Your Story Idea... is TOO Big.

This is so true. I started to write my idea/script for short graphic novel I want to do, and at the first go around I was happy with it but it was becoming too much and I was trying to make it into this super big epic story. It wasn't until I started typing the script that I realized how much was in this was too much, so I went back to my idea page, took main key points of the story I liked and figured out what could be cut and how to improve/make the story flow better.

I can't stress enough how accurate this video was for me as I wasn't expecting to get so much help out of this. It has been really difficult for me to create a story I wanna tell but my skill level with drawing, storytelling and writting are not the best ones for the moment, but thanks to this video I realized my initial idea is just too big for what I'm trying to make and I'm really thankful that this has brought to me some ways in which I can create stuff without having to wait until "I get good" so I can "do it the right way I imagined something". Thank you very much!

Me who plans huge projects and is somehow getting it done(not a story I’m a terrible writer)

but my story is planned for 5 episodes

I believe It would be good to distinguish between the story and the world. For the world it's more acceptable to let it grow as big as you want, providing it is secondary to the stories, both in taking up your time and in "canon." For newer writers I would guess time is the biggest factor.

My situation is a bit different due to the medium though. I'm working on a tabletop RPG setting with multiple plot hooks to start off chains of events. The idea is that each "story" has enough put into it for the game master to run the world, but outside of specific situations it's not nearly so filled out. If this is to work, the world needs to be wide, but there's not so much effort needed ironing out every detail. Not sure if that counts quite as much as a story though. More like a collection of interconnected frameworks.

I have actually run into this problem myself. It's like I'm living in the story I create and can't put an end on it because I know there's more to these character's lives after the story ends.

That's not the main issue for me though. My biggest problem with storytelling is that I don't come up with my own ideas, I build ideas off things people have already created. Star Wars, Pokemon, etc. It makes it difficult to get started because no matter how big, small, rough, or refined the story is I'll never be able to do anything with it because I'm using someone else's world to build my story.

It's infuriating actually.

Me: plans a fan fiction.

The fan fiction: goes from 5 books to 10 in my head.

Me: Uhhh that's a bit mu-

The fan fiction: Oh, and those characters? Your most complex yet. The plot? Very complex. Good luck!

Me: hasn't been able to write since.

Then I find this video and it describes my situation PERFECTLY! Any videos on character personalities? Like how you write different kinds of personalities? If not that's fine. Just curious.
Thanks so much for this video! :)

And I was just editing the first few chapters of a comic book script. Guess I’ll have to use my fourth backup character idea(s) and hope I don’t go overboard again.

Good advice.
I try to create one story after another in my legendarium without blowing it up to much.

Recently canceled a game I've been working on for a bit for this reason, I had so many cool story ideas and scenes that were going to give it a true identity. The modeling and the character design were fine but the gameplay and animation is something I really need more experience in, along with many other aspects of game design. So in the meantime, I'm going to work on smaller stuff as a means of expression and to hone the skills that really need it

My story gradually gets more complex as they go on. The first comic is literally just explaining how the world works and what the overall goal is.

It's supposed to span multiple universes, and there's a grand war that's broken out that the main character must find a way to resolve. So, how do I make any of this crap make any semblance of sense?

The first comic is a creation myth. Literally like the Greek epics. It explains how this "Omniverse" works, how it was made, and why a war is going on.

Basically, it explains that dark matter people came from nothingness and created the Tree of Light (the Omniverse). These dark people, known as Anomalies, see themselves as above the Mortals, or the people of light.

One day, however, a Mortal falls in love with an Anomaly, and they create a half-mortal-half-anomaly being known as the Archangel of Darkness. Basically he defends the Mortal realm from Anomalies as well as prevent the Mortals from thinking themselves so high and mighty as to kill their Gods.

But eventually, in the year 2100, a Mortal army known as the Royal Regiment kills the Archangel, splitting it into three parts: the most powerful Mortal soul in the Omniverse, the fractured vessel of an Anomaly, and a six-piece plate known as the Monadic Heart.

Now, the Anomalies are trying to prevent the Mortals from finding the Monadic Heart, as it will unlock the gates to the Edge of the Omniverse, beyond which the Anomaly domain lies. Meanwhile, the Mortals are fighting against each other trying to find the Heart and basically conquer the Omniverse.

