What do you do when your work becomes tied to drama in your mind?

[CodeMonkeyArts]

I don’t know how comfortable you are doing this, but maybe you can thank those who helped and supported you so far at the end of your summary or in a quick chapter. Then you can explain you are carrying on without the assistance, but wanted to give credit where it was due?

I think that is a good idea. Just have an acknowledgements page or even a little thank you image with some callouts. I think if you can do that, save it in a doc for a later, that may help you continue on your work without having to feel guilty about the drama.

[aqua03]

Thanks. I might give it a shot. Then do I share it with those who helped me? Or do I just keep it on my own?

[Maps]

I get that. Sometimes you’ve just gotta “bite the bullet”, especially if it’s truly your project and something that you want to continue on with. If you’re borrowing their characters, maybe you can write them out and just turn it into something that is yours. And you can definitely leave a tasteful “thanks to everyone who has helped me so far. I appreciate how you’ve helped me grow as a creator, but this work is so important to me and I’m deciding that I can’t drop it”.
I mean, we’ve all recieved help and advice in some way or another to get to the points we’re at today.

[aqua03]

That sounds like a plan. I'll probably do what when I get back form vacation when I get home. I didn't use any of their characters, but I did loosely based some ideas off of their work, which was something they were a bit touchy about even when we were friends. But my stuff does seem separate enough from heirs that it shouldn't cause trouble hopefully.

[yansusu]

I was in a similar situation previously and it needs time (and I'm talking about much more time than a month here) to get over something like that. Working on something else and completely new might help.

Other than that:

I can't help but feel that I'm rubbing salt in their wounds or my wounds by working in it, because it might come off as "I'm working on the thing that hurt you so badly you won't talk to me despite your help! Hahaha."

I wouldn't think of it like this. First of all, if that friend blocked you everywhere, they won't see your comic so it's not rubbing salt anywhere. They would have to go out of their way to look for it and I think that's highly unlikely. Otherwise, what would they have blocked you for?

Which brings me to my second point. Now, careful warning at the beginning: This might hurt you a bit, sorry about that already but as I said I've been through some similar situations before and I think I have a slightly different perspective on this and feel that I should bring it up just in case.

So I don't know the specific situation but in my experience feeling hurt isn't the only reason to block people. Honestly, I've blocked people myself and it's never been because I've felt hurt but only ever because the people were just getting severely on my nerves, I was angry at them because of something or because I felt that I didn't want to have any contact anymore because our values didn't align.

Now, I'm not saying that it's the same in your friend's case but it could be that you're reading too much into the situation. If you had trouble with each other several times before, then maybe they just felt it was too bothersome and don't want to have anything to do with the project anymore because of that.
I mean developing stories and keeping up relationships both take time and energy and if one thing sucks too much of that energy, then it might be better to let go of it because people want to use their resources for something else. So they walk away to have a clean cut because if they don't and stay in contact with the other person, then the thing that was stealing their energy will inevitably come up again and they'll enter the same cycle once again which isn't good for them. So they just make the decision that is best for them.

I've been in that situation and I have made exactly that clean cut and consider it to be one of the best decisions I made in my life. I honestly wouldn't be happy if any of the people involved tried to contact me out of whatever reason but I have never cared about what happened to the project from back then regardless of the fact that I was very involved in it before.
So from my perspective: Just leaving the person be and continuing to do your own stuff might be good enough already and they might not care about the rest.

[CodeMonkeyArts]

Depends! I think you can just add that acknowledge chapter into your story and then announce it to subscribers (if you want) and/or you can send a private message to people with the link. The hope is that, by having the acknowledgement and thank you written and then saved/scheduled for a later date, you no longer feel burdened and can keep going with your work. Then when it's complete or when you're ready, you post it

[aqua03]

Thanks. I might try that. What all should I include in it?

[CodeMonkeyArts]

Maybe first a summary of the general thanks you want to give and, if they are particular people, you can thank them for what they have done to contribute or inspire the story.

[aqua03]

That sounds like it could work, in all actuality. Thanks for the advice.

[Maps]

And if you’re using anything “borrowed” from them until you can write it out, it might be nice to write what you borrowed and from who-just so you can close any loose ends.

