To understand his reaction here a little better, I think I should talk about this now: Daniel has Borderline Personality Disorder. Normally I try to keep information like this in the comic itself, but as of right now I’m not sure if it’s going to be outright stated at any point in the story.
Anyway, here’s a fun song!
I have BPD myself, so I can definitely identify with Daniel here. He seems so ashamed in the last panel and I wish I could give him a hug. I am also picking up that he is afraid of being abandoned because he feels he is not good enough.
Thank you very much for this, I’m really glad you shared. I don’t actually have BPD myself, so I tried to research it as much as possible before bringing it up. I hope my depiction ends up being accurate and respectful, and if at any point it isn’t, please don’t hesitate to call me on it!
And not to spoil anything, but his fear of abandonment in particular is especially going to come up again.
Going to add that yeah, it seems like a normal enough reaction from anyone. A little surprising to see him express so much of it, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’d be thinking about the same if suddenly I’m not only in charge of the situation, but also In Charge without much experience on that side.
That said, this is a good fact about him to know – I’d thought our Dannyboy here was just a tad more dramatic than the usual. I’m interested to see how this shows itself in less Inherently awkward situations.
It will definitely inform some of things he does later on, but as I’ve mentioned in other replies, I don’t want it to be like, THE defining reason that gets blamed for every questionable action or reaction he experiences. It definitely is just supposed to be a little fact, and not necessarily like, this huge “ohhhhh, so that’s why he did this or that.” To be honest, I’ve never written anyone with this sort of mental disorder before, so it’s probably going to take some work for me to get it right!
I’m aware of it from one of my favorite films, but that’s interesting. I really like the realism of the whole situation; like this is a genuine reaction! And I swear Daniel gets more adorable every time I see him. Maybe it’s just because he’s pouting ^^ poor guy.
Thanks, I really appreciate that! And I wish I didn’t enjoy drawing pouting Daniel so much. It makes me feel like such a jerk, but I have a lot of fun with it.
Ok. Not what I was expecting, but in a good interesting way.
What is with the tats on his legs?
He started getting the flowers on his left leg because he had a big plan make it into the whole piece that went up all the way, but then changed his mind. The X on his right leg is because for a while he considered himself straightedge, until–in the midst of a depressive episode–he got really drunk on an impulse. The little “lose” on his foot is something his first boyfriend gave him in highschool in pen and ink. He asked Daniel what he wanted and “lose” was the first word that came to mind.
I sensed he was one of those people who get tattoos on a whim of stuff they like to remind of better days. So I seriously thought until now it was a bowl of colorful cereal X”D , you know.. Saturday morning cartoons and all that.
Haha, it’s funny that you say that because as I was drawing this very page I thought the same exact thing. Fruity Pebbles, specifically!
I could have sworn it was Fruity Stars:
http://orig10.deviantart.net/734e/f/2007/076/d/f/fruity_stars_by_rubyshoe.jpg
*Can’t form a coherent comment, so much intense anticipation of what’s going down. wow*
Haha, this scene is a lot of fun to write because I’m really getting to explore a lot of the different extremes of human emotion. Glad you’re enjoying it!
That’s ok Daniel has BPD, on the other hand a person with no mental health issues could have the same reaction. It’s easy for us to come up with how we think things are gonna play out in a situation, then get totally blindsided when it goes completely different. I feel that what is going on in the comic is a very realistic portrayal and loads of different kinds of people will be able to relate. Sex can naturally be absurd and comedic and confusing for anyone!
Thanks, I really appreciate that, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to get across with this scene. Sex in fiction can often be very simple and sexy, but I think a lot of times it misses all that weird and silly and awkward stuff that makes it so much fun.
And I didn’t mean for it to sound like I was trying to blame everything on Daniel’s BPD. I agree that this could be a typical reaction, but I’m also trying to show that mental illness doesn’t automatically make people dangerous and unhinged, y’know? It’s something tons of people live with, and something that a lot of time you wouldn’t even know about unless they told you.
I don’t think you needed to mention it. I for one don’t really know what that disorder entails, so it wasn’t really informative for me anyway.
Maybe you could have had him explain himself later, maybe you could have had us believe he is just weird (not a big jump). Maybe we would have started not liking him for some time, until there was a scene were it got resolved. Like a little sub plot.
The reason I decided to reveal it in the comments and not the comic itself is because I don’t think it’s important enough to make into a plot point. Like it might get touched on later, but it isn’t information that’s meant to explain and justify everything he does, it’s just extra info to help show who he is a little better–like his favorite band or pizza toppings. Granted, this is a much BIGGER detail, but I overall I agree with you: I don’t think this information is essential to the understanding or believability of this scene!