WEBTOON Basics Planning for Plot and Treatment
GCC Academy
Learning Goals To explain why readers want more stimulant and fun To learn how to make a dramatic plot for the target readership group
Learning Contents Why people want more stimulant and fun How-to: Dramatic plot
HAGA Webtoon Artist Debut 2014 Webtoon For the Sake of Sita Career Mentor at Seoul Webtoon Academy (SWA) Works King's Maker Nessun Dorma: None Shall Sleep
Hello, I'm Lee Sang Mi, or HAGA
And I am currently working on King's Maker at Kakao Page
Today's topic is to make a strategic plot for the upload schedule
And we will be talking about a special way in this content Webtoon
To continue with the dramatic plot
First, why people want more cathartic moments
Second, how to strategically plan for the story
For either female or male readership
Third, not the usual development: how to write a plot that induces people to pay
These are the three sub-categories
Of today's lecture
Why People Want More Stimulant and Fun
It is now the era of online contents
A research shows that in 2023
97% of South Korean population owns a smartphone
Have you ever had this experience
Where you've finished your work on your laptop
And you now want some rest, reading Webtoon
So you relax on your bed, reading on your phone
In our generation, it is a natural thing to read on our phone
Despite available bigger screens
Comic market that started with actual pages
Chose mobile instead of bigger screens
It is very mobile
And this compact and lightweight device can
Control everything: sound, vibration and even the brightness
And when do we read Webtoon?
For me, it's when I am in a subway
Or before going to bed, around 11PM to 12AM
That's my usual hours
When we have to transfer between trains
We have no choice but to get off our phone
And when reading Webtoon before bed
We stop reading when we get tired
Other than these
When someone messages me on my phone
Or calls me, I have to pause
Reading the work I've been reading
In the past, because Manhwa (comics) was made in books
People could at least sit on a spot
With some degree of focus
To read the work
But nowadays we have a flood of works
That can be accessed with a single touch
So now we do not need to risk extra work
Of buying physical books
Colors pop out more than monotoned black and white
And here, it updates faster
You only need to wait for a week for another episode
With these characteristics
We now prefer types of work that
We can stop reading any time, not requiring much focus
This isn't just for Webtoon
This is what we can see in web novels as well
This is Naver Web Novel
I'm the Queen in This Life
Let's go to this work
Can you notice the big difference
From traditional novels?
See how next to a character's speech
We have a physical icon
To indicate who is speaking what
Much more easily
When we read actual novels
We do not get these icons
And this change happened because
As people read comics divided in episodes
And each episode requires a pause of a week
So when there is only the speech
Readers don't know who
And they now require this to be
More easily distinguishable
That's why we see this change
But this change does not mean
That the readers aren't too serious about the works
Or that the readership is getting too young
There is no need to mourn
Because the ability to choose the desired information from moving pictures medium
And the ability to enjoy such a medium
Has been increased in this generation
So it's better to understand this change
As a change in preference
So, Webtoons focus more on
More visible, more striking works
Or works that appeal to the popular trends
Those are what sell more nowadays
For this, we need to talk about Saida(soda in Korean) or catharsis
Before we talk about Saida, or catharsis
Let's start from somewhere further down the line
It is the question of what is a fun Webtoon?
We are animals of self-identification
We only experience the world through our own selves
So any input is digested
In one's own way of filtering
Let's draw a very simple human face
We have some hair
Eyes, nose
And mouth
What part of the face can I remove
So that this still looks like a person?
First, even without hair
We still see a human
Now, without the nose
Since the eyes and the mouth are smiling
We still see a human
What about the ears?
Even without the ears, this looks human
And now, what can we remove?
It's the mouth
Now we only have the face and the eyes
Yet we still see a human face here
That's how strong the self-identification is
For example, I will draw something definitely not a human
Something like this
We see this a lot in our daily lives
What do you see here?
This is a power socket on the wall
Whenever you see this socket
Have you ever thought about how this
Looks like a human face?
