Rain

Jocelyn 27th Jan 2011, 6:00 PM edit delete

Fun fact: I was originally going to keep gym class out of this story altogether. My line thinking was, “I’ll just come up with some excuse, because getting Rain through gym undetected would probably make things so much harder for her.” My first - and only halfway decent - excuse was to give Rain asthma. But then, I asked someone who had asthma if that was plausible, and she said, “maybe if it’s REALLY bad. I still went to and enjoyed gym class.”

Well…

But it was after that that I sort of realized I was just trying to avoid this whole thing out of laziness. So, I told myself to get over it. I’m going all out with every other aspect of the story, why get lazy about THIS of all things? Hence as a result, I actually kept Rain being asthmatic and am still making her take gym class. And heck, this page as a whole is sort of me poking fun at myself for trying to cop out of potentially good drama - trying SO hard to get out of it to have my best idea shot down in seconds.

That’ll learn me to try and be lame like that. ^^;

©2004-2011
Rain, all characters and all other aspects of the story are copyright material belonging to me.

Prezombie 14th Apr 2013, 8:47 AM edit delete reply

Doing that is a really good lesson in character creation, and improving as an author. If you make an element as an excuse to make the story easier, it's weak storytelling. Adding an element like asthma to make the reader expect one thing, and then subverting it, is a great way to realistically increase the challenge.

My only complaint would be to have actually shown the asthma earlier, maybe even it be a long term condition which her former friend could have had as the deciding evidence rather than the rather ham-handed reveal that you did use.

Lex-Kat 31st Oct 2016, 2:11 AM edit delete reply

Meh. I just developed Asthma, and I'm 41 this next January. It's very annoying!

I like that Rain has Asthma, and that you changed your mind about avoiding it.

Melissa 21st Feb 2017, 8:45 PM edit delete reply

Mandatory gym in senior year? That sucks... In Ontario, we can (and many kids do) dump gym after Grade 9 (the equivalent of freshman year). By grade 12 (senior year), the only mandatory course is English.

Minim 16th Nov 2017, 10:29 PM edit delete reply

If Father Quenton had a theme tune it would be the one from Jaws.

Absentia 18th Apr 2021, 5:05 PM edit delete reply

don't say that! It's insulting!

What did the Jaws theme ever do so wrong that it would be connected to this horrible man?

Emily 4th May 2018, 3:49 PM edit delete reply

Why yes, yes I am on an archive binge . . .

Anyway, Father Quenton makes me REALLY MAD in this page with his sheer, callous ignorance.

You know what an asthma inhaler is for? Well, there are two: the emergency one (which is the one most people think of) and the preventive one. The preventive one makes the asthma more difficult to trigger; it doesn't take the condition away entirely, but it lets many people, including myself, have much richer and less nerve-wracking lives. The emergency one is for emergencies only, and it makes the airways open up (asthma attacks cause them to constrict) so the person can breathe.

I cannot emphasize this enough: THE EMERGENCY INHALER IS FOR EMERGENCIES.

EMERGENCIES ONLY.

"What's that? She bleeds when cut? Then she should have a Band-Aid. I'm cutting her right now," says the guy who has the power to prevent those emergencies.

Sara_L 22nd Jun 2019, 8:39 AM edit delete reply

As someone with asthma this also makes me fairly mad. You don't just decided to make someone do something when they have a medical reason not to. You verify whether it's safe or not first, even for conditions that often aren't actually severe enough, because they CAN be sometimes that severe.

Sorry, I just wrote that and realised it sounds a bit like criticism. It's not, so far this is a great comic. You've just done a good job of making me hate someone I'm not supposed to like anyway XD

A friend of mine just linked this comic to me and I'm now binging my way through it. :)

Comic 30 - Evil Incarnate

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