Do you have a bunch of ideas, but you can never stay fixated on just one? It can be tricky to stay focused for a project as long as a webcomic, especially when everything else starts to look SO MUCH SHINIER. But there are things you can do to increase your chances of seeing it through to the end and resisting the Plot Bunnies, so today we're going to talk about that!

In this Episode:

• Have you ever dealt with exciting other comic ideas besides your main project? Tell us about them (and whether or not you were able to resist their siren songs)!
• What makes it so hard to stick with a single idea for creators? Where is the balance between exploring new creative directions and keeping focused on one story?
• What is your advice to someone who has trouble picking an idea and sticking with it?

----

Episode Release Date: July 16, 2025

Episode Credits:

Kristen Lee (Krispy) - she/they, https://ghostjunksickness.com https://www.lunarblight.com

Rae Baade - they/them, https://empyreancomic.com

Star Prichard - she/her, https://thestarfishface.com/ https://castoff-comic.com/

----

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.

00:00.03

Star

Just start for the recording.

00:02.77

Krispy

Oh my god, son of a- Hello and welcome to Screen Tones, where we talk anything and everything webcomics. Today, we're going to be talking about how to stay motivated and to stay on a single comic idea.

00:15.84

Krispy

I'm Krispy, I use she/they pronouns, and I work on the webcomics Ghost Junk Sickness and Lunar Blight.

00:22.12

Star

I'm Star, my pronouns are she/her, and I make the comic Castoff.

00:27.01

Rae

And I'm Rae, and my pronouns are they/them, and I make the webcomics Overlord of Ravenfell and On Empyrean High.

00:35.38

Krispy

So do you have a bunch of ideas, but you can never really stay fixated on just one? It can be tricky to just stay focused for a project as long as a webcomic, especially when everything else starts to look so much shinier.

00:48.86

Krispy

But there are things that you can do to increase your chances of seeing it through the end and resisting the plot bunnies. So today we're going to be talking about that. I'm excited about this one because I see this a lot in webcomic spaces and Star, I know that you see this a lot.

01:04.89

Krispy

in Star spaces.

01:06.22

Star

Yes, absolutely. This was a peek behind the curtain here. This was an episode that I pitched because this is not the most common question I get, but this is definitely in the top five of most frequently asked webcomic-related questions that I get in my YouTube comments.

01:24.92

Krispy

And, you know, this is interesting because, like, I feel like I've been there. I think we've all been there. And we're going to talk about, like, strategies to kind of keep on the one project at a time kind of thing and what to do with it.

01:37.80

Krispy

But, you know, I see it as like I used to do that when I started out with something like with web comics and I had like a billion ideas and you're just like, I'm inspired by this. I'm inspired by that. I'm going to have Ninja Turtles and I'm going to have, you know, werewolves and I'm going to have magical unicorns. And it's just like all the ideas.

01:54.87

Krispy

And so it is hard to stay on one. So let's freaking dive in. So I'm going to ask you Star, personally, have you ever dealt with exciting other comic ideas besides your main project and you know, tell us a bit about them and whether or not you're able to resist the siren songs

02:13.91

Star

So this is actually a very funny question for me because Castoff was my side project for a while that I eventually dumped my first webcomic to work on instead.

02:23.19

Krispy

oh my god

02:30.23

Krispy

Oh my god! Oh my- Yeah! No, this is gonna be great!

02:33.20

Rae

You know what? Valid.

02:35.64

Star

So, this is why feel like I'm terrible. This is why I wanted to pitch this as a podcast episode, because I do not feel like I am good for answering this question.

02:46.93

Krispy

ah no this is going to be great

02:47.46

Star

Whenever people ask, I'm like, no, listen, I broke up with my main girlfriend to hang out with my side ho, and that side ho is now my career. So, like... Yeah.

02:56.83

Krispy

Okay, so you broke up with her main comic- like what, how did that happen? Tell us what's what's going on

03:00.98

Star

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so here's basically what happened, is that I started my first webcomic, Psy, because I was bored.

03:12.89

Krispy

Oh.

03:13.38

Star

I had a original-my very first attempt at a longer webcomic that actually stuck the landing and lasted longer than like six pages was a, I guess you could call it an urban fantasy comic called Psy.

03:26.03

Star

It was kind of sort of basically like Harry Potter, but it's not a boarding school. It's like the YMCA and all the kids are psychic instead of wizards. I don't know.

03:35.27

Krispy

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

03:35.73

Star

That's just what I was into at the time. And I had had the ideas for like a couple months leading up to it. And I was just kind of you know playing around.

03:46.50

Star

And after I graduated high school, I'm like, it's summer break and I'm bored. I'm going to start a webcomic. And so I was just kind of at that point just doing it because it was fun.

03:57.49

Star

I didn't have that many readers. I was just like, I like comics.

04:04.58

Star

But I started having ideas for Castoff around six months into Psy. But the whole, but the reason that I didn't start, I didn't drop Psy immediately and work on Castoff was because I was still kind of like developing Castoff in the back of my head.

04:22.60

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

04:23.02

Star

And so that one just kind of like bubbled and percolated. And I went through a couple of false starts before-what ended up happening was I got to a point in Psy.

04:34.22

Star

I'm working on Psy during all of this and kind of just brainstorming about Castoff in the background. It got to a point where I was just not happy with Psy anymore. And I was just like, yeah, I think I'm done with you. There's a whole story there. It was mostly just that I had to take a really long hiatus to work on school stuff. And I came back to it. I'm like, oh, I don't like this anymore. This is kind of bad.

04:55.91

Krispy

Yeah.

04:55.99

Star

And so after I shelved that one, I turned slightly to the left and looked at Castoff and was like, Yep. Let's do this then. And it was funny because I was talking about this before we started recording, that Castoff was always intended on being kind of, you know, a fantasy comic.

05:16.61

Star

And so what ended up happening was that I would come up with ideas for like all these cool characters and all these cool plot points and all this fun world building stuff. And it just... categorically did not fit into Psy because Psy was like a very low fantasy, urban fantasy story.

