[Detlef]

I feel really demotivated lately (not because of those comments) but mainly because of the lack of... feedback from any fans.

like fanmails, fanart generally people telling me what they think, that they enjoy reading it, anything at all. I feel like it doesn't exist, that my pages just please a couple of people.

so yeah the more demotivated I feel the less fun the pages are to make, making me producing fewer and that makes the fans care less. It's all an evil circle I find it difficult to get out of.
I don't want to stop making the comic, I want to get my motivation back so I can start pleasing the fans again, and gain new readers, I want it to be something. for now it's just going painfully slow and I know that's boring as shit.
I thought that when my vacation started that I would feel more motivated to concentrate on the comic since I had no schoolwork to worry over... but it doesn't seem to be the case. I have to start screwing around and just... draw more.

I can't see myself continuing if I can't get it to be fun again. I don't want it to be a chore, and right now it is.

Edited:

I feel horrible about it all :(

[FreakySoup]

Detlef posted:

I feel really demotivated lately (not because of those comments) but mainly because of the lack of... feedback from any fans.

like fanmails, fanart generally people telling me what they think, that they enjoy reading it, anything at all. I feel like it doesn't exist, that my pages just please a couple of people.

so yeah the more demotivated I feel the less fun the pages are to make, making me producing fewer and that makes the fans care less. It's all an evil circle I find it difficult to get out of.
I don't want to stop making the comic, I want to get my motivation back so I can start pleasing the fans again, and gain new readers, I want it to be something. for now it's just going painfully slow and I know that's boring as shit.
I thought that when my vacation started that I would feel more motivated to concentrate on the comic since I had no schoolwork to worry over... but it doesn't seem to be the case. I have to start screwing around and just... draw more.

I can't see myself continuing if I can't get it to be fun again. I don't want it to be a chore, and right now it is.

Edited:

I feel horrible about it all :(

[TaoAmano]

Its awesome and supsenful. Continue with it whenever you want. Just building suspense for when you're inspirated.

Edited:

TaoAmano posted:

Its awesome and supsenful. Continue with it whenever you want. Just building suspense for when you're inspiraed.

[Detlef]

what am I gonna doooo

[mrhippieguy]

Detlef posted:

what am I gonna doooo

I'd love to say "you do this" but that's really not the case. I've not done all the kinds of art that you have, nor as much, but I've done some(currently have a 23 character commission in queue), and I've found it near impossible to bring myself to work on the relevant artwork. You can't really force yourself, either, else it ends up being less than you expected and you end up feeling crap.

The only thing I can suggest is finding something really inspiring or something really disappointing, so you either go "I want to do something" or "I can do better".

Anyways, keep working on it, please. I check it at least once a day for updates. It's not bad by any measure. Either I've not looked hard enough, or I've not seen anything more than fleeting references to zombies in other comics(other than the zombie apocalypse arc in the Whiteboard, but that wasn't very long either), so I don't really find the concept hackneyed.

And from all the talking you've done about the story on the discussion forum, I'd hate to see it go now.

[wewt!]

some artists take little breaks during which they update with a small subplot with simplified art. Gunnerkrigg Court's pigeon series is a good example.

[MakoSkyDub]

Detlef posted:

I feel really demotivated lately (not because of those comments) but mainly because of the lack of... feedback from any fans.

like fanmails, fanart generally people telling me what they think, that they enjoy reading it, anything at all. I feel like it doesn't exist, that my pages just please a couple of people.

so yeah the more demotivated I feel the less fun the pages are to make, making me producing fewer and that makes the fans care less. It's all an evil circle I find it difficult to get out of.
I don't want to stop making the comic, I want to get my motivation back so I can start pleasing the fans again, and gain new readers, I want it to be something. for now it's just going painfully slow and I know that's boring as shit.
I thought that when my vacation started that I would feel more motivated to concentrate on the comic since I had no schoolwork to worry over... but it doesn't seem to be the case. I have to start screwing around and just... draw more.

I can't see myself continuing if I can't get it to be fun again. I don't want it to be a chore, and right now it is.

