Onastar

The most difficult thing about the creation process of a webcomic (as a writer) is being only a writer. It is not a visually attractive skill, which makes it difficult to market oneself. Does anyone else run into that issue? What does one put on social media as a writer?

I am incredibly grateful for my artist and wish to see her promoted/successful even beyond this project, so I post her pics. What can I do to help myself as well?

Perhaps these are rhetorical questions and the answer shall come to me eventually. In the meantime, the highly anticipated snowstorm should give me more time to sort these thoughts out.

In the middle of January, my artist and I produced the first episode of a Webtoon together. After back and forth throughout December, we were able to tame the idea into a recognizable shape. She produced the art, I produced the story and tackled lettering.

No big deal, right? Other artists do this every day! Wrong! This was a huge deal for me--a lifetime in the making. For years, I've sat on story ideas and filled notebooks with scribbles. I even managed to quell some of the creative urge by running multiple D&D campaigns. Now one of my ideas has finally taken wing. It is out there in the universe, existing beyond the confines of my brain...and it is absolutely terrifying!

The popular mantras say to: just do it. Start small. You never win the game if you never play. You've heard them all before. I know I have. It wasn't that I was never going to start, it was more so it was never the right time.

When I first started seriously writing, it was in high school. I was going to be the next Christopher Paolini and get a fantasy series turned into a movie (a 'la Lord of the Rings). Those tales never made it off the ground (and rightly so. There were major plot holes and character development that needed to happen. If I have my way, those files will never see the light of day.). In college, I wrote another novel as part of my honors thesis. It was pretty good, I'd say, but still not the right time. After all, I was about to leave the country for a few years. I did and kept scribbling down ideas. When I returned home, I wanted to write, but writing would not be enough to sustain me. I had to get a "real job." So I did...and attended grad school at the same time. After grad school, I moved across the country to start a career. Then I got a boyfriend. Then I--You see where this is going? When was I going to find the time to write--let alone publish--anything?

Something broke in me this past December. I--like most of the world--had weathered 2020 and emerged with scars and a new realization that if I did not start, I would never start. I would go through life with notebooks that meant the world to me and nothing to anyone else--things that would be trashed when I left this Earth, things into which I had poured my soul and every spare moment. It was the fear of never having tried (and encouragement) that propelled me into finding an artist, sharing this idea with a complete stranger and watching it take form.

Now, here we are. I have two episodes that make me indescribably proud. Yes, they are not perfect, but they are mine and they exist. I still work full time and have many other projects to attend to, but I will not let that stop me.

I've been learning some things about making webcomics that I will journal in a weekly update. Maybe these posts will never get read. That's okay. Maybe they'll help someone else who is striving to make something of value. I hope this helps.

The hardest step of any journey is always the next, but it is well worth taking. See you next week!

P.S. If you are looking for the link to my webcomic, here it is: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/the-road-to-nowhere/list?title_no=582611 Like, comment, subscribe--you know the spiel. Let me know what you think!