What type of media would be best?

A place to discuss things that aren't specific to any one creator or game.
Forum rules
Ren'Py specific questions should be posted in the Ren'Py Questions and Annoucements forum, not here.
Post Reply
Message
Author
CassieHolloway
Regular
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2012 10:39 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

What type of media would be best?

#1 Post by CassieHolloway »

First off: Sorry if I put this in the wrong place.

I am writing a fantasy story based a few decades into the future. The idea is overall too long for a regular vn, so if I do go that route it may be broken into several different stages. Another way I could do this is from a webcomic. Finally there's just a regular novel.

I don't know enough about any of them to proceed. I want people to see the characters change though the (long) story, but I can just link the pages of the artwork to the novel. I want to hear people's responses as it goes, and maybe talk to them about it as the project devolps.

Basically, I know what I want to do... Just don't know the proper way of doing it. Here is a very bare bones (i was rushing to tell someone it):

One of my projects, or rather thoughts, has a unique ideas or two (at least to me). Many beings who are too out of control, too powerful, or otherwise dubbed 'dangerous to society/committee's rule' are sealed away in crystals. More uncommon are those who do it themselves. Some crystals are different colors indicating how those within can be freed or how they may find peace. One color was red (i think...) and meant it's owner seeked redemption. The crystal caretakers were small pixies that resembled fireflies. Over time they may be awakened naturally in their true form/idenity or are reborn into another being entirely. Few of them have been reborn in the past though within the last sixteen to twenty years most of the crystals are cracked. Cracked crystals mean that the reincarnation is remembering their true self... For better or worse.

Towering over the countless prisons is a lone crystal tree. There are many legends about why this tree exists. ((In other words, the tree is one of the main mysteries. At least right now))

The main character is Cassndra Holloway, a almost 16 year old who moves across the country to live with her young at heart (and body) grandfather in Ranceford California. By coming in contact with these 'reborns' (first being her teacher Royce Davidson who lives with her grandfather) they start to not only affect their current lives but Cassanda's own.

The many people she encounters in her new life changes the world around her. In more ways then one. Slowly but surely, the afterlife, Earth, and hell the very realms (or worlds) change and are altered.

And Cassandra has absolutely no idea what the fudge is going on...

I probably shouldn't have put this in this forum... Still I would love your experience and thoughts on how best to proceed.
My little blog for reviews and development involving indie (or otherwise unknown) VN and Games in general: http://cassieholloway.wordpress.com/

HigurashiKira
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 832
Joined: Mon Nov 01, 2010 9:10 pm
Contact:

Re: What type of media would be best?

#2 Post by HigurashiKira »

It's up to you, really. All forms of media can tell a good story, hell, even radio (War of the Worlds comes to mind). But of course, this depends on what you wish to show: a visual novel is perhaps a balance between a webcomic, an audio drama, and a novel since it relies on sound, visuals, and text to tell the story. The Webcomic would rely hevilly on images and dialouge, while a novel will have to detail actions and events.

Again, this depends on what you wish to show. The more story-heavy, the better the novel sounds; while the more action-oriented the work is, the better the webcomic sounds.
I have moved to a new account. Please contact me here from now on. T/Y~

User avatar
Anna
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 708
Joined: Sat Dec 25, 2010 10:30 am
Completed: Binary Soul, Days of the Divine, Nanolife, Firefly
Projects: current: Path of Dreamers
Organization: Circle Pegasi
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: What type of media would be best?

#3 Post by Anna »

Maybe try doing it in the shape of sequential VNs (was that the word for it?) that tell part of the story/a new story each time.

Doing this in comic form? You could, but if this is really as long as you say it, then I think you will be crying yourself to sleep after a few weeks of drawing. One written page can easily become 10 comic pages if you do it properly (especially with manga), keep that in mind.

CassieHolloway
Regular
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2012 10:39 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Re: What type of media would be best?

#4 Post by CassieHolloway »

HigurashiKira wrote:It's up to you, really. All forms of media can tell a good story, hell, even radio (War of the Worlds comes to mind). But of course, this depends on what you wish to show: a visual novel is perhaps a balance between a webcomic, an audio drama, and a novel since it relies on sound, visuals, and text to tell the story. The Webcomic would rely hevilly on images and dialouge, while a novel will have to detail actions and events.

Again, this depends on what you wish to show. The more story-heavy, the better the novel sounds; while the more action-oriented the work is, the better the webcomic sounds.
Out of the three, I'm leaning more to visual novel due to the balance. If I did go down that route, I would have to show proof of how much it has come along on the wip forums. It has only been more detailed recently so while a few characters remain intact, the rest are still forming. I'm more about stories than webcomics really... I'll probably go with a vn. I'm just nervous since it would be my first true project and I have little artwork (can't draw a darn) and I don't really know what to trace or where to find free pictures or whatever for inspiration.

