When the Scene Keeps on Going

[HDiddy]

Making any type of creative work...comic, video, etc... sometimes requires a level of planning or basically run the risk of something just going non stop without an end in site.  For me I try to keep to my damn scripts but he sometimes shit happens.

Sometimes this ends up being resolved by parts.   Other times just an elongated story.  Curious for the elite creators out there @Oz70NYC, @Trapp, @Xalas, @Texas Pete and others...how you keep yourselves from going off the rails.

LOL!!

[Xalas]

1 hour ago, HDiddy said:

Making any type of creative work...comic, video, etc... sometimes requires a level of planning or basically run the risk of something just going non stop without an end in site.  For me I try to keep to my damn scripts but he sometimes shit happens.

Sometimes this ends up being resolved by parts.   Other times just an elongated story.  Curious for the elite creators out there @Oz70NYC, @Trapp, @Xalas, @Texas Pete and others...how you keep yourselves from going off the rails.

LOL!!

Planning? What planning, all of my stories are freestyle off the top of my head. I guess the only planning is what kind of pose I want to make for the scene/movie and that's it. A idea pop up in my head, and I begin designing my poses based on the idea I have in my head while making the pose. Once the poses are done I just make the movie, I even make up the dialogue as I go XD

[Trapp]

Oh shit man! LOL!

I think I'm the worst person to ask this kind of question because of possibly undiagnosed ADHD and dealing with anxiety. However, I do kinda have a process on how I go about creating my comic books. If it's just a regular gallery, I just take the route everyone takes and just go from start to finish, whatever it is I want to tell. I rarely work on stuff randomly, so here's how I go about it:

Short stories/one-shots: Those are usually inspired by a character for me. I just play around with a certain model and go like "How do I want to see her getting railed next?" Then, either I grab inspiration from poses I like or make my own and start shooting. That's about it. Those are easier to work on (See my After-Party Sluts series for an example) than regular comics, and much faster to produce.

Full comics: These ones are kind of becoming the bane of my existence right now.  If there's a long-form story I want to tell (like CNC Baby or Gravure Love), I want to think of a setting and really delving into the characters beyond how they look and whether or not sex will be in the picture. With Gravure Love it's almost a given that some sort of sexual interaction will occur, as the idea behind that series is your basic Anime harem trope, but I still try to give the girls a unique background, history and personality that makes the world they develop in more alive. On the contrary, CNC Baby so far has been more of an inner monologue with Dani, the main character, and I hope to continue that trend in future issues, but with much more character interaction. The problem with these, for me, is making time to actually have something a little more planned and previously write a "draft" of a "script" (which doesn't really follow that format, but whatever...) and work my way around that for galleries. Of course, my original draft for the most recent comic (and all subsequent ones) will change drastically from its original idea. That's inevitable as a writer. I sometimes wish I was working closely with one or two more people developing these ideas so I could make things run a little faster in all fronts, but life usually gets in the way. Oh well... 

Herein comes the question, though...

What inspires you?

Lucky for me, it comes from all around. Maybe it's a new outfit that @vi363R or @HDiddy or @PsychoCatGirl or @Smoke released, maybe it's a model release from @Morius or @demonv1 or @erikku90 or @SovietTiger, maybe it's a comic/manga/doujin I read, or a TV show or movie I watched. Hell, maybe it is that slender hot black girl with an afro and big tiddies that I sometimes come across when I go to the store behind my house, who knows?

The point of the matter is: You can draw from literally ANYTHING for inspiration. Dark fetishes you want to explore, people you became intimate with, even topics that are not easy/touchy to talk about because of their social stigma (as long as it's legal to talk about that). Controversy in art shouldn't be an issue if you want to talk about something you feel strongly about, but of course, there's that fine line between a tactful exploration and doing something just for shock value or to cater to an inner desire you may have with disregard for consequences.

In any case, the word here is to just HUSTLE. There's no way around it. You want to get good? You gotta put in the time, the work and make sacrifices for that. It's not easy. It is a frustrating path that will bend you and make you question why you're even bothering to do it at all. But when you see just a few more pages finished, when you remember what your goal is... and when you finally see the fruits of your labor come to life... Who cares if people haven't taken notice? You did this for yourself. If others happen to connect with it, that's more than you could ever ask for.

