A synopsis is one of the most powerful tools we have for hooking potential readers into our story. But sometimes summing up your big ideas into an understandable, compelling short statement is really challenging! So we’re here to break down the elements, look into what you do and don’t need, and hopefully give you some good ideas to work with!

Before we really dive in we want to clarify our use of the word synopsis. Industry standard views a synopsis as a full summary of your work from beginning to end. A synopsis can also be a smaller blurb that gives a summary without spoiling the whole story, like what you see on book covers. It’s this smaller definition that we’ll be focusing on today.

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Episode Release Date: October 30, 2024

Episode Credits:

Rae Baade (@overlordrae) - they/them, empyreancomic.com

Miranda Schwemmer (@mirandacakesart) - she/her, mirandacakes.art


Eli (@eliushi) - she/they, elisuhi.carrd.co

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The Intro "DO IT (feat. Shia LaBeouf)", and the Outro "It's Good To See You Again!!", both by Adrianwave, have been used and modified in good faith under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Licensed. Edits include: Fade IN/OUT, and a repeat added to the beginning of "It's Good To See You Again!!". For more information on this creative commons use, please reference https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.

Transcription

This transcript is auto generated by our recording software.

00:00.86

Miranda

Hello and welcome to ScreenTones, where we talk anything and everything webcomics. Today we're going to be talking about writing a synopsis for your webcomic. I'm Miranda, I use she-her pronouns, and I make the webcomic into the swell.

00:16.57

Rae

And I am Rey. I use they them pronouns and I make the webcomics Overlord of Ravenfell and On Empyrean High.

00:25.92

Miranda

And today we have a special guest joining us to share their expertise on synopses. Go ahead and introduce yourself.

00:35.52

Eliushi

Hi, I'm Alushi, or Eli for short. I use she, they pronouns. I'm a scientist by day and a graphic novelist, artist, and science fiction fantasy author by night. I like to write about hidden monsters, lost magic, and sad robots. You can find a number of my works and anthologies online and in print. And currently I'm working on Key Space, a science fiction fantasy epic about an impossible space between portals that lead to different worlds.

01:06.98

Miranda

Fantastic. So as many of you know, a synopsis is one of the most powerful tools we have for hooking potential readers into our story. But sometimes summing up your big ideas into an understandable, compelling short statement is really challenging. So we're here today to break down the elements, look into what you do and don't need, and hopefully give you some good ideas to work with. Before we really dive in, we want to clarify our use of the word synopsis. Industry Standard views a synopsis as a full summary of your work from beginning to end. A synopsis can also be a smaller blurb that gives a summary without spoiling the whole story, similar to what you see on book covers and like dust jackets and whatnot. um And it's this smaller definition that we'll be focusing on today.

01:56.62

Miranda

So to dive into the questions, first, how have the synopses you've written for your comics changed over the years and what kind of uses have you found for them? And we're going to pass this question to Eli to kick us off.

02:12.19

Eliushi

Yeah, the synopsis have undergone some changes when I first started writing them. My writing process has been to, even from the very beginning of starting a comic, to try and capture the essential essence of the story. So a lot of the times when I first start investigating into in an idea for a webcomic, I think a lot about how I can summarize it into a specific log line first. I find that that's a kind of a guiding star for me.

02:44.86

Miranda

you

02:46.04

Eliushi

um Through the logline, once you kind of get a sense of the main character, the main conflict, and the setting, then you can kind of delve into the specific hooks that make your story special, not only to you, but to your potential audience. And so I usually use those aspects as a starting point first and develop that, write the entire story, then I go back to the logline and the blurb slash summary to try and see if I can condense down in a way that can be appealing to readers.

03:22.43

Eliushi

So in that way, throughout the process of writing the stories, it can change from something that is relatively more straightforward to something that when you write through the story um and start maybe perhaps storyboarding, that you find something that is very appealing that you want to include in your um blurb or synopses.

03:26.51

Miranda

Mm hmm.