There is no way this is human
It's just a circle with two dots
But we have a common tendency
To see a human face out of this
That's how self-centered humans are
And how strong our self-identification is
Therefore, when characters in a book or Webtoon
Strive to achieve something
We identify ourselves with them in the journey
And share the moment of catharsis when it is achieved
That's where the fun comes from
We call this a secondhand or vicarious satisfaction
Our brains are satisfied as if we have experienced it ourselves
This work has been loved by so many
And it still is; it's Naruto from Naruto
And Luffy from One Piece
Let's take these two main characters
Both are very passionate
They act with themes such as friendship and dream
These works are clearly very fun
But remember how I told you that self-identification is the source of that fun
So the readers in the past identified with the main character
And they fell in love with the process of the main character
In their life and the journey they experience
The problem here is the contemporary readership
Nowadays, the expected requirement has increased for the grades
Or achieving things such as getting a job
And because people feel the despair out of this situation
People nowadays have more trouble trying to sympathize
With the passion of the main characters in fictions
The suffocating hours in the society
Inside commuting buses or subways
Or right before going to bed; people consume Webtoon in these short moments
Meaning, they cannot fully immerse themselves
And focus with their full effort
To the work as they could before
So authors usually use these two ways to make a work
The first method is simple and fast
Which is to make a Saida or cathartic narrative
They've suffered enough in the society
All they want to feel is joy when reading Webtoon
Or, they may have read too many other works
They know that hardships will be overcome
So why not just show them the scene of that victory?
That's the expectation that this type satisfies
The representative genres are transmigration, posession and reincarnation
All these three genres
Contain knowledge of the protagonist's future
Which puts the character to this advantageous spot
And here, the fun comes from
The protagonist who can make choices
And while this can let the readers know why the villains are bad
And by allowing the character to prevent the villain's actions
This adds more of that omnipotence
YouTube Shorts instead of full length video, Cut-Toon instead of Webtoon
Summary video instead of the actual movie
There's the need for the climax to happen quickly
And Saida narrative satisfies this need
For example, Killer Peter
The main character used to be a legendary killer
But there is threat posed upon his old self
And when the group he used to be part of betrays him
He is not able to stop this from happening
Yet by a mysterious event he goes back to his younger self
And the fact that killer corporation that Peter was part of
Is trying to betray him is only known to Peter and the readers
And not to any other people in the work
This shares a similar vein to the transmigration narrative
That contains the Saida formula
Because Peter has the strong skills and experiences
As a killer that he picked up growing old
While also having the healthy young body
This is Solo Leveling
This is set in a dungeon where
The protagonist, unlike other extras
Is able to only get stronger as his level increases
And by becoming this special being
This satisfies the need from the readers
Who want to be this special protagonist of their own life
And this also shares that Saida narrative
This is called AI Doctor
And here, some machine that the country has invested in
Which can digest a lot of AI big data
Gets plugged into his brain by some accident
So as he remains human, he gets help from the AI
And becomes a very capable doctor
So while he still has the human goals
Or a warm heart
He also has the great memory as the AI Doctor
As well as an ability to act
Appropriately as a docor for every possible
Situation around him
Which allows him to save people from
Some seemingly impossible situations
Which also provides a Saida narrative
All three works were very popular online
However, this second method requires more effort
You first need a cynical and independent character
As your protagonist
Who doesn't seem to have a big ambition
Or you can even start with them being antisocial
And then this protagonist meets with new people
And encounters some absurd situations
Which should never be some big hardships
They should be some serendipitous events
Which seem very short-termed, from which they can leave whenever they want to
And this makes the character settle down
And find some new precious thing there
And until the protagonist has something they want to protect
The narrative shows every step of the process
And after the character gets to have
Something precious that they want to protect
Only after that comes the real hardship
Then, not only the protagonist
But also the readers who now have precious things in this world
Now realize that they want to fight against this big situation
And that they want to win, out of this deep love
This is RE:ZERO Starting Life in Another World
