Open Trade - Q&A

As we come to an end on this era of Open Trade lets take a moment to answer some questions from people here and on discord.

Have a question of your own? Ask below!

Is this the end forever? 

No, this is the end of this arc or this story. There will be more stories with Stephanie, Lexi, and the Trade Market in the future. But I want those stories to be more stand alone and a little shorter.

Why end it here?

I got to a point in the story where I’ll admit to putting too many balls in the air, and they started to conflict with each other. Stephanie couldn’t address that Lexi was dating the person she trading genders with, because she was going to Korea, then stuck in Korea, then had to deal with the laws and her mom.

It was at a point where I would set up something and not be able to pay it off or push back a story line because there were 5 other things to address. Then because I pushed back the one thing, it felt bad for someone to do something that would make sense, but just push that idea back further. 

Then because of the Korea trip and the Trade Laws, it made other stories inaccessible until they were resolved. Resolving the trade laws would leave no barrier to keep Steph and Lexi to return to who they were. So it was hard to run the main story after that. There is interesting things after that. But as part of the same story, they would lose momentum and impact. 

It was better to end the story there, and pick up those threads in new stories. 

Because if I did Plot A it would push Plot B back. If I push Plot B back, it makes it so I cannot do Plot C. If I resolve Plot B, then it removes any point to Plot A and D. It’s a mess. 

Also, as much as pacing is an issue. Time is also an issue. Comics takes a long time to make. A large time investment from me and for you. And I felt it was better to pay off things and give elements of sense of closure as opposed to the comic constantly feeling like it is kicking the rock down the road, or stalling. 

There are still plots that were set up that you did not pay off. What’s up with that?

Yeah, I introduced Riley and Amelia with very specific plots in mind for them. Lexi had a lot of plot lines that got pushed back or cut because they would sideline Stephanie. So I’m very aware of all the stuff I set up and didn’t pay off. Amelia will likely be her own story with Lexi. Riley would likely be his own story for Lexi and Steph. There is good drama there, but it was drama that didn’t fit the pacing of the previous story. I set up stuff around Steph’s sexuality trade that I still don’t feel I addressed properly. I want to and plan to visiting as much as I can down the line. 

What about remaining trade backs?

Once removing the barrier to trade back, if feels silly for the same story to show all the trade backs when you know there is unlikely anything keeping them from happening. Any obstacles would act as new stories, and if part of the same story feel tacked on. 

It would be like watching Sam and Frodo travel back home after reading 1,200 pages of them traveling and stopping personal obstacles and the greatest evil that ever existed. It would feel meaningless and drawn out. While there might be fun stories of them traveling back and having smaller adventures, it would have to be it’s own story, and not part of the epic. 

Forwards or Flashbacks

When picking up plot threads, we will address them moving forward linearly in time. No stories set between Issue 3 & 4 of the first arc. 

What happened to Isabelle?

Isabelle kind of disappeared a bit due to other characters being added to the story and taking her part. As Stephanie built relationships with Alex and Mina, some of Isabelle’s part went to them. Same for Lexi with Amelia and Riley becoming more of her support system. 

Even Lexi getting fleshed out more took story away from Isabelle. Victory showing up absolutely sidelined Isabelle. 

And there was also an issue with the length of the comic being 300+ pages stretched out over 4 years that readers forgot who certain characters were. So it was more important for me to remind readers who Mina or Amelia are than bring in Isabelle. 

She’s not dead. She’ll likely come back, but unfortunately there is no current plan for an Isabelle centric story. 

Access for Future Stories

Open Trade had early access here on Patreon, and was later posted on TGC. 

Future stories will be posted here on Patreon. Some may be released much later for free or pay on another platform, like TGC or Deviant Art, etc. Some will remain exclusive here on Patreon for paid members. I would assume like 70% paywalled stories; 30% free stories. But things could change one way or the other. 

Adult Content?

Moving on to different stories was the discussion of more mature stories. This comes up every so often. I considered going that route for Final Exam and kind of pulled back at the last moment. I don’t see a lot of mature adult content in the next couple scripts. But there are a couple where it would easily fit in. One that I don’t know how to tell it without mature content in it. 

Is a new Open Trade Story going to be like Con Artist - Aftermath?

New Open Trade stories will not follow the same path as Con Artist - Aftermath. 

I made some missteps while working on Aftermath. It took me a bit to figure out the format. The one monthly page made the pace intolerable. I added a push and pull trying to make up for it. 

Aftermath was an idea I had while working on main story, but I I no longer had the same in-story motivation or space for it, and it undercut a little bit. Altering stuff that was locked in as what made Gwen to be Gwen was also not well received. 

New Open Trade stories are based on the story and questions that are begging for answers, ideas you want to explore, your feedback to what you are interested in and unresolved aspects I still really want to explore.

I’ve taken polls and been getting feedback to kind of assess what aspects of characters have been there so long that they have largely locked into the character as defining characteristics. What aspects we are happy to play with and what you just are not interested in at all and want to see go away. 

That is not to say those aspects are untouchable, but maybe that they will be poked to see why they are part of the character now. 

But the status quo overall can still be changed. In fact, at the end of the first of the new stories will be a status quo shift. Just not as drastic or would cause whiplash narratively.