Edited:

I feel horrible about it all :(

I get this entirely, I've stopped writing my blog now because of lack of feedback. Appreciation is the fuel to keep going with storytelling I think, you pour a part of yourself into writing (and artwork to go with it) so that the world can see it, and if you don't get the love back for your efforts then you're just running on empty and it gets really hard. It happened with Superdestroyer as well, which was a really slick webcomic but stopped as soon as it got started because the artist lost motivation, and I was hell of sad because I only found it a couple of years after that had happened. It was so promising but now you can't even read it anymore, it's been taken down.

It's hard to know what to say to you because I haven't been able to overcome this shit in the past myself. I can tentatively suggest:

-Seeking more exposure. Find another cool forum, make an account and make a thread for ZW. Get a new rush of readers, fresh blood into the fanbase.

-Cut to the chase. There must be future scenes you've imagined lots of times that you've looked forward to as high points in the storyline - action scenes, do or die moments, whatever it might be. You shouldn't be afraid to shift them so they happen sooner, or cut the A to B pages of the comic where they're walking around/getting to the next intense part. Once they've accomplished something, make the transition to the next day or next week.

-Love interest. This is a great hook to get readers coming back/discussing your work, and it might motivate you in itself, get you eager to draw/write more and develop your characters. This segues into my next one pretty well..

-Introduce new character/s or element/s. At this point, you have a pretty large body of work. You only have to look at your archive to see that. You shouldn't worry about rushing things, you've gotten pretty far so it would be reasonable to throw another character into the fray at any time.

-Chapter-jumping. This one is great for beating inertia or even writer's block that you can get easily with a single-arc storyline like you're doing. For each chapter, or each event, or however you choose to format it, switch to a different character. You're doing it in small scale at the moment, switching from Stale to Det. You could think of them as one party, though. You could (for example) switch to what Zeke is doing currently, or what Drew is doing currently. Everything doesn't have to be seen from the "main" character's point of view. If you look at George R. R. Martin (Just using him as an example because everyone is into him now), he uses eight or more parties simultaneously, which allows him to write thousands of pages of the same story without necessarily covering a large passage of time or rushing through his story's focal points.

-Sensationalism. There hasn't really been a point where your characters have been in real danger, aside from Stale initially struggling. (Besides which, everyone knows when there's only two characters, no one's going to die yet, no matter what happens.) Put some cliffhangers in, to stir your fans up. Make it appear as though the dog is going to kick the bucket, that'll have them biting their nails. Make them want the next page enough to go and talk about it on the forum or write you a mail.

-Merch. Make use of those few original hardcore fans you have. Design a few Tshirts and put them on a free-to-sell website. The profit is split between you and the site's company, but you don't have to spend anything, print anything, or post anything, you just get your share whenever someone buys your design. Put a link up on your page; if I see you've made $20 after a few days, maybe you'll feel like your comic is worthwhile again.

It would be pretty tragic if you were to abandon your story now. Remember that your fans are all still there, they may just appear dormant. You don't gush every time one of your favorite webcomics updates, right? But you're still following it and enjoying it..

Hope this helps, or at least shows that someone cares about your work, I spent as long thinking about it as I did writing it ;o

[Rusty100]

good post

[jbthekid]

This is really good. Nice job!

[Detlef]

MakoSkyDub posted:

I get this entirely, I've stopped writing my blog now because of lack of feedback. Appreciation is the fuel to keep going with storytelling I think, you pour a part of yourself into writing (and artwork to go with it) so that the world can see it, and if you don't get the love back for your efforts then you're just running on empty and it gets really hard. It happened with Superdestroyer as well, which was a really slick webcomic but stopped as soon as it got started because the artist lost motivation, and I was hell of sad because I only found it a couple of years after that had happened. It was so promising but now you can't even read it anymore, it's been taken down.

It's hard to know what to say to you because I haven't been able to overcome this shit in the past myself. I can tentatively suggest:

-Seeking more exposure. Find another cool forum, make an account and make a thread for ZW. Get a new rush of readers, fresh blood into the fanbase.

