Should I blog my story?

burvantill

Here is some background.
I am writing a story. I very excited about it. It's still in its early stages (not finished, not edited). I am pretty sure that it is a middle grade story. And I'm almost sure that it will be created in a graphic novel type setting. I say almost, because, I've never written anything for a graphic novel style. Anyway, that's to be decided later. I've been listening to a lot of podcasts and I've heard a few of my favorite influencers say, "start off small" when it comes to starting graphic novels. I'm not really interested in creating small 4 panel comics on a weekly basis, so another option is to create a short comic book story. Something around 12 pages, I'm thinking. Brad Guiger from Comic Lab, says that he makes a guideline type story and writes and draws it as he goes on a weekly basis. I don't want to do that. I have a reason. Because I am a rookie writer, I tend to go back and change things. For example, today I was writing and really getting into the story when I realized that I had just wrote something cool, that conflicted with what I had written a couple of weeks ago. So I went back and changed what I wrote, because the story was actually better with the newer version. If I were to be drawing my story as I go, I would have been cemented into sticking with the poorer version. I mean you can't just change stuff, that's how Paul Sheldon got into trouble with Annie Wilkes in Misery. I definitely don't want THAT woman on my case . So, I am definitely going to write out the whole story before I start drawing it.

Now to the main question.
Should I blog my unedited story text now or wait until its finished and just post the finished pages/panels?
Some authors that I really like will post their unedited progress on their websites, for free. The Comic Lab guys, say that you should share your web comics for free and then charge for the products that go with that comic. This would be kind of the same thing, and it would be also following the HolyTrinity's advice, to start marketing your story a couple of years before you plan to publish it. Letting it gain momentum and an audience so when you are ready, you have the backers. The posting of the unedited text would be the appetizer before the free meal, that being the finished graphic pages themselves.

Another option, would be to post singular, particularly brilliant, lines from the text as teasers. Instead of the full text. And maybe talk about the story and how its coming along.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Thanx ahead of time

Jeremy Ross

Hi @burvantill, I definitely agree sharing webcomics for free on your website is a great idea, especially because they are usually short, entertaining and funny.

However, sharing a full narrative story work in progress online is something I’m not familiar with.

Are you looking at trying to shop your story to an agent or publishers to publish traditionally, or are you thinking independently publishing / Kickstarter?

If you’re looking to publish traditionally, you might consider a small critique group for help and reviews of your manuscript before you send to your agent. If I go to author websites, I don’t see any draft manuscripts for review, etc. Then again, I don’t have any social media, so maybe they share WIP via socials…

I’m just sharing some thoughts, I’m not experienced much on the topic.

I bet it’s a great story!

burvantill

@Jeremy-Ross said in Should I blog my story?:

I bet it’s a great story!

I appreciate your blind faith in me. LOL!
Diana Gabaldon shares her writing online. Granted she is a famous author of a very popular series so she has the fans that want to just gobble up all things Outlander and will purchase her books even though they have already seen the previews. I am so far from that status that I can't imagine that working for me. But using that technique as a stepping stone to gain people interested in hearing more? I'm wondering if that approach would work. I am thinking of self publishing. I guess this would be kind of a proof of concept for the story.