you are doing a great work making your characters comic captivating.. i just read your last rb and instantly felt drawn in in their stories, the writing is really good.. i was wondering if there's some sort of a masterpost with basic info about them?
Thank you!! I unfortunately dont have one place with all the info BUT i’ll give you the gist of things and some places where you can see more!
this is like 10k words worth of an explanation of the first chronological half of the plot but not everything. I also wrote it a while ago, so… excuse my poor writing! I would also look through the #Writing, #Comic and #Ask tags on my blog! They have a lot of information!! And if you have questions, just ask :D i love to talk about what i make
Anyway, the story is called Waltz With Me and it takes place in (primarily) Washington state from 1976-1993. The main character is Wilson Fischer who looks like this:
dorky little guy with glasses. Since WWM takes place over several years, his appearance changes too. When it starts, he’s 18 and has long hair and when it ends, he’s 35 and bald so. That’s the same guy.
Wilson is a difficult guy. He deeply struggles with self-hatred and as a result, his relationships struggle too. He’s also a closeted gay man in the 70s and 80s and cannot accept this fact about himself, despite being in love with the same man the entire time.
The man in question is Asa Moore, who looks like this:
taller than wilson. Big nose and big hair. Really sweet guy honestly (but far from perfect, believe me…) his appearance also changes over time, when he’s younger he’s got a bit of a bowlcut going on and when hes older his hair is short and he has a beard.
Asa’s sensitive, forgiving, and thinks very little of himself, all of which are reasons that he stays with Wilson as long as he does. He is hopelessly in love with him and believes, despite all evidence saying otherwise, that Wilson loves him just as much.
(Before i keep going, here’s a timeline of appearances aaand my personal commentary - just so you know whats up!)
You may be wondering… so what is the nature of Asa and Wilsons relationship anyway???
long story short… ITS COMPLICATED but they started out as friends. They met through Asa’s step sister, named Vicky, when Asa was 17 and Wilson was 18. They became close quite quickly, fueled by the fact that both of them were lonely kids who were going through weird life changes and just needed somebody. They became close from december 76-july 77, which was when it became obvious that they were more than friends.
In july of that year, they had their first kiss in the backseat of Asa’s car. It ended horribly, with Wilson panicking halfway through and begging to be dropped off at home. This put a pretty big dent in their relationship for a while, and a very much hurt Asa was bent on repairing it. Unfortunately, his means weren’t the greatest. Instead of communication, or anything healthy, he tried to fix his relationship by introducing Wilson to drugs. It was bonding, sort of, and made it so they both thought less about consequences. This method worked in a way - they started hooking up (while only under the influence, to begin) and Asa got what he wanted, and what he believed Wilson deep-down wanted too. This post goes into more depth about how this played out.
Anyway, their relationship was a bit weird at this point. It was based entirely on being cokeheads together but they also both had feelings. Wilson just wasn’t so good at expressing them and Asa still felt hurt from getting rejected. But it worked out, in a way. They started dating in november of 1977. And it just was terrible, like, so bad. Toxic and codependent and closeted and both struggling with addiction. In January of 1979, Wilson broke up with Asa over the phone and they didn’t speak again until 1983.
In these four years, Wilson got clean and went to college while Asa stayed in their hometown and slowly got better. Enough to have his own apartment, at least. Well, anyway, after 4 years no contact, Asa spots Wilson in town again and obviously is intrigued. Wilson moved back for work and was living with his (rather unbearable) parents. For months, Asa essentially stalked him until he “coincidentally” met him in the grocery store. He was so excited by the prospect of Wilson being back that he decided that the past was the past, that he could forgive and forget, and that they had both changed so much that maybe they could even start over. Just as friends, at least. So he asked Wilson if he wanted to move in and to both their surprise, he said yes.
They both regretted this decision after it set in what living with your ex you havent seen in years really meant. It was terribly awkward and the tension was ridiculously high for months. Slowly, however, they settled into each other. It started to feel like the old times again, but better, because they weren’t teenagers with a drug problem anymore. They fell in love with each other again, but didn’t say it.
