I learned we can't try to do things thinking on the "rewards" it may come, we must do the things because it's fun for us to do.

I will try not to fall into this trapp again (sorry, it was stronger than myself).

I personally don't mind swaths of texts with images now and then, but that's me.

Keep trapping!

23 minutes ago, Morius said:

I learned we can't try to do things thinking on the "rewards" it may come, we must do the things because it's fun for us to do.

I will try not to fall into this trapp again (sorry, it was stronger than myself).

I personally don't mind swaths of texts with images now and then, but that's me.

Keep trapping!

Exactly. When it stops being fun, there's no real point in anything anymore. So that's a trap I'm not willing to fall into.

Also, thank you for that feedback! I do enjoy writing in that style, with only a few visual cues. However, it's already hard to do comics, now something that's more novel-like is a bit more daunting...

Just now, Oz70NYC said:

The key to getting a gritty story over specifically is emotional investment. You've got to get the reader to care about the characters, or feel some sort of emotion that compels them to invest in the character. I'll use Henry Reese as an example. Here you have a man who for 11 years has busted his ass climbing the corporate ladder. He's made strides towards building his own business on top of keeping his wife happy with the lavish lifestyle she was raised in being a trust fund baby AND helping his emotionally stunted, slacker best friend stay above water...and they both end up fucking each other on the premise that "he wasn't around". Had it not been for the presence of Bianca magically injecting herself into his life, Henry would probably be dead. Yet in Bianca he's found a conduit of discovering himself. He's lived his entire life trying to make other people happy, but never once took the time to learn what makes HIM happy. Bianca changed all that for him, and now he's discovering things about himself through her.

He's not a complex character, he's just been placed in a complex situation that a LOT of people can relate to. If you've ever had a partner cheat on you, you know how soul crushing it is. Not everyone gets a Bianca. But in Henry's story arc I'm playing with the concepts of man discovering his true self and redefining his life. A redemption story of sorts, and who can't get behind a good redemption story? Conversely you have a character like John Herrig...the polar opposite end of the spectrum. The invest trigger I try to employ in him is fear. In every panel and interaction I want the reader to have a sense of dread. When Herrig is around, death follows. I do so by instilling that emotion in everyone who interacts with him. Even his closest allies have a respect and fear of him. When other characters reference him, they use words like "monster", "beast" and "demon"...because that's what the core of the character is. He's not a conventional villain, he's a symbol of what happens when a man who has dedicated his life to protecting the world comes to the realization that the world doesn't deserve it. That in itself is a terrifying change of ideals. Something had to have happened in such a man's mind so profound to make him aim to destroy an establishment that he spent his entire life in service and protection of.

Putting characters in a gritty, serious story is easier when you can convey emotion through the character and get the reader to immediately latch onto that emotion. Truth be told, I kinda let off the gas in terms of emotion because I could go to some SERIOUSLY dark places with some characters if I wanted to, but I take into account the "audience" we have here. This is a porno game at the end of the day...lol. But at the end of the day, emotional investment is how you get a serious story over. 

 

That's a very good point. And I think I need to start working on that for some of these plotlines. This means making a deep analysis of how each character behaves, their wants and needs.

An example within Maverick is how the division Hikaru works on has been hired to combat human trafficking in Brazil. I don't touch on very graphic examples there, but the story connects with Hikaru's past. I like where his arc is going and his motivations for having done what he did. But in the end, I can only push it so far before it becomes tasteless.

Same with Dani, her fetish is a dangerous one, so she needs to test the waters first. However, I think what she lacks at the moment is emotional development. What is her everyday life like? What are her relationships like? How would exploring that fetish affect said relationships? The only way I can develop that is making scenarios unrelated to the main plot. But at some point, there has to be some sort of conflict between what she wants and how people perceive it. And that's the really tough part.

I understand what you're saying. In Dani's case, she's motivated for three reasons. The first two obvious ones are the lack of excitement in her life and her crush on her teacher. But there's also a dark backstory there for her involving her mother, and the impact of that revelation really messed with her head. Deep down, she can't understand why her mother was always so submissive that she allowed for less than ideal things to be done to her. I think that should be Dani's ultimate resolution, as well as trying to see what her physical limits are, as well as figuring out how much is she actually willing to tolerate before things get out of hand. But there are several twists and turns I'm planning around that could maybe affect that in a way.

Hikaru's story is much more straightforward. He's a trained assassin who decided to use his skills for what he believed was a good cause. He knows how to fight and is quite resilient, but it is only after his morals come into question that he starts realizing that maybe that's not the path he wants to walk down, and when he's told things must be done for "the greater good", he cannot accept that and quits, thus beginning the manhunt. Once he was set on that path, he can only think of finding ways to survive, like he always has. The catalyst for that, however, I still haven't figured out. Maybe if I write a little more and analyze it, it might make sense.