And here, the protagonist is like a Hikikomori
Who has no particular will in life and does not leave the house
And this outsider-typed character
Learns to have something precious as he moves into this another world
At first, because he is such a Hikikomori
And an antisocial character
He experiences a lot of embarrassing moments, making mistakes
And even dies for some events
And as he repeats that life in the world
He makes things right by not repeating his mistakes
And by going for better choices
The role of this character in the world becomes more important
And the readers gain their affection for this world
And by evoking the desire to
Lead the characters in this another world
Into a better direction
This also evokes love for this work
And despite any big threats or hardships
The readers can still endure with the storyline
This one is called Suhee0
And here, her parents got divorced
And her father is an alcoholic, and her younger siblings are too young
Which makes her, who is also still young
The breadwinner of the family
She is very cynical towards the society, she is overwhelmed
Which also affects the readers as well
By allowing them to identify with the hardships that Suhee goes through
But in this work, as Suhee begins to work as a YouTuber
She gains some social success
Which allows for an experience of realizing the readers' dreams
Where they have thought about becoming a content creator or a YouTuber
And this self-identification allows for some catharsis
But in this work, Suhee does not only experience the Saida narrative
As she goes through very realistic and painful events
The readers who support her wish for her happiness
At first, the immoral reality in the work
Or Suhee's struggles allow for identification and sympathy
And as it progresses, though it is a fiction
The readers gain affection for Suhee and her world
That finally evokes the wish for her to be happy
The advanced version of this second method starts with
Not an antisocial, but a pathetic or even straight-up evil protagonists
Because humans are social animals
We always want to prove our social position
And be comforted by the fact that we're not at the bottom
Of course, if this could be manifested
Into something healthy, like volunteer works or donations, this would be perfect
Anyhow, the point is that self-identification is not the only source of satisfaction
We also feel satisfaction from comparison
This is Ordinary Hamster and Unemployed Gye Baek Soon
And both works deal with very pathetic protagonists
Who are much more antisocial than
Others who have stable jobs and social positions
And this allows for the readers to compare themselves
With these characters, that they are better than these characters
Or an evil protagonist in a work could
Also work with the comparison of how we're better than this character
Or, although we do not intend to do anything criminal
All the unhinged crimes and actions done by the character
Can also provide catharsis
Also, have you seen the predicted drawings for a future human?
Or any expected image of an alien
That we assume to have a more developed civilization
And aliens usually look like this in our imagination
The reason that this ET-like aliens or future humans
Look very unique is because
As we continue our sedentary lifestyle, it strains our back and our eyes
So with this fast development of civilization
We assume that the future humans or aliens have text necks
And by looking into the monitor for a long time, have big eyes
And with a lot of typing, have long fingers like ET
And that's how we imagine these figures
The reason why Mongolians have great eye powers
Is because we are only trained to look at something close
And to focus on a close focal point, like a monitor
Which degenerates our ability to look at something far away
In comparison, Mongolia has less usage of digital devices
And people there comparatively look more at
The meadow or the sky in a distance, or an eagle in that sky
And as they are trained to look far away, this helps with their eye power
This is why we usually associate Mongolians with great eye power
This also means that humans are still not too different
From our survival mode in the nature
We also talk a lot about the issue of obesity
In developed countries, where high-calorie food is a big problem
We can still gain a lot of energy from a very small amount of food
This also proves how humans haven't developed a lot
From our survival mode in the nature
Because humans are naturally hunters
Adernaline from the hunt
Is still what we desire for
However it is hard to find such stimulants in our civilized society
That is why we watch thriller movies, go to an amusement park
Or enjoy the catharsis of blaming the super villain in a fictional work
In this type of work, the protagonist do not get closer to the ultimate success
Even as they are approaching the social success, they are still worried
About their secret crime, worried for avenge, and eventually falls
This is Hide and Seek
Where a psychotic criminal tries to steal my own house
And the anticipation that drives this movie is the ultimate condemnation
The Terror Live
A terrorist is calling me, threatening me to get what they want
When will this terrorist be caught?
