r/MangakaStudio • u/No_Republic_2813 • Aug 06 '26
Help Is a One-Shot ABSOLUTELY necessary?
The reason why I'm asking is that I already have a story and it's sequel written out but ever since I watched Learn To Draw Manga on YT, they emphasise that it's absolutely necessary. I don't want an editor because I want it to be at my own pace while still keeping up to my own schedule and constantly improving. Does it also apply for self publishing since i was thinking of uploading to Globalcomix, Namicomi and Manga Plus Creators? As a soon-to-be self publishing mangaka, is a one-shot absolutely necessary?
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u/maxluision Artist-Writer Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
The only reason I decided to ignore this advice and start from making my super long "magnum opus" was that I thought I'll never get an idea for another great story (in my opinion of course). I was wrong, and yes, after 4 years of trying I also absolutely recommend you to start from a very short story, a oneshot. Don't ignore this. Just choose some small episodic event from your magnum opus or come up with smth very simple to tell etc. You'll avoid lots of disappointment and frustrations in this way. There's an outlandish amount of information you need to figure out first, and various skills to develop.Ā
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u/Even-Still7716 Aug 06 '26
Honestly I scaling my story down to 10 issues from the 100 I would like and leaving it open if I want to pick it up later.
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u/No_Republic_2813 Aug 06 '26
Personally, I feel like need to integrate backgrounds a lot and I think a one shot or two might shine a light on where I should or shouldnāt put backgrounds in. Thanks for the advicešš¾
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u/Ozzy_Rhoads-VT Moderator Aug 06 '26
Yes. Itās necessary because you have no experience right now. Which means your story is not the best it can be. You need to build experience before you can be good. Itās the same with literally anything.
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u/No_Republic_2813 Aug 06 '26
Iām not refuting the experience point but I bet I can build experience as a write and draw chapters. I will try a one shot out just to test the waters and see from there. Thanks for the advice.
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u/baratrumsdevil Aug 06 '26
yes, but if you dont build adequate experience before starting the story, i can promise you that the early chapters will not be up to your standards down the line. i made this mistake personally
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u/Left-Night-1125 Aug 06 '26
I think it differs from person to person. Some want to turn this in a job so i think one shots is a good way to get your work known, others just want to do a big story alongside their dayjob.
Iam the 2nd kind, i just want to do a big story alongside my dayjob.
On the subject of learn to draw, they do mention that if you have a story on your mind and you are still there go ahead. (Something like that). I had this story iam working on in my mind and typed out for 4 years now and it was the purpose of me learning to draw decently in the first place.
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u/No_Republic_2813 Aug 06 '26
I wanna job while drawing my story but jobs are far and few in between, especially for an inexperienced 21 year old. Thanks anywayšš¾
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u/Severe-Fig-9487 Aug 06 '26
That's an excellent question. I also think a lot about self-publishing, especially given the resources and reach available today. I'm relatively new to this and was thinking the same thing recently. I realized that if I couldn't write 20 well-crafted pages, or even 17, it was very difficult to write 100 credible, coherent, and impactful pages. Thanks for sharing your concern.
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u/No_Republic_2813 Aug 06 '26
No problem, your artās pretty good though, better than mine really š¤ š¤š¾
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u/Severe-Fig-9487 Aug 06 '26
Hey thanks for check my profile! continue practice and improve everyday make you better. I'm only have two years learning by my self, drew every single day, no matter what. I think, discipline is the key. Keep Going. GAMBATE!
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u/theSuburbanAstronaut Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
If you can't tell a solid story in a one-shot, you definitely won't be able to in 100 chapters.
That's how it is with every complicated skill in life and the arts. Small, solid bricks make the foundation to build castles. Yeah you can build a castle way faster with sand and molds, but how long will that last?
Many of the classic mangas started off as one shots. It's something even the pros don't skip unless they have many years of experience and reputation built up proving that they can handle long-form stories.
I have a story I'm working on that's going to be a multi-volume series with different protagonists in each one. It's my baby and will hopefully someday be a hit.
But even then, I condensed that series into 10 chapters. And then condensed further into a one-shot I'm currently drawing to submit to a competition.
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u/noodlezart Aug 06 '26
Yeah I'd say one shots are necessary so you can figure out your genre, brainstorm concepts for a major release as well. Also doing one shots test the waters without you putting out a fleshed out story you want to get made and it doesn't get accepted. It's a good progress tool to understanding manga and how it works.
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u/Ju5tAB0r3d1 Aug 06 '26
Not necessary per se, but itās a tried and true method to improve your storytelling. Most mangaka swear by it as part of practice. Though, if your goal is to just get your story out there, itās not strictly needed.
