Update from Roux
25th May 2018, 5:03 PM
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All excitement aside, I will admit I'm a bit sad we won't be seeing more TW@WC any time soon. But I think you're making all the right decisions--this is your life and you should only do things that make you happy. And I know what you mean about "outgrowing" a story for the lack of a better term. PA has been with me since 2000, back in high school as well, and it's had to morph as I've changed in order to keep me going. I will admit it gets harder to capture some of the themes and emotions I so badly wanted to portray from my HS self that I feel it's slipping away as I get older :( But as you mentioned with the medium you chose, one down side to webcomics is that it takes us so long to do. But when you have a story that just won't go away, you know it's a story you've just gotta tell. And it sounds like you've had this other idea for quite some time :)
You are a very good story teller, so I'm excited to see what you've got in store!
LeRenardRoux on 25th May 2018, 11:14 PM
I haven't settled on a name yet, although I think I'm close. I can say that it's a sci-fi comic, the art style lands somewhere between TW@WC and Ten Tailors, and I hope to have it started by fall of this year!
Wow, that is a long time sticking with your story! I've gotten used to the idea of seeing artistic growth, but to see the storytelling growth and maturity in someone's work is so much subtler. I can't say I've ever noticed that in PA as a reader, but it's good to know another writer feels it. Do you have a full story mapped out, or do you plan for the next story arc or so? And if you do have the full plan, do you think that's helped keep you going?
And yes, I've stuck with PA a while, but even the oldest pages on CF date only back to 2010--I've rebooted it 3 or 4 times XD PA was actually written as a book originally, so yes I have all the major events plotted out but I definitely let the details stay flexible as I keep revising. ^_^ The only part I never actually wrote and will still want to redo one day is the beginning chapter--I've never found a start I'm happy with! Long story short, yes, I do think it helps me keep going, because I have a complete story in my mind that I want to tell, with a specific message and resolution.
LeRenardRoux on 25th May 2018, 11:18 PM
I'm going to play it close to the vest for a little longer, but I will say that it's a sci fi comic aaand I can't resist saying that it ties in pretty nicely to some interests of yours. XD
LeRenardRoux on 25th May 2018, 11:24 PM
Ah, you're almost making me tear up here! It's definitely the characters that keep calling me back, and it means so much to hear that you enjoy them. I'll always be keeping it in the back of my brain and figuring out what I can do with them. <3
RESPECT: means...speak for yourself
another one bites the dust
I appreciate you including this question. Frankly, the percentage of fantasy webcomics which have gone on permanent hiatus is well over 50% - probably closer to 90%...I'm tempted to make a list and have a blog: an online cemetery for fantasy comics I've loved and followed for years, only to see them discontinued - and usually for the same exact reasons that you've given. Therefore...understandable. Nonetheless, extraordinarily disappointing. In particular in cases where I really enjoyed both the writing and the art, like with TW@WC.
I'm grateful for the unbelievable efforts of webcomic creators, and I have supported many kickstarters, purchased t-shirts and other merch, and even attended 2 comicons, though my fantasy comic creators are never there, when I happen to be stateside in Tucson. But I'm HONEST. I'm NOT a sycophant. AND HONESTY DICTATES that this is a moment of mourning. SO I am not going to praise your goddess like qualities, even if I might read what you do next bc you're very talented, despite my wariness of your trustworthiness. Rather, I am going to state the G-d's honest truth - THIS SUCKS.
https://youtu.be/rY0WxgSXdEE
LeRenardRoux on 29th May 2018, 10:09 PM
LeRenardRoux on 22nd Jul 2018, 8:04 PM
LeRenardRoux on 25th May 2018, 5:03 PM
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TLDR; I am discontinuing The Wolf at Weston Court and Ten Tailors indefinitely and have begun a new comic project. I love you all.
I’m going to format this as a Q&A or interview, these aren’t questions anyone else has asked me and I’m not putting them in anyone’s mouth. Honestly, they’re all questions I actually had to ask myself as I worked through this decision.
Discontinuing both Weston Court comics? But why?
It really all boils down to this: I just don’t have the heart for this story any more. I’ve been posting TW@WC online for almost five years, but it’s been an idea that I’ve been working with for ten. I was a teenager when I first created Loup and now I’m getting concerningly close to thirty. To say I’ve outgrown it is something of a simplification, and doesn’t mean I consider it a childish project, but I’m a different person than when I started it.
