The Dreadful -- Chapter 10

[phil_]

Introduce Gateball or disc golf. Everyone loves sports comics.

[Arhra]

I think you just need a bit more visibility - it's not terribly obvious when a new comic's gone up. I basically stick my nose in here every week or so to see what new ones there are.

[Atma]

Long time lurker here, after reading this thread I thought I'd share my 2 cents as an avid reader and hopefully give you some insight or encouragement.

First, kudos to you for working so hard on something you're passionate about. I can't tell you the number of people I've encountered in my life that have really great ideas or interests but never choose to pursue them because they "don't have time" or some other nonsense, and here you are putting a huge time investment into this comic simply because it's what you wanted to do. That's a fantastic work ethic and exactly what you need to be successful as an artist. I hope even if The Dreadful has a premature demise it helped you grow as an artist for future endeavors.

Next, I can sympathize with your feelings that The Dreadful never really felt at home with Nuklear Power. I have a number of friends that enjoyed reading 8-bit Theater and exactly zero of them gave The Dreadful a chance even after my recommendation. I think this is because 8-bit theater attracted a very specific demographic (Old-school video game and Final Fantasy fans) while The Dreadful attracts another (Sci-fi fantasy, hand drawn comic) and while there is a bit of overlap, it probably isn't very significant. I think having an independent website would go a long way towards promoting the comic since Nuklear Power, as a website, feels like it's primarily meant to advertise a comic that has long since ended.

For the comic itself, in my opinion episodic entertainment such as comic books or television shows rely on cliff hangers or large amounts of shock or intrigue to keep the public coming back for more (This is less true for comedy, as each episode is simply a bite-sized punch line that is self sustaining). For novels and movies you're allowed more leeway for exposition or suspense since viewers paid for a complete story and are willing to see it through to the end, while episodic entertainment needs more of a pull. For me, this comic peaked my interest in two points: When it was revealed that Poe may have shot Kit, and when Kit was facing off against Jean. The latter being more recent began last September -- almost a year ago.

Things such as ninja horses are cute and add character to The Dreadful's world, but it doesn't provide a lot of shock or intrigue that really makes me wanting to come back for more. I'm not a writer so it's difficult for me to offer solutions, but the plot moving more rapidly may be beneficial. Also, I really like Boozloaf as a character and I want to know what's up with him.

That's all I got. Hopefully my opinion helped you some, and I'm looking forward to more of The Dreadful or whatever future endeavors you take on next.

[MSperoni]

Useful advice! Thanks for chiming in

I'll try to pick up the pace from now on. I'll be as shocking and intriguing as possible. The scenes with Bludkolt, Liz, and Umami all have something to do with the plot though, but I guess it's too slow to develop. Also with the way the comic updates, it makes things really drag out. It might be months before a scene finishes.

I've drastically altered the way I compose scenes though, so I'm hoping the changes will make the comic a lot more fun to read. And "quicker" (I didn't make these changes until recently so the comic has a few updates to go through before they're evident).

[Admiral Skippy]

Hey, I'm another fan of the comic who registered to show support, you've done some very fine work Mr Speroni! Kit is an entertaining and engaging antihero, but still maintains a core of vulnerability that you can connect to. In fact all of your characters are three dimensional in their own way, no one feels like they're simply a role the plot needs which has been turned into a character. The art is gorgeous, and the setting achieves that balance you want where it feels full and like it stretches out far past our little window into it, without the reader being swamped with infodumps.

Anyhow, you're in a position where you want more readers, and ideally you'd like to start making some proper money from your work, as you deserve. You can fix both of these things, and here's some suggestions as to how:

- Get a donation button set up on the site, as you've said you're thinking of doing. You'd be surprised how many people right now want to support you, but can't. I can't afford much, but I'd still like to make some small recompense for all the high quality entertainment you've provided me. If there are some more people who feel like I do, (and there will be), we'll be doing well won't we?

- Develop a regular schedule and stick to it. This allows readers to look forward to updates, and fosters an atmosphere of speculation and discussion between them. (Just the kind of thing you've been saying you wanted more of in fact.) You don't have to up the rate or anything, just make it regular. The really cool thing is, a set update schedule allows you to do bonus updates, which are paid for by donations, and hence incentivize donations via something more than goodwill. The very popular web serial Worm uses this system, for example your update day might be Tuesday, and you'd then set a limit, say fifty dollars, and once the donations had reached that level, your readers could look forward to an additional update on for example Thursday. Obviously as the fan following grows, you can increase the donation limit- this is exactly what Worm's author did, you can Worm's donate page for reference here. He started at a fifty dollar limit I believe, it's been six hundredfor a while now and he currently has five bonus updates queued, do you like the sound of those numbers?

-Get your own site to mirror the comic on. You don't want to take it off of here- being on the same site as the 8-Bit Theatre is a valuable draw of new readers. But you want something, possibly for a bit of ad revenue, but more importantly somewhere with the facility for your donate button and bonus update counter not to be in a corner of someone else's site, as well as possibly the option to discuss under the comics. It doesn't have to be expensive or highly technical to set up- a simple blogspot, disqus or wordpress domain might well offer what you want.

-It would be good to try and up the pacing a little, bot for the good reasons Atma mentioned, and equally important if slightly more mercenary ones. If the pacing is fast, something big happens in each couple comics, and ever few comics has a cliffhanger, then it helps foster more fan discussion and speculation, this ups your readers, which ups your donations, etc..

-Don't be afraid to go onto other forums and push the comic! You'd be surprised how much people cherish the opportunity to chat with the author once they're hooked on a series- this is a big part of how you cultivate regular donors.

Thanks for reading thus far, I hope the suggestions were helpful. I'm also making a thread on my home forum dedicated to the comic, as you'll see if you poke around, we have quite a few members, so hopefully you'll get a few more readers rather soon!

[Jhan Robear]

I've apparently been part of the silent majority for too long. I don't know if it means much but I always enjoy reading your comic. I love the characters, enjoy the story, and sigh enviously at your artistic skills.

It's become part of my routine to check every day for updates and feel sadness when if it's not there. I'm only one barely above broke, just got his first decent job nerd, but I'd be happy to make small donations if it could help. Also as someone who's always daydreamed about making my ideas come alive, don't stop if it's something you are passionate about. I'll tell all my friends about your comic. Maybe they'll even listen. :-)

[MSperoni]

Page 234!

She's just a stupid pinky.

Also to the two commenters above: Thanks for the input! I'm really happy to see all the support the comic is getting lately. Keep it up!

[Admiral Skippy]

Hahahaha, I do not envy those lawmen in trying to explain this in a report later.

[Chaos Sepher]

I am trying to figure out if these guys are kinda smart or seriously stupid.

[Smith]

Hey, just registered to add my two cents here. I wouldn't worry too much about the pacing now. The new format works really well in regards to that issue, IMO. You don't need to have major plot points coming up that often, just try to end each update on sort of a cliffhanger note.

Also, I really enjoy the comic. It's good stuff. I know it might be rough to get your own website set up, but if it helps your comic(s) take off, it'll be worth it.