05:34.55

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

05:35.10

Star

And so anytime I had an idea that did not work in Psy, I just shoved it into the bucket labeled Castoff and I was like, I'll deal with that later.

05:42.03

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

05:45.84

Star

And so what ended up happening was the Castoff was just the junk drawer where I kept all of my weird side ideas. And so it's like, it's my most self-indulgent story where it's like, I don't

06:00.36

Star

need to do anything else and I have no want to do anything else because I've made everything that I want to do into one story. I put it all into one bucket. Is that great for scope creep? No. Am I having fun?

06:15.05

Star

Absolutely.

06:17.85

Krispy

And like, you know, fun is really important when it's a huge friggin project like, you know, webcomics, because I think the thing that I always like to say to folks is that, you know, it will take at least seven to ten years to tell the story.

06:34.07

Krispy

That's the commitment that you're going to get into when you do something like webcomics and beyond. Like It doesn't stop at ten years. like you know Beyond.

06:41.73

Star

Yeah.

06:41.93

Krispy

I mean...

06:42.79

Star

Just? Only? Because we...

06:48.63

Star

Ten years. Just hit the decade. Only halfway through.

06:54.25

Star

Shakes your damn hand.

06:56.90

Rae

Good luck.

06:59.70

Krispy

But that's where it either hits the ground running or, but that's like, regardless, like that's the amount of time you're going to be spending. You're going to be spending a lot. So it needs to be something fun. So I don't know. I mean, enjoy it. Have those, you know, ideas in there.

07:15.59

Star

Thousand percent, hundred percent, million percent. Those were not in order. It's fine.

07:24.98

07:25.17

Star

Maybe a potential idea is that I know for me, I'm a big outliner.

07:35.66

Star

I like to have, you know, a general plot outline and a lot of stuff worked out. I feel like there's no harm in, you know, having a pot to boil.

07:44.51

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

07:45.27

Star

Like coming to a boil on the back burner. I don't think there's any harm in that. I mean, I'm kind of always thinking it's like, you know, I've got my main project and I've got my back burner pots that are slowly coming to a boil.

07:56.86

Star

And I feel like if you've got all these fun ideas that you're coming up with, just, drop them in that back burner pot for a little bit.

08:02.54

Krispy

Yeah

08:02.58

Star

It's fun. You can think about them. You can like, you know, draw those blorbos. I don't think there's any harm in that. It's just that, you know, comics are a big commitment. And if you're coming up with these ideas, you kind of want to think like, okay, am I, do I love this enough to do a comic about it?

08:17.54

Star

Cause comics are a lot.

08:17.93

Krispy

Yes. Yes. It's exactly that. They are a huge commitment. So there's a lot of things to consider when you're doing that.

08:28.44

Star

I think it's worth letting them stew for a little while.

08:31.51

Krispy

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

08:32.66

Star

It's good to be impulsive, but it's not good to be so excessively compulsive it's ruining your workflow, you know?

08:38.04

Krispy

Yeah. Yeah. And, and like coming up with like an amalgamation of like just things and not like a solid form that doesn't frustrate readers too. Like, you know, there is a balance and it's hard.

08:49.47

Krispy

Balance is scary.

08:49.50

Star

Absolutely, absolutely.

08:50.64

Rae

It is so hard.

08:54.53

Krispy

Alright, Rae. Target acquired. I'm going after you next. So I want you to tell me about your comic ideas that happened while you were doing your main comic and, you know, how you were able to resist the Siren Song or how you worked through it.

09:10.55

Rae

What's this talk about resisting? Hmm...

09:13.89

Krispy

ha ha ha

09:17.19

Rae

So my first comic was sort of a futuristic fantasy type comic called Avalon, with vampires and all that stuff, and it was based off an RP. And I did resist a lot of the ideas that I had for like other ideas mostly because you know vampires were cooler

09:46.18

Krispy

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Hell yeah.

09:48.21

Rae

However, I will say the RP group it was based off of kind of exploded and, you know, lost a lot of those friends.

10:00.94

Rae

And I'm like, oh, well, I kind of lost motivation for that. So that's when I sort of segued into different projects like Overlord of Ravenfell, which...

10:18.36

Rae

that ended up becoming a backburner project for Empyrean High.

10:29.37

Rae

I mean, I'm still working on Overlord of Ravenfell, but it did become backburner partially because I lost a lot of the files and that kind of killed my momentum on that.

10:41.82

Krispy

Yeah. Yeah.

10:43.81

Rae

It's amazing what a computer crash can do sometimes.

10:48.00

Krispy

A hundred percent.

10:48.88

Rae

So I've been working on redrawing a lot of the pages that I lost. And that takes a lot of time because, you know, my standards are also higher because I did a lot of those pages back when I was in college full time and working full time. So sometimes I look at it, I'm like, what is that?

11:15.35

Rae

But the problem is, now On Empyrean High, I'm realizing I really love the idea, but I actually don't like working on it that much.

11:25.01

Krispy

Interesting. Interesting. What makes you not want to work on it that much?

11:29.73

Rae

I think I really like reading the kinds of stories that it is as opposed to making them.

11:39.02

Krispy

That's fair.

11:39.56

Star

Highly relatable.

11:39.78

Rae

And, yeah, so sometimes that's something that you really just have to kind of find out for yourself, you know, by doing it and going, you know, I'm not vibing with this.

11:53.16

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

11:53.74

Rae

So... I am actually working on characters that I had from way back when, and possibly creating a new story. But these characters are some of my first OCs, so I have been with them a lot longer than a lot of the other ones. So I'm really certain that I can make something sustainable out of it.

12:18.09

Rae

And doing like Star did and tossing a little bit of everything that I enjoy into the pot.

12:25.26

Rae

and letting it percolate.

12:27.47

Star

Webcomic Stew Pot. Webcomic Stew Pot. Webcomic Stew Pot.