[Trapp]

On what currently inspires me: Honoka. Particularly, @Driver's version of Honoka, which I've customized with LATONA BB and shaped a little bit to what my ideal "real-life" version of the character would look like. Expect more "doujinshi" content out of her, because I. AM. LOVING HER.

[Oz70NYC]

How I keep my storylines coherent is to remember that there's an "objective" I'm trying to reach within it. Everything is building to an eventual payoff...and when that payoff is reached...and ONLY when it's reached will I deviate towards a new direction. I'll use TLWL as an example.

The initial story was telling the tale of the 6 primary characters; Henry, Bianca, Rory, Jaeleen, Luke & Christine. The "payoff" of the their story was the confrontation Henry had with Christine and Luke. Once that was established, the focus of the story switched to the budding romance building between Hank & Bianca, and the rekindled romance between Rory & Jaeleen. With Christine & Luke out of the way, this allowed me to begin new sub-plots in the story, and add in new supporting characters, case in point Silas Greenly, Cosette Grace and Madeleine LaReaux, while bringing in deeper characters in the core 4 character's lives...their family members. Now that I've established the payoffs for these characters, now I bring Luke & Christine back into things as we see how life has changed for them over the 9 months the story has spanned across thus far.

Conversely, within Stiel Maiden it's actually a bit easier as there's more of a linear story being told. Everything is building up to one pivotal point, it's just a matter of adding in intrigue and plot twists along the way (and there's a MASSIVE plot twist coming). There are less characters within Stiel Maiden, so I can be a bit more liberal with character development. Hardest part is creating set pieces as it's an action comic with sex elements rather than a sex comic with action elements.

It all boils down to setting a goal for what you're trying to present, and building towards that goal. Trust me, there have been many ideas I've had that I either put on the back burner or scrap outright because it deviates from the goal. The massive plot twist I mentioned above I've actually revised 3 times before I decided upon a definitive resolution for it, because the 3 versions of it deviated to much from what the Revelations story arch is meant to convey. I can implement those ideas into other subplots down the road. Sticking to the initial vision is what works best for me. 

[Trapp]

6 hours ago, Oz70NYC said:

How I keep my storylines coherent is to remember that there's an "objective" I'm trying to reach within it. Everything is building to an eventual payoff...and when that payoff is reached...and ONLY when it's reached will I deviate towards a new direction.

Duly noted, stealing that one for my notes LOL!

6 hours ago, Oz70NYC said:

There are less characters within Stiel Maiden, so I can be a bit more liberal with character development. Hardest part is creating set pieces as it's an action comic with sex elements rather than a sex comic with action elements.

Oooh, this part right here. One thing I constantly struggle with when coming up with new stuff is that I don't have the graphical resources to fully exploit Hook5 to the fullest, with that I mean, using things like the Skin System (for which I'm barely dipping my toes inside of) or the Crowd Generator, things that can help the worlds we create with TK17 feel more alive. The obvious downside of storytelling in general with TK17 is that places feel so empty at times, and in niche stories like Stiel Maiden which focuses on military action, you kinda need those elements to bring more life to the scenes. That's why I haven't bothered trying to do something similar with a planned story I have, not just from lack of experience on said topics or meandering writing that goes on forever and never reaches a conclusion; but simply because some elements are not enough. But like @Oz70NYC just mentioned, it's about adapting the story telling to what you have to work with.

[Oz70NYC]

52 minutes ago, Trapp said:

Duly noted, stealing that one for my notes LOL!

Oooh, this part right here. One thing I constantly struggle with when coming up with new stuff is that I don't have the graphical resources to fully exploit Hook5 to the fullest, with that I mean, using things like the Skin System (for which I'm barely dipping my toes inside of) or the Crowd Generator, things that can help the worlds we create with TK17 feel more alive. The obvious downside of storytelling in general with TK17 is that places feel so empty at times, and in niche stories like Stiel Maiden which focuses on military action, you kinda need those elements to bring more life to the scenes. That's why I haven't bothered trying to do something similar with a planned story I have, not just from lack of experience on said topics or meandering writing that goes on forever and never reaches a conclusion; but simply because some elements are not enough. But like @Oz70NYC just mentioned, it's about adapting the story telling to what you have to work with.

