Elf Blood

Hullo all! Here’s the second bit of holiday filler for you. This is something I’m quite invested in – a little slice-of-life type comic that I’m preparing for submission. The series is called Bonnie Words, and it focusses on a young girl as she navigates high school, the perils of being a weird teenager, and her first tentative steps in a writing career.

I’m not ashamed in saying that it takes heavy influence from Daria – though I aim to be less cynical, and a little more optimistic. Daria is probably the piece of fiction that my own high school experience relates to the most, and even now I still see a lot of myself in her characterisation (even though I clearly obviously want to be Jane).

I actually struggled with the story in this. Originally every story was about the main character, Bonnie, writing her own short story. But that got really boring, really fast. It was when I was replotting the second issue that I realised something important; while writing is a key goal of the character, it can’t be EVERYTHING she does, otherwise her life looks sad and dull. Instead, I chose to focus in on her relationships with the people in her life and have her write in the background, occasionally having it phase in as a main plotline.

Bonnie is joined by her artist sister, Shirley, who isn’t a main character but is a real supporting influence in her life – Where Bonnie represents my own attempts to become a professional creator, Shirley is where I want to be, and she serves as this to Bonnie too, a positive motivator. The dude on the right was an initial design that didn’t quite survive – he was originally a reflection of my musical talent throughout high school, but eventually he morphed into a different, sexier, more interesting character named Carlos. He’s still a musician, and represents my younger, cockier self, but he’s now Shirley’s boyfriend. That’s just pure wish fulfilment right there 😛

Tune in on Friday for the last holiday extra, and a little look at a pencil page of Bonnie Words!

M.