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The doodler on Dec. 24, 2024

(It didn't actually hurt, Yana's just startled.)

To whom it may concern, Merry Christmas. Moc truchleje and all that.

Discussion, uh? statement for the gang, talk amongst yourselves:
While I was finally getting to draw this, it got me thinking about how different various story formats are, and how they're set up to do different plot points more or less effectively than each other. (I was also listening to old Car Talk episodes and possibly running a fever, so don't expect too much eloquence.) I'm not sure I could write this scene effectively. That's not to say nobody could write (as opposed to draw) it effectively, but I bet it would be a lot harder. On the flipside, there's a scene in my web serial that would lose a LOT if I drew it as a comic (a guy trying to figure out an object that's familiar to 100% of the readers but that he's never seen). I guess it makes perfect, even kind of obvious, sense: words are better for expressing how a specific character mentally describes their reaction to a scene, and drawings are better for showing the actual scene.

On the other hand, for me at least, drawing strong but wordless emotional/physical sensations is easier than writing them, maybe because they have such a strong sensory component, or maybe just because I don't have the writing chops. I've seen it done amazingly in written stories, for sure, so I think it's just being weaker in that area on my part. But I've been able to (hopefully successfully) draw things like getting your wind knocked out suddenly/music harmonizing/temperature changes. But things like “And then, Yana's hair looked kinda like Bohdan!” If it's cheesy here, imagine how bad it would be in the rushed novelization. I mean, somebody could write this scene and make it work, but I think it would be objectively harder and I am not that someone. Really gives you respect for people who make cross-format adaptations and keep the spirit of it, for real! Wizards.

I think my web serial was the first time my amateur brain cottoned onto the fact that writing has stuff that's easier than drawing (and I don't mean just the complex mechanical parts of Spoiler, which I will not draw for love or money) like misperception (I swear it's written better than this under-comic ramble, which is a low bar. I'm about to get some extra sleep and it shows.)

Weirdly, like John Finnemore pointed out, non-visual formats like radio/audio plays can be excellent for (paradoxically) sight gags, since it's so easy to hide them (without unnatural and suspicious camera angles) until the funniest possible time to reveal them. Also weirdly, I think writing might be also good for sight gags and for the same reason – please let me know if you've run into any like that. I feel like there were some in Douglas Adams, but it's been too long since I re-read the Dirk Gently books. If you'll put up with a self-centered and rambly example (and if your tolerance for self-indulgent rambling is low, why on earth are you reading an 800+ page alternate history webcomic?) my web serial has a re-read funny bonus, where the lead has no idea that his appearance is coincidentally REALLY threatening to all the strangers who were inexplicably freaked out by him.

All this probably has a lot to do with why I basically only read fiction in limited third (and definitely can't write any other kind). ALSO! This means comics are like, the IDEAL medium for fair play mysteries. My goodness, they would be great for that. You wouldn't have to get all hung up on what details were described and try to play that, you could just look at the crime scene alongside the detective. If anyone knows of (web)comic Fair Play mysteries, please, send them my way! Holy cow, that would be amazing. Sort of relatedly, a friend and I were talking about how ballads are good for describing single events but not a chain of multiple events so much. Events, not histories, you know?

But ANYHOW, what other cool strengths/weaknesses of various mediums am I missing? What do movies/Noh theater/puppet shows/telling stories out loud/writing/songs/poems/radio dramas/plays/ballet do so much better and/or worse than other mediums? Please give examples and cite your sources (because I want to read/listen to/watch them, especially if they're something you made. Link them in the comments.).