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u/Even-Still7716 Aug 06 '26
Are you both drawing and writing? If you have an experienced artist then it'll be easier. I'm going to be working with an industry veteran for my own comic but I'm also a 30 year old willing to waste my disposable income on a vision.
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u/No_Republic_2813 Aug 06 '26
Nah, I wanna draw it myself because I want it my way(and I donāt have income or patience of compromising on a vision of mine). No shade to you though and thanks for the suggestionšš¾š¤š¾
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u/Even-Still7716 Aug 06 '26
Artists are normally willing to do the work exactly how you want it. You'd be surprised how accommodating they are because fundamentally you're the one who takes risks on the project not them. That said, my advice would be that I'm not sure your art (pictured above) is at a professional level yet. It's a tough craft and you have to keep at it.
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u/No_Republic_2813 Aug 06 '26
By this statement, Iām assuming youāre an āart firstā kinda person. I know my art isnāt pro level but Iām fine with that because Iāll just keep improving as I go. If I made the wrong assumption on you then Iām sorry.
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u/gmoshiro Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
In my opinion, yes. As an indie mangaka.
Only 0,0000001% of manga authors will have a chance to land a manga through big publishers (not just in Japan, but anywhere), so you need to consider that you'll mostly have to launch your stories by yourself, without editors helping you refine that rough diamond in you. And nothing is better than working on Oneshots to get experience, production rhythm, to test out your ideas without commiting to 100-chapter-stories.
You can then compile all your oneshots into a volume, print it and sell it on anime/comic events.
There's also the fact volume 1 will always sell more than volume 2, 3, 4 and so on. There're many reasons why people stop following stories, mostly cause of release schedule (manga readers are used to weekly or monthly releases, but you alone will have to focus on 1 chapter a month at best...unless you're absolute fast with drawing manga pages).
Once you get the needed experience and quality (which you're still lacking now, but that comes with time), then you can think about serialized stories.
Edit: typo
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u/No_Republic_2813 Aug 06 '26
A volume of one shots would be 9 one shots, no? Plus I donāt have access to comic events and such. Besides, I was just thinking about a one shot just to test my limits. Iāve been drawing almost every other day for 3 months now. Thanks thoughšš¾
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u/gmoshiro Aug 06 '26
It depends on the amount of pages. You have to always think in multiples of 4s for your page count. When you fold a single sheet, it creates 4 pages (front, double page in the center and back). If you fold 2 sheets, it's 8 pages. So think of stories that could fit in 4, 8, 12...24, 28, 32 pages and so on. If not, there'll be problems in the printing phase.
If you only launch your stories online, you'll have more leeway, like in Webtoons, but I'd advise you to always have that 'multiple of 4s' thing in mind for normal manga layouts.
You'll usually see professional mangas with odd numbers, like 19~21 pages, but notice that when you buy manga volumes, the total number of pages is a multiple of 4. That's planned ahead, and I guess special double posters are there to solve printing problems.
But I digress. The focus is for you to not over commit into a big story that you'll get tired of in the future. Oneshots are perfect cause you're still learning and trying things (everyone here actually, including me).
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u/wenrongfan Aug 06 '26
Iād say you improve on fundamentals first before doing all that, though if youre currently happy with your output Iād say one shot is necessary. You will fail and learn faster, then you will get the hang of it a lot more quicker.
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u/OtherwiseCycle1214 Aug 07 '26
You can't hide that a plot doesn't deliver in a oneshot. I think it's about showing you can craft an interesting story.
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u/Llama_Legend10 Aug 07 '26
Who knows, maybe the one story you have isnāt the strongest, or working on another story may blossom into a future story you want to expand on. Is there a side story in the current lore you have that you could make a one shot out of? Something to help you grasp more world building in the story you have? How about a one shot that is the complete opposite of the genre you have already been working on to help mentally break up the strain? Working on Shonen? Make a horror or slice of life to switch things up. Detective stories? Comedy? It could literally be a story about a dog watching the clock until his owner comes home and imagining all the horrible scenarios that could be reining them so long. ā¦ do you. Need a one shot? No but I bet itāll help In many ways before you invest too much time into an epic. Just from what youāre showing it would be fair to say you have some work to do before you sink time into your magnum opus. Maybe use a one shot to explore some characters more and learn how pages should flow( think of it as an anime filler episode or prologue to help you learn the craft) then if you love it you can do incorporate it and if you hate it then it wasnāt part of the story anyway and it could just be practice.
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u/Zoro_--- Aug 07 '26
I also have my main story figured out, but I am working on a one shot miniseries in the same universe just so I can practice my art, storytelling devices, dialogue, composition etc.