That’s such a long time to just give up on something!
I know! And that’s why I haven’t just given up. On the one hand, I’ve put a lot of thought into this for a long time. In fact I think I was running on empty for the last few months that I was posting, and that I was enjoying it less than I wanted to believe. I really tried to force myself to keep going, but in the end if it’s not making me happy, not making me money, and not otherwise making good use of my time it’s going to fall off the table whether I decide it or not. I think that’s just life. On the other hand, I’ll never put that last nail in the coffin by saying “I will never continue TW@WC.” I will say that a theoretical revisit to this story would probably be some kind of prose rather than a comic, that it would involve revamping or deleting some of the plot points you’ve already seen, and that it would not happen for years.
But closure!
Oh, how I would love closure on this story! That’s one of the things that’s killing me. I don’t know what happens next, let alone how it ends. I could keep making it up as I go, introducing unrealistic and convoluted plot devices to finish as quickly as possible, but it’s unlikely that the story would reach a satisfying ending that way. And if the ending is unsatisfying, will that really be closure?
But Roux, the readers don’t care if the story is full of plot holes and makes no sense. They still want to read it!
I don’t entirely believe this, but even if it were true, I don’t want to write a story like that! Before I even began creating TW@WC I considered myself a storyteller first and a comic artist second. I chose this medium because it’s accessible, chiefly. The thing that’s been discouraging was knowing I was stuck with a story I couldn’t finish right and that would take years to finish wrong. I want to spend my time making the best things I can make! And I believe that’s what readers really deserve from creators.
But what will you do if you’re not making TW@WC?
I’m serious about these being questions I ask myself, and this one was a big one. I’d been drawing charts and bullet lists and writing paragraph after summary paragraph trying to come up with that Holy Grail satisfying ending that has eluded my for so long. And I debated internally whether I should just quit, and I asked myself that question: But if I quit what else would I do?
And the answer came so easily. I would make that other story. The one that’s been waiting in the wings for years. The one I get excited about when I let myself think about it. I’d do that.
And honestly, that kind of settled it.
What other story?
Okay, you got me. I didn’t ask myself this question. But, yeah! I’ve had another idea that I’ve been putting off, really since high school, and I think the time has finally come! Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m really glad I made TW@WC first. I’ve learned so much about making comics over the past five years, and I needed to learn a lot of those things before I could execute this idea. One thing I have definitely learned is that I can’t fly by the seat of my pants with storytelling. So I’ve spent the past few months writing a full script, and now I’m having some trustworthy friends and acquaintances review it. It’ll be in pre-production for awhile while I work on the script more and create a buffer, but keep an eye out because it’s on its way!
Okay, but now that you’ve quit on one comic, why should we trust you to finish the next one?
This is a question I take very seriously, and another big reason that I wanted to try to stick it out with TW@WC. But, I think I can make a good case for myself:
1. Remember that I stayed devoted to TW@WC for almost ten years! That’s a long time. I’ve projected that, based on its length, this comic should take me about three years to complete from the time I start drawing pages.
2. I’m pretty confident that if I had a fitting ending planned for TW@WC I would still be dedicated to it at least to some degree. Well, I have the ending planned for this story, and it’s my goal to get there! I know I can achieve the closure that was so frustratingly eluding me with TW@WC, because I’ve literally already written it. Also, I did finish the original story that I had planned for Ten Tailors, and that was one where- you guessed it- I had the end planned from the beginning.
3. This isn’t just a new comic that I’m taking up to replace TW@WC, it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and that I’m really excited to do right. I come up with multiple story ideas a day and promptly forget most of them before the hour is up. Yet this idea has sat patiently waiting for, I think, the entire ten years that I’ve been working on TW@WC. Basically, this idea wants to be made.
Well, I think that gets most of it out there. I know there might be some questions, and I’m happy to talk about this with folks. I’m considering making a short series of videos talking through the things I’ve learned while making TW@WC, mistakes I made, things I saw improvement in, etc. Let me know if that’s something that would interest you and if perhaps that would help the whole closure process. I’ll also post here when I launch my next comic, so you know where to find it. I love you all and appreciate your support and the interest you’ve shown in my crazy ideas! I promise that I never wanted it to go this way, and I hope nobody is too upset by my decision. Thank you all for your time, your patience, and your kindness.
Stay lovely,
Roux <3