That is the anticipation throughout the movie
These works called Dog Dream and Momfluencer
Feature pathetic protagonists that become successful with their immoral actions
And the readers anticipate for their fall as they read these
Also for Mangdol's Sasaeng and Fatal for Those Without Real Estate
Feature Sasaeng or obsessive fans that violate rights of idol members
And a protagonist who commits murder out of greed for someone else's real estate
And the readers are driven by this anticipation of this crime being revealed
This is how the authors provide various stimulating and entertaining Webtoons
In a serial that uploads once in a week
Fit into a mobile screen, in a way that
The readers can fall in love with the story
So by strategically formulating the plot as a Webtoon
And by designing the protagonist
We will be able to keep the readers interested in reading on
Strategic Story Planning for Target Readers
Now, let's talk more about strategic story planning
Specifically for the female and male readership
This means the particular readership with more female or male readership
Though this could be broken down more, let's start with this simple example
Let's preface by putting romance as with female
And action as with male readership
For works with female readership, the protagonists
Often transmigrate into a completely new world after their death
Or experiences posession or moves to another era
Like Rococo, modern or the Middle Ages with social classes
They would often be reborn in a new world
So this protagonist moves out of the reality
This comes from the glass ceiling in the reality
Or any other discriminatory aspects that have been suppressing
Women to stay quiet
And the reflected desire in reaction to move away from this
In contrast, for male readership, a dungeon break occurs in the reality
Or people wake up from the reality to become the hunters themselves
So there is a collapse of societal rules
And an ordinary-looking protagonist reveals their big potentials
So this is an event happening to the world that the character lives in
And this comes from
Ths historical pattern of men getting prizes for victories through competition
And in the same manner getting stigmatized as useless for losses
So this embodies the desire for proving oneself
Because consumers contain desires connected to the reality
This helps us arrange our stories more strategically
This is The Perks of Being an S-Class Heroine
Where the protagonist is poseessed into a young character
Who overcomes her own disadvantages that she has experienced
And gains this more stable life, with things such as
The family's love that she herself could not experience before
So this has the typical Saida narrative format
In contrast, for the male readership, the contemporary world experiences a big event
That reveals the potentials within myself that people did not realize before
And this continues in an explosive Saida format of the narrative
And notice how the same Saida narrative is fit differently
For either male or female readership
For example, the male character in a romance for female readership
Is often, despite being a bad boy or a tyrant
Very sweet to me, or at least to children and animals
This distances them from actual crimes in the reality
And keeps them within the moral boundary
So in Guardians of the Lamb, Moogil is a mercenary who kills
But he never harms innnocent women
Or children and animals in the entire work
And in Suddenlly I Became a Princess, the father is a tyrant
Who often acts roughly and bullies on aristocrats
But he never does the same
To his own people or his daughter, which builds the story
But for the same female readership, the BL genre raises this bar
Because the protagonist is male, this distances him from the readers
Notice how the top characters who acts violently out of love
Or even commits illegal actions still retain their popularity
The top character being a gang member
Or smoking in public, or even committing crimes
Or even abusing the bottom character
The scene where he violently forces someone
Can still remain a popular scene
In contrast, for male readership, even if the main character starts as illegal
The character can still keep his bar high only if his personal conviction is just
Here, the catharsis comes from this chaos
Or even with the character rearranging the corrupt rules
Of course, I'm categorizing readership out of convenience here
Female readers enjoy genres of fantasy-world hunters and dungeons
While male readers also enjoy romance fantasy with themes of posession and true love
Nowadays the society is developing with less aspects such as manboxing or female discrimination compared to the ancient times
So works like Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint or Return of the Blossoming Blade
Are representative works that are popular for all
For Yoo Joonghyuk in Omniscient, he has both the beautiful look for female readership
And the powerful abilities for the male readership
As well as the character setting of a special ability within an ordinary-looking character
As well as Dokja's ability to foresee the future
And the relationship between these two male characters
Is also something for the female readership
There has been a lot of debate of
The gender of Sing Shong, the author of Omniscient
And later it was revealed that Sing Shong was a married couple
So many readers were surprised to know that this work was
Created by both male and female authors
Return of the Blossoming Blade also comes from the narrative for male readership
Of a powerful character who rebuilds his own world out of a broken one
But the beautiful looks by Cheongmyeong
And his loneliness about how he cannot meet the people of his time again
Or also the atmosphere of a family from him rebuilding his Sector
Which reminds the readers of building a family
This is also satisfied as the story unfolds
So whether the readership that you're going for is
A male one, a female one, or both
And whether the age group is that of students or adults
This should be clear before you plan for your story
How to: Plots that Induce Payment
Here, let's talk about something different
A secret recipe behind making plots that induce payment
For a weekly serial, we do not follow this usual graph
Of a story development to create a story
In fact, it is advised to start with the ending
And for this formula
Ending first
The graph looks like this
A usual progression is introduction
And then unfolding the main events
And then the climax that closes in the ending
However, for a serial, when an episode ends with the ending, that satisfies the readers
Which you do not want, so start with the ending
Of the last episode
And then progress until the climax
This holds the readers in the market of weekly serials
And makes the readers endure with a week's worth of waiting
When you check the comments
Saying things like you cannot end here
Or please give us some preview
That means that this work has followed this formula
Let's look at actual ending scenes
And see how this formula has been applied
This is episode one of Being a Maid is Better than Being a Princess at Kakaopage
And here
A female character looking like a maid is looking happy
While at the back we see some complaints
About the laundry work
And this character, let's move on
So, for this beautiful lady
Who can wear and eat all she wants
We see how the maids are jealous of this heavenly life
But the main character is replying with a no
Saying how the dress is so heavy, like 20 kilograms
And how the corset inside is so painful, wringing her own body
And how the most painful thing is having to keep the smile
And this sounds like she knows a lot about this lady
The truth is, she used to be a princess
Who had been abused by her family
We see some tears, saying I have warned you so much and you're still a bad girl
You're so inadequate, are you actually a princess?
