Hi there, duckaloos and duckalettes!

Just thought I'd make this little thread to partially share my writing progress to those who've been reading my comics so far and partially to see if anyone else can relate to my current creative situation.

For those who don't know I've been putting all of my comics on a temporary hiatus up until July to finnish up on my script writing for the comics. My goal is to be done with the broader brush strokes of the writing, leaving a few scenes and editing to be worked out down the line. In that regard I've so far finnished up on four story arcs for Molly Lusc with only three story arcs left remaining to be finnished.

I've finnished writing a synopsis for the entire Endtide series and for most of the mayor one-shot stories for Imsies: the Imthology. I've also finnished writing the first script for a brand new webcomic series.

So from the looks of it I will have six comics running in total soon, with Molly Lusc, Endtide, Imsies: the Imthology and Idfestation taking place in one universe, the Imsies Universe, and the new series taking place in its own seperate universe.

Symbolically you could then say that the four main comics I got going now are the four fingers of the Helixfinger symbol, Phetishverses being the thumb, and this last series being the spiral shaped palm, with the two split ends of the Helixfinger symbolising the Imsies universe and the other universe respectively.

Everything is running pretty smooth. Far smoother then I thought. I feel like everything is finally falling into proper place and that I'm really distributing everything I've ever written, everything I've ever come up with and everything I have to convey as should be.

That said, it is starting to feel more and more like I'm reaching the end of my journey as a story writer. I don't know if I'll ever have anything else to write about from here on out. It's a little bit sad to think about, but also a huge relief cause I've been doing it for so long and I honestly kind of want it, or at least the way I've been doing it up until now, to end.

I'm curious to see if any of you guys are having a similar experience or have had it before. Do you feel like your well of inspiration is or have finally run out and your just gonna ride out on whatever stuff you got now? Or maybe your well is one that never runs dry for all you know.

Those were my news and thoughts on my writing progress anyway. I'm not at all sick of drawing all this stuff however. In fact I'm doing my writing process in once and for all now so that all I generally have to do henceforth is to draw these comics to my heart's content🤗

I wish I could stop. Every time I think I'm out of steam up comes another idea. I have over a dozen scripts written still to shoot. There are fifty or so other ideas and outlines in my files.

But then nothing I've done is worth reading so it all kind of balances out.

For me the well never dries up. When I thought my stuff was worth reading I could barely write a page. Now that I know it's not I have an endless supply of pieces to work on.

I can go on and on because I'm not trying to make anything special or reinvent story telling. I just turn out garbage and it's so much easier to write. Just get it done and everything can be fixed in the rewrite.

I don't write much because I'm always doing a million other things. But I've got thousands of stories in my head that I want to write XD
I can't imagine getting to the end.

Andreas, I think the amount of thought you've put into your world-building and stories is nothing short of impressive! You're mapped out a great plan for finishing your stories, so in many ways, you're in a good spot.

I tangentially relate to this when I don't want to finish a long book or movie series. In the beginning, when I had like 0 readers, I told myself as soon as I am out of ideas, I am done. Then I got annoyed when I kept having ideas, so I kept making comics, and eventually people started reading them.

Just because you can see an end does not mean that you may stop writing. You never know what is going to hit you or come to you either in the immediate or near future.

Right now I have been taking a break from comics and doing fan arts. It feels much less stressful in a way.

I've dropped projects. I've had writer's block that lasted years. But I can't stop writing. Ideas would clog my brain, and I fear I would literally go insane. As a kid/teen, I wrote for no purpose at all. I didn't let anyone read it, had no intention of finishing a story, just had to expell the thoughts to make room for important things like schoolwork.

And once I develop a world with characters, it gains momentum and demands more stories. There are other worlds in my head to take over if/when I finish, characters demanding to exist. So, I can't stop writing. When I try to take a day off, I get anxious. I need to produce all the time. I feel like it's a safe space for my brain. If I lose reality, the worlds of my stories will still exist.

