I feel this. Just launched my substack full of enthusiasm. It’s easy for doubts to start creeping in despite evidence you’re in the right track. I’m focused on the here and now to stop spiraling
Know you have company in the whirlpool! I second the index cards idea, I do something similar but on a white board that allows me to draw linking lines and connecting thread lines between things as well as move them. Seeing a visual line connecting things helps, sometimes even seeing new ways in which totally different things are connected. I had a teacher once say to me, "you are looking for the golden thread that runs through your experiences". what is that thing that unifies and links everything together, for me it was a desire to repair and care for things and people, to see potential in everyone and everything, that gave me a clarity that was helpful. Remember, have fun with it! xo
Thank you so much! I'm guessing that that golden thread is the one thing you really need to find yourself. Do you write little excerpts of those experiences? Or are they drawings?
Yes the golden thread is utterly unique to you! I have only just started drawing, intermittently in the last few years and regularly in the last six months so I am not sure how it will show up in what I create yet - I've been focusing on one off ideas rather then narratives. It is more that when I see it, it is a familiar thing which makes me feel at home, perhaps it tells me I am on the right track? That is sounding very vague and unhelpful!
You sound very HSP. One flippin' door does not go to the hallway of a nice cosy house, but to a hotel with hundreds of other doors going to more doors. Go back to your basic storry. Read it with the eyes of your publisher, not with your own eyes. It is like a drive through the countryside, drive through it, enjoy the view, but don't turn of to all the side roads, how appealing they may look, you will get lost and you won't arrive at whatever your destination is. Go back later and pick one side road and follow that and then see where that gets you.
Thank you Emiel! When you say I sound very HSP, do you mean in this post above? Or are you referring to the comics I have been posting here? I'm asking because that was more or less the feedback I was getting from the agent: too many side roads, too little structure and focus. And I've been wondering if that is my storytelling style (and he doesn't like it) or if it's feedback I should take to heart.
I feel your pain Betje. I also have a story that's been mulling around in my brain for 4 years now and was equally perplexed as to how to tackle it. I finally decided to act like the old saying goes "How do you eat and elephant? One bite at a time." The story also calls for me changing up my usual illustration style so there's that extra dimension of complexity, but it's they only way I could nail this thing.
Maybe with your story, tackle it in a similar approach. For example as I think of the various pieces, I write them down on index cards and tack them to a wall. These various segments laid out might help you to rearrange the elements until you arrive at the right flow of the tale.
As for the ebbs and flows of subscribers, agents and social media ballyhoo, don't let it distract from your goal. Honestly you can't be a people-pleaser if you're an artist, but you do need to be your own vicious editor, which is the hardest part of the process. I struggle with that one as well since it's so hard to, as vicious editors are want to say, "Kill your darlings."
The only person you need to please is yourself, ....and a publisher when you eventually find one.
I hope all this helps you. Now I have to get back to following my own advice. :)
Thank you so much for your thoughts! I thought it was a good idea to create the outline first and it did help me get started. But at this moment, it's holding me back. I like your index cards idea, will definitely try that! I also like the word ballyhoo, never heard it before. :D
I feel this. Just launched my substack full of enthusiasm. It’s easy for doubts to start creeping in despite evidence you’re in the right track. I’m focused on the here and now to stop spiraling
Know you have company in the whirlpool! I second the index cards idea, I do something similar but on a white board that allows me to draw linking lines and connecting thread lines between things as well as move them. Seeing a visual line connecting things helps, sometimes even seeing new ways in which totally different things are connected. I had a teacher once say to me, "you are looking for the golden thread that runs through your experiences". what is that thing that unifies and links everything together, for me it was a desire to repair and care for things and people, to see potential in everyone and everything, that gave me a clarity that was helpful. Remember, have fun with it! xo
Oh and having fun. YES! I tend to forget that. I need a huge whiteboard that says : HAVE FUN! at the very top.
Thank you so much! I'm guessing that that golden thread is the one thing you really need to find yourself. Do you write little excerpts of those experiences? Or are they drawings?
Yes the golden thread is utterly unique to you! I have only just started drawing, intermittently in the last few years and regularly in the last six months so I am not sure how it will show up in what I create yet - I've been focusing on one off ideas rather then narratives. It is more that when I see it, it is a familiar thing which makes me feel at home, perhaps it tells me I am on the right track? That is sounding very vague and unhelpful!
Haha, not unhelpful at all! I think it needs to click. The thing is, my brain clicks all the time. Quite annoying really...
You sound very HSP. One flippin' door does not go to the hallway of a nice cosy house, but to a hotel with hundreds of other doors going to more doors. Go back to your basic storry. Read it with the eyes of your publisher, not with your own eyes. It is like a drive through the countryside, drive through it, enjoy the view, but don't turn of to all the side roads, how appealing they may look, you will get lost and you won't arrive at whatever your destination is. Go back later and pick one side road and follow that and then see where that gets you.
Thank you Emiel! When you say I sound very HSP, do you mean in this post above? Or are you referring to the comics I have been posting here? I'm asking because that was more or less the feedback I was getting from the agent: too many side roads, too little structure and focus. And I've been wondering if that is my storytelling style (and he doesn't like it) or if it's feedback I should take to heart.
I was refering to your post and as I am HSP too, I can see how it happens. :)
Good luck! <3
I feel your pain Betje. I also have a story that's been mulling around in my brain for 4 years now and was equally perplexed as to how to tackle it. I finally decided to act like the old saying goes "How do you eat and elephant? One bite at a time." The story also calls for me changing up my usual illustration style so there's that extra dimension of complexity, but it's they only way I could nail this thing.
Maybe with your story, tackle it in a similar approach. For example as I think of the various pieces, I write them down on index cards and tack them to a wall. These various segments laid out might help you to rearrange the elements until you arrive at the right flow of the tale.
As for the ebbs and flows of subscribers, agents and social media ballyhoo, don't let it distract from your goal. Honestly you can't be a people-pleaser if you're an artist, but you do need to be your own vicious editor, which is the hardest part of the process. I struggle with that one as well since it's so hard to, as vicious editors are want to say, "Kill your darlings."
The only person you need to please is yourself, ....and a publisher when you eventually find one.
I hope all this helps you. Now I have to get back to following my own advice. :)
Thank you so much for your thoughts! I thought it was a good idea to create the outline first and it did help me get started. But at this moment, it's holding me back. I like your index cards idea, will definitely try that! I also like the word ballyhoo, never heard it before. :D
And yes, one bite at a time :)