Idea Becomes Story

Sometimes, you get really lucky. If you’re open to it, an idea will just pop into your head. I remember this one vividly. It happened in the summer of 2012. I was sitting behind my computer, working on a WordPress theme. While I was typing up some CSS, my mind started wandering. I was in a flow state, daydreaming. The idea went something like this:

“Time travel might not be possible. Matter can only exist in its current state and time. But what if data could be malleable and show up anywhere, anytime?”

That initial idea got me thinking about sending emails to my past self. What would we talk about? What would I change? And if things did change, would I even notice?

I kept this idea in a notes file for ages, but it never really took off. I liked the idea, but it wasn’t a story. And an idea that doesn’t tell a story is pretty useless. Two of my favorite writers, Stephen King and Mark Waid, have said this a million times.

Around three years ago, I was inspired to write a blog post about time travel. I asked people, What kind of time traveler are you? Would you go to the past or the future? The answer you gave would tell me a lot about you and how comfortable you are with your choices in life.

The blog post sparked a lot of discussion, but I didn’t feel like including a side note about emails from the future. I still thought the idea deserved more attention. So, I put it aside and waited for it to grow into a story.

And grow it did! In May of last year, the story finally came to life while I was on a road trip. Once it started getting traction, I had to decide how I wanted to tell it.

I’ve shared many stories in various mediums over the years, but I’ve never made a comic book myself. A friend recently self-published an ongoing story on Webtoon, and I was really drawn to the idea of releasing episodes digitally.

So, here’s what I did to make sure I actually finished what I started:

• I wrote five episodes without any distractions.
• I drew thumbnails for all five episodes.
• I decided to focus on this project alone, without any interruptions.
• I organized the remaining tasks on a Trello board, listing out all the pencils, inks, colors, and processing for each episode.
• I worked through one episode at a time until it was completely done.
• I created all the assets for a Webtoon account and uploaded all the episodes at once.

Now, here’s the exciting part: each of the five episodes is queued up to release every Wednesday at 4 p.m. until the story ends. I can’t wait to share more about it when it’s finished, but until then, no spoilers from me! Check it out on Webtoon.