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

[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.

[aqua03]

So, in good news: The person finally contacted me. In bad news, it's to again tell me that we'll never be friends again and they want me to remove all their cameos from my comics and never even reference anything of theirs again lest they pursue legal action against me.

So I guess I finally have some form of closure on that front, as much as it hurts me.

[yansusu]

Well, at least you know their stance now and don't have to worry about more trouble in the future so you can think about how to solve the issue with the cameos etc and then see if you still want to work on it. It might be sad but at least this way you have a direction to go on.

[aqua03]

Yeah, that is good to know. Though Im now wondering if there's anything I should rework in DRAGOONS given the fact I took incredibly minor inspiration from some of their stuff regarding it.

[yansusu]

Maybe just go through everything first and take some notes what you took from them and then see how all of that could be changed?

[aqua03]

Yeah, that could work. Though the main thing was kind of the power system of the heroes in my comic, so that might be a bit tricky to change.

[yansusu]

Well, if there's anything we can help with, you know where to ask

[aqua03]

Cool, thanks. Good to know you have my back.

[aqua03]

So in other good news: The person I've been umping and erring over regarding copyright only wants me to remove their direct cameos from my comic and they don't really care about my other stuff unless I blatantly rip them off. So that's a load off my back.

[aqua03]

So, reviving this topic because I just realized something that's kind of a problem it feels: I kind of feel that because of how tied some of my characters became to my friend's stuff and how much my characters had their stuff kinda galvanized through the help of them both direly and indirectly that my stuff mina almost feels like a weird subset of their stuff. Like a "Part of their universe, but also not really" sort of thing. I don't know what to do or where to go with that given that said character traits and powers are still 100% mine, but I still feel I have trouble shaking off that feeling that I'm just sharing these characters with someone else if you guys can understand.