03:44.72

Eliushi

um The kind of uses that I found for them um can vary depending on what kind of audience I'm trying to reach. So for example, if I wanted to reach towards a more traditionally inclined ah editor or an agent, for example, then I sort of followed their blurb guidelines or sub-synopsis guidelines, which tends to be a little bit more rigid. and I tend to use less of it um kind of a funny or casual tone and try and inject more of my authorial voice into it.

04:15.88

Miranda

Amen.

04:19.54

Eliushi

Whereas if I'm in a convention talking to casual readers, readers of science fiction and fantasy, I try to find genre-specific phrases and expressions to try and get them to feel a little bit of familiarity before going into the things that can be more hooky or intriguing or different about my webcomic. I find that depending on the situation, the audience, and realistically time of day.

04:50.50

Miranda

Mm, yeah.

04:50.74

Eliushi

If I'm starting to be tired, then I actually just think about doing a funny list and try and ah do other things to make my synopsis a bit more um appealing or different than something that they may have heard before.

05:06.48

Miranda

That's I wouldn't have thought of time of day affecting how you're pitching it, but I can definitely see from like a con attendee perspective. By the end of the day, you've heard so many things that you're just like, I, I'm not going to remember anything you just told me. So finding a way to like. make it more memorable when people have been hearing things all day is definitely an and important and not something I would have thought of. So that's, yeah, such, such good tips. What about you, Ray? ah How have your synopsis changed and how do you use them in your webcomic?

05:47.08

Rae

I find a lot lately that I've been considering more about the hypothetical reader and what they might find interesting about the story. And especially as I start branching out into different genres, I also feel like I need to ah like i need to address the expectations of the genre as well. Like tone matters a lot in that case, I feel like.

06:13.46

Miranda

Mmhmm.

06:14.00

Rae

And there's what you're what place you're posting or saying your synopsis also matters. like length isn't desirable in a lot of social media because people are just scrolling through and looking at the pretty pictures plus ah reading the blurb.

06:25.14

Miranda

Mmhmm.

06:33.17

Rae

And I do feel like um the back of your book or say other um journals or such like are a bit better for putting multiple paragraphs of your synopsis in there. As for what you're using them for, you can use them as a pitch, as a blurb, or just telling people what your comic is about at a convention booth. The difference is often who you're talking to and how much you can reveal.

07:08.10

Rae

Like as a pitch, you want to spoil your story because the agent or publisher is not your story's audience, but they can connect you to your audience.

07:15.85

Miranda

Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

07:17.61

Rae

And I personally also use these days, I have a master file that I have the entire story written is a synopsis and then I edit from there several different links depending on where I'm posting it and um pretty much who it's for as well.

07:40.81

Miranda

such a good idea um i i feel like what you said about social media i with with twitter and or i guess x i don't know i it's ah it will always be twitter to me but um like all of these social media that have such like short character limits i feel like they've just made the public um time or attention span So short, like you have like a few seconds to grab someone's attention with what you're ah what you're trying to pitch them. And that I think that's a huge use of these shorter blurbs and synopses. um But yes, such, such good information and ways to use them. um

08:26.50

Miranda

So let's go on to what are the what do you think the elements are of an easy to understand or consume synopsis and what are things that you hundred percent you definitely need these and on the other hand things that you definitely should not include. We'll go back to you for this to start off Eli.

08:51.60

Eliushi

Awesome. Yeah, so in terms of easy to understand synopsis, I find that the readers when they approach something like the back of a book, or on webtoons, or scrolling, like you said on social media, looking for something that maybe be inspiring, is to have a specific hook to your story. And sometimes that might be quite difficult for someone who is the creator to really identify it because um I think when a creator is so involved in their work from the beginning to the end,

09:31.15

Eliushi

It's hard to really pinpoint the one specific thing that can capture an audience's attention and because you're so immersed into the characters and the arcs, the growth, the setting.

09:36.89

Miranda

Mmhmm.

09:42.43

Eliushi

um Everything part of the story just becomes so interesting and crucial to making the story happen.

09:45.29

Miranda

Mmhmm.