Drawing, however, I can't do forever. Physically. Some days I can't hold a pencil. My vision isn't great. I might someday, have to switch to oral storytelling. For now, art is a good way to con people into reading my stories, so I'll stick with it as long as I can.

Guess what! I just spent the last six hours or so setting up that new comic I was talking about. I couldn't help it I just had to^^ You can see it on my profile right now if you're curious;) But it glads me to see that so many of you guys still got your writing pens going. Still got your imagination alive and going. That is a beutiful thing.

And right as you said there Laura, just because you can see an end to what you're writing doesn't mean that your writing is over. Now that I really think about it, it's perhaps not an ending I'm looking at, but a beginning. It is a beginning in of itself to see all of these stories come about like I always wanted, and at the same time it may very well be the threshold to a clean slate.

A brand new canvas to enrich, a fresh, new field to play in. As long as that urge to create is still there, there may always be more to write and bring to form in one way or another.

Yes, I'd like to think that every ending also brings with it a new beginning. That's a good way to look at it. I've come to the end of many stories, but I haven't stopped writing altogether because of that. There are endless stories to tell, and they want to be told.

That said, it is usually significant to come to the end of telling even a single story. Even sometimes a chapter of a single story! Usually, after I've finished a chapter and have it ready to be posted, I have a sort of “post-partum depression” slump that I need a day or two to bounce back from. Most creators I know also get this, and some also get a certain feeling just as they're finishing up something they've been working on for some time.

It's important to take breaks and not force yourself into a situation where you'll become burnt out. Burnout is a terrible danger for all creative people, and as inspired as you may be, you can't just keep producing indefinitely. Be sure to take time for yourself sometimes too!

hushicho wrote:
Yes, I'd like to think that every ending also brings with it a new beginning. That's a good way to look at it. I've come to the end of many stories, but I haven't stopped writing altogether because of that. There are endless stories to tell, and they want to be told.

That said, it is usually significant to come to the end of telling even a single story. Even sometimes a chapter of a single story! Usually, after I've finished a chapter and have it ready to be posted, I have a sort of “post-partum depression” slump that I need a day or two to bounce back from. Most creators I know also get this, and some also get a certain feeling just as they're finishing up something they've been working on for some time.

It's important to take breaks and not force yourself into a situation where you'll become burnt out. Burnout is a terrible danger for all creative people, and as inspired as you may be, you can't just keep producing indefinitely. Be sure to take time for yourself sometimes too!

I'll be sure to do that. Its just that I have this gnawing eagerness to see all this material that has been stuck in this seemingly endless hodgepodge for so many years finally come about in a clean and conclusive fashion. So far I've had the time and the energy to experiment and work things out and see what clicks and what doesn't, but I have this underlying fear that there might come a day where I won't have as much time or energy for this sort of thing as I used to.

Therefore I would very much love to get as much done as I can while I still have time and energy. But you're of course right about timeouts, those are important to have in order to keep that energy going, steady and healthy.

Two of five scripts complete for Endtide, I'm halfway through Idfestation and two more scripts for Molly Lusc to be completed soon. I'm also halfway through another script for Imsies the Imthology beside the one of Pulsewarriors and I've began the second script for Bloodiator. I'm on fire!!!

Goddamn folks:) I actually think I might even have a seventh webcomic on my hands coming up soon. I've always loved the fictional settings of hard-boiled detectives, pirates, weird Science Fiction and that of sword )

Actually, I've figured out how to construe all these settings into one and the same universe. We'll just say that they all take place in different solar systems that may be setup, or experienced, differently from the one we know, with different laws applied to them. So Bloodiator takes place in one distant solar system, that the inhabitants experience as a world tree, and Cold Cusp takes place in yet another. It simplifies matters and makes tie-ins and crossovers much more concievable to take place.

In fact lets make both the world of Bloodiator and the world of Cold Cusp into the worlds of our own sol system. I've just figured out how to do that. It'll be great.

