyone
Building off of that last point, I have a lot of experience with comics where for whatever reason, the artist is working at a different pace than the writer. Not just the ability to hit deadlines and how much work is being done at a time, though that's certainly true too, but the way in which an artist in drawing out a page might take their own liberties to adjust the pacing and flow of the action. Maybe they add an extra panel or two of fighting because it looks cool and they had a good idea. Maybe something slow and wordy is taking too long and it works better to info dump in a single panel, rather than breaking it up into two or three panels. These tend to be totally reasonable choices and part of working collaboratively.
By the same token, audiences have different opinions of pacing. Some people are going to be a fan of your pacing. Some aren't. But that doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong unless you aren't telling the story you're aiming to tell. I'll leave it at that for now, but I know as well as anyone else that certain people have very certain tastes for the length and format of their comics.
Pacing Yourself
Would you believe that when you're enjoying your work, you're more productive and it's easier? Yeah. Crazy, right? But it's true.
I said earlier I'm a burst writer. I knock out a bunch of stuff quickly and then kinda burn out for a bit before I can get back to it. Obviously, there are motivations that can help you get across the finishline--payment, external deadlines, people like me emailing you every day asking for updates--but when you're working without those, you have to pace yourself. I hope I'm not going to hit my bust soon. I hope I can take rethinking my personal pacing into consideration when I'm working on original projects because that seems to be more engaging for me than forcing my way through to a goal. And I hope some of this might be helpful to you too when you're figuring out what pace you can work at.
Shameless Self Promo
Did you know that right now, I've got new stuff in the shop on my website?! It's true! For the holiday season, I've got bundles of comics I wrote, collections, and a print version of my Jimmy Squarefoot story with Becca! All stuff comes signed and personalized if you want. Some rare, harder-to-find covers are included in some of the bundles. I'm also throwing in some free gifts with every order! It'd be rad if you could buy some stuff particularly because both the cats are due for their annual wellness appointments/vaccine updates!
You can also grab a digital copy of Jimmy Squarefoot at my Ko-Fi! Or you could get it from Becca, as well as a digital copy of their NSFW 18+ comic "Rivals" at their itch page! I think their Genshin zine's going to be up there before too long too.
Or you can support Becca's post-con-season shop update! We're both clearing out a lot of our stuff from this year's convention circuit, but this is their first full on shop opening! Through tomorrow (maybe Tuesday) they're doing two exclusive pre-orders so you can get stuff this year that otherwise won't be on sale until the 2023 con-season begins. It's a sticker of Anya from Spy x Family and a print of Rika and Satoko from Higurashi: When They Cry - GAO. Pre-orders on their Pochita keychain are still open too, as well as literally like a ton of other keychains, stickers, prints, zines, and maybe even some other stuff?
Even if you aren't in a position to buy something, it'd be cool if you could let your friends who might be interested know.
Giving Tuesday
As a reminder, we're also coming up on Giving Tuesday. It's a day for charitable action. You can donate money and time and resources and give back on a local level or a national one or an international one. Just to spotlight a few people and places who could use your help: the Colorado Healing Fund is a direct response to the Club Q shooting. Trans Lifeline is a peer-based support and resource center that helps trans people with emotional and financial support. The Transgender Law Center provides legal aid, resources, and advocacy. You can check out your local mutual aid network. Or your local abortion right advocacy organization or your local racial justice organization or your local domestic violence support center or your local LGBTQ community center or your local homeless shelter or just, y'know, like help a person in need in your neighborhood. I mentioned last week that Jeffrey Veregge's family and Tess Fowler & Chris Gutierrez both have ongoing GoFundMes for their current medical emergencies. Just try to do something.
Which finally brings us to this week's regular features.
Things I've been enjoying this week:
The first person to buy something from my shop! Thank you! Honestly, just like, some time off. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (This year was a little lacking, but I love the parade). Making a dope turkey! Becca's last little show of the year, which was on Tuesday. Having Anoosha Syed wrapping paper for gifts this year. Candy canes. Honkai Impact (Video game). Sonic Frontiers (Video game). Chainsaw Man (Anime & Manga).
New Releases this week (11/23/2022):
Transformers: Shattered Glass II #4 (Supervising Editor)
Special shout-outs to G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #300 (the final issue with a new record-breaking cover), Earthdivers #1's second printing (releasing the week before Columbus Day and having the second printing out for Thanksgiving is very apt), and Dark Spaces: Wildfire #5 (the final issue of the launch title of both the Dark Spaces line and the new IDW Original initiative).
New releases next week (11/30/2022):
Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Gigan (I didn't actually work on this, but the team that did is awesome and you should check it out)
Final Order Cutoff--Last chance for your store to guarantee release day copies for you (11/28/2022):
Canto: Tales of the Unnamed World (Editor)
Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors--All Hail the King #4 (Editor)
Godzilla Rivals: Rodan vs. Ebirah (Editor)
Pic of the Week:
We put up our Christmas tree over the weekend and I got this very cute picture of Nadja sleeping under it.
- David Mariotte, 11/27/22