Good Story Arcs

In the past, I've said that story arcs allow you to get several episodes out of a single idea. This is true, but not necessarily simple. There are right ways and wrong ways to make a story arc.

If you are writing a comic strip, you are more than welcome to make a story that takes several strips to tell, but remember the cardinal rule: every strip should be interesting. I say interesting because it covers both comedy and drama. If you are writing a funny comic with a not-too-serious story, then make sure every comic has at least one joke. If you are writing a comic and telling a deathly serious story, then every strip should make the reader need to see the next one. It should have some amount of shock and intrigue that makes us have to see the results of it.

It's very easy to fall into a number of pitfalls when writing story arcs. One is giving too much information; you have all the time you want, so don't try to cram everything into a small space. Giving too little information is also a problem. Make sure you aren't repeating information too much. Just because you have no space constraints doesn't mean you should drag your feet. Keep the story moving along.

Remember that every strip you have might be somebody's first exposure to your work. If they happen to come in right in the middle of a story, that doesn't mean they should be completely lost or confused. Not every comic has to be your greatest work ever, but it does need to be interesting enough to make them read another. If every comic can make somebody want to read another, then you've get a life-long reader.