I hate writing comics. I have learned to do so cos I have to. Also it does have the boon that I get to do what I want, rather than something else that I possibly don't wish to.
I know how it starts, goes and ends; which is boring, but there is no other way.
Biggest problem is I always get new ‘improved’ ideas which tend to divert the story away a bit, and I have to work hard to get it back on track.

I guess I should check some of your stuff, although I'm a bit scared to do that to avoid being unduly influenced, but I'll check anyway.

Socratatus wrote:
I hate writing comics. I have learned to do so cos I have to. Also it does have the boon that I get to do what I want, rather than something else that I possibly don't wish to.
I know how it starts, goes and ends; which is boring, but there is no other way.
Biggest problem is I always get new ‘improved’ ideas which tend to divert the story away a bit, and I have to work hard to get it back on track.

I guess I should check some of your stuff, although I'm a bit scared to do that to avoid being unduly influenced, but I'll check anyway.

I'd be delighted if you do:) I'm going to get back to yours as well, it's just that right now I'm too occupied with this little side project I'm doing for Lite Bites 2021. Should be done fairly soon though I think.

I'd be delighted if you do:) I'm going to get back to yours as well, it's just that right now I'm too occupied with this little side project I'm doing for Lite Bites 2021. Should be done fairly soon though I think.

You have a lot of stuff going. Looks good. Very different style of artwork and story telling, but all good.

Socratatus wrote:

I'd be delighted if you do:) I'm going to get back to yours as well, it's just that right now I'm too occupied with this little side project I'm doing for Lite Bites 2021. Should be done fairly soon though I think.

You have a lot of stuff going. Looks good. Very different style of artwork and story telling, but all good.

Glad to hear:)

Actually, you know what people? Let's be real cheeky and put the Bloodiator setting and the Cold Cusp setting on earth along with all the other stories. That way it will be like we are thoroughly exploring one wholistic world instead of risking just hopscotching around in several worlds that are unlikely to ever be fully fleshed out. I think I know how to make it work just right.

Andreas_Helixfinger wrote:
Actually, you know what people? Let's be real cheeky and put the Bloodiator setting and the Cold Cusp setting on earth along with all the other stories. That way it will be like we are thoroughly exploring one wholistic world instead of risking just hopscotching around in several worlds that are unlikely to ever be fully fleshed out. I think I know how to make it work just right.

Go for it, man!

I've decided to name this world the Altered age, alternatively reffered to as the age of the Flux. An era of mutation, psionics (this world's collective term for magic, psychic property and the supernatural in general) technology struggling to keep up with hyper-evolution and a vast, inner cosmos from which anything may manifest,

It's this weird, pandemonious, retro-futuristic sci-fi period in time stretching from the event of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster and beyond. It'll be, I think, a world with tremendous scope to it where pretty much any kind of story can be told and any idea or concept can be explored.

Well into his writing career someone suggested to Bob Heinlein that he make all his stories into one timeline. Isaac Asimov's did similar with his robots and Fondation stories later on.

That's how I approached my whole universe. There's a basic timeline and different rates of development because of any number of reasons so I want a setting, there's room. There are several “alternate Earths” because human civilization often follow similar patterns of development and destruction. I was influenced by the “planet of the week” Star Trek model for some of that.

And there's a distant heroic past that allows for high fantasy as well as still developing worlds. So it's a vast canvas that I can fill in at my leisure. And everything doesn't have to be detailed, I'm not doing the Sistine Chapel nor am I driven obsessive like Michelangelo. This and that bit and then I can do a story later on that references the history or even family ancestors.

bravo1102 wrote:
Well into his writing career someone suggested to Bob Heinlein that he make all his stories into one timeline. Isaac Asimov's did similar with his robots and Fondation stories later on.

That's how I approached my whole universe. There's a basic timeline and different rates of development because of any number of reasons so I want a setting, there's room. There are several “alternate Earths” because human civilization often follow similar patterns of development and destruction. I was influenced by the “planet of the week” Star Trek model for some of that.

And there's a distant heroic past that allows for high fantasy as well as still developing worlds. So it's a vast canvas that I can fill in at my leisure. And everything doesn't have to be detailed, I'm not doing the Sistine Chapel nor am I driven obsessive like Michelangelo. This and that bit and then I can do a story later on that references the history or even family ancestors.