What I've been doing with recent projects is utilizing the literal hundreds of GBs of H5M assets I have from the many H5 rooms @Sexvision and @sadekhnd have released here to basically piece together my own rooms. A number of them will be featured in the next couple volumes of SM, notably a modernized Sat-Nav command center and a couple middle eastern combat zones. As far as crowd generator, I haven't touched that because it does require another program to actually gather the assets to then be imported into the generator. No idea how to use such external programs, so I just have to use individual H5 "People" and scatter them throughout my scenes. It's laborious...yes. But it's necessary to create scenes with external activity happening in them. Hook 5 has been an absolute Godsend towards my world building, so the idea that "upgrade" to VX will not have it nor anything even remotely close to what it can provide is an insult since "they" are touting it to be superior. Cyberpunk 2077 is a technically more "superior" game...but people are still playing Skyrim in 2023. Ain't seen nothing visually within V11 that even compares to what can be done in VX using H5. (Sorry, had to throw some shade there...LOL.)

[Trapp]

3 hours ago, Oz70NYC said:

Hook 5 has been an absolute Godsend towards my world building, so the idea that "upgrade" to VX will not have it nor anything even remotely close to what it can provide is an insult since "they" are touting it to be superior. Cyberpunk 2077 is a technically more "superior" game...but people are still playing Skyrim in 2023. Ain't seen nothing visually within V11 that even compares to what can be done in VX using H5. (Sorry, had to throw some shade there...LOL.)

Hey, we're talking storytelling here, not ruffling feathers! 

But yeah. After touching H5, I could NEVER go back to the vanilla game. Like, at all. I prefer the struggle and crashes I get with H5 than all of that WITHOUT H5, and with the added bonus that everything I would work on would look like crap.

...But yeah, they can drown in their own filth for all I care 

[HDiddy]

LOL I posted this topic and then I got distracted.  LOL.

So believe it or not my whole purpose of starting to Mod was to be able to create whatever assets I needed for the stories I wanted to tell in video.  For me most long form was Futa, Asian Doll, or other themes.  I wanted to cover a more "urban" character set with models that did not look like they came from some Jim Crow era foolishness.

I started usually without a story board for anything and just created the stories as my thought process flowed. As I started to create my own universe tip from something  @Xalas mentioned a while back.

So for me I write the story as I am developing the poses.  Sometimes things get out of hand but I have tried not to push the limits of an insanely long video.

[Trapp]

2 hours ago, HDiddy said:

LOL I posted this topic and then I got distracted.  LOL.

So believe it or not my whole purpose of starting to Mod was to be able to create whatever assets I needed for the stories I wanted to tell in video.  For me most long form was Futa, Asian Doll, or other themes.  I wanted to cover a more "urban" character set with models that did not look like they came from some Jim Crow era foolishness.

I started usually without a story board for anything and just created the stories as my thought process flowed. As I started to create my own universe tip from something  @Xalas mentioned a while back.

So for me I write the story as I am developing the poses.  Sometimes things get out of hand but I have tried not to push the limits of an insanely long video.

Okay, now video is a whole different animal, much harder in the context of TK17. I've seen your stuff and that of many other talented creators here, and I'm blown away by the quality and attention to detail on those. I also kind of work that way when I don't have an idea laid out in writing, just create poses and see where things take me. That's most of my work, to be honest!

[HDiddy]

On 11/7/2023 at 6:23 PM, Trapp said:

just create poses and see where things take me. That's most of my work, to be honest!

Lets be real, the process is part of the fun.  I'm sure you folks have a shit load of poses that never made the final release, but it is funny how you might be working on something new and are like..."Wait....I created a pose for that X days, weeks, or months ago"

[Trapp]

3 hours ago, HDiddy said:

Lets be real, the process is part of the fun.  I'm sure you folks have a shit load of poses that never made the final release, but it is funny how you might be working on something new and are like..."Wait....I created a pose for that X days, weeks, or months ago"

Exactly my point! I've been trying to create a Full Nelson pose when I first started, and it was until two years later that I made one and went like "hold up"...

