Rambling update on Sublo and Tangy Mustard (Patreon)

Hey everybody! This started as a journal entry I wrote a few days ago, but I figured I'd share it here since it's about Sublo!

Scripts are generally coming along well. I've also been recording music for a specific episode that will need a lot of diagetic songs (not that I need the music anytime soon if I'm still writing, but just wanted to start cranking out tracks).

After completing a bunch of dodgy first drafts full of holes, boring dialogue passages and half-baked ideas, I'm gradually carving out the stories that will make up this season. There are still a few that aren't quite working yet, and in general they're way too long. The longest is 22 pages, aagh! But I think having to cut them down drastically can make them strong. In my experience, a 10-page script that started out as 15 is going to be tighter and more disciplined than one that actually started out as 10.

At some point I'll do a more thorough post or maybe video on my S&TM writing method, which has become a clear step-by-step process. At the beginning of writing this season, I was worried the scripts weren't as good as previous episodes, but as I beat them into shape I'm just becoming as happy and excited with them as any previous ones. It's nice to be able to just "trust the process" and know the result will generally be what you want. Takes some of the stress out of things.

Once the actual story mechanics and jokes are working, I do another pass on the script to make sure there's space in it for visual storytelling and gags before I actually start thumbnailing. One thing I've learned in making the show is that when in doubt about a line, it's better to keep it in the script and record it so you have it later if you need it. There were a couple of past instances where I regretted not getting a line from an actor, and had to work around it. I always continue to tweak things as I board, but it's hard to make big changes after recording.

Initially it was hard to brainstorm ideas for the season that came from my own experiences, since the past year has just been sitting at home. But once I started thinking about the characters rather than my personal experiences, plenty of potential stories started to emerge. And of course once you have the actual story idea, you can't help but infuse it with your own experiences.

I'm finding that some of the broad plans I had for this season are falling by the wayside as I write. Either I can't figure out how to include them organically, or the episodes that focus on them are just not strong enough. But that's okay-- I can always try them again in the next season, if it happens. Better to have too many ideas than not enough, which is always my fear.

There are also a few ideas I've been toying with and then backing away from, because they inherently push things closer to the series' endgame than I'm ready to commit to yet. I want there to be a sense of the characters' lives progressing, at least in small ways, but I don't want to break the basic setup of the show. So Katy probably won't actually be quitting Subpar anytime soon. Tangy Mustard won't be following his (probably futile) dreams in Japan yet. And there's a bunch more stuff I don't want to reveal until I actually do it in the show.

Without getting into any spoilers, I try to end each season on a note of semi-finality without sewing up the ends too tight. An ellipsis rather than a period. No big cliffhanger, but no "they lived happily ever after" either.  It's partly a practical thing, to hint at what the future may hold for the characters without writing myself into a corner if I do further episodes-- but I also just prefer those kinds of endings anyway. I find them more memorable, realistic and interesting than definitively happy, conclusive ones.

Anyway thanks for reading, if you made it this far! Now I gotta get back to writing!