That's the way to do it👍👍👍

It's a lot of work doing several timelines in a single story… especially when it comes down to keeping things consistent. But it can work as long as you keep focus.

Socratatus wrote:
It's a lot of work doing several timelines in a single story… especially when it comes down to keeping things consistent. But it can work as long as you keep focus.

Too true. Ambition like that can be a beutiful thing. But without focus ambition can become a mess. And I should know^^

It’s very strange. I don’t really develop a script or a synopsis. Most of my pages just come to me as I go. Sometimes the stories flow really fast and I can barely get them drawn onto the page fast enough. My wife would sometimes comment that this is like my JOB (I’m retired) with my head buried in the paper, pencilling and inking. Other times, I’m staring at the blank paper for awhile, until eventually, it all comes out and zap.

With me, it’s easier since my comix are shorter stories too. You guys with 100s of pages and multiple chapters must have it a lot harder.

rickrudge wrote:
It’s very strange. I don’t really develop a script or a synopsis. Most of my pages just come to me as I go. Sometimes the stories flow really fast and I can barely get them drawn onto the page fast enough. My wife would sometimes comment that this is like my JOB (I’m retired) with my head buried in the paper, pencilling and inking. Other times, I’m staring at the blank paper for awhile, until eventually, it all comes out and zap.

With me, it’s easier since my comix are shorter stories too. You guys with 100s of pages and multiple chapters must have it a lot harder.

Well, It's true. It can feel really overwhelming at times looking at all of this avalanche of scripts and documents I've scribbled together over the course of a decade, and at times when I feel really tired I do have moments of doubt asking myself “do I really wanna do all of this, wouldn't it be much simpler to just do simple one-shots instead having long series and anthologies of stuff to muddle through that's all probably not gonna see the light of day for many, many years to come. If at all”

But then I look at all of these characters and all of these ideas and concepts I've churned out and all the love and passion I've kept pouring into it all of these years and I go “Yeah! I wanna do this! I don't care how long it will take to put it out! I want all of this to happen this way, because I feel like it deserves and demands to happen this way!”

And that's what keeps driving me on. The urge is stronger then the doubt. Every storyteller and artist have their creative battle to wage. This is the one I keep waging and, so far, winning. One page at a time;)

You know what guys? I think I'm gonna remove Bloodiator and Cold Cusp for now. Facing it now I feel like I'm not fully ready to tackle these stories and I'm not even sure if they even need their own series. Maybe I jumped a bit too early on the idea on those two. Maybe I'll set em' up again in the future or maybe I'll incorporate them into Imsies the Imthology or something, who knows, but right now I feel like I just wanna focus on the comics I actually got running and know what to do with. If I ruined anyones expectations with this I apologize. It's just a bit too much for me now.

Actually! I think those two stories would actually make more sense from a setting perspective if they were incorporated into Imsies the Imthology. I'll see what I'll do.

bravo1102 wrote:
I wish I could stop. Every time I think I'm out of steam up comes another idea. I have over a dozen scripts written still to shoot. There are fifty or so other ideas and outlines in my files.

But then nothing I've done is worth reading so it all kind of balances out.

For me the well never dries up. When I thought my stuff was worth reading I could barely write a page. Now that I know it's not I have an endless supply of pieces to work on.

I can go on and on because I'm not trying to make anything special or reinvent story telling. I just turn out garbage and it's so much easier to write. Just get it done and everything can be fixed in the rewrite.

Boy, I feel literally everything you wrote here in my bones.

I just…really like telling stories, even though I am demonstratively terrible at it. I've finished two comics and have three more currently running and I just can't stop. And I honestly don't want to, because making things - even when they're bad - is really the only thing that makes me happy.

It almost feels unfair that I've got all this drive to churn out complete garbage while people with actual ability and talent struggle to produce much.

Oh well, at least the constant flood of ideas is good for me, heh.