No End In Sight

I have a story to tell. That has been clearly expressed here in these blogs. I have been tripping over myself trying to start. I do not want to create something that I can not change in the future. So then, I have been trying to organise my ideas into a steady flow from beginning to end... and therein lies the problem.

I don't have an ending.

When I first postulated the character, I had always imagined him in a continuing saga. But every story needs a conclusion. A standard comic book can have a story run in just one issue or it can take upwards of a year (12 issues). When I first outlined the story I planned it to run 13 issues in a monthly series with the last issue containing twice the pages. My skills are not such that I could complete the first issue, publish it and have the next ready the following month.

I have too many obligations outside of this project. Employment, maintenance, and family all play a part in my day-to-day activities. I doubt that my first published issue would see enough in financial returns to warrant cutting employment out of the equation. Things always need maintained in such an irregular schedule that they can not be anticipated or eliminated. And family will always be an integral part of my life to such a degree that removing them from my situation would leave no lasting purpose to complete it. It is true that I am doing this because I feel that I have a story that has never been told in this way. I would like to be recognised for it, but equally important is leaving a legacy.

So then, I can not, at this time, create a monthly series unless I complete all of them before releasing even one to the public. If I must complete the whole story then I must have a definite stopping point. A definite end. I must create it in much the same way that a standard book would be with the standard rise and fall of plot that would occur. So that got me to thinking: why not just create a 300 page complete graphic novel?

My first outline had the story run from point A to point B with distractions C through Z. Each issue would have a subplot to deal with and plethora of secondary characters to introduce and follow along with. Comics tend to have a quicker pace to them than a standard book does. So, by merging the two concepts into one, I find that I must streamline it a bit more. I have to consider the pacing of 300 pages not just 20-24. Any 'distractions' I introduce have to be for the benefit of the story and not just to express an interesting character idea I had/have.

So that is where I am now. Trying to clearly define the ending which must be done in order to find the order in my chaotic storm of ideas.