Sorry for confusing you all.
My little blog for reviews and development involving indie (or otherwise unknown) VN and Games in general: http://cassieholloway.wordpress.com/

CassieHolloway
Regular
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2012 10:39 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Re: What type of media would be best?

#5 Post by CassieHolloway »

Anna wrote:Maybe try doing it in the shape of sequential VNs (was that the word for it?) that tell part of the story/a new story each time.

Doing this in comic form? You could, but if this is really as long as you say it, then I think you will be crying yourself to sleep after a few weeks of drawing. One written page can easily become 10 comic pages if you do it properly (especially with manga), keep that in mind.
Yes, I know double post.

The sequential VNs ideas sound good. She's basically a teenager so the story takes place at her new school and out at other places. Each of the underlings could be a battle at the end of that vn. Thank you for helping me so far.
My little blog for reviews and development involving indie (or otherwise unknown) VN and Games in general: http://cassieholloway.wordpress.com/

Van Knox
Regular
Posts: 29
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2011 2:42 pm
Contact:

Re: What type of media would be best?

#6 Post by Van Knox »

CassieHolloway wrote:First off: Sorry if I put this in the wrong place.

I am writing a fantasy story based a few decades into the future. The idea is overall too long for a regular vn, so if I do go that route it may be broken into several different stages. Another way I could do this is from a webcomic. Finally there's just a regular novel.
I'm not a VN expert, but I do have some experience(and success) with more traditional writing/publishing, so I feel like I can answer this question.

I'm not sure if you have any publishing credits, but generally a beginner won't get published when trying to write a novel of epic length. It's also pretty rare for a beginner to get a series accepted for publication. While it happens, it's much more frequent for a beginner to start with a short 100-120k novel, and that's because fantasy is one of the most generous genres as far as length for beginner novels go.

So if you think you would have more space writing a regular novel, you would be unfortunately mistaken unless you plan on self-publishing--which I really wouldn't recommend you to do. I did some research with some writing friends, and though I don't really have much data on OELVN sales figures, the sales figures for your average self-published novel wouldn't make anyone jump in joy, far from it.

I don't think there's any idea that's too long to be written as a visual novel, because you don't have the issue you have with novels where publishers only want novels that are within a very specific length. I think visual novels are great for long pieces of work because they are the only ones with a decent sized audience(even if not big enough) that will at the very least give your work a look before turning away. With novels and web comics(I have friends that have worked/work with both) sometimes people don't even look at your work before ignoring it, especially when it's ridiculously long. Web Comics can gain a lot of traction too, but it's a bit of a gamble for many reasons.

I could very well be wrong about my understanding of the VN market, but I'm basing it on the simple fact that I don't think it is possible for the market to be worse than the web comic and the novel writing market. Both of those are ridiculously hard to break into and often offer little reward to those that do.

Overall, don't take my advice as gospel because I really don't know that much about VNs(just got into making them a few months ago) but I can tell you that trying to break into web comic/novel writing with a long story is a very difficult thing to do and that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

CassieHolloway
Regular
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2012 10:39 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Re: What type of media would be best?

#7 Post by CassieHolloway »

Van Knox wrote:
CassieHolloway wrote:First off: Sorry if I put this in the wrong place.

I am writing a fantasy story based a few decades into the future. The idea is overall too long for a regular vn, so if I do go that route it may be broken into several different stages. Another way I could do this is from a webcomic. Finally there's just a regular novel.
I'm not a VN expert, but I do have some experience(and success) with more traditional writing/publishing, so I feel like I can answer this question.

I'm not sure if you have any publishing credits, but generally a beginner won't get published when trying to write a novel of epic length. It's also pretty rare for a beginner to get a series accepted for publication. While it happens, it's much more frequent for a beginner to start with a short 100-120k novel, and that's because fantasy is one of the most generous genres as far as length for beginner novels go.

So if you think you would have more space writing a regular novel, you would be unfortunately mistaken unless you plan on self-publishing--which I really wouldn't recommend you to do. I did some research with some writing friends, and though I don't really have much data on OELVN sales figures, the sales figures for your average self-published novel wouldn't make anyone jump in joy, far from it.

I don't think there's any idea that's too long to be written as a visual novel, because you don't have the issue you have with novels where publishers only want novels that are within a very specific length. I think visual novels are great for long pieces of work because they are the only ones with a decent sized audience(even if not big enough) that will at the very least give your work a look before turning away. With novels and web comics(I have friends that have worked/work with both) sometimes people don't even look at your work before ignoring it, especially when it's ridiculously long. Web Comics can gain a lot of traction too, but it's a bit of a gamble for many reasons.

I could very well be wrong about my understanding of the VN market, but I'm basing it on the simple fact that I don't think it is possible for the market to be worse than the web comic and the novel writing market. Both of those are ridiculously hard to break into and often offer little reward to those that do.