09:50.44

Eliushi

So yeah, so one of the things that I find is talking to either your critique partners, beta readers, your more intimate group of readers and other creators who are more exposed to a wide variety of different webcomics to find that one thing, that one sort of key ingredient that makes your comic very different from the rest of the others. So once you've found that, I find that if you can incorporate it into your synopsis, um through either the 140 character limitations, um to even a full on two to three paragraphs that you've seen in the back of

10:34.98

Eliushi

the webcomics turned graphic novels, if you have that front and center and as your guiding star, I find that the readers can really pick up on that and have it be super memorable when they're browsing through the bookstores, talking at conventions, or swirling through social media.

10:37.32

Miranda

Mm hmm.

10:52.28

Miranda

Mm hmm.

10:52.77

Eliushi

The other thing that I found very important is ah the orientation of the reader. So part of the ah good log line pitch blurb and synopsis is for the readers to understand who the main characters are, what is the setting, and what is the main conflict that they're dealing with.

11:15.16

Miranda

Mm hmm.

11:15.35

Eliushi

In order for them to really ah put their care into it, that they start to become invested into the story is also stakes. So why is the story important? Why are these characters doing this? If they don't fulfill what they aim to do, their goals, um what happens to the world? Or personally, what happens to them that is so critical for them to go on this journey? So I find personally that if you have the hook, you have the orientation, those tend to help help the readers really get a very strong understanding of your story before jumping in and start flipping through the books and so forth.

11:56.58

Miranda

100% agree. ah Like setting up the setting and everything of your comics is really important to me um as a reader, but um and definitely the hook. finding Finding that hook is such an important thing to include because it's called a hook for a reason. um What about you, Ray?

12:22.67

Rae

For me, it's ah it's pretty similar. You can't just go, here's my OC doing things and expect people to care, really. So giving them stakes, giving them motivations. um While the setting is often a big part for me, I often don't like the synopsis that um pretty much just load a bunch of world building terms in there. So that's probably actually something I would at least say simplify a lot because your reader's not going to care a lot for what all these term new terms are until they actually get into the story. I do think you definitely at least need to reference the inciting incident. um

13:15.50

Rae

because characters are a good draw for a lot of people, but ah A lot of how they interact with the world and plot and everything falling apart is often what will draw people in. That's awful probably my main consideration on what you should consider your hook to be, but sometimes isn't always the best choice. it really It's really dependent on genre, your story, and your themes.

13:47.13

Miranda

Mm-hmm. Definitely. Yeah, I mean, I 100% everything you guys have said because the I mean, it's all just so good and so accurate. um I do 100% agree. Like, don't don't make your synopsis a lore dump or all of the backstory of how your world came to be. That's that's not I mean, it might appeal to someone, but generally that's not a good method to take. um So definitely agree with that. um What are your tips for someone who's struggling to describe their story in this condensed fashion? Because i it's fairly easy to write out an outline of your story and everything that happens, but then you're left with

14:44.06

Miranda

probably pages at least of your summary. And that's that's a lot for someone to read. um It's a lot harder to come up with this smaller bite size description of the story you're wanting to tell.

14:53.40

Eliushi

Thank you.

15:01.35

Miranda

So ah let's hear your guys's tips on how to do this if if you're having a hard time with it. ah Going back to you, Eli.

15:11.53

Eliushi

Awesome, thanks. If we can just quickly go back to um what Ray said about and what you've also mentioned about world building and the lore dump is I absolutely agree in the sense that the if your synopsis starts reading like every other word is a new word, that the reader is not familiar with or is something that is a conlang term and so forth, then it actually detracts the readers away from the story.

15:33.78

Miranda

I know. Mhm.

15:45.05

Eliushi

It really distracts the reader to try and figure out what the creator is trying to mean. in terms of the context of the the world, the story, the main character, what they're doing, what is the conflict and so forth. So I definitely agree with that. The um important thing, which part of the hook part of the writing a synopsis is to condense that in a way that is palatable for the reader to understand. So if you want to say something like a specific name of a crystal,

16:19.36

Eliushi

maybe instead of using the actual name itself which might be super super cool um but to say what the function of it is or what it specifically looks like that can um hook the readers that way Part of the reason that um the the readers can be disoriented or start to skim the story and so forth is that they just you know they get lost. They don't quite understand where things are going. It starts to deviate from the expectations of not only what a core story is like,

16:53.84

Miranda

Mm hmm.