But the Vessel and the Soul of the Archangel both remain. Nobody seeks them out, so they found their own way. The Soul implanted itself into a mortal body in order to give it its power. The Vessel, on the other hand, drifted like a jellyfish trying to find its missing pieces.

This is my Issue 0.

Warhammer 40k MFs need to watch this video

Ok I have a question you gotta click “read more” though:

I have a story that exists in a much larger universe I’ve been thinking about for over a year now. However my first story is going to be one of six (maybe short) graphic novels about a small murder mystery within the massive universe. Six might sound like a lot but that also means the first book isn’t gonna have to contain the whole plot and will be a bit simpler than the average graphic novel. My art style is also fairly simple and once I got past the first page I’ve noticed pages have been faster to make since page one was super complex cause it’s the beginning of the story. Should I work on a smaller story first? Or is this a good size to start with?

this stuff just makes me want to quit
I feel like I'll never have the skill to do anything worthwhile

no no no no no no i do work on it a lot buuuuut its getting there ok it is big buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut no

It's like this guy is reading my mind and shoving all of my flaws I never
realized right down my throat but in a nice way... I'm actually spooked on
how much someone gets me, this is such an alien feeling :O

Thank heavens nobody gave this advice to Oda.

Another thing I really want people to talk about it how do you know when a story is just right (Or not too big) in a video game?
Undertale felt pretty large when it first came out, and people have made countless AUs of it.
The countless other story-driven games (Bioshock, Telltale Games, Borderlands, all the other FPS and massive story games) have also done this as well.

I got the advice to start a smaller project for practice, and that I did. Gosh dang, that didn't work. It's now my biggest project. facepalm The little rugrats (characters) just grow like actual freaking children, don't they?!



This advice seems feasible, though. I hope it will work a little better.

This helped sm :) ty

Yes 911, I would like to report a brutal assault on my child.




Eh, I was already planning on having my big story and universe be psegmented into smaller manageable pieces and even side stories that I am already writing.

Haha lol I got no super big story but the world the world

Lol, I felt very called out… XD 
Thank you, though. I really like your videos :D

It’s a Series

I took a Zoom meeting with an LA Screenwriter today... he loved it!

34 hours, no excess fat, sharp as a razor

I hav es 7 others, 90 to 120 pages each.

Wrote 27 Original. Songs for it too.. I’d rather go for the throat

I like Shakespeare’s technique

Just found this after having to restart my outlining process for the hundredth time, which has now entered a new decade 🥺😫

Well, this is the fourth Story Idea I am working on. Since about five years I somehow wanted to execute it. I made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot of things. Its a Project near to my heart. I didnt know how big it would become, but as I am writing the Script for that comic it's getting longer and longer, no end in sight😅 should I be concerned?

LOL, Watch Out for the Creative Hernia !

My story is simple.
(Has 3 literal arcs and POVS)

I realize this video was posted 2 years ago but I would love a more detailed description of “issue 0”

Great advice! ive been thinking too big and should definitely start with smaller projects to build up my skills and experience

I'm proud to say... That's What She Said.

"I'm really proud of you for working on it"
* has been devastatingly discouraged by just about everyone around me for over a decade to the point that my motivation to continue it is in the negatives and I rarely ever finish a drawing of my own characters anymore because hardly anyone at all cares *
"Gee, um, thanks?"

Oh Ho Ho. That’s why I’m willing to wait my entire life for this video game idea.

My story isn't big, it's just long, divided, no sense and strange. I skipped history in school.

Why yes…yes it is. Working on simplifying it greatly. Thank you for your assistance

NO IT’S NOT
*Continues to endlessly world-build*

I’ve been thinking so much lately about how my story seems too complicated and then this pops up, wow

I just want to do a simple 4-6 page mini-comic with a single character interacting with the world around them. Then I am steadily moving up to 8-12; 14-16; 18-20 (or 24) pages and then walk up each time.
So I started a 6 page mini-comic I have a hard time adding dialog but I see the story just not the words. I set a four-part mini-series. each issue getting bigger.

An uncanny accurate description of...me. Well said, great advice.

1000th comment moment 🗿

But it's divided in 6 parts so it's okay‼️🙄

Absolutely correct!
Breaking up the larger story into "phases," working first on the would-be "prequel" establishing the source of one or two important conflicts, redaction which you can revise later on as you've improved on the road, is what I arrived at naturally, and seems to be working.

Me: Woopsie! My bad I...

1000th comment this is a great video :D