Nuki News #13 - A story worth telling?

Here’s some concepts and art of….yeah, you guessed it, another story I have. I even had help from my dear friend Imagine Ink in writing the first chapter for it- all this was drawn in 2018. You know how it goes - you get side tracked, doubt yourself, and then don’t execute on the next step. But I think it’s finally time I try to dissect and tackle where I’m going wrong. If you’ve ever had story ideas you wanted to tell but also failed to follow through, buckle up, it’s a bit of a long one! 

Why does this happen? I have a story idea and characters I love, I want to share it, but… damn, it’s not being made! I wager it’s putting huge expectations on myself and I end up not being able to deliver out of intimidation of what to do for the next step. And right now, given why I want to do art, especially for the furry community, I do have to ask WHY I want to tell a particular story. Does it align or fit with my ultimate goals, for it to be worth putting in that time? What is it going to do for my career?

Here’s a link to my previous post showing a DIFFERENT story concept I had: 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/34320040

I have about 4-5 of these sort of stories going on in my brain over the last decade or so. I've had many more, but I've weeded and whittled them down to just a few. They’re ever evolving and  are largely unwritten(I hate the process of writing, building settings, etc). I have my own sentimental investment in all of them for one reason or another. I feel emotional over the characters in my head and what happens to them. I have a playlist of music that relates to major scenes and plot developments that can even bring me to tears.

It’s likely most of these stories just come from an amalgamation of some media I consumed, as well as situations in my life I live out through these characters in a fantastical, fictional, extrapolated way. Some of them are probably just a coping mechanism, some hardship going in my life gets me to escape to a story in my head of characters who can relate to my plight, or have it worse. So it doesn’t mean telling them would fit my goals for my life, and that’s why I haven’t directly pursued them. I suppose you could say I try to see how long they stand the test of time in my imagination chambers.

So, what, give up on telling stories, simply because they don’t meet some mystical goal for my life? For me, personally, I have to say so. I had a Pokemon Fan comic that I worked on for 5 years, uploading a page a week. But after that 5th year, I realized it wasn’t pushing the needle and even if I saw it through to the end, there probably could have been other projects I could pursue to get my skills up, and get more out of. 

At first, I thought this just meant the project I work on needed to not be related to an existing Intellectual Property(so no Pokemon, OCs only). That in mind, I went off to make a 65 page graphic novel. I had the goal to just get it done, and then get it printed. In 10 months I’d managed to finish it, and then...nope. I didn’t get it printed, or anything. I just kinda let it sit and burn a hole in a thumbdrive. I didn’t like it. At all. Even now, I don’t think it was very good, and more of a reflection of who I was at the time. But, I was satisfied that I completed it, and it’s not like I didn’t improve my drawing and comicking skills by making it, so I wouldn’t call it a waste of time. But it showed me I do have the dedication and discipline it takes, I just need to apply it to a project I do believe in. 

With these I’ve shown you above, one is sci-fi-ish, one is fantasy, but I think….both may just be me adapting hardships or situations in my life into these stories, contextualized by something I was watching or playing(Nier Automata, or Final Fantasy, etc). It’s not like I wouldn’t like to tell them- I’d LOVE to have these stories be completed, tangible things for people to read or experience! The fact I haven’t made any progress on these stories kinda hurts my soul, too, especially when I’ve talked about them with friends, in a way I let them down.

So, what would be a story worth telling? To answer that, you and I need to ask ourselves why a story would be good enough to tell. For me, I have to ask, does this story encourage people to be closer, or intimate or physically affectionate? Will it satisfy a viewer/reader’s own desires to have affection or express affection toward others? Now that I’m literally asking myself as I write this...the answer is...perhaps it could? Maybe, instead of me working for the story, I have the story...work for me!

I can shift the story to tell the things I want to share with the world. Now, it doesn’t mean I intend to force any fetish stuff into these stories. I don’t like it when movies or shows do that stuff, so why would I force it into mine? But what I do mean is to shift the focus away from what initially a story seemed to be about(fighting monsters and looking badass) to something more in line with the message I feel inside that needs to be spread. So a relationship of a mother who wants a better life for her son, or a mentor helping a child cope with the difficult world around them.

If I think of these stories like that, then, it just makes sense for me to pursue them, doesn’t it? I hope this opens your mind to maybe what could have been holding you back from taking the next step with your own stories. I can’t promise you’ll see me taking direct action just yet on any story projects, but I think my first hurdle is figuring out which one makes the most sense to start with first!