16:55.24

Eliushi

But also, like what Ray said about genre conventions, they pick up something that's more of a mystery, but it it starts to sound a bit more slice of life and ah supernatural. Then perhaps that might be a genre niche, but it may be also that the readers start to think that maybe that is not for me. So that's something to particularly watch out for. So the diction, um I sort of like as a technical thing to say is very important for writing the synopsis.

17:22.89

Miranda

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, such definitely so true. um Yeah, it does feel very um ah alienating when you're reading something and you don't understand half of the words. And it does not encourage you to go into the book further um if you're already lost and you're just reading the back cover. ah So such a good point of like making sure youre you you're using less specific to your novel terms and keeping them more generic, like using the function.

18:02.40

Miranda

that That's a brilliant idea because I feel like there's a lot of stories that have like this huge important thing that has a really cool name, but that means nothing to someone who isn't in the middle of your story.

18:17.06

Eliushi

Exactly.

18:17.36

Miranda

Yeah. yeah

18:18.23

Eliushi

but But also I find that um if your synopsis is too general, that also gets the reader to also start skimming. I find that the um there's ah I find personally, every story has an audience. Every story, because the way that it is written, in the perspective of every different creator, there's always a tidbit that makes it different. So if we all write the story of, say, like the Little Red Riding Hood, um we might be focused on a different um aspect of the characters,

18:55.08

Eliushi

the wolf themselves, maybe in the grandma, the setting, um the way the themes work and um weave throughout the story. And so I feel personally it's you have to find your writer ah slash creator voice, not only in the story itself, in the art itself and the way that you present your story. So every story to me has a unique voice and it's important to find what that is. And so you can avoid having your story when you try and describe it to other people to sound just like any other story.

19:31.38

Miranda

Yeah.

19:32.01

Eliushi

um And so avoiding things like the generalizations or kind of what we what we call like cliches, overused expressions when trying to describe your stories, um it it it will really help a lot to give specific details that's relevant to your story

19:40.20

Miranda

Yeah.

19:52.05

Eliushi

But to tie it back, not so many specific and technical and um you know so many proper pronouns that sorry not proper pronouns proper nouns that um make the readers start to get confused.

19:52.13

Miranda

yeah

20:06.24

Eliushi

It's quite a balance.

20:06.32

Miranda

Mm hmm. Yeah, definitely.

20:10.52

Rae

Yeah, and I think that's part of my issue with um a lot of the recent books lately that have been using um like fandom tags for the for their synopses, and it's just like confusing to me because you're distilling a unique story down to only its tags and trying to put forth this combination of tags as something that might be unique, but I feel like it just turns everything into something a little bit more generic. um Tags are useful for sifting through on like a website because they're clickable

20:58.08

Rae

So I'm just kind of like it should be to get you to a synopsis rather than being used as one itself.

21:08.10

Miranda

Yeah, agreed. And it's It's almost I don't want to say lazy, but because that sounds too harsh, but it's e yeah there are better ways to do it. And you can put a little more effort into beyond just picking out the tags from like fan fiction sites and TV tropes and whatever um and using them in like to get your point across. um But

21:42.46

Miranda

ah what What other advice do you have for us, Ray?

21:49.65

Rae

All right, four um for advice, I would say I really think people are too terrified of spoilers when they're writing a synopsis. And i think I think that's probably just the spoiler culture in general is probably making it worse. But um I do know a lot of authors that just feel like giving anything away other than their background stories for their OCs are pretty much ruining a lot how they're writing a lot about their stories.

22:31.27

Rae

And they even consider the inciting incident of their story to be a spoiler, which I think is very detrimental because people want to see how things are falling apart.

22:38.06

Miranda

Uh-huh. I have.

