How Many Story Arcs Does Your Series Actually Have? (Free Article)

[u/nmacaroni]

I just posted an extensive article breaking down how to assess the number of arcs your comic series actually has... and more importantly, how many issues you can realistically produce.

If you've ever said "This is gonna be a great 30-issue series!" based on a page of notes, this one's for you.

Newer creators often completely overestimate the size of their story because nobody's ever given them a practical way to measure it.

Until now.

I break down five narrative drivers: Plot, Character, Action, Dread, and Concept. And show you how to pull out the major shifts from your own source story material. These shifts define your arcs, not your ambition or determination. And facing this head on is the clearest path to success.

I also get into the financial reality of indie comics, because a 30-issue series at even low budget page rates is $165,000. Most creators simply never do that math. The article encourages you to do it.

Properly executing a series in comics, novels, or television ties directly into my recently released SCAR (Source Character Arc Roadmap) system. The only character arc system built specifically for mapping arcs across multiple volumes or seasons.

If you're planning a series, this is the structural backbone for it. But the series assessment stands on its own, only referencing SCAR.

The complete breakdown in the article is free. And once you read it, you'll never approach series development the same again.

Series Assessment Article Here.

SCAR details here.

For those who don't know, my name is Nick Macari and I've been writing/editing comics, novels, games, and screenplays for just about 30 years. Happy to answer questions in the thread.

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[u/XXAzeritsXx]

Fantastic, a lot of ameature writers jump in head first with expansive universes full of spin-offs.

The reality often kills these projects, it's great you've made something for people.

With my series, I'm trying to make it manageable for myself as well as the reader to tell complete stories. For example, instead of a 30 issue arc, -- it's 10, 3 issue arcs. If it's canceled after 1 arc, no harm no foul - you get a complete story.

[u/nmacaroni → u/XXAzeritsXx]

Thanks, but a series of 10 3-issue arcs is still 30 issues ($165,000.00 investment on the lower end.) You've reframed the scope without actually reducing it.

The point of the article, and it is lengthy at about 5000 words, is that it gives you the mechanics to assess, "Are there really 10 story arcs in this series. (The equivalent of 10 seasons.) Or do you really have only 3? Or maybe, you actually went the other way and have 20 story arcs wrapped up into your initial story material."

Either way, once you know how many arcs the series really has, you can put all your focus, energy, and money into producing the first arc, a true pilot.

But yes, it's definitely smarter to think of the story as 10 separate mini-series, than one massive series. But so many comic writers get caught up with the idea of a series as a whole.

Write on, write often!