12:34.14

Rae

Or just letting it rotate on the hot dog roller. However you wanna...

12:37.29

Star

Yes!

12:39.20

Krispy

Oh my god.

12:40.55

Krispy

Is this like a webcomic barbecue? Like a buffet? Like...

12:44.55

Star

We've got hot dogs.

12:45.18

Rae

Webcomic feast.

12:47.08

Star

We got soups. That's it.

12:50.73

Krispy

That's it. That's it.

12:52.09

Star

Welcome to our barbecue. Take it or leave it.

12:57.43

Krispy

We can also have like the soft drink fountain because you can press two different, you know, kinds of soft drinks at the same time.

13:03.12

Star

Whoa!

13:04.20

Krispy

Like two different webcomics that you're working on.

13:06.87

Star

Okay, this is seeming less like a backyard barbecue and more like a f-d up Subway.

13:13.41

Rae

A subway where someone stops working on your sandwich and starts working on the hot dog.

13:18.64

Star

Oh my god, No wait, that's the perfect metaphor though, because they always wanted to work on other people's sandwiches.

13:18.81

Krispy

No! No! No!

13:25.45

Star

I'm like, you already started mine though. That's my sandwich!

13:30.75

Star

And then you just sit there staring at your sandwich and you feel bad for it while they're like putting the meat and the cheese on other people's sandwiches. And you're like, is my sandwich not good enough for you?

13:40.27

Rae

Sometimes it needs to go through the toaster so they work on the other sandwiches.

13:46.12

Star

Oh my God. The toaster is the hot dog rotator.

13:49.73

Krispy

Yes, is.

13:50.85

Star

Yeah. This metaphor is getting messy. Yeah.

13:53.70

Krispy

I like it.

13:54.69

Krispy

I like that we always talk about food.

13:54.89

Rae

It is. Making webcomics is also messy, especially when you have shiny ideas that are right over there that you could be working on instead.

14:01.54

Krispy

Oh my God.

14:01.80

Star

True. this this You know what this smells like? This smells like a segue into the next question.

14:06.80

Krispy

Oh, God, it so does. I love hot dogs, too. So, so, Star, I'm coming after you with my sniper rifle. Oh, I shouldn't say that. I'm coming.

14:16.24

Star

what the

14:16.38

Krispy

I'm coming at you with my hot dog spinner. My tongs?

14:21.30

Star

heck?

14:21.33

Krispy

My tongs.

14:22.23

Star

Okay, are you clapping them together menacingly like a crab?

14:22.87

Krispy

Yeah. I am. I'm going to pick you up like a little hot dog.

14:27.18

Star

Oh!

14:28.29

Krispy

So tell me, what makes it so hard to stick with a single idea for creators? Like, where is the balance between exploring new creative directions and actually keeping focused on the story?

14:40.30

Star

Uh, gonna be honest, ADHD.

14:43.17

Krispy

Oh my god!

14:45.91

Star

Listen, listen, I'm undiagnosed, but I'm peer reviewed.

14:49.93

Star

All right. Everybody knows.

14:53.66

Star

You take one look at me and you're like, yep.

14:56.32

Krispy

Oh my god. So with that, like how are you... like, tell me about the process of creating Castoff and being like, okay, I'm sticking with this. Or do you feel like you're like, okay, I'm doing Castoff, but I do see something shiny and then I'm ignoring it.

15:10.02

Star

Okay, so honestly, this is very easy for me to answer because I am 100% literally in the middle of this right now.

15:21.29

Krispy

Oh my god.

15:21.78

Star

Wait, because, so I got really into a little, a little, a fun little indie game that no one knows about. It's called Dungeons and Dragons.

15:30.35

Krispy

Oh, I've never heard that.

15:30.39

Star

Yeah, I know. It's like super obscure. You've probably never heard of it. Pushes open glasses like a hipster. Anyway, so it's my first experience, you know, kind of like, kind of like Rae was talking about, like doing role play and stuff like that. And I am the type of person, I just get really,

15:46.14

Star

really into my DIY Blorbos like so much and I'll like make playlists for them and I will sit and I will think about their stories and I will think about like hypothetical events that might happen in the future and what happens is that they eventually grow beyond what a D&D campaign can contain and I'm like I want to do something with these guys.

15:48.61

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

16:08.12

Star

I want to do something with them. And so that is actually what I am working on right now is that I've just got so many of these little blorbos and them just existing in my brain and during tabletop campaigns is not enough for me. I'm like, I have to do something with these guys.

16:23.85

Star

I have to do something with them. However, my problem right now is that I am very committed to Castoff. We are happily married for 10 years.

16:32.86

Star

And I can't just break up with her to go chasing down my Dungeons and Dragons Blorbos. Because if I tried to make more than one comic at once, I think I would die.

16:47.62

Star

I think I actually would die. So I'm going to do a novel instead.

16:52.99

Krispy

Oh, okay.

16:53.92

Star

Yep. I think we've talked about this on a previous episode. But just the idea that it doesn't have to be a comic.

17:01.91

Krispy

Yeah.

17:02.54

Star

Doesn't have to be a comic. Comics are... big commitment! And they take a lot of time. And not only have to write all that shit, you also have to draw all that shit. And I like writing shit, but I ain't got time to draw that shit as well.

17:12.20

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

17:16.57

Star

And so I'm just like, what if I just wrote it and then I stopped there?

17:21.44

Krispy

Yeah.

17:22.13

Star

So, novels.

17:24.38

Krispy

Yeah, I like that.

17:25.56

Rae

Prose is a lot faster.

17:27.28

Krispy

It is.

17:27.44

Star

Oh yeah.

17:28.30

Krispy

It is. And like you can do your own little splash images if you're like, I need to actually exorcise this illustration from my brain.

17:32.49

Star

Yeah. No, absolutely. I want to do illustrated novels where it's kind of like light novels, I guess, where it's like, yeah, you know, maybe you'll get like once a chapter, you'll get like an illustration or like just a little minicomic.

