Yeah the story is basically a biography of the online (and in the Human Saga where the hamsters transform into humans, my offline) life I had and mirrors it and the drama I went through.
jerk protagonists are very interesting to read on (example off the top of my head: Jotaro from JJBA)
readers get invested in them to see if they eventually become a better person, learn their lesson or at least have any redeeming qualities (Jotaro is quite a jerk to his sweet mother but literally traveled the world and put his life on the line for her. values friendship. doesn't stand for injustice...etc. And it shows in his actions, not words.)
that being said...
it's really hard to get invested in or relate to a self-insert no matter how good they are.
it can come off as narcissism, especially to the degree you're describing here.
the character's constant mean actions will eventually get criticized by the readers, and when they're completely based off of yourself, you'll take it personally no matter how thick your skin is. then you'll probably wanna incorporate that situation into your story, and people get more angry with you. things get hairy and messy. and whatever story you had going is ruined.
rinse and repeat.
This may sound like a hypothetical situation, but it actually happened before with not only Chris-Chan
but also another quite notorious furry artist who is still at it, so to speak.
try not to over-indulge in a self-insert. nobody really likes that outside of funny gags.
and keep your personal feelings out of the story to the best of your abilities.
it may also help to summarize your thoughts and ideas before sharing them as well...
otherwise, good luck.
ALRIGHT, LISTEN BOY, PEP TALK, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW! I HAVE EVERY REASON TO BELIEVE THAT YOU'RE TROLLING ME AND EVERYONE IN THIS THREAD AND ARE TRYING TO PULL US INTO AN INTRICATE RUSE, BUT IN THE CASE THAT YOU ARE BEING GENUINE HERE - LISTEN HERE AND NOW!!
I will agree with everyone and myself here that you're inserting yourself and others in your life to closely into this hamster webcomic project of yours, to which I would say - be wary, stop, don't do it. When you're making a piece of art, such as a webcomic, you are without a doubt creating a product for others to enjoy - thus, if you want to make something that people will actually like, your best course of action is to step back, look at your work with cool detachment, and focus on making something.
HOWEVER, it is extremely clear that at this point that your life is already closely intertwined with this work, to which I say - USE YOUR LIFE AS A DRIVE TO CREATING SOMETHING MEANINGFUL.
You like hamsters, I will assume you watch Japanese cartoons - and I will also assumed you've watched Evangelion, yes?
I know that Neon Genesis Evangelion and its follow up film End of Evangelion are not necessarily biography comics - however, it can be said without a doubt that Hideaki Anno's own personal issues seeped into the body of this work. However, this facet of the work's production is what created depth in the work, and ultimately supported the main message of the necessity of human relationships, even if they are difficult.
If you want to make a story based heavily on your internet life or whatever, sure, go for it, but you have to ensure first and foremost that the final product IS ACTUALLY GOOD~!!!!!11!
There are approximately AS MANY BIOGRAPHY COMICS ON THE INTERNET AS THERE ARE STARS IN THE NIGHT SKY, AND IF YOU WANT TO MAKE SOMETHING THAT WILL BE READ, YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING FANTASTIC WITH IT!!!!1!!!
Polish up your art, practice with making one shot chapters, read up on how to write good stories, characterization, but most of all: ACTUALLY SIT YOUR ASS DOWN AND DRAW SOMETHING YOU HACK I SAW YOU IN A THREAD LIKE 2 MONTHS AGO AND YOU HAVEN'T DONE JACK SHIT. JUST DRAW SOMETHING, FUCKING FUCK JUST DRAW AND MAKE SOMETHING GOGOGOGOGOGO GO GO OG OGO GO OGO GO OGOGOGO O FUUUUUUUUCKKCKCKCKCKKKK
(this message was sponsored by god damn I just finished reading Ashita no Joe and man is it good, I feel hyped, I just did 50 push ups and my arms hurt and I'm going to do some more - just draw something you stupid hack!)
Alternatively, if you're not aiming to make any sort of masterpiece and just want to draw some biography comics, at least make them funny and unique in some way. I don't know what it is about this depressed man named Dan Kim4, but his occasional biography comic has at least some semblance of humour. Just draw something what the hell stop tip toeing just DRAW DAMN IT DRAW.