That's what this character had gone through
So when her own kingdom had been conquered
Are you going to surrender, and she thinks this is it
And says you can make me your maid, please let me live
So this episode one really fits into the title, Being a Maid is Better than Being a Princess
I am far from being a glamorous beauty
Nor do I have any sweet language
I am absolutely not the peerless beauty
I look so uncharismatic that everyone I meet says I look sleepy
I'm sure you won't find me adequate, Your Highness
But I am actually very healthy
I can embroider, I can make great tea
So I am a perfect fit for a plain maid, and that ends episode one
So this ends at this climax where there is
This beautiful looking male character
And a female character who says I don't mind being put down, as long as I survive
And we now know that she has this royal blood
So how would this story unfold? And at this climax the story ends
This is a great example of having to build each episode
Starting with an ending and ending with a climax
But one important thing is
To avoid bad ending for the entire storyline
Do you know about the ending of the original story of The Little Mermaid?
The mermaid falls in love with the prince as she saves him having fallen from the deck
But her mermaid body hinders her love
So she visits the witch, sacrifices her voice
And gains human legs to walk out of the water
If the romance with the prince comes true, the legs will become hers
And if not, she will become sea foam, according to the contract
But since she has lost her voice, she cannot tell him
That she's the one who had saved him
So the prince does not recognize her, and the mermaid falls into the witch's plot
And the romance is threatened
So the mermaid's sisters sell their hair to buy a magical dagger
That can undo the curse and save the mermaid once they stab the prince with it
Despite all this, because the mermaid has fallen into the prince
She could not stab the prince, turning into some sea foam
This is the bad ending of the story
As sea foam disappears under sunlight
This tragic yet beautiful story is the original for The Little Mermaid
Isn't this very different from what we know from the Disney version?
The Disney mermaid, also falling in love with the prince whom she had saved
Almost realizes her romance with the prince
But the witch, Ursula, gets in the way and manipulates the rules of the game
But thanks to the mermaid's endearing sisters and sea animals
The true love wins over the plotting witch
The princess gains both her human legs and her voice
And the happy ending closes under Poseidon's blessings
Not only is the ending happier, but the villain is more clearly evil
In the original, the witch only played a fair game of
Trading the voice and the legs and did not do anything else
In fact, when the mermaid almost failed realizing her romance
The witch allowed for a second chance by trading with the sisters
Which also ended up as a sad ending for the mermaid
This resembles our own society
Humans are multi-dimensional, they are good but also bad
But in the contemporary society with developed laws, the good and the evil became clearer
And the desire of prizing or punishing each, respectively, is reflected in stories
Which makes the witch as a clear evil who cheats
In addition, because humans wish for a happy life
The Disney version of The Little Mermaid ends differently, in a happy ending
So the supply changed for the demand
Likewise, Webtoon, as a commercial art
The author needs to tell a story that people want to read
Of course tragedies have their own worth
For example, classic works like Romeo and Juliet
Often have tragic endings
With the message of the two families having to reconcile
In order to avoid any unnecessary sacrifices
And tragedy can also provide sympathy
And consolation for those who relate to
Such sad experiences
But how come so many tragedies are remade into contemporary happy endings?
