Donut Delivery #1 (Patreon)
Content
As promised friends, here is the first major update on what's happening with the Donut Delinquent project!
So to begin, the big announcement: Donut Delinquent will be transitioning from a webcomic to a written "Webnovel" format (with a lot of illustrations!). Or, in more weeb-y language, from a Manga to a Light Novel series.
Now I could go on for paragraphs about why I'm making this change, but the most important reason is the scale of the story I want to tell, and deciding the best format to tell it in. Donut Delinquent is intended to be a full-length series, with multiple story arcs and changing characters. This is a story about romance, bullying, dealing with disabilities... and yes, weight gain.
Coming completely clean on my plan, Donut Delinquent is planned at the moment to be a four-volume series, each book correlating to a season of the year. (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.) Going further in, each volume is intended to have five or six chapters, completing a story arc.
As I'm sure you can tell, this is a lot, and admittedly ridiculous for me to do as a comic alone. It took me the better part of the summer to do half of the first chapter in comic format, with me taking things slow to avoid burnout... and you know what? I'd honestly much rather be expanding the story to tell more with these characters than shrinking it to fit a comic.
I'd like to ideally do one chapter a month, starting around Thanksgiving (and starting publicly around Christmas...) It's a little far away I know, but I want to put the most polish I can on this before I relaunch it, really be convinced of what I'm doing. Writing isn't some "easy" alternative to comic-making, it comes with it's own set of challenges... But I think this is better, and I'll be doing everything in my power to learn! I'm taking some big outside help to assist me with this, but I'll go more into that in a later update.
Now, while the story is switching to written format, you'll still be able to see plenty of Hana & friends visually! Every chapter is guaranteed to have at least one art piece to go along with it, maybe more depending on the content of the chapter. Chapter-related art could vary from a single piece showcasing a scene in the story, or if there's a scene in the chapter I really want to see visually, I may even do a 2-3 page comic adaptation.
For an example, here's a little moment that would fit right in to a chapter:
I'd also like to start doing more one-off art, not necessarily always canon to DD itself.
So yeah, This is the plan going forward! I hope this change isn't disappointing, and you'll still read Donut Delinquent in this new format. Subsequent updates will see things like improved character designs and writing samples, along with of course more general updates as to how things are going.
I'll leave you with a peek at a character who hasn't appeared yet, but will play a major role in the story: Leo's "big sis" (actually his aunt), Masako Tachibana. I'll go more into her character at a later time, but let's just say she plays a vital role in Leo and Hana's developing relationship. She's also the pregnant character I mentioned a while back.
Thanks for reading! See you again for the next Donut Delivery on the 13th!