I’ve been creating outlines for each chapter of Herogirl from since the beginning. But for the first time, I thumbnailed out every page of the chapter before starting on actual page work. These thumbnails included a very (very!) rough panel layout as well as a rough dialogue script for each page. By the end, I had a summary showing how the story was paced in both visually and plot-wise, which also made it very easy to revise the story at a high level and make sure I was happy with it before locking myself in with real pages (which was the primary barrier to me completing chapters in the past).

I’ve had side stories for previous chapters — for Chapter 1, Ana and Auto are told the story of the Arcana at the same time by different people, and for Chapter 2, I had Warrick and his grand-daughters as side characters. However, these side stories weren’t really stories — they were merely plot devices to help the main storyline explain itself, and as a result, you didn’t really get to know any of the side characters very well.

In Chapter 3, one of my goals was to create a mini-story that could stand on its own. Again, I needed side characters to help Auto and Gear resolve a problem they couldn’t solve on the own, but I also wanted to be able to explain why these side characters were special. Why them? What about their situation made them the right people at the right time for the story? And what are their lives like right now because of what happened to them in the past? I committed a lot of time towards thinking about giving these side characters a problem that could evolve along with the larger plot.

Chapter 3 starts out with a problem: Auto and Gear arrive at the next area known to have a Herald’s shrine, but the shrine has disappeared into the sea! Enter Tortu and Korall, who also have a problem: the Herald stole something that was precious to both of them, but they can’t find the Herald. Now, anyone can see that this aligns Auto/Gear’s and Tortu/Korall’s goals, which is required for them to be willing to help each other. But that’s not enough!

While I was writing this chapter, one of my friends mentioned to me that they had read in a writing book that suggested that significant plot points should be tied to something physical. For example, in a story where a child ends up lying to his mother about a misplaced stuffed bear, the finding of the bear and the child’s confession to the mother should go hand-in-hand. You could write an ending that just consists of one or the other happening, but the impact is weaker because the resolution seems to come out of nowhere. A physical item often can act as a very tangible cause of situations that progress the plot.

This conversation led me to revise Chapter 3 a bit to include a physical item — a wedding ring — that’s presence and absence goes hand-in-hand with Tortu and Korall’s emotional scars. I also had to explain the item, so I included a flashback explaining Tortu and Korall’s backstory and to establish the item’s importance. By the end of the story, Tortu and Korall are able to mend their relationship over the lost precious item, and this resolution actually leads to them getting the precious item back. It’s hard to explain, but I found this ending very satisfying. Chapter 3’s ending was originally going to be about Auto and Gear finding the Herald (straightforward and very boring), but now, it’s about two characters coming to terms with the past (much less boring), which happens to also cause the main story to progress (finding the Herald) as a side effect. Much better!

One high-level problem I’ve been struggling with in Herogirl is the lack of urgency in the story. Sure, Auto is on a quest to save her sister, but there really isn’t a time limit. They could come back to King Lother with the Heralds 10 years later and for all we know (as readers) things would turn out totally fine. So, I tried to think hard about stories I like and how they create an environment that keeps characters moving. For example, one of my favorite stories, Avatar: The Last Airbender, created a sense of urgency by establishing that the characters needed to accomplish their quest before the arrival of a comet that would give their enemy superpowers (a time limit); in addition, they were constantly reminded of the enemy’s effect on the people they met and they town’s they visited during their travels (an emotional limit).

I decided to go with a time limit (sort of). The most important objective for Auto and Gear are to find the Heralds. One thing that could get in the way of that goal is someone stealing the Heralds from them! So at the end of Chapter 3, I introduced Vestris, who was tasked with capturing the Heralds before Auto and Gear do. I also tried to throw in a bit of mortal danger by having Jovian tell Vestris that stopping Auto and Gear by any means necessary was acceptable, but we’ll see how that works out in later chapters!

In my last reflections post, I talked about how doing two pages a week helped me build up a backlog of comics that could allow me to continue posting one page a week, even on weeks where I was travelling or busy with work. I am still doing this, and it is still very, very convenient. I’m finding I’m also faster at drawing pages in general, partly because I’m building up those drawing muscles by doing more per week and partly because I have a more solid plan in place for each chapter so I don’t spend a lot of time second-guessing myself!

I mentioned before that I use advertising services like Project Wonderful and Google Adwords to boost the visibility of my comic to new people. I’ve also begun to advertise myself on social media much more diligently — as part of my ritual of scheduling pages for each week, I also make sure to schedule a corresponding post on my Tumblr and Facebook pages. I’ve built up different audiences on these pages (as a result of my other art activities), and this is a great way to connect people who are already interested in my art to other stuff I do (like Herogirl!).

