Rain

Rain FAQ
Last updated Apr. 16, 2022


What is Rain?
Rain is a slice-of-life/comedy/drama that follows the life of a teenage trans girl named Rain, attempting to go through her senior year in high school identifying only as a woman. It's intended to be a comedy, but it will also touch on some heavy subjects including acceptance from family and peers, blind hatred, and many of the other difficulties faced by members of the LGBT community.

Nevertheless, it is a largely positive story, with humor and tearjerking moments and lots and lots of love triangles.


When does it update?
The story is now complete. There may be occasional one-shot strips or anniversary/holiday posters if the mood strikes me, but there’s no longer a “release schedule”, so to speak.


Where can I read it?
DeviantArt - http://littlelynn84.deviantart.com/gallery/27273884
Comic Fury - http://comicfury.com/comicprofile.php?url=rain
For posterity, it used to be on SmackJeeves as well, when that site still existed.


Are there any differences between them? Do I need to sign up to all of these sites to get the complete story?
There’s one instance where a throwaway line is slightly different depending on whether you read it on DeviantArt or Comic Fury, but it doesn’t change the story; it’s just kind of a dumb easter egg. Beyond that, you won’t be missing anything if you only read the comic on one site.


So, in which direction do I read it?
Left to right. The "not manga way".


How long is Rain?
It began on November 29th, 2010, and ended on April 15th, 2022. There are 1,382 story pages across 44 chapters.


What made you actually decide to write Rain?
In a lot ways, Rain is the story I needed to read when I was a kid. I went through most of my life feeling alone and like a freak for feeling the way I did. There was never anything in the media that said, “No, really, it’s okay to be like that. You’re not alone.” Most media portrayed transgender people as villains (not to be liked) or comic relief (not to be taken seriously). At best, we got an accurate portrayal in the form of a brutal murder victim on some crime show. None of this was exactly positive, and all it ever did was discourage me more.

I needed a positive story. Something that showed that a transgender individual was just as human as any other person. And that’s what I try to do with Rain. The title character’s gender and presentation are important to her, but she has interests outside of it. She has trouble in school. She has friends, and those friends sometimes fight. Her family life is complicated. Really, the only thing that makes this different from any other coming-of-age story is the transgender protagonist and overall LGBT cast.


I don't like reading comics on my computer/phone. Is there any chance of Rain being made into graphic novel?
Way ahead of you! As of this writing, the first five volumes are currently available on Lulu. I’m hoping to have the remaining volumes (6 and 7) before the year is out.
https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/LittleLynn84


Is it on Amazon, or any physical stores?
Technically, Volume 1 can be found on Amazon, but I don’t recommend buying it there. They usually charge more, the quality is usually worse, I always get paid less from those sales, and it supports a disgusting company like Amazon.

If you are interested in buying Rain books, please only do so through Lulu. https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/LittleLynn84


What about Rain merch?
I’ve got that too. Shirts, mugs, stickers, mousepads, magnets, etc..
https://www.redbubble.com/people/littlelynn84/shop/


Do you have a Patreon?
I do! I admit I’ve been really slacking with it, but I have some new ideas for what to do with it and I hope to make it much more active again soon.
https://www.patreon.com/RainComic


Why is it called Rain anyway? Looks pretty sunny to me.
Contrary to popular belief, the title has absolutely nothing to do with the weather (it honestly only rains a handful of times throughout the story). It's just the name of the main character. That said, the word "rain" does have a bit of a melancholy connotation, which is perfectly suitable considering the themes of the story.


If it's named after Rain, does that mean she's the only important character?
Not at all. The story has a pretty large cast, actually, and there are many arcs that don't necessarily even revolve around her at all. But she IS the main character, and basically ties all of the other characters and events together.


Where does the story take place?
A little fictional town called Centerville. I've lived in New York my whole life (albeit different parts of it), so as a means of sticking to what I know, the imaginary town this takes place in is somewhere in the suburbs of upstate New York. I'm aware that there are real towns called Centerville, but I don't want to use them or make any statements about them. I just feel more comfortable using a fake town.


How about the school, St. Hallvard High School?
Also not real. The experience in that school is loosely inspired by my own Catholic school experience, but that’s it. There was a St. Hallvard, but to the best of my knowledge, no school named after him (that I’m aware of anyway).


Where are all the backgrounds?
You know, I'm pretty content with my ability to draw people. It took a long time, but I'm pretty satisfied with the style I've adopted. Everything else though, not so much. I suck so bad at backgrounds, that unless it's absolutely crucial to set the scene, I simply won't waste my time on it. Trust me, it'd be more distracting to have a hideous, indecipherable background then no background at all.


I've noticed you refer to "the original version" once in a while. What do you mean by that?
I originally came up with Rain in 2004. At that time, it was a fantasy adventure story that just happened to feature a trans girl as the main character. Rain and Gavin were paladins, Maria and Rudy were royalty and even Aunt Fara was a bandit leader. Fantasy setting, but with some LGBT themes. In 2009 however, I came to the conclusion that the fantasy elements really got in the way of the story I really wanted to tell and even contradicted my points on occasion; maybe I could’ve made it work, but at the time, I’d just kinda written myself into a corner. So in the end, the fantasy elements were removed and Rain became a slice of life high school comedy. Still itching to write a queer and trans positive fantasy story someday, though… ;)


What is Black Wings, Kaminari?
It's a fake manga that Rain reads (in other words, don't look for it at your local bookstore; it doesn't exist outside of Rain). There are a couple other ones too, including Birth of the Lilim, The Second Prophet, Halloween Princess Pandora and Mad Giga-Kaizer X.