-Cut to the chase. There must be future scenes you've imagined lots of times that you've looked forward to as high points in the storyline - action scenes, do or die moments, whatever it might be. You shouldn't be afraid to shift them so they happen sooner, or cut the A to B pages of the comic where they're walking around/getting to the next intense part. Once they've accomplished something, make the transition to the next day or next week.

-Love interest. This is a great hook to get readers coming back/discussing your work, and it might motivate you in itself, get you eager to draw/write more and develop your characters. This segues into my next one pretty well..

-Introduce new character/s or element/s. At this point, you have a pretty large body of work. You only have to look at your archive to see that. You shouldn't worry about rushing things, you've gotten pretty far so it would be reasonable to throw another character into the fray at any time.

-Chapter-jumping. This one is great for beating inertia or even writer's block that you can get easily with a single-arc storyline like you're doing. For each chapter, or each event, or however you choose to format it, switch to a different character. You're doing it in small scale at the moment, switching from Stale to Det. You could think of them as one party, though. You could (for example) switch to what Zeke is doing currently, or what Drew is doing currently. Everything doesn't have to be seen from the "main" character's point of view. If you look at George R. R. Martin (Just using him as an example because everyone is into him now), he uses eight or more parties simultaneously, which allows him to write thousands of pages of the same story without necessarily covering a large passage of time or rushing through his story's focal points.

-Sensationalism. There hasn't really been a point where your characters have been in real danger, aside from Stale initially struggling. (Besides which, everyone knows when there's only two characters, no one's going to die yet, no matter what happens.) Put some cliffhangers in, to stir your fans up. Make it appear as though the dog is going to kick the bucket, that'll have them biting their nails. Make them want the next page enough to go and talk about it on the forum or write you a mail.

-Merch. Make use of those few original hardcore fans you have. Design a few Tshirts and put them on a free-to-sell website. The profit is split between you and the site's company, but you don't have to spend anything, print anything, or post anything, you just get your share whenever someone buys your design. Put a link up on your page; if I see you've made $20 after a few days, maybe you'll feel like your comic is worthwhile again.

It would be pretty tragic if you were to abandon your story now. Remember that your fans are all still there, they may just appear dormant. You don't gush every time one of your favorite webcomics updates, right? But you're still following it and enjoying it..

Hope this helps, or at least shows that someone cares about your work, I spent as long thinking about it as I did writing it ;o

thank you so much, yeah I'm not gonna abandon it, just have to get a new view to things and make it exciting for myself again. because if I don't want to do it for myself, why do it at all.

lot's of the sings you have mentioned about what I can do with the plot will happen, but I don't think it's time just yet, even tho I probably can speed things up (which I will now) I still want to pace things properly.

I won't give up just yet

[space1]

Detlef posted:

so if my characters man up and I introduce some girls it will be a 10/10?

Well..
10
-3(lack of girls)
-1.4(femboys)
-0.1(waffe)
so... 9.9 if you man em up and introduce some girls.
Oh, and what that guy a few posts above posted is pretty useful. I'd write one myself, but I don't really have the time right now, nor the motivation to feed ideas.

[Detlef]

-3 for "femboys"?

I dunno they aren't more feminine that u view em to be

[space1]

Detlef posted:

-3 for "femboys"?

I dunno they aren't more feminine that u view em to be

Whoops, I mixed up lack of girls and femboys...

[Detlef]

we are at the very beginning, there will be girls

[space1]

Detlef posted:

we are at the very beginning, there will be girls

A Stale love interest would be nice.
Preferably a sexy one that uses guns and is a badass...

[MakoSkyDub]

So Stale's love interest would in fact be Detlef

TWISTS EVERYWHERE

[Patriarch]

Why is everyone so irritated by the lack of females? It hardly brings down the plot of the comic at all.

[Detlef]

space1 posted:

A Stale love interest would be nice.
Preferably a sexy one that uses guns and is a badass...

that's the thing, I don't want to be like michael bay on transformers, putting in some super sexy love interests with no real purpose and and just for... having someone for the main char to be in love with.

she has to be a useful characters that happens to fall in love with someone later, if she's even gonna do that.

