Wednesday, February 9, 2000: A pretty weird ride

[NonsenseWords]

Conclusion: DCS realized that the concept of uniforms is, in fact, not exactly a great source of humor, so rather than finding a way of writing himself out of a corner he ignored the entire idea, went off on a tangent, realized that the tangent wasn't providing much fodder, and unceremoniously gave up.

This illustrates the perils of keeping up a day-by-day posting schedule without planning ahead.

I'm sure he learns how to do this later on (I certainly hope so), but this particular arc just collapsed on itself due to lack of foresight.

[Muninn]

No it didn't. I myself find there's something very real about a haphazard storyline, a way of illustrating even a normal day that can frequently, even when planned, end up somewhere far removed from what you had intended.

I'm not saying this the best storyline, but that this way of writing can be good in some ways. Keep in mind, this isn't a novel, it's just a comic on the internet.

[NonsenseWords]

I know. And it's how I actually write, too; I know there's a Point A and a Point G I need to get to, but in the process of getting there I wind up at Point W instead. The difference is that I can go back and correct things to make them make sense, or delete things and start from where they got derailed; in this case, DCS was holding himself to a once-a-day schedule, and didn't really afford himself time to be able to go back and correct things if the gag was going in an unanticipated direction.

I'm not saying that it's a bad way to work, but as a result you get things where you write yourself into a corner, and because of his schedule (at the time), he couldn't go back and scrap the idea and try a different tack, or just do something else. Just an unfortunate consequence of the process.

[Cactus Jack]

Its just a comedy comic. Its okay for an arc to just peter out without much of a conclusion as long as there are some funny strips along the way.

[Muninn]

I know. And it's how I actually write, too; I know there's a Point A and a Point G I need to get to, but in the process of getting there I wind up at Point W instead. The difference is that I can go back and correct things to make them make sense, or delete things and start from where they got derailed

Well, that's not really the same kind of writing if you're giving yourself the luxury of editing. You would either need to have no time to rewrite or willingly ignore the wrong and bad parts and accept the lackluster outcome.

[NonsenseWords]

...which was exactly what the rest of my post was saying.

[Muninn]

Then why even say you write like that when you don't?

[NonsenseWords]

...you misunderstand me.

I said that I write in the same way that DCS seems to-- kind of a stream-of-consciousness, with only a vague idea of where I'm going. However, I write stories, not gag-a-day comic strips, and this affords me the opportunity, when things are going wrong, to go back to the crux of the problem and start over.

DCS does the same thing, but, because of his imposed posting schedule, did not afford himself the opportunity to go backwards and fix things when they were going in directions he didn't intend. He clearly lost interest in this arc halfway through, but because he'd already posted the earlier parts couldn't just hit 'delete' and start over again.

(Mind, I actually have done things like that, although by posting on a chapter-by-chapter basis I tend to find that I messed up big-time about twenty pages ago, or more, and can't afford to go back and correct things without changing three chapters between. Frustrating.)

[Muninn]

Have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo?

[NonsenseWords]

No.