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Daily Inspiration Quote by Chester Brown

"The main problem was a pacing problem. I had wanted the project to be about 20-30 issues, and I should have written it out as a full script beforehand"

About this Quote

A pacing problem is the least glamorous kind of failure, which is exactly why Chester Brown names it. In comics, pacing isnt just about plot speed; its the invisible architecture of attention: how long a scene breathes, how quickly revelations land, how much silence sits between panels. Brown frames the "main problem" as structural rather than inspirational, puncturing the romantic myth of the cartoonist as pure improvising auteur. Hes talking like a craftsperson who knows the medium punishes wishful thinking.

The specificity of "20-30 issues" does a lot of work. Thats not a vague desire to make something "long". Its the scale of a serial commitment, the kind that lives or dies on rhythm and propulsion. Underneath the calm phrasing is an admission of serial storytelling's trap: you can keep moving forward and still be losing the shape. Each new issue can feel like progress while the larger narrative quietly drifts off course.

"I should have written it out as a full script beforehand" is both self-critique and a small manifesto. Comics culture often valorizes discovery on the page - drawing first, finding the story later - but Brown is pointing to the cost: pacing becomes reactive, not designed. The regret isnt about talent; its about planning, an unsexy discipline that protects a long project from its own momentum.

Contextually, its also a window into Browns broader persona: controlled, rigorous, suspicious of sentimentality. The line reads like an artist refusing to mythologize his process, choosing accountability over mystique.

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TopicWriting
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APA Style (7th ed.)
Brown, Chester. (2026, January 17). The main problem was a pacing problem. I had wanted the project to be about 20-30 issues, and I should have written it out as a full script beforehand. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-main-problem-was-a-pacing-problem-i-had-41123/

Chicago Style
Brown, Chester. "The main problem was a pacing problem. I had wanted the project to be about 20-30 issues, and I should have written it out as a full script beforehand." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-main-problem-was-a-pacing-problem-i-had-41123/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The main problem was a pacing problem. I had wanted the project to be about 20-30 issues, and I should have written it out as a full script beforehand." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-main-problem-was-a-pacing-problem-i-had-41123/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.

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Chester Brown (born May 16, 1960) is a Cartoonist from Canada.

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