17:36.87

Krispy

Oh, I like that.

17:45.53

Star

I don't know. It's all still very much like soup in the pot right now. It hasn't really started congealing into much yet.

17:51.06

Star

I'm working on the outline. It's going to be a while before it actually turns into anything. Got to rotate it more in my brain.

17:57.15

Krispy

Yeah.

17:57.44

Star

But

17:58.53

Krispy

Yeah, no.

17:58.68

Star

I mean, that's the thing, though, is like if you come up with an idea, it doesn't have to be a comic. And actually, this is kind of an interesting segue, is that I tried doing Castoff as a novel first.

18:09.57

Krispy

Really?

18:10.26

Star

Yeah, because I tried to do NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, and I tried writing Castoff as prose, and I did it.

18:19.43

Star

I finished the challenge, at least. so I did not finish the novelization, but I got 50,000 words deep into it and then realized, no, this has to be a comic.

18:30.10

Star

This story relies so heavily on the subtle visuals. This has to be a comic. It will not work any other way.

18:38.01

Krispy

yeah yeah

18:38.88

Star

And so that's how I stuck with that. And meanwhile, I have, you know, my D&D character stories. I'll sketch them. But those stories have, like, never relied on necessary strong visuals. And so I feel like the choice of medium is also something you have to think about.

18:55.94

Krispy

yeah

18:56.06

Star

And, you know, it's worth experimenting, too, because, you know, I figured out that I really wanted to do Castoff as a comic by trying to do it as prose and not liking where it was going.

19:06.32

Krispy

Yeah, and the same with Rae.

19:07.06

Star

There's no harm in trying things.

19:11.77

Krispy

Yeah. No, 100%. It's like I said, it's the same thing Rae was mentioning about On Empyrean High. like you know It took doing it to realize, nah, ah you know this is not exactly for me. And you know kind of shelving that idea for something else or enjoying it in other forms.

19:30.05

Rae

Yeah, I could also like work as a novel where it wasn't working as a comic for me.

19:37.73

Krispy

Yeah.

19:37.95

Rae

Like I still love the idea, I love the characters, but you know, maybe as a comic that's not the way the story needs to be told.

19:47.22

Krispy

Yeah. Yeah. I think this is like hitting the nail on the head there with a lot of things that it doesn't have to be restricted to a comic for that. When you have so many ideas, like it's like, does it have to be a comic for that?

20:01.47

Star

Mm-hmm.

20:01.53

Krispy

Convincing people otherwise, I guess they do have to just jump in and find out.

20:01.63

Star

Mm-hmm.

20:06.19

Krispy

But you know. I often think of like doing-I'm seeing a lot of people do visual novels now because they tried comics and they're like actually, the way I've imagined the story is actually better for a visual novel and one of the things that I always think about is what like Ghost Junk Sickness would have been as a RPG Maker game because I'm like I always thought of like game elements with it like a, you know, old school style RPG kind of thing so I don't know, mediums are interesting to think about.

20:39.38

Star

Is that why there's like little character sprites on the character page?

20:43.12

Krispy

Yes.

20:46.15

Star

Okay, Kermit.

20:48.54

Rae

That is amazing. For my... For Avalon, I actually did start making an RPG Maker game out of it. And I even made the little sprites.

20:59.39

Krispy

What?

21:00.14

Rae

Yeah, because I had RPG Maker for PlayStation.

21:02.77

Krispy

What?

21:05.41

Rae

So I was messing around with that, trying to figure out how to make it into a video game. And I didn't get very far because, you know, I had no idea what I was doing. But I made little sprites for each individual one. I got like...

21:20.13

Rae

into the intro before I'm like, oh, I have-this is taking way too much space on my memory card.

21:26.92

Krispy

Oh my god!

21:28.49

Krispy

I would love to see that one. Well, I guess it's on PlayStation, so... huh yeah I'd love that. That's so fun.

21:35.38

Star

An ancient artifact of the Forgotten Years.

21:36.66

Krispy

Yes!

21:39.34

Krispy

RPG Maker PS1.

21:42.11

Rae

It was PS1, actually.

21:45.18

Krispy

Shit I love it.

21:47.39

Rae

They have a new version that recently came out like a couple years ago, I think.

21:52.05

Krispy

Yeah, and I think Steam was having a sale for it being on for free for a bit, too. That's what we're going to do, we're going to make video games after this, so stay tuned. I'm going after you with a question now, Rae.

22:05.91

Krispy

What makes it so hard to stick with that single freaking idea for creators and, you know, talk to us about that balance?

22:12.95

Rae

Okay, so I think it's hard to stick to an idea for a few different reasons.

22:19.34

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

22:19.37

Rae

For one, we are not always people of a single interest. We are made up of multiple interests and they aren't always in the same genre.

22:24.30

Krispy

Yes.

22:30.20

Rae

Like, I love horror, I love fantasy, and I'll even, like, read pretty much a little bit of anything as long as it catches my interest.

22:42.92

Rae

So trying to turn that into one story and not several can be really difficult even if you have a project that you throw all your spare ideas into.

22:56.99

Rae

Also, I think it's a bit of the grass is always greener on the other side. Because you'll be working on this project, it's like, oh, this is hard. But look at this idea that I've barely worked on.

23:08.05

Krispy

Yep.

23:08.46

Rae

You could work on that and it'll be a nice change of pace. And then maybe you get more interested in the other project because one has become an obligation.

23:20.97

Rae

And the other project doesn't have those obligations.

23:24.73

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

23:25.08

Rae

But then that project becomes an obligation if that becomes your primary project. I see that a lot with some people is they don't like the obligation part of it.

23:38.51

Krispy

Yeah. Yeah. Which almost could be like a commitment part, but yeah.

23:42.81

Rae

Yeah I think it might not necessarily even be the commitment so much as the expectations you have, whether of yourself or whether other people have of you, which in that case, some people work better on their own versus posting a page every week and seeing people interact with it.