22:44.16

Rae

there The story is often them moving on or trying to get things back together afterwards and I think that's a potential for a hook that a lot of people are leaving on the table.

22:44.32

Miranda

Definitely.

22:55.77

Miranda

Mhm.

22:59.18

Rae

So I do think that they really need to reconsider what should be a spoiler and what shouldn't be a spoiler. And that can be a big mental block to get over, but I do think it's a necessary one. um So that's probably my main advice because it can feel really weird

23:17.59

Miranda

Mm hmm.

23:26.63

Rae

like giving it away, especially if your comic's not there yet, but it can actually, genuinely get people interested and even keep reading.

23:37.98

Eliushi

Yeah, I absolutely agree that um a lot of the times the creator holds all their their key plot beats so close to their chest that um they just start describing the characters or um I guess their blurbles and then what their day-to-day life is. And you never get a sense of when did the story start happening? um How can we make the you other people, the audience, care about um their potential growth? um And it's hard to do that when ah you keep your um the spoilers and the main events of the story so close. And I guess that's one of the things I i wanted to ask about. um

24:24.10

Eliushi

to to um Marana Ray here, um what do you consider to be a spoiler that is more of a hook and a spoiler that's more of a like a I guess in a way that ends the story and doesn't actually intrigue the readers any further?

24:43.63

Miranda

Ray, if you have an answer, you go ahead. I have to think about this.

24:49.56

Rae

For me, I would say some of it is how early it happens, um because a lot of the spoilers I see that people keep close to their chest are the ones where the story actually starts. And sometimes, yes, it's surprising. Yes, it's like a twist, but sometimes that twist is what really makes your comic unique. And by not divulging that, it's pretty much everything that

25:25.17

Rae

could could make your comic stand out is being put behind a curtain. And I do think that sometimes like the mid-story spoilers can get kind of um iffy on how much that the person might be like, oh, well, I don't really need to actually read this. But sometimes it can be genuinely interesting. I think this is part of the thing that gets me is sometimes like the marketing department of a movie will put all the cool parts of the um movie into the preview trailers, but sometimes those moments are genuinely a good hook.

26:11.94

Rae

Other times it's like why even watch the movie?

26:12.15

Miranda

but no

26:14.66

Rae

So that those ones I would say maybe get outside um opinions on because those can really be dependent. Now a lot of the spoilers and plot twists said there end of a moot at the end of a comic I would say usually those are pretty good to be put behind the curtain except for a pitch to an agency because those are their surprises that

26:28.68

Miranda

I hate that.

26:45.08

Rae

often need a lot of buildup to be, to truly be the payoff. And the payoff is often something that you really need to ah have that history, but also you do want to still leave some surprises to your readers, in my opinion.

27:06.75

Miranda

Mm hmm. Agreed. ah I I like what you said about how soon it occurs in the story, um because I feel like if you're you probably should hold on to the spoilers that are at the very end um and like consider releasing to the wild the ones that are within the first few chapters. um I think another um Another thing to consider is is the like, i I'm kind of thinking like Beauty and the Beast as an example, because that's a story a lot of people are familiar with. But um like, if you you find out she had no falls in love, but

27:54.17

Miranda

like if if you're pitching it as like a romance or whatever at the beginning you should probably include that yes she falls in love like with the beast or like just leave it at that but what happens beyond that point like um him breaking the spell like right at the last minute like don't include that because The falling in love is obvious. It's a romance. We know it's going to happen. And OK, she falls in love with the beast. That's that's the draw. But we don't need to know what happens beyond that because of falling in love or the the real spoiler or twist of your story, maybe how something happens.

28:34.31

Miranda

So revealing how like revealing the final point, but holding on to the way it gets there, like what the actual twisty road to that point is, maybe something to consider because the end point. could be a huge draw and may feel like a spoiler but if your story gets these characters to that point in a completely different unique way that's I mean either way like there this is a really hard question.

