Earning Interest

Last month, I commented on a number of comics that I dropped having no idea who the characters were or what the plot was. A similarly prevalent problem is just losing interest. It's nothing especially unusual, most of what goes on in the world isn't interesting. I find Roman history fascinating, and I could tell you quite a bit about it. You might stay interested for how Nerva protected the imperial title, but I have no doubt you'd wander off once I started on the reforms of Diocletian. Content, however, isn't the obstacle for webcomics. Readers head for webcomics that they're interested in or you have suckers like me who just want to know how the story ends.

Large blocks of dialogue and other text are the main enemies. You can't even get away with them in books, try reading the full text of Moby Dick. And in a comic a visual element is expected. That visual element provides the simplest solution: the dreaded, "Show; Don't Tell." A few illustrations go a long way. Even better, turn the text into a story. Occasional deviations from the main timeline, provided the transition is clearly indicated, are perfectly legitimate.

Breaking up long segments of dialogue is another possibility. As a noted last week, you can delay explanations until the story needs them. There's no reason to have to explain everything at once, and you learn better from small manageable chunks that are immediately reinforced. By interspersing the real story in between the dialogue the pacing and interest can be maintained.

No updates or countless updates are another way of losing interest. Umlaut House had a very productive hiatus (it starts on 26 January 2007): the author posted regular updates of various experiments, sketches, and other ideas that never made it into the comic. A reminder of why you're still checking that bookmark is always welcome.