In an interview with Chris Mautner, Lynn Johnston reveals that her initial plan of a clean transition from her current For Better of For Worse format into the new hybrid is going to take more time to wrap up current story lines. Expect to see the hybrid format in your paper’s next month, but the Anthony and Elizabeth story-line in particular won’t come to a close until next year.
Here’s the money quotes:
Q: Have you been going over the old strips in preparation for the new sequences?
A: Yes and they’ll start running in September. I was going to bring the main storyline to sort of a significant conclusion while I was working my way into the new format, but that sort of tie-up is not going to happen in September. It’s just not time, the characters sort of won’t let me. It would be too soon. So I’m going to continue and put in some classic material and keep me and everyone else waiting for that moment of truth.
Q: So there’s not going to be a set deadline then? It’s going to be more of a gradual process?
A: It’s going to be more gradual, yes. I had planned seriously on making this in September because that was when my contract was going to be renewed. And yet sometimes you just can’t hurry things up. Especially since you only have one statement a day to tell the story; it tells the story far too slowly.
I’m interested and readers are interested to know what is going to happen with Anthony and Elizabeth. That resolution can’t happen too fast. They’ve only just started to see each other again after a long time apart. Both have had other relationships and now he has a child and some baggage and so does she. You just can’t wrap it up too quickly. So that’s why it’s going to extend further into the year.
There are many more interesting topics discussed. Read the whole thing.