Overall, don't take my advice as gospel because I really don't know that much about VNs(just got into making them a few months ago) but I can tell you that trying to break into web comic/novel writing with a long story is a very difficult thing to do and that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Thank you for offering this insight. I mostly do things for fun and a learning experience. I have no intention (at the moment) to make others pay a lot of money. May have a donation thing or comments place on a website sooner or later. I just want to have something others can enjoy. Not good for the long project but it makes sense to attempt it at least.
My little blog for reviews and development involving indie (or otherwise unknown) VN and Games in general: http://cassieholloway.wordpress.com/

User avatar
Reikun
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 565
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2011 9:57 pm
Completed: Mnemonic Devices, Ciikos Bridge, Helena's Flowers, The Madness
Projects: Fox in the Hollyhocks
Organization: skyharborr
itch: skyharborr
Contact:

Re: What type of media would be best?

#8 Post by Reikun »

Assuming you would want to publish your novel online, you need to consider that there are only certain types of people who are willing to sit in front of a computer screen and read your novel (unless you publish it as a e-book). The handy thing about physical novels is that you can easily save your place, you can carry it around with you to read whenever/wherever you want, and it's always available. For online novels, it gets harder to save your place if you're scrolling down a page. You can't just stick your bookmark in underneath the last line you read (though this can be solved in many ways). If you go the e-book way, there are only so many people who look for independent authors and not everyone has an e-reader or tablet, etc.

Webcomics are easy to self-publish, but getting readers can be pretty difficult. I think for webcomics, the artwork will be the first consideration for whether or not someone will even try to read your work. If you think your art is decent enough that people will look at it, and if you have the time/energy/dedication to turn your story into comic format, I think a webcomic would be very rewarding. There is opportunity for periodic feedback, which it sounds like you wanted. The danger here is being able to update often so you don't lose your readers. If you've done comics before, you'll know that they are quite time consuming.

And if your story is quite linear (with a canon/true ending), then VN may not be the way to go if your work is going to be long and broken up into several works. Choice of Romance comes to mind. This text-adventure has many possible endings, but also one "true" ending. The "true" ending is what begins the second part of the series. The problem with this is if a player liked a different ending better than the true ending. They wouldn't even play the second part because it wouldn't continue from the place they left off, which severely limits your viewership.

Just my thoughts on your choices. Sorry if it's kind of long and the grammar is bad. I have a hard time organizing my thoughts.
ImageImageImage

fastest way to contact me: DM @skyharborr on twitter

Van Knox
Regular
Posts: 29
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2011 2:42 pm
Contact:

Re: What type of media would be best?

#9 Post by Van Knox »

CassieHolloway wrote:
Van Knox wrote:
CassieHolloway wrote:First off: Sorry if I put this in the wrong place.

I am writing a fantasy story based a few decades into the future. The idea is overall too long for a regular vn, so if I do go that route it may be broken into several different stages. Another way I could do this is from a webcomic. Finally there's just a regular novel.
I'm not a VN expert, but I do have some experience(and success) with more traditional writing/publishing, so I feel like I can answer this question.

I'm not sure if you have any publishing credits, but generally a beginner won't get published when trying to write a novel of epic length. It's also pretty rare for a beginner to get a series accepted for publication. While it happens, it's much more frequent for a beginner to start with a short 100-120k novel, and that's because fantasy is one of the most generous genres as far as length for beginner novels go.

So if you think you would have more space writing a regular novel, you would be unfortunately mistaken unless you plan on self-publishing--which I really wouldn't recommend you to do. I did some research with some writing friends, and though I don't really have much data on OELVN sales figures, the sales figures for your average self-published novel wouldn't make anyone jump in joy, far from it.

I don't think there's any idea that's too long to be written as a visual novel, because you don't have the issue you have with novels where publishers only want novels that are within a very specific length. I think visual novels are great for long pieces of work because they are the only ones with a decent sized audience(even if not big enough) that will at the very least give your work a look before turning away. With novels and web comics(I have friends that have worked/work with both) sometimes people don't even look at your work before ignoring it, especially when it's ridiculously long. Web Comics can gain a lot of traction too, but it's a bit of a gamble for many reasons.

I could very well be wrong about my understanding of the VN market, but I'm basing it on the simple fact that I don't think it is possible for the market to be worse than the web comic and the novel writing market. Both of those are ridiculously hard to break into and often offer little reward to those that do.

Overall, don't take my advice as gospel because I really don't know that much about VNs(just got into making them a few months ago) but I can tell you that trying to break into web comic/novel writing with a long story is a very difficult thing to do and that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Thank you for offering this insight. I mostly do things for fun and a learning experience. I have no intention (at the moment) to make others pay a lot of money. May have a donation thing or comments place on a website sooner or later. I just want to have something others can enjoy. Not good for the long project but it makes sense to attempt it at least.
You're welcome. Just remember what I said still applies even if you aren't planning to go commercial--even if you offer your story for free, it's hard to find an audience with regular novel writing. Not impossible by any means, but still hard. Well, all that said, just remember the most important part about writing. Have fun! :)

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users