Thread by @GailSimone

Okay, I opened my mouth and said everyone should be making comics if that is their goal. So I have a couple things you might consider, just from what I have experienced. Ignore this thread if you like!

First, get something completed. It is a rare person new to comics who can make a full OGN happen. Start smaller. A smaller story has fewer places to hide, and thus is better practice, anyway.

Every item you COMPLETE will change you for the better, I promise. If you finish a ten page story, you will have learned a metric ton of information about what NOT to do next time. But it only works if you FINISH things.

A work someone sees is a story. A work no one sees is a journal.

Show your work. Everyone knows it won't be perfect. SHOW YOUR WORK.

And if you work with a partner, try to find not only YOUR passion, but their passion, as well. If your artist hates drawing tech and you write a robot dystopia, you made the hurdle much higher for no reason. ASK WHAT THEY LIKE.

Once you have got a thing, put it out. You won't START writing Batman for DC or Luke for Disney. You will start with a smaller thing.
Make that thing the best small thing you can. Put everything you can into it.
Be PROUD of it.

And then, put it out there. Put it on the web, offer it to small publishers, whatever, put it out there. Nothing matters if no one sees it.
You won't get the best pay or the best deal, maybe. But this is Step One and you are looking at Step Two already, right?

I wrote my column at nights and on weekends after working 60 hours in my salon. First I was paid nothing, then I was paid pennies.
But editors and pros read it and I got drafted and it changed my life forever.
Would not have happened without people reading my column.

Then the big one. You WILL **** up. You WILL make mistakes. You will mess up files, you will forget plot elements, you will underestimate the cost of postage by a huge margin...you will screw up.
The question is, what do you do after?

Nearly every truly successful pro I know has a "Oh, man, I ****ed up bad" story. But they treated it as a lesson and moved on. You will mess up, too. Do not let it encase you in cement. You need to actually find some JOY in learning a lesson, because it will serve you FOREVER.

Get your work seen. Then, learn that for good reason, wrong reason, or no reason at all, some people will hate it. Do not be that creator that lives or dies by negative commentary. You have enough obstacles in the way without being your own WORST one.

I used to actually follow negative commentators and argue with them on their forums. I cannot imagine a douchier behavior than that, and I still see pros doing it all the time. It's embarrassing. STOP.

If you can't be gracious, fine, just ignore it. But remember, you win, even if someone hated it. You created the thing, you imagined it and brought it to life. You took the shot.
GOOD ON YOU. Keep that in your pocket. It means something.

There will be a million little technical questions. The answers are out there. Read @jimzub's incredibly generous thoughts on these matters on his webpage, he has laid out a TON of useful info for newbies.

So, it seems hugely complicated. But there's some core stuff, here.
1) Create a thing you believe in
2) Make that thing a reality
3) Show it to the world
4) Repeat

You can hate my comics, hate my guts, I don't care, I still think there's a place for you in comics. I hope this little list helps some folks make their own. And I will most definitely buy them. :)
As a last thought, I am going to give a bit of advice from my Wonder Woman run...

Keep faith
Trust to love
Fight with honor...
...but fight to WIN.

That's it. Good luck!

Remember, SMALL ACHIEVABLE GOALS until you really get crackin'.

You can do this!