 

[Texas Pete]

HDiddy, I really like this question because I think I am sometimes more intrigued when I "go off the rails" and find something there I hadn't expected. Case in my point is my current series.  I've always had an idea of where it was going to start and end and in fact I sort of made the "beginning" and almost the ending (the second-to-last episode) videos first.  However, I had no idea when I started 3 years ago or whenever it was that I would find 15 episodes worth of material in the journey and not even make it to back to the point where I was ready to join up with with I had to laid out when I started.

Part of what tends to distract me is that I enjoy designing retextures for rooms and I have been lost for weeks/months at a time down that particular rabbit hole.  What's fun, though, is then you get the share the rooms with people in addition to your stories. It also makes the characters seem even more "real" because you've made such a distinctive backdrop for their "scene."

One thing I always try to remember is that nobody other than you knows where the story is "supposed" to go or how long it it "supposed" to take to get there. So my little idea that I thought might be a 3-5 episode side arc and not even a whole "season" (what if my main character had a famous rapper cousin who frequently gets into trouble???) has morphed over time into the "First Season" of 15 episodes and I now know that maybe I will finish the arc for the main character in the "Second Season" but maybe not...

As far as creative energy goes, something that is really inspiring me at the moment is the very rapid development of AI text-to-voice technology. How far things have progressed in just about a year or so is INCREDIBLE. After finally getting satisfactory AI "voices" for a "remixed" version of newest episode , it kind of makes me want to go back and "voice" everything I've already done. However, I am trying to avoid that temptation because I'm not sure then if I'll ever get back to finishing the damn story!

[HDiddy]

49 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

As far as creative energy goes, something that is really inspiring me at the moment is the very rapid development of AI text-to-voice technology. How far things have progressed in just about a year or so is INCREDIBLE. After finally getting satisfactory AI "voices" for a "remixed" version of newest episode , it kind of makes me want to go back and "voice" everything I've already done. However, I am trying to avoid that temptation because I'm not sure then if I'll ever get back to finishing the damn story!

So the AI TTS is a thing.  Been playing around with it and still have not decided if I am going to use it on my next video...but def thinking about it at least for dialogue.

[pes1972]

On 11/16/2023 at 5:32 AM, Texas Pete said:

As far as creative energy goes, something that is really inspiring me at the moment is the very rapid development of AI text-to-voice technology. How far things have progressed in just about a year or so is INCREDIBLE. After finally getting satisfactory AI "voices" for a "remixed" version of newest episode , it kind of makes me want to go back and "voice" everything I've already done. However, I am trying to avoid that temptation because I'm not sure then if I'll ever get back to finishing the damn story!

For dialogue it´s very good but problem is that sex acts still needs recorded porn audio or something like that and then the voice difference becomes pretty noticeable. The solution is to voice clone a porn actress and use her for the dialogue as well. Unfortunately most TTS with good voice cloning cost money. Also learning how Muse Skill Tree works you can get really nice lip sync also. Have some free days from work coming up and will give it a try to test mixing with both voice and lipsync.

[Texas Pete]

6 hours ago, pes1972 said:

For dialogue it´s very good but problem is that sex acts still needs recorded porn audio or something like that and then the voice difference becomes pretty noticeable. The solution is to voice clone a porn actress and use her for the dialogue as well. Unfortunately most TTS with good voice cloning cost money. Also learning how Muse Skill Tree works you can get really nice lip sync also. Have some free days from work coming up and will give it a try to test mixing with both voice and lipsync.

That's a fair point. Right now, I am happy if the "porn voice" for the actress and the "speaking voice" for the actress are least in the same general voice pitch/register. I don't find it too noticeable in that case, especially for moans and that sort of thing. If you like a lot of dirty talk during the sex act (which for me sometimes is actually distracting) then I think it does become more obvious.