24:04.48

Krispy

Yep.

24:07.60

Rae

Cause that could make or break your motivation for working on it. So it's one of those things where maybe webcomics or at least working on it all the way until when it's finished might be a better option if that interaction and slow pace is really killing your motivation.

24:32.34

Krispy

Yeah. No, that's a really good point.

24:36.03

Rae

But I also think that because webcomics take so long to do, you might not be the same person as when you started.

24:45.55

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

24:46.06

Rae

So you might have different interests. You might just be in a different part of life than when you started. That it's just no longer valid or interesting to you anymore.

25:01.88

Krispy

Yep. Yep. And those things totally happen. I've seen folks who take a while because like we said, webcomics take a while and, you know, they get a little fed up with who they were and they try to reboot it.

25:16.19

Krispy

You know, the reboot hell that we've talked about in other episodes.

25:17.61

Rae

Yep.

25:19.78

Krispy

And like, that's another thing is that, you know, the idea, the new idea just becomes trying to redo the idea that you had because you love these characters so much.

25:32.76

Rae

And you want to capture that interest.

25:37.87

Krispy

Yes. Yes. So it's an interesting and it's, it's a kind of, it is a hard kind of a wire to balance when I see people get so excited and there is like, there's a catnip quality to releasing something new and having people excited about the new thing.

25:54.34

Rae

Mm-hmm.

25:54.93

Star

A hundred percent

25:55.95

Krispy

And then you continue on with the thing and it becomes less new.

26:00.12

Krispy

And there is that thing in web comics-

26:01.98

Rae

The honeymoon period.

26:04.88

Krispy

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. The honeymoon period is definitely a thing. And this is not trying to be discouraging or anything like that. But like, readers waver, you know, you'll have more readers in certain periods. You'll have less readers in other periods.

26:20.71

Krispy

It'll do this like, you know, up and down depending on the time of year, depending on the arc of your comic, you know, XYZ. There's a lot of things to factor into it.

26:31.30

Krispy

And so, you know, the completion part really depends on that, you know, that commitment or that getting over that sense of obligation or something like that. Making peace with it is probably better put to finish something. And that's the other thing is just, you know, what does the finished product look like? And do you want a finished product too?

26:55.36

Rae

Yeah, because if you're just going into it to experiment or maybe you have a single scene stuck in your head, I hear that a lot.

27:06.84

Rae

People are trying to get to the scene.

27:07.25

Krispy

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

27:11.83

Rae

And one of the things that I have started doing to try to like take the shine out of my shiny new ideas is I'll draw out the scene.

27:23.13

Krispy

Yeah.

27:23.54

Rae

And then I'll be like, okay, is there anything else that I want to accomplish with this comic idea now that I have the scene done? And you know what?

27:35.08

Rae

Sometimes it comes out to be a really cool scene and I'm satisfied. There it is. It doesn't have to make sense to everyone else.

27:45.04

Rae

I did like one for a horror comic and it's probably better that it doesn't make sense. Yeah.

27:52.88

Rae

But, you know, I got it out of my system. And like Star, I also do a lot of prose writing to essentially be able to get my ideas out there and see if I can satisfy the shiny new ideas in a faster medium.

28:15.62

Star

Yeah, I definitely think that what you were saying about ah just, like, get the ideas out of your system, you know what's great for that? Sketchbooking.

28:24.14

Krispy

Yes.

28:25.21

Star

Because I have so often just, like, come up with cool scenes or had scenes happen between characters that, like, are in either a D&D campaign or just characters that I came up with that I've never actually done. You just come up with scenes for them.

28:40.26

Star

You can just... draw those cool scenes by themselves. You can just do that and then not have to make like a whole thing about it, you know?

28:49.47

Rae

Yeah, it's like, that makes me think of how on Tumblr, you'll see a lot of these cute little doodles of two characters interacting and a lot of people are going, oh, hey, I really want a comic of this. Can you do more?

29:03.78

Rae

And a lot of the people will try it and they'll just-they'll run out of steam. And I'm like, you don't need to do that.

29:13.50

Rae

You can just have these two Blorbos interacting and have people love it without necessarily committing a whole comic to it.

29:22.94

Krispy

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

29:23.87

Rae

So it's like, just draw your Blorbos interacting, make some interesting scenes, but you don't necessarily have to commit an entire story to it if you don't think you have the energy to maintain and sustain that.

29:39.41

Krispy

Yeah. Yeah. I think it's like a lot of it is about chasing that high that you get from shiny new ideas. And, you know, sharing is a big part. We're artists. That's what we do. We share our ideas with other people. We want to see the impressions with it. We want to see the reactions and so on and so forth. And, you know, shiny new idea not only is like a breath of fresh air, but you share it with somebody else and they're just like, like, what is that? Like, tell me more about that. Because, you know, you've been talking about, you know, things that you've been doing for, you know, the other years. So yeah, I've definitely been like, oh yeah, well tell me about your new idea. There is a rush of, you know, excitement that you get when that is something that comes, you know, to the table. But like Rae and Star have been saying, like, you know, it doesn't have to be a comic either. Like, I really love the idea of doing sketchbook stuff. And, you know, when

30:33.69

Krispy

we say sketchbooking, like I'm saying like a sketchbook in physical form, you're going to get some crappy pencils. You're going to get that paper all stickered up. Who cares?

30:44.23

Krispy

And you're just going to draw it. And you know, it doesn't have to be pretty. It just, exorcise it from your brain and be like, yep, I did it. Blorboblebus and Bimbo Baggins. They're, they're there.

30:55.97

Star

Bimbo Baggins?

30:59.00

Star

Hello? Ma'am?

31:02.86

Krispy

And they're embracing. And it's like, I did it. I got that out of my system. And, you know, I have them and that's it. Like, you don't know what you need to do for these shiny ideas until you kind of act with them.