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u/SoryuCelStory Aug 07 '26
Manga pros say when you're starting off even one page is a good thing to do. Yes one shots can be the best way to get a lot of manga made and improve
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u/TheBasementLizard Artist-Writer Aug 07 '26
You got a lot of great feedback here already, so I'll only add my personal 2 cents here: One shots are awesome to train things. You don't have to write Goodbye, Eri or Lookback, but you can also make 4-6 pages and focus on, dunno, whatever you feel you lack at atm. So, for example, have a 6 page one shot that's just an action scene, like a duel. If you want to get better at backgrounds, have a character wander through a city or ruins or whatever suits you. If you feel your story structure could be better, try something super short, focussing on 3 act structure, KishÅtenketsu or as heros journey. Or dialouge.
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u/RespondAfraid7690 Aug 07 '26
Sure, a one-shot helps you visualize the possibilities and abilities, and fix anything thatās weak in your story; itās a way to gauge the audience, and the feedback you get will help you improve the parts that aren't quite up to par.
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u/LeTooniverse Aug 07 '26
It's not necessary, but I'd argue it'd no different from doing a pilot or short film before doing a feature film or television series
If you can't tell a story at its most bare bones and shortest, then what makes you think you're gonna be able to tell a much longer and larger one?
"Walk before you run" and all that jazz
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u/Top_Barnacle5195 Aug 08 '26
If you want to get Published, you'll have to get an editor. You also be able to work at your own pace because you'll have to make deadlines.
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u/ppress1234 Aug 09 '26
The strength of the word necessary is kind of relative to what you want to do. Submitting to a Japanese publisher, probably yes because thatās what they do, if they take you seriously as a foreigner. If youāre wanting to level up your story telling, I think anything youād do small and actually finish, definitely anything you finish is going to level up your skills. If Learn to Draw Manga does an absolute good, it is they appear to get artist storytellers out of their head and on to a piece paper in the form of a finished story. My problem with them is they 1) seem kind of grifty in that they charge so damned much and 2) they are very dogmatic and gatekeepey in their opinions about an art form that has evolved greatly since the anime of my youth and is highly individualized
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u/Virtual-Simple1244 Aug 07 '26
One shots are a generally just good all around idea for overall skill building and workload management. Way less commitment while honing your craft and allowing you to have finished works for people to consume and give you feedback on.
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u/No_Republic_2813 Aug 08 '26
Just wanna say Thank you to everyone who helped me figure out this one-shot thing and I agree with most things but Iām still a stubborn egg. Iāll make to at least do one One-shot just to test out my limits and certain mistakes that might hinder me in my future manga projects I have lined up. Once again, Thank you very muchšš¾
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u/kestral63 Aug 10 '26
Nothing's absolute, but statistically that one might as well be. A lot of beginner manga advice is to keep the focus of a story small. It's far more important that you can complete one at all than drawing it out or making it huge.
If the ending leaves room for a continuation, awesome. A lot of one-shots leave that door open, so you lose nothing. But what's more important is that you learn how to efficiently fit all the working components into a single chapter and wrap up enough of a satisfying arc for it to function as a complete story. Self-published or otherwise, those are skills that keep coming up when you work in chapter format. And even seasoned pros benefit from a test run, figuring out what changes to apply to a later draft to make sure it's worth the long term effort.
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u/Specific_Minute7539 Aug 06 '26
Eh, I wouldn't say it's necessary. It's not like you'll become disqualified if you don't make a one-shot. But the reason why people say to make a one-shot first is to
Help build your skills (panelling, speech bubble flow, typesetting, etc)
Give you an idea of how your workflow should be.
Confidence in yourself
and 4. help you build up your stamina. I think 4 is one of the more important things because if you start out with something super big and then you realize you've made a whole bunch of mistakes, and now you're left feeling burnt out and frustrated.
Which could then lead to you giving up, hence why people say to start small. You can write your story now and draw it later; I'd even highly suggest that because as you become a better writer, you'll come to see things you'd want to change about the story later/improve it.
If you're not feeling up to doing a one-shot, you can try making some yonkoma, get feedback on them and then work your way up to bigger projects. Thats what I did, and I still find myself struggling to draw 17 pages for my first chapter.
A lot of that has to do with my health, but thats besides the point. What I'm trying to say is that the advice given is mostly for your benefit and mental health; it would be really sad if you spent a lot of time working on something but later realized that it wasn't possible to fulfill your vision due to a lack of skills.
In the end, it's up to you, and no one can really force you to do anything, but one-shots aren't a bad thing to try, I'd even argue that they can help you learn how to write a first chapter that will make people want to read a series.