The supplies have followed the demands
And more people want the sympathy of happy, satisfactory things
Rather than that of sad things
A genre always has an expected progression and ending
For example, an orphan who has lost their parents as a child
Strives to live on through part time jobs, and suddenly gets hit by a truck
So this innocent yet diligent character
We expect them to have a second chance through reincarnation
This was an easy example
For a romance, the two main characters start off as enemies
And the genre expectation is that they will change and fall in love eventually
Or in a mystery genre, of the people locked into a lodge under snow
If a detective is also locked up, it means that the culprit is there as well
And we anticipate the detective to reveal who it is
If there is a dungeon break in the real world
And if many people gain abilities to fight the monsters
While the main chracter does not fight and only focuses on the romance
This will make the readers angry
Or if a female character of a romance, right before realizing her love of her life
Suddenly becomes a fighter to save the world
This will infuriate many readers
Or if the detective dies with the killer's plots
This as an ending will infuriate the readers
Like so, a story requires basic rules
And having a happy ending is a very big premise and a rule
Because people read a story with the premise of a happy ending
If you want to make a sad and beautiful tragedy by creatively betraying this anticipation
You really need to build a flawless ending
A black comedy that reports some injustice in the real world, or a toned down ending
That is sad yet achieving a goal, called a merry bad ending
Some undeniably charming character in a very clear ending
We need the details of progressing into that ending
A great example of betraying the genre is
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
This does follow the genre of magical girl
Featuring dream, hope, mascot characters
But this adds to these girls simply keeping the world peaceful
Where when the girls accumulate enough sadness or doubt
They become the witches themselves
Whom they, as the magical girls, fight against
And this mascot character, Kyube
Actually hides this fact from the girls
In fact, as the magical girl becomes a witch
Through this huge emotional process, this imbues a big energy in the universe
And Kyube actually intends for this in this plan
This is a shocking twist of the genre formula
The reason that this work is still being talked about is
Despite all the tragic processes of distorting or betraying the genre
The main character refuses to make a contract with Kyube
This pink-haired character, she keeps thinking
And saying things like this can't happen, yet refuses to become the magical girl herself
Which induces annoyance from the audience, and at the final scene
I won't be spoiling you with this but
By making a choice that she had been thinking about for a while
She saves all the other sad magical girls
As well as saving the world from the absurdity
And as she achieves this
She has to be forgotten from the world
But by saving all other characters
And also saving this character called Homura
Who had been supporting this main character
So this is a story with a merry bad ending
Like so, a great bad ending could make a great story
But it is a very difficult task
Of course, if you are convicted to make a tragic ending
The challenge is worth the work
But if you do not mind happy or bad ending
If you are working on your debut Webtoon
I advise that you go with the happy ending
Because, even if you complete the task well
A debut work ending with a sad, tragic ending
Often loses its readers, because they won't check out the next work by the author
However, if the first work ends happily
And then the next ones not so happily
People will still read on until around the third work
So this continues the readership
So always remember that the readers start with the anticipation of
Believing in a happy ending
How to: Storytelling for a Target Readership
Progression of ending first, climax last
As well as the strategic happy ending
I hope these three aspects help you prepare for your work
Thank you
Summary Why people want more stimulating content Reading on a mobile device as well as being a video-friendly reader As people lose hope in the reality
People find it harder to identify with the fictional character's ambition Preferred Webtoon You can stop anywhere, it does not require focus Very visible, very stimulating Strategic planning for Webtoon
Has only fun and happy bits or overcoming hardships Cynical and independent character, or very pathetic And evil character's Bildungsroman that induces immersion into or affection towards them
Strategic Planning for Stories for Target Readership Female readership Often characters die and incarnate into a new world Distanced from real-world crimes
Male readership Reflecting desire for proving oneself The world collapses and the character reveals their potentials Catharsis from rearranging corrupt rules
How-to: Plots that Induce Payment Dramatic plots Ending first, climax last: more anticipation for the next episode Keeps the readers through a week's worth of waiting
Happy ending provides the happy consolation of catharsis How-to: Dramatic Plot Expected plot: A diligent character gets their chance
Enemies become lovers Protagonist makes achievements