The hardest part of writing for me is the opening, the ending, and everything in between.  I’ve been trying to work on beginnings, since that’s where I lose my readers.  But even following the rules doesn’t guarantee success…

I thought I did better with Retro Heliographs, since I established the protagonist, antagonist and goals early on.

Summary of sorts…Prince Kian finds baby Solar in some rubble. King Elan flies in and demands that Kian hand over said baby. Kian says nope. Then Elan decides to kill them both, but is interrupted by more angels flying in. Elan tells Kian he’s going to kill the child eventually. Kian is like the hell you will.

That’s basically the opening of the first act which was about 16 pages. The next 30-40 pages will explore the characters and world building. At the end of the first act, Kian will decide how far he’s willing to go to protect little Solar. Then I can move on to act 2, where Elan showcases his utter lack of morals and Kian goes from reacting to proactively fighting against Elan. And act 3 is the most fun cause I get to traumatize my characters even more. šŸ„°

For story structure I mix and match from the Screenplay and Save the Cat books mostly. These books are for movies, not graphic novels, but I’ve found them useful. Screenplay emphasized in film you have a short window to grab your viewer’s attention and set up your story. And to make every moment (or panel) count.  With a bazillion webtoons out there it’s even harder to get readers attention now.  Save the Cat is good for timing and understanding your story premise.

At the end of these posts I’m supposed to post a question. I’d like to hear other creators’processes if they care to share. Or do you skip all that and just draw the story?