Revising webcomics

[bencosta]

What do you guys think of revising in the middle of an ongoing story? I'm not sure it matters to many people here for their own comics, but the thing that always annoys me is that the nature of comics doesn't really allow for much revision in the writing process, at least for me, because if you sat around with a script like you would a prose story, you'd never get any drawing done.

This has come up a number of times while I've been working on Shi Long Pang. And I'm wondering, as a reader, would you be totally annoyed if things were changed right under nose? I can see how you would.

But I'm of the mind that I need to make the story as good as I can possibly make it, so if I need to make changes I should probably do it before I ever print it. Which sort of sucks on one level, because in effect I'm treating the web format as something lesser than print. Also I'm making the story better (arguably) for future readers instead of the ones I already have, the people who have diligently slogged through a slow paced story a page a week. I have to wonder if I'd want to revise things if my comic was popular.

Yeah so what does anyone think?

[MtMoriah]

Hmm. You bring up some good points on both sides of the argument. I would think that as long as it is not a major revision, but just some fine tuning that you won't annoy too many people. But who knows; folks are finicky either way.

[Ataraxia]

I think that revising before print is a good thing. I've revised the two Voles of the Dusk stories for print. Differences between the print and the online versions of a story are generally acceptable.

Revising an ongoing webcomic, though, opens up a whole other can of worms. Will you just be editing and redrawing a few things, or will you be significantly altering the story? How will you express this change to your readers- ask them to go back and reread the edited sections, include a textbox saying "Retcon in effect: before becoming a monk, Pang was briefly married to Joan Collins", or what? There's also the danger that by going back and fixing just a few things, you'll have opened the Pandora's Box of neverending revision. I know some people over at ComicGenesis whose story never advances; they just keep redrawing the first 30 pages over and over again.

Let me tell you about what I'm doing now. I haven't been very happy with the way my "Darcy Generic: Martyr w/o a Cause" story is going. I love the characters and the situation, but it's not connecting with readers and I know it can be done better. Starting from chapter 4 the entire series is going to be reimagined; the format is going to change from a regular comic book style to a much denser serial style. A few of the story elements are going to change. I'm going to try to add more paranoia and darkness, since that's obstensibly what the story is about and I think Darcy's midlife crisis kind of derailed the first few chapters. I'm not going to go back and redo the first chapters, though- at least, not yet. When the time comes to assemble a print collection I'll redo those chapters entirely. Any changes to the backstory that need to be addressed will likely be added as footnotes to the comic.

Doing things this way doesn't take a lot of commitment. If I do chapter 4 and decide that it's total crap, I can go back to the old style in chapter 5 and haven't lost much effort. Or, I can start something completely new with chapter 5. The fact that the layout and pacing is going to change will serve as a visual cue to the readers that other things have changed as well, so when I explain the retcons they won't be so much of a shock.

if you sat around with a script like you would a prose story, you'd never get any drawing done.

That's how I used to write comics. Part of me, the part with the bachelor of arts in dramatic literature, thinks that's how I should write comics. I don't know the answer to this myself. It used to be that I never had time for drawing; these days it seems like I never have time for writing.

I've rambled on for far too much, but hopefully some of it will be useful.

[bencosta]

Thanks for the response, guys.

What I'm talking about is more of the fine tuning sort of stuff, I think--at least as far as I can see right now. Dialog changes and perhaps redoing a few panels, but nothing completely drastic. For instance, on page 90 or so Pang's Head Abbot reveals to the rest of the group that he doesn't intend to escape with them. What I'm working on right now is the part where the Abbot makes his "heroic sacrifice" of sorts (which is cliche I know, but it had to be done), but it seems like it would probably have more impact if he'd never mentioned anything about not going. I'm not exactly sure how I'd go about it, but there would be a page where practically all of the dialog is changed.

I could point out a handful of other places like that where the story could be told more smoothly with some tweaks. And if the story really needed it, I guess I would be willing to change some more major things, but only to a point. I would never ever ever redraw everything I've done.

[MtMoriah]

Thanks for the response, guys.

What I'm talking about is more of the fine tuning sort of stuff, I think--at least as far as I can see right now. Dialog changes and perhaps redoing a few panels, but nothing completely drastic. For instance, on page 90 or so Pang's Head Abbot reveals to the rest of the group that he doesn't intend to escape with them. What I'm working on right now is the part where the Abbot makes his "heroic sacrifice" of sorts (which is cliche I know, but it had to be done), but it seems like it would probably have more impact if he'd never mentioned anything about not going. I'm not exactly sure how I'd go about it, but there would be a page where practically all of the dialog is changed.

I could point out a handful of other places like that where the story could be told more smoothly with some tweaks. And if the story really needed it, I guess I would be willing to change some more major things, but only to a point. I would never ever ever redraw everything I've done.

I don't see any problem with this. Most probably won't even notice. As artists, we always look at our own work with so much more scrutiny than our readers.

[Ataraxia]

Thanks for the response, guys.

No problem.

I agree with Scott; some minor editing should be mostly invisible to your readers. Go for it.

[Pom]

Can't say I've got anything against going back and tweaking for better over-all narrative cohesion, but I think that were you to do so, it'd be nice to have the previous versions up somewhere - a 'deleted scenes' or 'outtakes' (or 'previous versions' if you must avoid movie metaphors) section, with the originals there to see. If nothing else, to help us see just what exactly has been changed since we last read the page.

[bencosta]

Thanks for making it back, Pom. That's a good idea to keep the originals somewhere on the site. Maybe I'll throw in some panels of Pang breaking his foot during a stunt.

[Mephistopheles]

Thanks for the response, guys.

What I'm talking about is more of the fine tuning sort of stuff, I think--at least as far as I can see right now. Dialog changes and perhaps redoing a few panels, but nothing completely drastic. For instance, on page 90 or so Pang's Head Abbot reveals to the rest of the group that he doesn't intend to escape with them. What I'm working on right now is the part where the Abbot makes his "heroic sacrifice" of sorts (which is cliche I know, but it had to be done), but it seems like it would probably have more impact if he'd never mentioned anything about not going. I'm not exactly sure how I'd go about it, but there would be a page where practically all of the dialog is changed.

I could point out a handful of other places like that where the story could be told more smoothly with some tweaks. And if the story really needed it, I guess I would be willing to change some more major things, but only to a point. I would never ever ever redraw everything I've done.

I think you owe it to yourself to make your comic as good as it can be. I see nothing wrong with treating the internet as a test audience- if anything it's more exciting on my part.

For the record though, I also see no problem with Head Abbot telling them that he doesn't intend to escape with them. I think it's more heroic that he knew he wouldn't survive this but chose to face it head on. That is the essence of Wushu, and Buddhism, isn't it?

[bencosta]

For the record though, I also see no problem with Head Abbot telling them that he doesn't intend to escape with them. I think it's more heroic that he knew he wouldn't survive this but chose to face it head on. That is the essence of Wushu, and Buddhism, isn't it?

You know, I've tried messing with it, and I think it would present too much of a problem to change anyway because of his whole conflict with Bo, which would make less sense if he intended on escaping. But all this stuff has been good to know. And you bring up an interesting point about it being more heroic.