[HDiddy]

Not going to lie...I still like sub titles because at  least for dialogue the tone and nature of an AI voice does not get in the way.  But Kudos to everyone that has taking advantage of it. I feel one person that did SubTitles well (and I know it took it time) is this person named Fuhree I honestly do not know if they still make videos.  They had an interesting premise going on with their Bovine series.  Link here: https://rule34video.com/models/fuhree/

[Trapp]

9 hours ago, HDiddy said:

Not going to lie...I still like sub titles because at  least for dialogue the tone and nature of an AI voice does not get in the way.  But Kudos to everyone that has taking advantage of it. I feel one person that did SubTitles well (and I know it took it time) is this person named Fuhree I honestly do not know if they still make videos.  They had an interesting premise going on with their Bovine series.  Link here: https://rule34video.com/models/fuhree/

Well, for what it's worth, the work he does is pretty good! I mean, I love the whole cowgirl shtick, but this is more in a furry direction (it says so on his name lol!). I really liked it, he is really good!

[Oz70NYC]

Hardest part of the process for me in terms of comics, namely the ones with sex scenes...is the dialog DURING the sex scenes. IRL seldom to 2 people actually have a lot of dialog when in the moment, but in a comic that would translate to panel after panel of images with no dialog. That space has gotta be filled with something...and the challenge is trying to figure out what. In my work I try to use inner monologues as to showcase the character narrating the experience as if they're reminiscing about the experience, but even then that's a lot of space to fill if it's a long scene. In the upcoming issue of TLWL there's actually 2 REALLY long sex scenes within, and trying to come up with narrative filler has proven a big obstacle. Been working on it 2 whole weeks now just trying to figure out what to fill the scenes with to keep the reader engaged. Naturally in videos it's easier because that space can be filled with the actual sounds of sex, but in comic form it's a pain in the ass.

[Trapp]

2 hours ago, Oz70NYC said:

Hardest part of the process for me in terms of comics, namely the ones with sex scenes...is the dialog DURING the sex scenes. IRL seldom to 2 people actually have a lot of dialog when in the moment, but in a comic that would translate to panel after panel of images with no dialog. That space has gotta be filled with something...and the challenge is trying to figure out what. In my work I try to use inner monologues as to showcase the character narrating the experience as if they're reminiscing about the experience, but even then that's a lot of space to fill if it's a long scene. In the upcoming issue of TLWL there's actually 2 REALLY long sex scenes within, and trying to come up with narrative filler has proven a big obstacle. Been working on it 2 whole weeks now just trying to figure out what to fill the scenes with to keep the reader engaged. Naturally in videos it's easier because that space can be filled with the actual sounds of sex, but in comic form it's a pain in the ass.

I will usually leave the sex scenes clear of any narrative as I want the focus solely on what the girls are feeling at that time, whether I add some quirky, naughty or outlandish dialogue within. The issue comes when building up to things.

I sometimes feel like a hack when I'm writing because a lot of my stuff is self-referential, so if people don't understand certain things it's because they haven't taken a look at my backlog to see where I got certain things from. Also, canonicity is a problem for me as well because there are things I just can't seem to get right, and I'm a stickler for that kind of stuff. But yeah, introspection during sex isn't strange. I think that lends itself to a few pieces of dialogue or maybe after sex, when characters reach post-nut clarity.

[HDiddy]

12 hours ago, Trapp said:

I will usually leave the sex scenes clear of any narrative as I want the focus solely on what the girls are feeling at that time, whether I add some quirky, naughty or outlandish dialogue within. The issue comes when building up to things.

I sometimes feel like a hack when I'm writing because a lot of my stuff is self-referential, so if people don't understand certain things it's because they haven't taken a look at my backlog to see where I got certain things from. Also, canonicity is a problem for me as well because there are things I just can't seem to get right, and I'm a stickler for that kind of stuff. But yeah, introspection during sex isn't strange. I think that lends itself to a few pieces of dialogue or maybe after sex, when characters reach post-nut clarity.

Sex scenes are interesting...but I will say this it just depends.  Is the scene a pound session, is it more passionate, is it sneaky.....I think all of those things dictate dialogue including deciding not to use dialogue.  To me the key is balance, which is easier said then done.