Okay, this will end up being a shameless plug but I think it's an interesting topic that could generate some good discussion and perhaps be encouraging to others when they get writer's block. Have you ever written a comic book/strip storyline and hated where it ended up -- but been unsure how to fix what you did with your own writing? How did you end up fixing it or resolving the storyline?

In my last superhero team comic, I wrote virtually every character into a fix by the end of a giant-sized issue that I thought was going to be the end of the series. Several of the main characters got really messed over, the cool villain had an interesting but kind of lame end, it ended with one of the characters getting married but ultimately left me wondering what happened to the remaining characters. As it ended, I saw no way to fix it and no way to write myself out of that corner so I, as the comic's creator, could feel satisfied with letting those characters go and fully move on to other projects (like my current comic). Yes, I'm that sentimental!

Anyway, it took me 5 years, but I finally wrote a series finale that I was very satisfied with. It's not on DD but you can read it HERE if you like. It's some of my very best superhero action work, if I say so myself.

I'm sorta lucky. My subconscious mind works WAY ahead of my hands. I think of a raw predicament and forget to consider the resolution sometimes, but then I realize I had included a little detail early on in the story that becomes essential to resolving the conflict. Suddenly, I look like a clever planner with foreshadowing and everything, when in reality it was all an accident... I don't know how that works, but it is fantastic.

When that doesn't happen, I have to sit back and wait for inspiration. Usually I see that dead end coming and don't run right up to it until a solution presents itself to me. That way, I still have time to change directions before it's too late.

**********

I have one interesting example of changing directions all over the place... It isn't uploaded yet, so I'll be vague to avoid spoilers:

I had a crazy pretty-close-to-fatal fight planned for one of my characters. My idea was to send her off on her own somehow and then have a guy from a previous chapter appear at the last minute and rescue her. Then I was stuck because AFTER the faight, she had to make peace with the person trying to kill her (no easy feat, said girl was avenging her brother...) I decided to cross that bridge when I came to it. As I sat down to write the dialog to send them into the location, and I realized that it was entirely unnatural to send her and her friends off without her brother. There was no way he would let them go without them -- if I tried it, it would feel forced. So, he tagged along, and inspiration came again. Maybe her brother could rescue her, and that could help resolve the situation. But that isn't what happened either, because I couldn't pry him away from the girl he had a crush on...

Anyway, the actual resolution was far more significant/moving/astounding than anything I had thought of on the way. That was one of the best chapters to ever write itself. ;)

Oh god, I never escaped. I still haven't gotten myself out of my own imposed predicament yet in FIGHT1 - the nemesis is just plain too powerful. I had written something but I just can't make it work smoothly.

Solution? I stopped drawing the comic since 2004! *Insane laughter!*

Time has not given me any brighter ideas. If I still can't solve it by the time I do get back to it, I'll ask for help.

I have so many corners... I'm gonna write an alien attack after chapter 5! Hahaha! INSERT insane laughter similat ro mlais's.

No, really.
Guess I'll just divide the whole thing to several "arcs" and improve an arc by arc.

If you look at Runosonta's avatar while clearing your brain of all thoughts, it looks like the head of a chubby little kid with a fat nose, wearing a puffy hat, a little grin, with dark hair over his eyes. And he's standing beneath a short palm tree?

You have a good imagination! :)

mlai
If you look at Runosonta's avatar while clearing your brain of all thoughts, it looks like the head of a chubby little kid with a fat nose, wearing a puffy hat, a little grin, with dark hair over his eyes. And he's standing beneath a short palm tree?

dueeast
You have a good imagination! :)

mlai
If you look at Runosonta's avatar while clearing your brain of all thoughts, it looks like the head of a chubby little kid with a fat nose, wearing a puffy hat, a little grin, with dark hair over his eyes. And he's standing beneath a short palm tree?

...so you found my secret message, now did you? -_O



Hahaha. Silly.

I am extremely pessimistic and very lonely so most of my characters end up failing and dying alone.

POOF! It was all a dream!