…
I'm going to directly link the video I mentioned earlier because I think you really ought to watch it.
After your latest replies the parallels are even stronger between you and Chris-chan, the trolling both ways, the online TMI, the self-inserts … I just wanna help you, man.
And to stay on topic, @Freemints30 mentioned Dan Vs. and I really liked Dan's character from the few episodes I watched of it! I think with him, Dan gives a voice to the everyman's daily hang-ups with the world. We'd like to lash out our frustrations like him but can't if we want people to like us/get ahead in life.
I agree with Joanne.
The way you describe this story is constantly "So my character is a little weird (just like me when I was hanging out with this group in 2002) and meets this other character (who is like my friend that I used to hang out with but that friend doesn't really talk to me anymore)" -- I think it would be good to try to stop doing those asides!
You can just say "My character is lonely and a little weird, and then he meets this other character" without explaining your life. It's very important for people to be able to understand the story without knowing anything about your life at all!
A lot of times I have issues with typing up too much and going on tangents, so I re-read them before I post them, and delete a lot of it. You can type up a whole bunch, then re-read what you've typed and look for anything that's an explanation of your life, and delete those parts. It takes practice! But I think it's worth learning to do!
If you're talking about your comic, then it makes sense to share feedback on your comic that you got from others. (example "The people on reddit said it didn't make sense") but things people said about other parts of your life (example: "people on the reddit said I should feel bad for complaining about my mom" or "my friend stopped talking to me because of what happened on these message boards" etc) is oversharing, and you can delete those parts before you post. You can't share that kinda stuff with strangers constantly -- and the folks in places like reddit and these forums are strangers to you.
Please do make your comics!! Sometimes just making art is a great outlet, even if there are people out there who don't care for it. But even though it's very tempting to explain, I don't think you should explain how every part of the story is like your life.
Glad you enjoy it. Over all I think jerk characters are rather interesting, if done well we have a character we can essentially relate when we are at our most frustrated. We all have our little jerk moments.
MMMMMM oh GoOdNEsss I have a wholllleeee story on why that's horrible.
Ok, so like you may know (hopefully not) Valentina started out as an mlp fan character. Now, I have no problem admitting what she was and what I did because I was severely mentally unstable at the time and had stopped taking my meds for over a year. So, anyways, she used to have my name and it would reeeeaaalllyyy blur the line between me and her to the point where I started acting like her, (well her version of back then when she was a 2d mary sue with no real character) It got so bad that I used her pronouns and mine as "me" and "I".
I don't know if it was my meds or my advanced mental deterioration but it was very bad. It is very unhealthy because over time you start to think you are that person, that you are that character living in that small perfect world of yours and not only does it affect your work it affects you as a person. It wasn't until the point that I stopped doing that, got mental help (because I learnt that this was dissociation and a big problem) and tried to live a normal life.
So, Tl;dr, don't ever call your character yourself and vice-versa and don't use "me" or "I" pronouns in referring to your character because even though you may not notice it it will affect you and you will act like that. Also, if you do, it's a red flag.
(Also I decided to rewrite this character as Valentina because she deserved a second chance tbh it had good potential)
Hey! Don't think I'm hating on you Hamsterdude, I will just keep my comment simple. PLEASE KEEP THE CONTENT SAFE FOR ALL AUDIENCES. In other posts you have described very grotesque and inappropriate stories. So...if you are making a jerk character don't take things too far and listen if your audience tells you that you are being inappropriate because you seem to have trouble with boundaries. That is not hate, people want to help you. Good luck, I wish you are feeling better.
I kinda of disagree with keep it safe for all audiences. He should be aware of what audience he is trying to appeal to. If he is trying to appeal to people who like dark fiction disturbing content is a given (as long as it follows community guide lines). If its for people looking for a shonen action romp, content has to be turned down. He should figure out who his comic is trying to appeal to before he writes.
That's just my 2 cents.
