Writing for Crying Children II [Guest Comic]

The second of my guest strips at Pictures of Crying Children has went up over at the PCC website, though I can't take 100% credit for this one. My original script was a slight jibe at myself, sort of an inside joke, but one of the interesting and helpful things about writing for other people, and other people's characters, is that you learn the intricate details of said characters, and the importance of sticking to little details about them. So what we end up with is something the lends itself better to the established characters' personalities I was writing for, and is less about me.

There's a part of every writer's work that's just a reflection of themselves. Any writer who says otherwise is [usually] either being modestly clever or intentionally thick, and I think in younger writers it's always a bit stronger, because... well, we're younger, less refined, less comfortable leaving the things we know behind when doing our work. I've always been really forgiving of myself when it comes to this -- I don't mind throwing subtle nods to personal things in, a lot of my characters have at least some aspect of my own personality in them, or they're going through things that I myself am familiar with. It's not a sin, I don't think, to have a comfort zone, particularly if you feel like the material in said comfort zone is fresh, and you want it to be said. There are drawbacks to it [not every sad-sack I write is reflection on me, not every love interest is some girl I've pined for or lost, not every douchebag is someone who's wronged me], but for now it works, and at 24 and still unfilmed and unpublished [mostly], I don't think I can be accused of going back to the well one too many times.

But.

Pictures of Crying Children isn't about me. And leaving yourself behind [or at least most of yourself] to write something? That's been a new, fun challenge. And it helps that I'm working with an absolutely brilliant artist in Ms. [soon to be Mrs.] CheriAnn Stevens.

Check out the new comic here. And definitely keep checking PCC for more comics, written by me or otherwise, every Monday and Friday.

Also, on a personal note, thank you, everyone, for the kind words during what has been another trying time for my family. I appreciate the support more than I could intimate here. Thank you.