Just replying to this.
Can't you do all that in a day?
No, since I have school, parties, girls, friends, relaxed illustrating, music playing, my band and breaks from those duties to attend to. And drawing comics is fun to me, but I really put my thought into my comics, so it's not really breaks. I am actually contributing quite a lot to DYOS comparing it to how much time I have.
Since when does a long lasting elaborate plot matter? I seriously lost track of it months ago. It was only that there was a single plot coupon that I bothered to keep up and I even didn't know what it did and I still don't.
Well, it matters to me. Actually, I'm investing quite a lot of work and time to build up tension in my current plot - like, currently, we have been presented to three characters in total for a duration of four (Or was it five?) comics, where I have slowed down the pace considerably in order to create an environment, and before anything else, describe the individual characters, how they interact, etc. Fx., what is your impression of the hat-wearing girl compared to the girl with the same eyes as Lord Joakim? Whom do you trust more, or less? Aren't you looking forward to see wherever the hat-wearing girl is taking Joakim? I have planned this out, and I am very excited about what you'll all think about the longer plot that I've planned and created - although not drawn yet. Currently, I'm doing a prologue, or at least trying to.
Man, what a lot of rambling, I actually bored myself from dry speech. We need some smileys now.
How am I making them irrelevant this time? All I did was blow up a building that happened to be in Japan. I know this isn't The Styles Show, but all I can really do is pursue my own storyline, because anything I do to interact with your people will end up with you calling it powergaming.
I don't think you interacting with us is a bad idea - the problem is that from time to time, your interacting ends up in some kind of spoiling of a mood, or something else. Blowing up a random building unnecessarily, fx, might be amusing to some, but to me, I actually consider it irrelevant to the plot if anything, and is mostly a nuisance of anything. Don't feel mocked that way though. It was, fx., a great interaction when there was that huge rebellion of Pre-Stylesrj avatars against the SAC that ended up in a great war. Bravo!
You just have to use a little better timing, some consideration what you do. Currently, I have no need to interact with anyone, therefore I don't. And do, again, remember that I'm trying to critisize in a friendly manner - I
like you as a contributor, as the Stylesrj rebellion was one of the good and important plots I've followed in my short time in here.
A thing you could do, though, was to include yourself somehow in a fight against Kwai - just shooting beams at cities that CivGeneral controls is usually taken as a bother. You could potentially have Kwai try to ally with the Space Nazis in order to secure The Gem? You could try to desperately align with evil in order to save Thunderfall due to a completely random shooting at him, ending up in you being a giant meat blob in space because you awoke an ancient artifact with its accurate powers currently unknown, resulting in an Indiana Jones-y treasure hunt and you being
sincerely pleased when people say they like your ideas and plot twists - oh that was me.
But more seriously, being creative is good, being constructive is better. Things like blowing up Earth, fx, is too massive.
More smileys coming up.
Now, I'd like to take a look at some considerations you could do.
I'll create a plot twist at random.
I'll take your character, Dostya, that I've understood is some kind of subtle sneaky kind of character, while still being an advisor to Stylesrj. The purpose of this plot twist would be to be more intervened in the main plot. Let's start out with the simple things. We need a purpose of the plot twist, and a theme.
lj's "Dostya Intervenes" Plot Twist
Purpose of plot twist: I want to increase the amount of interaction in between CivGeneral's and my plot.
Theme of plot twist: Hmm, he's in space, like most people, so I'll do the space thing.
Now, to brainstorm. Dostya can fly a space shuttle, can't she? Well, let's say she sits in a space station, and she is - let's say - at war with CivGeneral's space empire, or let's just say he has one if I misunderstood something. She wants to do some damage to CivGeneral. How can she do that?
Further random thoughts: An idea could be to spot a space station of CivGeneral. The obvious thing is to blow it up. That's pretty simple to boot. The problem is, though, that then the whole thing isn't interaction - it's just too random, it's too unimportant on a larger scale, and still if CivGeneral has to interfere with it, it's... just not constructive. So, we need another idea.
The new idea: Dostya is stealthy and smart, isn't she? Well, instead of, say, shooting a huge laser at CivGeneral's space station and blowing it up, let's say that she needs something inside it. Not the Gem of course - too important, like blowing up Earth in plot terms. Let's say... A data disc. A data disc is good for plot purposes, since its insides are concealed, and it's usually important or has useful information. So she won't blow up the space ship. She'll
infiltrate it. Infiltration is always good in plots btw, as you're usually surrounded by enemies, so it'll be exciting per default.
So, how to build this? I think the best way is to make three comics - one with Dostya leaving for CivGeneral's space ship, one with the actual theft, and one with her leaving the ship. That's a pretty decent setup, and people will be excited. This way, you'll also get to explain the plot with the first comic, then fulfill with the second and third comic; also, you can leave a cliffhanger in between the second and third (Classic cliffhanger being the alarm going off after Dostya steals the data disc). So, let's write something more concrete.
Comic One: Dostya sits in her space station. She speaks with an officer about something important that she needs to get - and the information about that thing is in the data disc. The officer gives her a special item inside her bag and lets her off. She then leaves in a small stealth shuttle for CivGeneral's space station, in which the data disc is present.
Comic Two: Dostya flies in cloaked form onto the top of the space station - note that the cloak field has to have weaknesses, fx it could fail whenever getting too close to electronic systems. Let's go with that. She opens the roof somehow or at least gets into the hallways, sneaks past some guards with an inserted pun, and finds the main computer, in which the data disc is inserted. She takes the disc, but since she is close to an electronic system, her cloaking field doesn't work and she is discovered by a guard, who yells and raises the alarm. Then out of a sudden several SWAT-like guards drop down from the ceiling in ropes and are surrounding Dostya.
Cliffhanger!
Comic Three: Guards yell at Dostya about her requiring to surrender. She doesn't say anything but thinks in thought bubbles "How am I supposed to get out of this?", then realizes that the officer from her own space station gave her a special item - taking it out of the bag, she sees it's a smoke ball. She throws it, a loud bang and lots of smoke, and she escapes the room with gunshots firing everywhere. She runs through the halls with lasers and traps and blahblah before finally getting back to her space ship and flying back into space.
What's good about this plot: Data discs are good for you. It has information, and is hidden, like a treasure chest or whatever. Hidden treasures are good for you. Stealing that data disc could lead to CivGeneral
a) missing that data disc made him unable to locate X or find out about X because the information was missing or
b) that data disc had the information about the whereabouts of X that Dostya wanted, one same thing CivGeneral didn't want to lose. Of the two, the former is probably the better thing, especially as it allows for more plot play on both sides.
What requires for the plot to succeed: Interestingly, a plot like this doesn't really require that much work from your side in order to get CivGeneral to respond plot-wisely. You just have to draw a decent comic. However, in order to have the required response, it's actually on CivGeneral's or Thorvald's shoulders, they have to accept that comic as canon and play on it. Like when I went to Arrakis on a mysterious trip - eventually, everybody played along because the plot twist was mysterious and allowed for responses. Also, again, hidden treasures are good for you.
I hope this was helpful! Remember, I did this for your help, since I don't like people yelling at you either.