Isn't he trying to make a comic about hamsters though? That might be easy for children to stumble upon who can't really judge such works well enough yet.
OH MY GOSH another Ashita no Joe reference!! I love this place!!!
I stopped drawing because two people on a Discord chat made fun of my hamster drawings.
I posted about it here, and some person said "There's two types of people in the world: Those with talent and those without it. And hamster dude, I certainly, without a doubt, can clearly see that you're the type of person with no talent."
I do imagine lots of cool stuff in my head though. I'd be a great choreographer or director or something. I'm more motivated to draw, too!
The more this goes on the more I wonder if this isn't just a huge troll trying to hype up your comic/novel at this point.
Each reply is more out there than the last.
I'm not trying to hype up my comic/novel.
I'm a really scared and anxious person. This always happens and stuff. I'm not trolling! My ex-girlfriend really did say that stuff! She started talking to me last year but I made a mistake and now she doesn't talk to me anymore. It is all real and stuff and people always make fun of my work so I'm not trying to hype up my comic/novel cuz I know it won't work anyways.
Edit: fine I edited out the stuff I said in my last post. I really wanted help with how to deal with that, though. But I don't want people to think I'm a huge troll or whatever.
Alright. I said I wasn't gonna get into any of this anymore, and it looks like I failed on that.
So let me cut to the chase.
Please, stay on topic.
I've been trying to go over what you want out of your story, and I had to legit copy&paste before CUTTING OUT a lot of your replies in order to understand what you were getting at. And a lot of the stuff I omitted dealt with your personal business.
I do not want to know about your personal business.
I am a stranger on the internet who is not close to you. I shouldn't be hearing about what happened between your ex-friends, your ex-girlfriend, nor should I be hearing any of the personal business you give about those people.
The stuff you said about your mother should be kept PRIVATE.
You're giving way too much information, and you're kinda lucky that a lot of the people here are telling you this and not being outright hurtful.
That being said, let's also get to another thing:
I can't tell if you're blurring the lines between fiction and reality or not.
Look. I'm gonna be honest. I have made stories that have been loosely based on my own experiences and feelings. I have made characters that represented a part of myself or a part of the people I've known. But never have I:
A) Made it an obvious representation of myself or of the people I've known.
B) Told anyone that it was based on people I know or me.
The key word is "loosely".
Because I know at the end of it, none of what I write will ever represent or speak about myself or the people I know. There may be feelings there, but that's it.
You, on the other hand, are claiming to make yourself into the main character, people you know into the main character. You can't be doing that -- it makes it harder for you to take criticism, and quite frankly, you'll be giving out information some of these people don't want given out. You're still not understanding the idea of "boundaries".
Now, to answer your question -- Yes, you can make a MC that's a jerk.
But your problem is that you're not making a story. You're essentially making an auto-biography and oversharing a lot of stuff you shouldn't be sharing. That's my thing. There's a time and place to do so, but for what you're going for, I don't need all of that information.
@Freemints30 hey, I totally get your point and I would NORMALLY agree, but I'm giving that advice specifically to this user because of some posts he has written in the past...I really don't want to describe, but his posts have been blocked by the de administrator because they are disturbing (yes, they were that bad). I'm not against violence, darkness, and wickedness, This specific user has a trouble understanding where the limits are and are, and is worrying that he thinks that help is hate. That's why I encourage him to listen to the audience when they tell him he has gone too far because he doesn't get it.
@amortelito You're wrong :x I'm sorry about that. Like I said in the thread that got closed, I did not want to write the disturbing story at all. I was confused when the person said I could write a doujin about her, and people somewhere told me that a doujin means something sexual. And I told her that I hated writing her the messed up story, but I forced myself to even though it scarred me for life cuz I thought the reason she was mad at me was cuz of the doujin thing. It was a misunderstanding. I don't wanna be offtopic but I wanted to clarify.
You
You're missing the point.
You didn't HAVE to write that stuff about her―you could've done ANYTHING else and it still would've been a doujin bc doujin are the same as fanfiction. You should've researched this before making that, istg. Doujin CAN be perverted, but you aren't forced to write shit like that.
