Sparring your comic's story with who?

[ryuumajin]

Do you guys have someone or some people/community to discuss about your basic idea of a story, like cross-checking to minimize the plot hole of your going-to-be comics?

When I write the story, the illustrator gives some pretty much advices how the things should work in the comic's circumstances. Has he not interfered (because he's the illustrator), my comic story would've felt odd or awkward.

[Falconer]

My family and my friends pretty much. Although more so my family lately...didn't really work out with my college friends because most of them don't really read comics and weren't interested. >_>;; My roommate was absolutely awesome with it, but not so much everyone else. My high school friends were great for going over my stories with because they got really into the stories and characters, but also were able to step back and say, "Wait, this doesn't really make sense." I wish I could find people like them again...I haven't talked to them in ages. :/ We were all super busy in college and in completely different states so it was hard to keep in touch.

But this is why I keep saying I need more comicking friends. I hate being the one sole kid in the group whose foaming at the mouth over comics or raging over issues with the industry and the best response I can muster from them is a pat on the shoulder with, "There, there..." >_<;

[Jillybean]

In the case of my 'tag team' I'm actually on the illustrator end. That being said, my writer and I have known each other for quite a while and have done literary works together before. The whole translating it to a comic is the only new part. The story itself usually ends up fairly solid. Not at all professional level writing, no, but solid for what it is. I'm usually really proud of her work.

[erase]

Whoever is on Skype at the moment of writing.

[eishiya]

I participate in a small, closed-membership forum where everyone critiques/betas each other's stories, thumbnails, etc. Sadly, it's hard to find friends who would function well in that environment. Still, despite its size, it's been immensely useful, and it's also a good format/place to store notes, etc. I find myself getting more organized thanks to it, since everything is organized in tagged forum threads rather than a bunch of text files strewn about on my computer.

[MadameEvelyn]

Me and my author bounce ideas and new dialogue off each other to get the best finished result possible. It ends up making the page flow come along nicely and fines out some of the details very well. I personally like discussing the story with my author as a bounce-board, because it's fun to see my interpretations of his ideas and his interpretations of mine.

[RyoSoulreaper]

A friend of mine who also writes.

We talk writing a lot. Mostly character traits and world building.

We both have a decent grasp on plot but we like to shoot ideas at each other.

[Nikkinoodles]

Right now, as I go through the first round of script edits I have no one. I'm considering looking into finding someone who's willing to act as an editor but I'm not really holding my breath on finding someone. It'd be great if I could though.

For my other writing though I bounce ideas and storylines off one of my closest friends who can give very good and honest critiques. She's a god-send for that sort of thing as she can usually pinpoint what's wrong with a paragraph whereas I can only tell that there's something a little off.

[reverendjack]

my ex-girlfriend was my best proof-reader, back when i wrote the script for my comic. i also sent it to a couple of friends, but their critiques were, "yeah, that part's going to be so funny!", or "dude... are you alright?". My ex, on the other hand, really had some great input - regarding some of the dialogue, how much of the plot to give away and when, and when something would cross the line of creepy and corny.

other than that, i usually just look at the script with the eyes of a reader. it requires momentarily forgetting everything you know about the story, which isn't always easy - but i catch a lot of little things that way.

*edit - also, (secret), i act out certain dialogue-heavy scenes with myself to see if they sound natural.

[robybang]

I have a few webcomic friends I bounce ideas off of at times, but I feel like they hold back. So I rarely do it.

[repsychus]

I usually bother people I know on AIM or Trillian. I've had long-time friends who write comic scripts, so they usually beat the shit out of my plots where it's needed. Though mostly I hide in my little spidey hole and keep my ideas to myself....Not because I think they're too great to let out, mind you. It's mostly because I'm too embarrassed to share them with anyone. I generally hate my own ideas.

[redandblack64]

Huh, I had an Art Tutorials & Techniques thread about this that was a combination of Orson Scott Card's Wise Reader questions originally meant for prose and stripedwine's newly added questions that addressed the more visual side of comics. These questions are so specific that you could ask anyone these questions, making sugar coating near impossible.

The complete and total lack of this is the biggest of several reasons preventing me from trying my hand at another comic, as I lack the intuition and experience to know whether I made some mistakes or not.

[Wulfmune]

i have two people i run my pages by before they posted. sometimes they catch mistakes, and sometimes they don't. i'm not too proud to make corrections if my readers spot one that slipped through :3 i have some very insightful/observant comments. <3

[Vitotamito]

The less grounded in reality my comic is, the better.

[ApaFox]

Nope. Which would explain the bad spelling and horrid grammar.