Need Opinions....

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So I have been wanting to do a fanfic for a while now, but for some reason I don't believe many people will read just another fanfic. I mean I'm sure some people will, but I would much rather it get even more attention and recognition since I will be putting quite a bit of work into it.

I recently got a Wacom tablet and am considering making my own fan manga based on the same story I want to do my fanfic on.


I haven't read much Dragon Ball fanfic, but I'm sure the story I am going to do has been done plenty of times. It will start off taking place after Goku and Frieza's battle on Namek. Except it will play out as more of a "What if?" because in this alternate version of the story Goku died with Namek's expolosion. Trunks will still come and warn about the androids and stuff, but now Gohan becomes the star and even Vegeta get's a little shine. I also plan on keeping the other Z-Warriors in the picture a little more than Toryiama did. I atleast want to go up to the Cell arc and incorporate movie villans, giving them larger roles in the series. I also of course want to introduce other characters and dive deeper into Vegeta's past.


So my question to you is, should I do the fanfic first and if people like it make the fan manga, or just go all out with the manga and if it catches on continue? Also as far as my artistic ability, while not quite on the level of Toryiama, I would say I am still pretty good.

[Metrite]

I'd say to see what people think, first. Personally, I'm not too interested in rehashes. Original stories and ideas are far more interesting in my opinion. And it sounds like another impossible case seeing as how having Goku die on Namek wouldn't change anything. They figured out how to bring him back, which is just what they would've done had it not turned out he was still alive.

[Big Momma]

I've actually never heard of this idea before, so it's definitely got originality in my book.

I'm not a big fan of text fanfics, but I'll definitely check it out if you decide to make it.

[Kaboom]

I'd say if you're not completely confident in both your art AND your writing skills, I'd say go with just one of them first. I recommend doing a fanfic. It's already a lot to keep up with; with something of the length and depth you've described, you'd probably be better off not trying to draw it AND write it.

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Yeah I have more confidence in my writing than my drawing ability, although I think I have raw drawing talent, but haven't taken more than your average High School art class and drawing class.

I was just wondering what people found to be more appealing to them as far as these things go. Because I myself find it very hard to consistently read a normal text based fanfic.

Also as for the story, I'd find some sort of a plot twist to keep Goku out of it.

[Big Momma]

^
I'm sure people can enjoy a written fanfic as long as it's written with proper spelling/etc. and in a non-confusing format.

I'd say if you're not completely confident in both your art AND your writing skills, I'd say go with just one of them first. I recommend doing a fanfic. It's already a lot to keep up with; with something of the length and depth you've described, you'd probably be better off not trying to draw it AND write it.

He's right. And, IMO, it's a lot easier to WRITE it out than DRAW it out. It's not near as time consuming. I draw a fan comic, and it's very time consuming. Depending on how clean you want it to be online, you'll have to scan it into your computer, clean it up a bit, possibly color it, and host all the pages(Most people don't like downloading a single .zip file).

Compared to just writing it, checking for spelling/grammar, and just putting it up.

I'm not saying either are easy, but if you're just starting off, I'd definitely write it..at least for now.

[$]

Yeah... it is a quite a bit of work to draw it out, but I don't know written fics still seem boring to me.. maybe write it out and have illustrations for some parts.

For me drawing it should be a little easier because of the Wacom pad I can literally draw it into my compuer instead of having to scan it etc. etc.

[caejones]

First, some anecdotes:

If my memory serves me correctly, my first involvement with DBZ fanfiction was a written (well, brailled... but I did the cover d... oh, later) adaptation of a dream that I had (I'm not repeating the whole history thing, as I've done that about a dozen times now... but the 'dream' concluded with an obvious plot continuation in mind).
I did eventually make more of these in the same continuity (inconsistencies with names and stuff, but eh), but I think those came after I tried animating them (meaning, Spider-man Cartoon Maker cartoons. XD), and I started an illustrations book of the first one, but I gave up halfway through... I think I just got bored trying to draw characters and make it look like stuff was happening. XD.
Now, I didn't actually share these with anyone (the illustrations were really useless without the text, and the people I knew that could read them weren't into DBZ...), but I did have a notetaker I used at school that reads things aloud, so after a while I wound up trying to manipulate it into "acting" out the story, and since that was a lot easier to share with DB fans ("Oh, I'm listening to something DBZ related in my totally allowed in class headphones... check it out?"), those lasted a while...
Ur, but they also sucked. But anyway...

