Arrrrrrr the Carrrse of Oceans Unmoving! Some assembled words.
Hey everybody! I wanted to let you all know what a horrible mistake I’ve made in and with the comic lately! You see, I like throwing in epic complex storylines from time to time. That Which Redeems required a lot of background info about the “Dimension of Lame” and explaining too much detail could slow down the story at times, but I chose my battles and told my tale and was very happy with the finished product. Then I made a mistake.
I’m kinda like Hereti-Corp! “Even our mistakes are big!”
Timeless Space (a concept that was so durn cool and simple in my head) is a whole environment in which next to everything needed explanation and it has slowed the storytelling process immensely. There is just too much to comfortably and seamlessly weave into the daily strips without buckets of words or hundreds of panels. And to follow it so closely after That Which Redeems was very bad timing. But I really wanted to get back to Bun-bun who had been waiting far too long to be gotten back to (similar to Oasis and Aylee).
After the first part of Oceans Unmoving was finished, I took time to plan out how to make this next part less painful.
During Torg Potter III I experimented with NOT establishing things I normally would have to move the story forward (with the safety-net of knowing the ending would make the information needless) yet this experiment did cause confusion. A “I guess you had to know the movie or book to get that part, which I didn’t need for the other two Potter parodies” kind of thing. No book or movie to back up Oceans Unmoving. No safety-net. The setting for this story is just too doggone ambitious and the characters interact and conflict with too many elements of it.
And even the break to regroup caused problems as four months away from the story cause daily readers to forget elements that were established in Oceans Unmoving part 1.
Currently I’m using flashbacks to narrate things in a single panel that would otherwise take five strips to establish. Trying to rush through unimportant sections. And the end result is still wordy and confusing.
I think the whole story and all its complexities will come together as a nice tale once together in one piece (this probably would have made a great graphic novel, but as it were, I’m not in the graphic novel business) but for now I understand the torture to daily readers. Now the question is what do I do about it?
I could just scrap the whole thing… No I couldn’t. That’s just not me. I could put it on hold…finish up this story on the side and present it all at once…Leave Bun-bun’s fate unknown for years to come? Not so good either. I could do a crappy ending! But the ending is already written and I kinda like it.
So heres my plan. First is to come clean with you all on how I’m struggling on this one (Check!), try my best to move through quickly (it may be wordy but it’ll be direct as I think I can make it), encourage you to read Oceans Unmoving again to follow a little more of what’s going on, try to shore up all unessential data (you’ll just have to guess how people get drinking water or produce enough food to survive in such desolate terrain) and get to the good bits fast as I can. AND most importantly learn from my mistakes!
And to you guys following and enjoying this story, have no fear, I’m not intending on rushing through how it all comes together. I think you will keep enjoying it! At least I hope so.
I’m going to think twice before starting another potentially horribly confusing epic that requires buckets of rereading and gallons of text again! And after this story I’ll strive to get Sluggy back to its mid-roots. (Not its rootier roots, Clay’s doing a fine job of taking care of that!). And Aylee and Oasis.
Sometimes I might falter... for... er... months and months… But I’m always striving. This is my passion. This, and Star Wars Miniatures. But this more. Oh yes, so much more….
I’m off to battle my brain once again!
-Pete
