Oops... The Curse of Complexity
Thankfully, The Lump Sum Saga has readers who are in to heavy lifting!
As a newcomer to anything, sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know, and comics are no exception. What has become clearer to me now is that The Lump Sum Saga may be too complex, but not in the way that you might first think.
As storytellers, we are encouraged to consider the complexity of our characters' arcs, the complexity of the plot arc, and the intersection of the two.1 With just a basic plot and a simplistic character arc, there isn’t much there for the reader. You can have a simple plot if the character arc is complex and engaging. A complex story arc with relatively simple character arcs can also work. (I’d argue that best ensemble cast stories fall into this camp).
We are warned to avoid stories with complex character arcs and complex story arcs. Having both can leave readers confused. If The Lump Sum Saga ultimately turns out the way I intend, it will fit firmly in this category. I knew this setting out and frankly didn’t care. This is a saga, after all. My ideal reader “avatar” is a grade 7 student in a gifted class who thinks they are already an adult. I used to teach those kids, and they read Tolkien and Heinlein over the weekend. I wanted TLSS to be interesting for the reader who enjoys learning Klingon or pouring over the codes and maps in the back of the book as much as they enjoy reading the story. So complex, yes. Don’t care. That’s intentional and is, frankly, one of the reasons I’ve never pitched TLSS to a publisher. It’s just not a traditional story.
The actual complexity trap I set for myself revolves around the series' structure. From a publishing and marketing perspective, it’s a bit of a gong show. Have a look at the figure below.
The blue and orange rectangles represent chapters of the saga—specifically, blue means the story in that chapter happens on Earth and orange on the alien world “Home.” From a trade paperback collection perspective, this is not terribly complex.
No, the trap I set for myself revolves around how I have set up the titles for the individual issues. Inside, the chapters add to the TLSS timeline. But within that timeline, the intention is to have sets of complete story arcs, ranging from one to five issues that relate to a specific character. The closest example to what I am planning is 100 Bullets, but here is the deal… Every issue of 100 Bullets is called 100 Bullets. While my intention was to make it easier for collectors and readers to find complete story arcs (“I am looking for every issue of “SOL3”), explicitly naming the arcs adds complexity. For example, is it a cheat to refer to our next issue as “Lump Dog #1?” Or is it “The Lump Sum Saga #2?” Or given that the first issue of The Lump Sum Saga was a prologue, should it have been TLSS issue “0.” It’s complicated, and sadly, it is a non-trivial issue as sales of #1’s tend to outsell other issues in a series.
My elevator pitch stays the same: “Think Spider-Man if the spider had a story and the protagonist either loses their powers or dies after one to five issues. It’s a bit like 100 Bullets but with alien technology.” Oh yeah, simultaneously, there is a through-line story that takes place on an alien planet. And did I mention that a dog shows up throughout The Lump Sum Saga? Or that there is an alien tracker who is actually working symbiotically with an alien? She shows up a lot too.
So yeah, it’s complex. I hope to write this saga for years, but ultimately, the fans will decide whether I messed up and introduced a fatal flaw from the beginning or if I’ve created something innovative that they love.
In Need of a Few Good Button Pushers
The launch of the Kickstarter for “Lump Dog” is rapidly approaching. We launch on April 9th, and you can help! Take a moment right now to click the “Notify me on launch” button on the pre-launch page. Whether you plan to back the campaign or simply want to follow along, pushing that button will help the campaign get off to a good start and please the algorithms. Getting the first 10 people to follow is super important to the marketing of the campaign, so thank you in advance for helping out! Visit LumpDog.com.
T minus 12: Lump Dog Launch Journal
During the Lump Dog crowdfunding campaign, I am recording a journal of my activities each day. The goal is to have a record of what I did so I have something to refer to when I do my next campaign. Hopefully, this will also give you ideas for your own campaigns.
Recent tasks
Created unique KS referral links.
Sent team bios out for revision.
Created cover JPGs from EPS original for use in Canva
Created a video ad for Instagram and sent it for review
Important resources
ComixLaunch Pro promotion module
Tools used
Scrivener
Microsoft Word
Canva
Descript
Adobe Photoshop
Apple Preview
Adobe Premiere
Next up
Set up Backerkit Launch
Work on the Kickstarter page video
Promote pre-launch page in important discord servers, etc.
In the queue
Lenticular cover images
Bio updates
Snapshot (What I’m currently monitoring)
Pre-launch page followers: 6
Instagram ad spend: $5.06 CDN for 19 clicks
Credit where credit is due: Brian Bendis recently reminded us of this concept on the Jinxworld Discord server. If you are not already a subscriber at Jinxworld.com, you are missing out!
Oh MAN. You have quite a unique target demographic, lol.
This is definitely a unique, and yes, VERY COMPLEX, idea to execute. Have you considered using 'TLSS' as an overarching title for each issue, with a subtitle, like 'LUMP DOG' and SOL 3,' for each issue?
I'm fascinated by it all, regardless, and wish you the best!