The problem that they faced at this stage was that upon moving in, and after a terrible attempted kiss from Asa, Wilson told Asa that he wasn’t gay anymore. He just wasn’t doing that sort of thing, it didn’t line up with his goals in life or the “right” way to be (let me add here - Wilson has pretty bad and undiagnosed OCD that makes his internalized homophobia way worse). Anyway, after six months of living with Asa it becomes abundantly clear that he’s in love with him again, and this makes him panic. So Wilson gets a girlfriend, a nice gal from his office named Anne Marie. Two weeks into having this girlfriend, he kisses Asa on their couch and they start having sex within the week. Wilson cheats on Anne Marie for a year straight and Asa thinks he’s lucky.
In 1985, Anne catches them in the act after she left her keys at their apartment, and subsequently fights with them both, dumps Wilson, and spreads (albeit true) rumors about him at their job. It’s absolute misery for Wilson and Asa now, but Asa has hope that now that he’s single, Wilson will actually choose him now. No such luck! Over the next few years, Wilson only becomes more avoidant while Asa still clings to hope.
Their relationship in this time is the same as it was, but not as cheerful as before. They still fuck like rabbits and share a bed, sometimes, and live together but theres just something missing. It’s so emotionally empty and forced. I should add - this entire time, from 1983-now, they never claim to “date” or be an item. Just affair partners at most. This entire time, Wilson’s still convinced that he can wake up heterosexual one day and easily leave Asa. This never happens, but he believes it can, so he tries that.
In 1988, after their relationship slowly fading to barely-friends, Wilson decides to move out. He says its because he needs to move on in life, and that he has enough money now, but he really was just finding it unbearable to live with Asa. They stop having sex, they hardly talk. Months down the road, Wilson calls Asa to tell him that he’s getting married to a woman named Laurie, and that he’s invited, and Asa can hardly believe his audacity or that this was happening at all. Wilson knew Laurie, another desperate person in her 30s, for two months before he proposed and he dissociated every minute of their engagement. To him, he was just doing what he “had to do”.
So, Wilson got married, and Asa was there to witness it. It absolutely broke his heart and not just because the man he loved had forgotten him and left him, but because he knew this was a terrible choice Wilson was making. He knew that it wasn’t what he wanted at all and he couldn’t stop him. Asa cried and drank himself to sleep that night and he didn’t speak to Wilson for another nearly-four years.
In October of 1993, Asa gets a letter from Wilson and he’s so scared to read it that he leaves it on his table for two weeks. When he finally opens it, it’s short and to the point: Wilson asking him if he’d like to take a few-day trip out to the Oregon Coast, just them, so he can talk. He says it’s not something he can do quickly or over the phone, but to call or write him to confirm. The anticipation killing him, Asa reaches out and they plan a little trip a couple weeks later.
The first few days go well. Awkward, totally, but not bad. Wilson drove and picked out the hotel and planned everything, and supplied all the food and alcohol they needed. He told Asa day one the reason he wanted to see him, which was that he and Laurie were getting divorced. “It just didn’t work, it wasn’t ever going to work,” is what Wilson says. They spend the next few days talking about the divorce, where they both are in life, old memories… it’s painful at times but mostly good. Something they both needed.
On the last night, tensions break and they kiss for the first time in years, and then have sex. It’s miserable and sad and cathartic and necessary to them both. Afterwards, Asa in particular feels terrible about it. He wishes he didn’t give in so easily to the man who had done nothing but hurt him, it was humiliating that he still felt so in love with Wilson. Wilson, on the other hand, felt weird about it but hopefully. The way he saw it, it meant that they were back to normal. After his divorce, he could go back to this, and be free this time. He spent the entire night planning how to bring it up on the drive home the next day.
Well, that came, and Wilson told Asa that he wanted him back. He told him that he was changed now, that he could actually love him this time, that he learned from all the mistakes he’s made in the past. Asa, who had been stewing in his own regret, did not take to this kindly. He made Wilson pull over and stormed away for 20 minutes before accepting he couldn’t leave himself in a wheat field forever, and then went back to argue with him about it. Well, more like Wilson begging to be taken back and Asa repeatedly saying No. he wanted to say yes, but he had to respect himself for once, so he stood firm. After an hour of this, the rest of the drive was silent.
They got back to their hometown and Wilson dropped Asa off at his place. And that’s where it ends! Don’t worry, when social media comes around they become facebook friends so it’s not all bad. Just kinda bittersweet
