Writing 'beat to beat'

I've been writing longform comics on the Web for ten years. Building and maintaining my audience requires a consistent posting schedule. But how can I take the necessary time to craft a compelling storyline and continue posting every week? It's a bit of a juggling act, but I've developed a system that makes it manageable. I'm going to open up my sketchbook and show you how can plan your story ahead of time and continue writing while you're producing pages.

Start with a structure

It's easy to get bogged down in details when you're writing. And if you're not careful, that can result in a story that meanders and wanders. (Ask me how I know!) So I suggest starting with a story structure. I'm a strong proponent of using a sitcom structure to plan a 22-page comic. Simplified, it looks like this:

• Pages 1-3 — Establish the main protagonist and the Goal or Quest. In other words, what is the hero trying to accomplish?

• Pages 4-5 — Story A: The protagonist tries to accomplish the Quest and fails.

• Pages 6-8 — Story B: Subplot is introduced. A second protagonist is presented, and a second Quest. This second Quest may or may not be related to the main Quest). In a Seinfeld-style story, these two Quests would intersect at the end of the story.

• Page 9 — Story A: The protagonist tries again and fails — or he/she meets new obstacles.

• Pages 10-12 — Story B: The secondary protagonist tries to achieve the secondary Quest and also fails/meets new obstacles.

• Page 13 — Story A: We check in to see the progress. More fails.

• Page 14 — Story A: re-establish (and possibly re-state) the main Goal — emphasize its importance/significance.

• Pages 15-17 — Story B: The secondary storyline is tied up. The goal is either reached or lost for good. Or, the real victory is in a side goal. In any event, the subplot is now settled. Page 17 can either be the climax or a transition scene back to Story A.

• Pages 17-18 — Story A: Climax. The Quest is at an end. Our main protagonist has either succeeded or failed spectacularly. Perhaps the Quest of the subplot has had an effect on this main Quest.

• Pages 19-20 — The fallout. What are the repercussions of all of this? Where does the storytelling leave our characters? What are the new (if any) relationships that are formed? If nothing new is achieved, we simply show the characters settling back into Square One so they can be thrown to the wolves next time.

If you'd like, you could use a different structure — like the Hero's Journey or the Story Circle (explained below).

The important thing is this: It's helpful to have a structure against which you can build the story you're writing. In other words, this is not an open-ended process. You will devote a predetermined number of pages to each story section. Knowing this in advance will keep your writing moving along briskly — something your readers will appreciate.

A story is a character who has a Want or a Need,
and faces an obstruction.

— The BUTSO Method

Determine the basics

I call it the Butso Method of writing. it's an oversimplification, but the basics are there. Sometimes, the protagonist isn't being blocked at all, for example. Sometimes, it's a race to see who can get to the want/need first. Sometimes, a hero starts with a want but then discovers a need. But, overall, if you don't know how to fill in that formula above, then you don't know what your story is about. In some cases, you may even surprise yourself — discovering that a story you thought was about Character A is actually Character B's story!

Here's a page from my sketchbook. I was plotting out a new chapter. As you can see, I had a number of possibilities for the Story A plot. Story B was already locked in.