Epic or Trade Paper Back? A discussion.

[xadrian]

Mr. Piers and I were talking and some interest in what he said sparked an idea that I may be in over my head with my current story arc.

I have created a story that has a lot of things happening in the distant past that directly affect why the story is now where it is. In my mind it's an epic that I could tell for a long time over several issues of a comic, dozens, maybe hundreds. After Chris read the treatment he said it would make a great 6 issues, perfect for a TPB. I was a little disheartened at first, seeing my grand story line be reduced to 140 pages, but am I over reaching?

Has anyone else started what they thought would be an epic (epic here meaning on a grand scale not epic as in really neat) but turned out to be not much more than a long narration? Anyone ever had to handle a large story line that may have needed flashbacks, exposition, or nonlinear writing in order to tell the story?

I'm quite excited about it, but if it can be done in so short a span I'm also wondering what I'm waiting for to do it.

Discuss.

[banshee]

Well.. dont be disheartened. The way I see it, go for a TPB for first up. And then u can always expand it as it takes off. The novel I am working on it needs some serious re-editing and it prob is too long for a one-off novel. So dont give up! Always good to hv a sequel etc handy ;-)

Hp it works out!

B

[xadrian]

Thanks.

Same thing was mentioned, it's always good to have enough for a sequel. I just want to give the story it's full due and not short it if it's got a lot to tell.

Well, if anyone wants to read the treatment for themselves, be my guest. (http://www.polariscomics.com/Project Gemini.doc) It may be easier that just saying "epic."

I'll also have to actually plot the thing, that would help.

Too long for one novel, wasn't Imajica like 600 pages? Is that too long?

[Jeremy Colwell]

After reading the treatment, I think this would work best as a 5-6 issue mini. I think if you try to draw it out too much you will have a ton of narrative and exposition. Trim the story to only the twins’ time and keep the flow going. Make sure to use the actions for Castor and Pollux (and others) to give the history of your whole setup instead of flashback and narration. It's an interesting and good story, but it doesn't strike me as epic. Just my opinion.

Jeremy

[xadrian]

I think my original intent was to tell a tale about these two guys and this story arc was a backdrop to their adventures, something to give their universe some history. With each adventure they start unlocking information and then there's a great war and so forth. I did't want to tell this story in its entirety right off the bat, I was hoping to let it evolve, start out as a simple enough every day joe making a living as a keeper of the peace and slowly let them uncover something that's bigger than life itself.

I guess this is the same as flipping a coin to make a decision and then reflipping because you didn't like the first result. In the end I'll probably end up doing it how I want and go crazy with it, but I sure appreciate all the input.

[Darren Schwindaman]

Maybe the best format to present this in is as many mini-series. The story of the war? That's a story. The robots' journey through the galaxy? That's a story. Maybe a one-shot. You could do a few issues, using Castor and Pollox to connect the reader to your world. Then go back in time and do another series that shows how a certain thing came to be. Then fast forward again and show the war b/t humans and robots.

[xadrian]

Likely. That's a good point. Someone had mentioned that a non-linear story is more pleasing, but very VERY hard to do without totally losing the reader. My problem is I have the grand idea, but it'll take me years and years to tell the story at the rate I work (I'm talking retirement here.)

I almost wish I could write it and let someone else draw it just to get it going.

[UnsungGuru]

I'm currently in the middle of a hugely epic comic script and I fully understand the pains of trying to get the scope through to the reader with what little there is to work with.

One thing that I'm trying to do is allow it to seep in through dialogue and imagery. I find that, by making mention of an event, or person, I'm able to fully realize a piece of my "universe's" history without having to go into too much detail. Concurrently, I find that if I add something into the scenery of the piece, I can also allow some history to come forth.

I borrowed the idea from Alan Moore's amazing Tom Strong series. I love how, although he does give us a lot of history in the actual story, he also gives us visual and dialogue clues as to what else has been happening in that universe. There's a great scene in one of the stories (which one escapes me, now), where Tom's in a vault that's chock full of memorabilia from past triumphs.

Stuff like that is really helpful in giving you the sense of history, without having to bog the story down with the ultimately unimportant details.

[xadrian]

Interesting spin. Thanks!

Good luck with yours too.