Edited:

I do have big plans for the character Drew, but that's in the next chapter

[space1]

MakoSkyDub posted:

So Stale's love interest would in fact be Detlef

TWISTS EVERYWHERE

But I mean't a girl...

Edited:

Detlef posted:

that's the thing, I don't want to be like michael bay on transformers, putting in some super sexy love interests with no real purpose and and just for... having someone for the main char to be in love with.

she has to be a useful characters that happens to fall in love with someone later, if she's even gonna do that.

Edited:

I do have big plans for the character Drew, but that's in the next chapter

But the love interest would serve real purpose like saving his life, probably tragically "sacrificing" herself. Perhaps have her show up later as a twist?

[Detlef]

if they turned out gay, would you stop reading

[Humberjini]

Nah, I would crack up laughing at first, just as long as you don't focus too much on romantic scenes I am happy.

[Rusty100]

Humberjini posted:

Nah, I would crack up laughing at first, just as long as you don't focus too much on romantic scenes I am happy.

so straight romance is ok but gay romance is not????

[Xephio]

i would secretly continue reading ur comic

[Detlef]

k great I'll make them gay then

[Patriarch]

How gay are we talking here?

[Rusty100]

anal sex on a daily basis gay

[Patriarch]

How deep is the anal sex?

[Rusty100]

colon rupturing

[Patriarch]

This is good.

[Detlef]

no

[space1]

Detlef posted:

if they turned out gay, would you stop reading

Yes. I don't read yaoiesque comics as I am straight.

[Detlef]

so you are a homophobic? you can't handle two men being in love with each other?

[space1]

I don't hate homosexuals, but if I did I could justify it.

It's just the thought of 2 men making love just makes me feel sick to my stomach.

Edited:

Lesbians are sexy.

[Detlef]

wow.

[Rusty100]

space1 posted:

I don't hate homosexuals, but if I did I could justify it.

It's just the thought of 2 men in love just makes me feel sick to my stomach.

Edited:

Lesbians are sexy.

Cease and Desist order against homophobia as of this moment.

[wewt!]

space1 posted:

I don't hate homosexuals, but if I did I could justify it.

It's just the thought of 2 men in love just makes me feel sick to my stomach.

Edited:

Lesbians are sexy.

ffs then stop asking for a love interest if you wouldn't be able to deal with an outcome you weren't expecting
This comic established the characters at a very relaxed pace, while I imagine that the scenes with the zombies are going to be a bit more intense (like the first one with just stale). Rushing the characters is just going to make the whole thing feel like Call of Duty, where you don't ever have a breather.

[Patriarch]

space1 you should write your own comic about zombies, except it is all a metaphor for how a poor, defenseless straight man such as yourself is assaulted with homosexuality on a daily basis.

Also what does this have to do with Zombie Waffe?

[space1]

Rusty100 posted:

Cease and Desist order against homophobia as of this moment.

I'm not homophobic, I just dislike the thought of homophobic males. I think I just have an issue because of traumatic experiences that make me tear up about as I think of them... I just need some therapy.

wewt! posted:

ffs then stop asking for a love interest if you wouldn't be able to deal with an outcome you weren't expecting
This comic established the characters at a very relaxed pace, while I imagine that the scenes with the zombies are going to be a bit more intense (like the first one with just stale). Rushing the characters is just going to make the whole thing feel like Call of Duty, where you don't ever have a breather.

I'm not rushing them, I'm just making suggestions...

[Rusty100]

so u were molested by a dude and now you hate all gays

yeah because thats reasonable

Edited:

don't hate rapists and molesters. just hate all the gays!!

[space1]

Rusty100 posted:

so u were molested by a dude and now you hate all gays

yeah because thats reasonable

Edited:

don't hate rapists and molesters. just hate all the gays!!

No it's a mental issue... It caused a developmental flaw(caused by a similar event to what you said) and now I get sick to the stomach everytime I see a penis. Yes, this includes my own. Also, just the THOUGHT of two men doing it is what makes me sick to my stomach...

Edited:

Also, some of my friends are gay, I don't mind it at all.