31:17.24

Krispy

And they don't all have to be an epic. They don't have to be like, well, oh gosh, I just got like a whole new idea about, ah I'm going to continue with this. Bimbo Baggins and she has to go somewhere and it's gonna be epic and you know, I have to do a whole illustrated novel about this but you know my current story that has Yolo Baggins like-

31:40.27

Star

YOLO BAGGINS!

31:45.28

Star

Original character, do not steal!

31:49.00

Krispy

I can't just drop Yolo Baggins because I was fascinated with Bimbo Baggins' story instead. You can just draw out, in a sketchbook, Bimbo Baggins' adventures.

31:59.47

Star

Okay, but, but, but, Krispy, counterpoint...

32:03.81

Krispy

Yeah.

32:04.37

Star

I need Bimbo Baggins and Yolo Baggins to like, I need, I need them to, I need to see this.

32:07.84

Rae

I do too. I'm sorry, Krispy. You have to draw this.

32:12.40

Star

I was about to say I need them to kiss, but if they both have the same last name, then don't think that's going to work out.

32:12.65

Krispy

I will draw them.

32:19.12

Star

I need them to be like adventuring buddies and like do a bunch of dumb shit all around Middle Earth.

32:19.12

Rae

Maybe they're married.

32:24.88

Star

I want to read this fan fiction. Hey, Krispy, when are you going to get on that?

32:29.26

Krispy

I'm scared. I can't do this.

32:31.49

Star

Krispy. Hey, Krispy.

32:32.37

Star

When are you going to make that webcomic about it, Hey, Krispy.

32:34.85

Krispy

I'm getting my sketchbook out currently and going to draw them.

32:37.74

Star

Krispy. Hey, Krispy. I need these blorbos on my desk by tomorrow morning, 8 a.m. sharp.

32:45.40

Krispy

Save me from Star.

32:47.34

Star

No. The only way to save yourself is to draw me these fanfictions. I'm looking. I have the sniper rifle aimed on you now.

32:54.91

Krispy

Oh my god, I'm scared!

32:57.00

Star

Oh, how the turntables.

33:02.89

Krispy

Oh gosh!

33:05.21

Star

You started it!

33:06.34

Krispy

I did. I absolutely did

33:06.79

Star

You're the one who came with Bimbo Baggins! Like, who is that?

33:14.21

Krispy

I'm gonna draw it. I'm gonna draw Bimbo Baggins and Yolo Baggins.

33:18.33

Star

Yolo Frodo?

33:19.43

Krispy

YOLO. I was going to say YOLO Frodo.

33:21.22

Star

Yes.

33:23.72

Krispy

That'll be the thumbnail for this episode.

33:25.72

Star

Yes! And they need to be in soup.

33:29.53

Krispy

Yes. Yes. And they'll be in Soup. I gotta write this down.

33:32.21

Rae

With potatoes.

33:33.46

Krispy

With potatoes!

33:33.62

Star

I'm at soup!

33:36.47

Krispy

I'm writing this down right now because I might actually forget.

33:37.86

Star

What do you mean you're at soup?

33:40.30

Krispy

Yolo Baggins, and Bimbo. Bimbo and...

33:46.76

Star

Bimbo Baggins in soup.

33:48.79

Krispy

Okay no one's gonna know what that means but I wrote it down anyway. Oh my god.

33:55.82

Star

Podcasting, baby.

34:00.68

Krispy

All right you clowns I'm going to the last question. All right all right, here we go. So Star, I have a question for you-pour vous, s'il vous plait.

34:10.56

Star

You've already asked several, but sure, I will allow one more.

34:12.61

Krispy

Oh, yeah. One more. Well, luckily, this is your absolute, this is the banger. What is your advice to someone who has trouble picking an idea and sticking with that idea?

34:26.41

Star

I mean, the thing is that, like, I've always kind of been an impulsive storyteller. I chase the stuff that brings me joy.

34:37.50

Star

But I do think that there is kind of, like we've been saying, it's a balancing act, right? So what I would recommend is maybe, I think sometimes the hard part is the impulsivity.

34:50.19

Krispy

Yeah.

34:50.74

Star

Right. And so I know for me, it's like, I love to have an idea and then put that, like we said, put that idea in the stew pot and just stew on it for a while.

35:00.91

Krispy

Yeah.

35:01.04

Star

See what it does. Apply heat. See what it does. Make some playlists about it. Draw my blorbos. Um, in the stew pot and just kind of see what happens and I feel like the stew pot is the best place to explore ideas. This is when you're sketchbooking, you're drawing the characters, you're seeing how much you can you know do with them. I think a little bit of impulsiveness is good. I think it's fine to like, you know, chase those ideas, and if you really like an idea and you really really really want to chase it

35:34.07

Star

See if you can't incorporate that into the big idea that you're dreaming of. Because I mean, like I said, that's what I did with Castoff.

35:38.09

Krispy

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

35:40.31

Star

It was literally just a junk drawer full of ideas that I just rummaged through one day and was like, okay, what can I do with this? And, you know, some stuff didn't make the final cut for XYZ reasons. Some stuff, like, some stuff stayed and got developed further. Some stuff changed so much it's basically unrecognizable.

35:57.21

Star

But I don't think there's any harm in, like, you know, having new ideas and playing with them, you know? It's like sometimes a new toy can, like, help develop stuff that you've already come up with.

36:09.86

Star

I would think just maybe, you know, like, maybe don't start a new webcomic every other Tuesday.

36:16.42

Krispy

yeah

36:17.37

Star

Just like, okay, this is going to seem off topic, but I promise is the thing. There is an idea, if you're like an impulsive spender, to just like, every time you have something that you want, but you're not sure that you really need it, you write it down on a piece of paper or something and you'll wait two weeks.

36:39.01

Star

And if you still want that thing in two weeks, then you're allowed to buy it.

36:42.67

Krispy

yeah yes

36:44.07

Star

I feel like that kind of, you know, just being a little bit more responsible with your ideas is fine. But yeah, you know, just like...