[aqua03]

That sounds D's good as well, I also remembered that they let their characters cameo once or twice in another comic before we had a falling out, so I'm also trying to find out if I should remove those cameos from that comic as well given what happened.

[LCT_m_a_d]

Sometimes we take a break from things because "we probably should, and somehow it will eventually give us a fresh perspective"

The thing is, taking a break can help manage our emotions, but the underlying issue will remain until we resolve our role.

The comic itself doesn't sound like the issue you need to figure out, but maybe an acceptance that there is something/nothing you can do.

[aqua03]

By an acceptance that there's nothing or something you can do, are you referring to my firendship with the other person that broke?

[vfinnigan]

If you want to work on the comic, work on the comic. Don't let the drama interfere, unless say, you have a collaborator who sexually harasses you on social media and doesn't meet his deadlines anyway. (There is one I flat-out refuse to work with because of that. He's proven he can't work with me, and continuing my work is absolutely worth it!)

However, I have been dealing with different issues. It's a little personal, but both my current collaborator and I have service-related PTSD (hers from her time in the Army, mine from non-military firefighting and EMS). And we don't shy away from potentially triggering topics in our works. So there are times when we say to each other, "If you're having a hard time with this, let me know." And then we talk each other through it. Sometimes just knowing we have each others' backs is enough to help us through it.

And sometimes, taking time off to mentally regroup is necessary.

[aqua03]

So, thanks for all the adivce guys. Here's what I think I'm gonna do. I'm gonna make that thank you note to the guys who helped me and send it to them, then I'm gonna start trying my best to get back to work on Dragoons. I'm also gonna see if the person I had the falling out with wants their camoes removed from my other comic edible green tea if I can find a way to contact them as well. Thank you all for the help, it really means a lot to me.

[joannekwan]

I'm also gonna see if the person I had the falling out with wants their camoes removed from my other comic edible green tea if I can find a way to contact them as well.

I would just remove the cameos, or change them completely without trying to contact the person. I believe you've tried reaching out to them before to apologize/talk it out with no luck. If they've blocked you this thoroughly, I don't want you to waste your time.

[aqua03]

Yeah, I guess you're right on that end. Though,gh unfortunately one of the cameos was kind of important to the comic it was a part of.

[SleepingPoppy]

I'm also gonna see if the person I had the falling out with wants their camoes removed from my other comic edible green tea if I can find a way to contact them as well.

I strongly suggest you don't. Regardless of the reason for falling out, your ex-friend has made it very clear they don't want contact, and you need to respect that.

Personal opinion, but since they didn't request you remove the cameos, just move on and leave the past as is. After all, a falling out of friends doesn't erase the good times of the past. You should not use any of this person's content in the future, but leave anything finished as is, unless you personally prefer to remove it. But dont contact the person.

[Rosso]

unfortunately one of the cameos was kind of important to the comic it was a part of

a better way to remedy this situation is to just go over all panels they appear in, change the colors and design to the best of your abilities and their name as well wherever mentioned. So the important character is yours now and you don't have to awkwardly write them off because of this.

Perhaps you wanna leave a heads up to your readers about this change to avoid confusion when and if this character shows up again.

[Kelheor]

It may sound harsh, but the characters are just characters and you can redo them - and it will probably help.

I don't make a comic, but I have a partly written-mostly discussed universe (together with other people), where one of the three main characters is my ex best friend's character. And all other OCs that are linked to this character play a pretty huge role in the plot too.
After a quarrel, all I had to do is to own that character now, so I did my best in making her my character. She didn't change in the core, but overall I tried to change and evolve her and all the associated characters in the way I'd like them to be. So I gave them new plotlines, new hobbies, clothes and features.
If it was just a cameo and they didn't wrote you anything about it - leave it be, if it doesn't bother you much. If it bothers you - redraw it.

If you want to apologize and write them something - please do, get this off your chest. But there's nothing you can do if they don't want to talk to you. If they blocked you, they are probably angry and don't want to have anything to do with you for now. So just own your comic, make the changes you need to make for it to feel like your own.