I wound up starting the animated projects over once I had access to a computer with better memory and a microphone. Still, never showed anyone, and the harddrive was wiped, so ...
Then I made action figure movies; Effectively about 5 or 6 hours of stuff spanning quite some months... and the story was reworked to go with what I had to work with.
Then I found fanfiction online, and effectively wrote text versions of the movies (with some improvements, but still...).
... Really, though... I don't think anyone's actually read all of that version, except maybe one or two people. XD. (Note that I didn't advertise much of this, whereas you seem to be hoping to make something of enough quality that more people would take interest).

Well, ok, so I should have mentioned (since I can't expect everyone here to know ust because) that my vision was limited throughout all of this (but got much worse after the action figure movies were finished), so not only do I tollerate text well, but am nigh completely left out of most webcomics since the text is part of the images (Toyble's AF being an exception, since the translations are posted as new pages come out. *throws giftcards of gratitude to Herms and Tatsunoboshi Haroko*).
Though something like Power Rangers: Take Flight works really well for me at least (I'm going to suggest not writing in script format, though); the screenplays are all text, but there are plenty os included where appropriate. (That works well in this case mostly because it's an adaptation of a Sentai series, so there is footage to work with around which the storyline is built... in a general fanfiction context, such could be impractical, but I think it'd be pretty cool; it wouldn't be pure text (for those of us who like to see violence rather than read it), but you wouldn't have to work quite as hard to make sure that the text and the images fit together perfectly all the time (One of the difficulties of doing a pure comic that has been mentioned several times already). Oh, and I could read it. because if the story is compelling enough and I don't forget/get lost/die, I probably would want to. ).

Actually, the "combination of techniques" thing is something I've considered doing, but probably won't since I've got bigger things I'd rather do first... (some differences, of course; for instance, I was considering including links to background music and stuff throughout, but I get the feeling that'd be a bad idea. XD. I've done stuff like that with games, though, mainly set in Javascript (Oy...); since graphics are kinda difficult, but I mostly mastered JS sound, I've made a few JS games that involve text and audio (and a few graphical effects, even though real pictures are lacking).).

^ As you may have noticed, I type too much.
... Yeah. The "Text fic with occasional goodies (like images) thrown in" idea sounds nice to me!
(Psst: PR / Sentai fans, I recommend the link up there. ^_^.)

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I've decided to go with the manga.. So I'm probably gonna need to get a site up and running and what not then I should start posting it as the story progresses. If there seems to be quite a bit of interest I shall continue..

Story will start with Goku's death and everyone's reaction to it. Goku will be gone forever at this point because he was not murdered, but died from a natural cause and therefore cannot be wished back to life. (Natural disaster I.E. Planet exploding) However the grieving will not last long because Future Trunks will then show up along with Cyborg Freeza. A shocked Vegeta, who was originally in disbelief that Goku became a Super Saiyan and proud to once again be the strongest in the universe, goes off to train after seeing Trunks transform. Not to prepare for the Androids that Trunks warns them about, but to suprass Trunks.

Gohan begins training with Piccolo (who plays somewhat of a father figure to Gohan now), Krillin, and Yamcha. Tien goes off on his own to focus on his training and also learn more about his race of three eyed people. Over the 3 year period of training a few challenges arise including, Garlic Jr., Cooler, and an early visit from... ANDROIDS? That's right, but not the one Trunks warned the Z-Senshi about.

Anyways I'll keep you guys updated. With Christmas break on the horizon I hope to atleast get this project off the ground during that time..