36:55.14

Star

See if you can find a way to like, you know, keep having shiny new ideas. There is nothing wrong with a shiny new idea. Shiny new ideas are all well and good and fine. But maybe a way to curve the impulsivity a little bit goes a long way towards not having 10 bajillion stories in progress that never go anywhere.

37:09.72

Krispy

Mm-hmm.

37:16.60

Star

I think there is value in, you know, just like playing around, seeing if it fits, you know, just kind of letting it simmer, exorcising the demons in like a sketchbook or a minicomic if you have to.

37:30.89

Star

Um, just, you know, doing some self-exploration. feel like there's a lot of different things that you can do and exactly what works for each person is gonna be different. So definitely, you know, explore different things if you feel like you need to.

37:47.91

Star

Yeah, just, you know, just kind of learn how you explore ideas and see what you can do with them. But I wouldn't, I would, you know, just embrace stewing a little bit more.

38:00.06

Krispy

Yeah. Yeah. You know, just have fun in the kitchen a little bit more. Simmer it. See the bubbles. You know? Taste the aroma. Kind of thing.

38:10.14

Star

Uh-huh. Watch those blorbos bob around in the water. Just being like, what are they doing?

38:13.87

Krispy

Exactly. yeah exactly. because

38:16.89

Rae

Seeing Bimbo Baggins bobbing in the stew.

38:20.74

Star

Bimbo, Bimbo Baggins. Boiling in the super tasty stew.

38:30.58

Krispy

Now we have a theme song for this.

38:32.30

Rae

Now we do them all.

38:32.32

Star

Yay!

38:36.13

Krispy

Oh my god.

38:37.96

Star

Webcomic people and our food metaphors. It keeps happening. Woohoo!

38:42.83

Krispy

That'll be another shirt. We'll make it Something. Oh my god.

38:46.53

Star

I will wear it to every convention.

38:48.08

Krispy

Yes! Yes! ah I'm coming for you, Rae. Unfortunately, the sniper rifle is now trained on you. We're getting really aggressive in this episode.

38:59.76

Star

Yeah, what the heck? This is violent.

39:01.26

Krispy

It's because I'm hosting. I would like to know what your advice is to someone, you know, having trouble picking that idea, staying with it. And, you know, tell us the Rae take.

39:15.75

Rae

See, I do like the idea of essentially just sitting on things.

39:21.24

Krispy

Mm hmm.

39:21.79

Rae

Like one of the things that I learned from prose writing is sometimes some really good stuff will not make the cut. So a good way to deal with that is to essentially paste it into a Word document.

39:40.41

Krispy

Oh.

39:40.81

Rae

And see if you can use it for later.

39:43.81

Krispy

Yes.

39:44.42

Rae

And if you have a lot of ideas, write that down. Especially if it's the scene. You write it down.

39:56.07

Rae

Put it in a Word document. Close it, maybe come back to it later. And if it's a really good idea, maybe consider how you might be able to incorporate it in your current comic, or maybe you can spin it off into one of your other stories, or more often, what's probably going to happen.

40:16.20

Rae

You're going to go, why did I think Sushi Cat versus a giant crab was a good idea? Yeah.

40:23.08

Krispy

I think it's a great idea.

40:24.99

Star

Hello question. Who wouldn't think that's a good idea?

40:29.44

Star

Okay so, so Krispy's gonna make Bimbo Baggins and Yolo Frodo into a comic. Rae, I need to see Sushi Cat. Now. You don't get until tomorrow.

40:40.55

Star

I need to see this now.

40:42.87

Krispy

We're stopping the podcast

40:43.69

Star

We're stopping the podcast.

40:44.29

Rae

We're stopping.

40:45.38

Star

Get out your tablet and draw me a Sushi Cat.

40:48.91

Rae

I guess I'll have to.

40:48.96

Star

Right now. Yeah.

40:50.80

Rae

Actually, actually, I think I'll do it with photos because I have a sushi cat right here and I have a crab.

40:56.35

Star

ah

40:57.23

Krispy

Oh my gosh.

40:58.07

Krispy

Yes, please.

40:58.94

Rae

I will take a picture.

40:59.15

Krispy

Oh my god.

40:59.36

Star

Stop motion webcomic!

41:03.61

Star

Listen, I've seen people do it.

41:05.62

Krispy

I like it.

41:06.17

Rae

Yeah I've seen it too. It's cool.

41:08.86

Krispy

I like when people do different mediums.

41:11.23

Rae

Okay, but I do also think you just really need to consider what makes you happy and what you can sustain.

41:21.60

Rae

And honestly, I do think that there is a little bit of a discovery process and that's okay.

41:27.15

Krispy

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

41:27.86

Rae

A lot of the super polished webcomics you see out there are not the first comic of their creators. They aren't someone's first attempt, usually, because a lot of people have comics that they have stopped and they started on their new idea that they felt that was more in line with who they were at the time.

41:50.03

Rae

So sometimes it doesn't hit and it takes a while to figure out. And another piece of advice I would say is do not put off your magnum opus because,

42:02.81

Krispy

ah

42:04.39

Rae

I see so many people go, well, I'm going to test out this idea that's not as good as my first idea, but I'm going to save that for when I get better.

42:17.28

Rae

And then they're surprised, Pikachu face, that they're not as interested in it as their other super shiny special idea.

42:26.31

Krispy

Yeah, no, that's definitely something I've seen a lot. in webcomic spaces is that they're like, well, I need an idea to practice first before I go into the super awesome idea.

42:36.92

Krispy

And like, there's constantly that advice being like, don't start with a huge project first. And that advice personally frustrates me because like everybody works differently.

42:46.04

Rae

Some people only have huge ideas.

42:48.17

Krispy

Yeah. And that's just like the thing is that there is such a huge fixation on getting finished, having a finished project. And, you know, I'm going to drop it like it's hot.