I told myself this last time, and I’m telling myself this again. This, by far, was probably the most important thing in helping me complete another chapter. I don’t know if it’s because I’m still a beginner at all of this, but completing 1.5 chapters of Herogirl did not make it easier to make pages. I still balked and second guessed myself about pretty much every page. However, no one can tell you what to do. It’s your story. A more experienced person can jump in and give you tips of dialogue here and camera angles there, but they can’t tell you how to write your story (otherwise, it wouldn’t be yours!). So, the only thing you can do is keep going and learn by doing — not just through sketches and scripts but also by forcing yourself to commit to plot and character by posting the stuff you make.

This one is another throwback to Chapter 1 reflections. There, I talked about I used the idea of Spheres to come up other storytelling elements — for example, to explain why Auto is “the chosen one” and why Lothar is after her.

In Chapter 2, we start to learn a little more about the Heralds. I knew in the beginning I wanted some sort of pantheon for the heroes to interact with in some way (a la Okami), but just throwing giant magical animals into the story seemed kinda boring (and totally out of nowhere). After doodling a drawing of Auto holding a banner, I thought about heraldry and realized I could use various ideas relating to heraldry (such as the animals and attitudes/positions and history of design) that I could use to give the Heralds a bit more dimension. The results of using this as inspiration hasn’t really cropped up yet, but it’s nice to have a solid place to draw ideas from.

A big reason I had such a huge break in Chapter 2 was because I was unsure about what should happen between Gear and Auto leaving the Citadel and arriving at Martencrown. I had this rough script where they run into some corrupt Herald monster things, but I kept putting off drawing the pages for that fight because I reallllly didn’t want to draw fight scenes! Eventually, I realized that I’d much rather draw Gear and Auto solving mysteries and interacting with people, and re-wrote the story a bit to showcase them doing that.I also had to think about the purpose of including or excluding scenes — I originally had written in a fight scene to showcase how awesome Gear is at fighting, but it turned out it wasn’t that important to show (at least at this point in the story). It didn’t advance the plot, so I had to throw it out the window. Instead, we get to jump straight to some scenes where Gear is explaining some stuff about the Heralds, which advances the plot and shows that he knows quite a bit about what is going on. As Robert McKee would say, scenes should perform double duty!

If there was one thing I think went well with Chapter 2, I think it would be that I successfully wrote the chapter in a self-contained arc. We have a central cast of characters related to the arc that meet Auto and Gear, a setting where all the action takes place, and a problem (super scary Winter Lion) that is resolved by the end of the chapter (Winter Lion goes away) which also advances the overall plot (Auto and Gear’s quest to find all the Heralds). Having these mini-stories per chapter, I think, keep the story interesting, allow for a fresh set of faces and characters with each arc, and make it easier for me, as the writer, to not freak out about the larger plot so much — I have a smaller story to focus on.

Another thing I think I got better at this time around was having miniature stories on each “page”. I think this is really important, especially for webcomics, because potential new readers will see one page before they decide to read any more of your comic. For this chapter, I tried to create pages that a) posed a question, b) advances either the plot or knowledge of the world, and c) ended with a response to the initial question, which could be another question.

This page is an example of how I tried to do this. The beginning of the page sets up a question that followed from the previous page (the characters unsure or anxious about potential danger Gear had mentioned). The middle of the page provides us with some information that gives us a little information about Martencrown and Warrick. Finally, the end of the page “answers” the question of potential danger by upping the stakes a bit — Mina has disappeared, presumably having gone to the place of danger.

A practical note — have something that show full body designs of your characters! Do the same with locations — draw rough maps and layouts of places the characters are going to be. I did not do this (and still haven’t because I’m terrible) and I spent a lot of time flipping through past pages to remember whether Auto was wearing boots or regular shoes or how the shrine area was laid out. Not a good use of time, and helps with the balking problem, because you’ve already thought about how to draw the setting and characters before you start on any pages.

In November, I decided to draw two pages a week. THIS WAS A GODSEND FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON. By doubling my work for a little while, I had a small backlog built up that kept the comic going while I was travelling around. I didn’t plan it that way, but I now know the value of having a sort of comic “emergency fund” that I can draw into in case stuff comes up during the weekends (which is my usual comic-making time).

I had already started doing this during Chapter 1, but it’s a really good idea to promote yourself! Not only to get new readers, but because seeing new readers come and stick around is really motivating for posting pages on time! I’d feel bad if I skimped on comic-making time each week because of all the nice people that commented on Herogirl saying they enjoyed the comic. So, thanks, readers!

Currently, I promote myself through Project Wonderful and Google Adwords. These cost money, but you can get a pretty good audience boost just by spending $10 a week. Google Adwords also occasionally has coupon promotions that give you a free $100 in credit if you’re a new user, which can last a long time if you set up caps in how much you want your ad to spend each day. I also listed my comic on The Webcomic List and Top Web Comics because why not? It’s free to list yourself, and a great place to find other comics to read. 🙂