As the thread topic states, what is it that is hindering your own graphic novel?

For me, it is coming up with something good enough to dedicate a large chunk of time to for the next odd year. I can come up with lots of ideas, but nothing that I really "have to do." I leaning towards an odd short story, and another extremely long format idea right now.

I kind of alternate between sketching for a few days, and "writing" for a few.

Who else it still stuck on the fence?

For me it's always difficult to find something that is simple enough that I can actually start work on, yet complex and interesting enough to get excited about. Most of my projects get off into the weeds very quickly.

I have the opposite problem, more ideas at one time than I can work on, so I have to keep some on the back burner for a long time while I lead others to completion.

I feel like I'm about to climb over the fence right now. What kept me initially from starting my comic was my lack of experience. I barely made anything resembling a comic in the past so starting a big project was kind of scary. So I decided to take a slow approach. I started sketching my comic last year (I'm now working on chapter 4) and it slowly gets better. First I was just messing around with pencils, then started using a blue pencil for sketches and a normal one for the final lines, now I add shadows digitally. I hope that I'll soon make up my mind and develop a nice style for the final pages.

So yeah... it's all baby steps for me.

@Cedarseed - I've got similar problems. Now that I've got a set of characters and stuff in place I keep finding tons of other ideas that are just as interesting to me. So keeping focused on the main story is definitely a problem.

The other thing that really keeps me from rolling on my project is the ton of other things that I've got on the go. It sometimes feels like the Universe has other plans for me at the moment and those don't involve working on my GN. I mainly just try to keep plugging away and working towards the end goal. Jason said it best on his latest blog post: do something every day and eventually you'll get there (ok I paraphrased, but it still applies!).

I don't have any shortage of projects... the problem tends to be that most are so big that I don't even know where to start. The ones that are small enough to be practical are often undeveloped... and when I start developing them and develop a passion for them, they can balloon out of control into something big. Outsider was originally supposed to be a simple, easy project, but it didn't stay that way for very long.

Especially if it's your first project, try to pick something small. It needs to be interesting enough so that you can be passionate about it, but small enough that it's something you can create, learn from and then move on to the next thing. I don't recommend trying to make your first project be your magnum opus.

It's not the shortage of ideas that's hurdle at the moment (a testament to the mountain of notepads on my desktop) They can be broken down into smaller tasks that I've managed to gain a coherent grasp of.

For me it's the adage of K.I.S.S - Keep It Simple Stupid.

I've ended up taking a scalpel to my grand ideas after getting feedback from different sources. You work on something for so long that you end up developing blind-spots where you might miss something really minor, or completely major.

For me it was characterization and re-examining how I introduced aspects of Maori mythology into my science fiction and superhero themed project.

And it's still a work in progress...

Yeah, Carpe Chaos has definitely taught me some lessons in managing complexity, and keeping stories in a place where they're small and possible to pull off, but still hinting at a much larger backstory that can really only be built in my imagination. That's a big trick, and I suspect it's going to become very valuable throughout my life.

The graphic novel that I finally started on was NOT the one that had me thinking greatest idea ever, it ended up being the one that was the simplest for me to get to the basics with. Many of my other ideas are ideas that will take me a very long time to hammer out into relevant plot points, in other words a lot of time staring at a blank sheet of paper. Now coming form a guy that could over-complicate starting my day, I almost don't feel very genuine when I agree with the KISS thing, but it's the truth. Keeping it simple, i found anyways, will at least get your pen and pencil moving. You can muddle the project up with details later if you want. The most important thing is that you have something to add to.

Ye Olde Experience and motivation to 'do comic stuff'. There's always 'other stuff' that has got to be done.

I think really it's about time management and 'doing what you don't want to do.' I actually found the later approach to be surprisingly motivationaly when it comes to stress and art blocks.

Just do it.
Go sit at your desk, paper and pen/pencil.
Go nuts, enjoy and have fun. Love to hate then love to love what you're doing...or something like that >.>

I always start off by doing random expressive cartoony faces and then break off into adding them to poses ^_^

Lack of an artist. Otherwise, I really get into the idea, especially after I've let it stew for a good while in my head...

@Atrelegis

I have the same issue with lack of artist.
Was suppose to be a friend of mine doing the work but unfortunately he is a bit occupied being a dad at the moment. lol.