29:08.11

Eliushi

I think you hit the point on the head though, um both of you because um I just pitched the question because I think it's something that my the readers might, um you know, try and struggle to, to um understand and appreciate ah what we're we're talking about. But um it's exactly what you both have said, it's the journey to get there. um Why is it so interesting and how much setup is needed in order for that particular aspect, which might be a very strong payoff in order for the readers to really anticipate, ah ah feel it and really um understand the importance of it. And so by saying it as a spoiler, you you do kind of have to chance the risk of um

29:55.40

Eliushi

taking that reveal element away. And I think it's different for every story, like you said, like a romance versus like a mystery. Of course, in a mystery, if you say who has done the actual bad deed, perhaps that may or may not have been a great idea to spoil that right away for more mystery readers who want to be able to solve that story element themselves.

30:12.37

Miranda

Yeah.

30:25.65

Eliushi

um But that being said, I think every story is quite different. And so I think each story has a different idea of a spoiler. And part of the things I find um that may be helpful for you know writers struggling to write a synopsis is to have friends identify that for them too. So I rely personally a lot on my critique partners and beta readers. so to not only practice my pitch but also to review the entirety of my work and see what jumps out as so memorable for them um when they finish the story and what they think will be best to market the story. Those are some of the good beta questions that I personally find very valuable.

31:12.78

Eliushi

um And having a different person's perspective ah as a reader um takes you out away from being too are ah like putting all the parts of a story with so much attention on it, um where you kind of become a little bit lost in the woods.

31:14.24

Miranda

Mm

31:31.78

Eliushi

Having someone else give you that sort of outside perspective is very helpful.

31:36.71

Miranda

It's so invaluable in so many aspects of creating a webcomic and writing and whatnot in general is having that outside perspective because we do definitely get lost in our own comic so often.

31:53.52

Rae

And I would also say that since most webcomics are written serially, that one of the things to ah with them being serial is it's okay for your synopses to evolve. If you look at something and go, hey, a lot of people like this part, maybe I should actually include in my synopsis after you get to that point, then that's completely valid, especially if you think maybe you should keep it close to your chest until this reveal happens.

32:30.91

Rae

because the people that are following along with your story are going to have different expectations than someone that's coming into it now.

32:41.74

Miranda

huh ah Yeah, 100% agree with that. is it It can evolve with you, um especially in webcomics. Typically, it's a very long process because you're releasing updates so spread out um or close together, but like a page at a time. ah you're Your synopsis can change and you don't have to lock it into whatever it was at the very beginning. And I think, like Ray said, as you're revealing these extra story moments and plot, you can add them in because they may have been huge, valuable spoilers to hold onto, but now they're out in the world.

33:24.89

Miranda

You can include them in a way that um will help continue to draw people in. um Definitely don't be afraid of that.

33:32.46

Eliushi

I agree.

33:33.75

Miranda

you

33:34.51

Eliushi

Yeah, exactly. That's a very good point about the serial nature of webcomics and having different synopses for each part of the story, um especially as one kind of starts to think about imprint or one thinks about how to divide the the webcomic in two different chapters, for example, and having um sort of a chapter summary or chapter hook to try and intrigue the readers to continue on. And I really like how Ray, um you talked about a master list, because I also personally found that to be very useful um to not only have like your whole story slash plot beats or an outline on on one end of it, but also have your, you know, your Twitter pitch or your Twitter synopsis,

34:20.35

Eliushi

your back of the book synopsis, the synopsis that you want to just casually talk to your friends or at your conventions about and having a document that has all of these together will help you ah be more organized personally but also save you a lot of um time in order to just copy paste or to think about and share with people.

34:54.39

Rae

yeah Overall, I do think that it's synopses are important in just condensing your story down into um something that's concise because it should actually get you thinking a lot on how it's structured too. So even if you're not planning on pitching to someone or posting it, I do definitely think that it is a useful exercise.

35:24.72

Miranda

Yeah. And all all of these examples um should show that you're not going to have just one synopsis that fits all of the purposes that you might need. You'll definitely have multiple for each occasion, depending on your audience, depending on where you're posting it. So you have a lot of room to play around with different things and evolve and test out different things. If something Like if you try out one synopsis and you don't get a lot of hits or feedback or like readers from it, you can change it and take that and grow and adapt.