42:58.88

Krispy

There are not a lot of finished webcomics. Like very rarely do webcomics actually do get finished. And that's not a bad thing because we need to realize that webcomics are free.

43:11.09

Krispy

That's made by people who are not getting paid majority of the time and it's usually a medium that you can have fun with and just be indulgent with. Like, this is your truest self; have fun with it. And you know I know that this is going to go into a huge scope that we're not going to really have time to talk about in this episode, we've talked about it in others when we talk about scope and expectation and you know, the changing landscape of webcomics and platforms and people being like, well, I need more views. I need to do it like this. I need to do it like that.

43:42.52

Krispy

Goals matter here. But at the end of the day, like Rae said, it has to be about what actually makes you happy. And yeah, if you want Bimbo Baggins with a sushi cat in a pot of soup, turning hot dogs, and that's what makes you happy, like frickin put that in.

44:00.66

Star

Yeah, I just wanted to chime in. Like, we could definitely go on and on. Like, I think this is worth an entire other episode if we haven't done it is like advice for starting first comics and whether or not you tackle the magnum opus first.

44:09.67

Krispy

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

44:11.76

Star

My advice for people is generally kind of along those lines. It's like, hey, if you've never made a webcomic before, starting with something a little bit shorter and simpler might be good just so you kind of can get used to the workflow, even if it's not something you finish.

44:25.50

Star

But when I've given people that advice, a lot of people say, it's like, well, I only care about my magnum opus idea. So what do I do? And what I tell people in that instance is just take a scene.

44:36.60

Star

Just make an isolated scene. Make a short story with your Blorbos or just do a little lore just story. It's like this is how these two characters met. Do like a bonus story. Do stuff like that.

44:49.70

Star

Exercise the ideas and get some practice under your belt. I feel if I go on this too much longer, though, we will get away from the scope of the actual episode.

44:58.20

Krispy

Yes oh my gosh yes and it's a constant conversation in webcomic spheres and I'll put a bow on it and just-you'll never know the process or how much you enjoy comics if you don't just do comics and that's just, you're gonna have to mess around find out and stuff like that

45:19.53

Star

Mess around and find out.

45:20.93

45:21.73

Star

I feel like that's good advice for literally like this entire, I feel like that's a good bow to put on this entire episode.

45:27.22

Krispy

I think so.

45:27.93

Star

Sometimes you just got to mess around to find out.

45:30.51

Krispy

It's exactly that. And, you know, you're just never going to know if you're going to have fun doing it until you actually just go. You just go full hog.

45:39.34

Star

Maybe not full hog.

45:39.34

Krispy

Full hog.

45:41.34

Star

Maybe you go like half hog in a sketchbook.

45:42.84

Krispy

Half hog.

45:43.34

Star

Test out an idea.

45:45.62

Krispy

That's true.

45:46.71

Rae

Yeah, half hog it, see if it works.

45:50.59

Star

See if you like hogging it. And maybe, because you know, maybe you go half hog and you're like, actually, I don't know if I like this.

45:57.25

Star

Maybe you try to go full hog. You're like, actually, I feel like now I've wasted my time because I actually don't like hogging.

46:02.61

Krispy

Oh my god. This got away from me in the best way possible.

46:09.50

Star

It's mine now. I'm taking it away.

46:11.09

Krispy

It's okay. That's gonna go also into the thumbnail. Bimbo Baggins, YOLO Baggins, soup, a hog, hot dogs. It's gonna be good.

46:20.06

Rae

Don't forget the sushi cat.

46:21.85

Krispy

It's Sushi Cat! Oh my god.

46:23.82

Star

You know, listen, they let you take cars and maybe also motorcycles, in parentheses hogs, for test drives before you take them home.

46:29.65

Krispy

Yeah! Yeah!

46:31.76

Star

Do that. Do that with your ideas.

46:32.99

Krispy

I agree. Test drive. You know what? You got it.

46:36.18

Star

I brought it back around to normal.

46:38.41

Krispy

Yeah! Test drive. The idea is you're allowed to test drive. Oh my god.

46:43.89

Star

Try before you buy.

46:46.28

Krispy

There you go. You can lay on these mattresses. You can roll around. You can be like,

46:53.40

Star

For 90 days free, with no commitment.

46:56.18

Krispy

hmm.

46:57.91

Star

skip, skip, skip, skip.

46:58.18

Rae

Who do we pay after the 90 days? Is it us?

47:01.61

Krispy

Oh, I hope.

47:02.32

Star

Yes.

47:03.11

Krispy

Gosh.

47:03.11

Rae

I hope so, too.

47:03.27

Star

Yes. You have to pay your dues and send us coffee.

47:05.92

Krispy

Alright. Yes. you Please. Please. It's "screentonescast." Okay.

47:14.79

Krispy

I think I'm going wrap up the episode.

47:17.40

Star

Shilling!

47:20.70

Krispy

Oh, God. Okay. All right, you clowns. I think with that, I hope they don't keep in clowns.

47:26.18

Krispy

I mean, you can. All right, clowns. With that, I think that's been a Chicken Salad Caesar Wrap. I'm Krispy. I've been your host. You can read my comics. Yes, I have two.

47:36.41

Krispy

You can read my comics at ghostjunksickness.com and lunarblight.com.

47:40.82

Star

Wow, couldn't stick with just one.

47:42.22

47:49.03

Krispy

Called out.

47:50.70

Star

Damn! I've been Star the whole time, and you can read my comic, Castoff, at castoff-comic.com.

48:00.23

Rae

And I've been Rae. You can read my comics Overlord of Ravenfell on Webtoon and On Empyrean High at EmpyreanComic.com

48:09.89

Krispy

And next week is the match between Star and Krispy, where we WWE!

48:14.26

Star

Oh, shit!

48:16.16

Krispy

By a cage match! I don't know where that came from.

48:18.93

Rae

Just don't bring your sniper rifle.

48:19.11

Krispy

Oh yeah, because of the car.

48:21.43

Star

Yeah, are we allowed snipers in this fight?