36:05.02

Miranda

um and And Eli mentioned at the very beginning of how they start with the log line and then expand on that. And I think you can also go the opposite route of write out your long summary of what you think your comics about and then take that and start paring down from there. Like even if it's something like just crossing out lines and figuring out the important things that you really want to include and want people to know about

36:40.66

Miranda

that like kind of just making it as minimal as possible so you can whatever in whatever direction works for you whether you're going from small to big or big to small i i think both methods are so valid. And in my own opinion, if and from my own experience, if you really can't narrow down your story to a small blurb um of like a few paragraphs or less, maybe reevaluate your story because your your story may be too convoluted to kind of convey it in a method. And I say that because in trying to

37:24.87

Miranda

outline and come up with my current comment i comic I'm working on. i got like I had this huge story that sounded so great. And then as I was trying to figure out how to describe it, I'm realizing that, okay, this is way too confusing and doesn't make sense. And I probably should reevaluate the story as a whole. um So that that can definitely be an indicator if you're really, really struggling and absolutely cannot figure out a way to get a good synopsis.

38:01.13

Miranda

um

38:01.63

Eliushi

That's a very good point, yeah. um it's so It's just fascinating to me that there are so many different methods and so many approaches to to writing, to creating comics and so forth. I find personally even that um when I approach a story, I might, like you said, approach it from a log-line way or even just sort of hammer out a first draft and then decide what is actually important and then going back to it. And it changes for me for every story. And like you said, if I'm starting to try and condense a story in a way that can help readers orient themselves and be excited for the story, but really, really struggling to do that because there's just so many moving parts, it is very important to look at your beats, look at the the main thesis and themes of the story. Are you trying to incorporate too much?

38:54.80

Eliushi

into this one medium, it may be like you said, it may be too much.

38:55.03

Miranda

Uh-huh.

38:58.62

Eliushi

And um not that the story itself is um should be shelved, but more like perhaps the story needs to be broken apart into several different books or several different webcomics that kind of intertwine later on and so forth.

39:05.97

Miranda

Uh-huh.

39:14.89

Eliushi

There's so many different ways of solving the issue. But yeah, one of the key things is to

39:17.92

Miranda

Yeah.

39:20.08

Eliushi

try and do a synopsis and that's a good test to see if if your story um will appeal to the audience that you're going for.

39:28.10

Miranda

Yeah, 100%.

39:30.22

Rae

Scope creep is definitely a thing that often happens.

39:30.18

Miranda

Oh my gosh, it is.

39:34.36

Rae

So pruning all of that back can be very beneficial and you you don't have to throw away all those parts. Like, like Eli said, you can turn them into other stories that intertwine with your main project.

39:49.22

Miranda

Mhm. Yeah. I have heard of this and done it myself of instead of deleting things, you just kind of keep them in like a scrap document. If you're like cutting out huge pages and paragraphs or whatever of your outline, just move them to somewhere else so you can go back because like Eli said, the it doesn't mean the story is bad. It might just need to be spread out and split up. um So definitely save those ideas, but consider presenting them in a different way.

40:26.77

Miranda

And in keeping it concise like a synopsis blurb, ah we are going to wrap up today's episode with a chicken Caesar salad wrap. ah Thank you so much for listening. I'm your host, Miranda, and you can check out my work at MirandaCakes dot.art.

40:53.85

Rae

And I'm Rae, and you can check out my work at imperiancomic.com or Overlord of Ravenfell on Webtoon.

41:07.39

Eliushi

and thank you again for having me. I'm Ilushi and you can find a condensed list of my works at eoiushi-carrd.co, the card website, or you can just google my name or my comic keyspace and hopefully you'll be able to find me.

41:32.57

Miranda

And that's a wrap. We'll see you later slappers. I feel like I'm not crispy enough to say that.

41:40.47

Eliushi

No, it works!

41:40.96

Miranda

but

41:42.43

Rae

I think it's cute.

41:45.05

Miranda

All right, we'll stop it.