Is Rain based off your past experiences? Or just something you thought of?
I've been calling Rain "pseudo-autobiographical". Having not openly accepted myself as trans until age 20, obviously that means I never attempted to try to pass in high school like Rain. That said, beyond the basic setup of the story, it's pretty largely based off of my personal experiences, people I've met, things I've heard, etc. for better or worse.


So… is Rain like, actually a woman yet?
She was always a woman. A trans woman is a woman. Full stop.


Why is Rain the only one whose dialogue is italicized? And only sometimes!?
I wanted to represent the trans women out there struggling with their voice. So in Rain’s case, the italics in her speech are meant to depict a constant effort to maintain the sound she wants (something that makes her “sound” different, but with the consistency showing she’s always trying her best. I just wanted to include a little something to represent the other trans gals struggling with their voices (as best I can in a non-verbal medium).


Does Rain only have one eye?
No, she has both her eyes.


Is Rain gay or straight?
Who can truly say but her? Maybe she’ll tell us someday.


How old should someone be to read Rain?
However old is needed to be open to the subject matter. It’s basically PG-13 content. Younger kids can and have probably read it too. There's also no age cap. I'm aware of some readers who are in their 60s and 70s too.


How "bad" is the content?
There's some occasionally strong language, including swears (but no f-bombs), and to a lesser extent, slurs during depictions of bullying, or the names of certain body parts. None of this is excessive though. There are sexual themes and situations, although I never display any nudity, nor do I show anyone having sex. Finally, there are a handful of depictions of people drinking.


Does anybody ever get killed or anything?
If you don’t know me as a writer, I’m not against going a little dark in my work. That said, Rain is probably one of my most lighthearted stories. There are some really heavy scenes, I can promise that; but for the most part, Rain is pretty lighthearted and positive (if a little emotional at times).

A lot of stories that revolve around LGBT themes (especially trans themes) often focus on the dangers and brutality that people in the community can potentially face. And realistically, yes, that threat IS there. But I didn't want this story to be about that; I think that method of storytelling just breeds more fear and sadness into those who are already worried. But there's so much more to being a part of the LGBT community than worrying about hate crimes. I wanted Rain to be, overall, an encouraging story.  I wanted people who read this to feel more confident in themselves; not bury themselves further in the closet out of fear.

So, it's a little late for the short answer, but no, nobody gets killed or anything.


How many transgender individuals are in this story?
Several.  ;)


It’s unrealistic how many queer and trans people are in this comic! It’s supposed to be rare!
For what it's worth, Rain's queer/trans cast makes up less than a third of the characters if we include every named character. That's actually undershooting (by a lot) what I see in my life (and according to the testimonies of many, many readers). It does probably seem like a lot more than that, though, because the queer/trans characters are the ones the story focuses on, and characters coming out or learning something about themselves or their friends make up a lot of the plot points. But it's also a story purposely written about queer/trans characters for queer/trans audiences. It’s kinda the point!

I make this comparison a lot, but it'd be like complaining that there's too many sick people in a hospital drama, or an awful lot of food in a cooking show. That's what they're about! What else would you expect to see? I'm writing a story about queer/trans kids, so there's a focus on the characters that are queer/trans kids.

And also, I'm a queer/trans writer. This is what I WANT to write. ^_^


Why are characters using dated terminology like “transsexual”?
So, in 2010 when I started the comic, this was the terminology I had learned and knew. As the story goes on, you’ll stop seeing the word come up as I learned in real time that that’s just not what people say anymore. We don’t start out knowing everything, and even in a general sense, language evolves. So, I’ve opted to leave those early instances of the wrong phrasing in so that Rain and her friends can also learn the proper terminology over time. I am sorry if that makes some of the earlier chapters harder to read, though.


Is it okay for me to say [enter statement here] in the comments section of a page? I recognize that this story touches on a lot of delicate subjects and I'm a little worried about offending someone.
The fact that you're even considering other peoples' feelings before posting the first thing that pops into your head says to me that whatever you're about to say probably won't be ignorant. That said, I moderate the comments section. While I’ll let the vast majority of comments through, if it’s actually clearly malicious or toxic or something, I just won’t approve it.


I don’t think my comment was problematic, but it did not get approved.

To be fair, I’m not constantly on just waiting for comments to approve or not, so it’s possible I just haven’t seen it yet. Give it like 24 hours before you start panicking. If enough time goes by and I still don’t approve it, it’s also possible I overlooked it. I’m human; I goof up sometimes. If I get a ton of comments all at once, I might overlook it by accident. If you think I may have done that with yours, you can check in by sending me a DM or just make another comment.


I don't like this page/character/story arc/comic. Is it okay for me to say so, or do I have to "be nice" to you?
Well, I would certainly prefer you not be a jerk… ^_^

Seriously though, if you dislike or disagree with something, you're welcome to say something. But I really would prefer you try to be civil about it. There's a constructive way to criticize another person's work, and then there's being a jerk. “You’re a terrible writer and you ruined the story with this chapter” is not constructive, nor helpful, nor a nice thing to say to anyone.


I know someone who might be into Rain, but doesn’t read English well. Is this comic available in any other languages?
Yes! I’m honored to say that both a French and Spanish translation are in the works right now courtesy of a few of my friends.
French - https://rain-tradfr.thecomicseries.com/
Spanish - https://rain-es-mx.thecomicseries.com/comics/
These are the only other languages available at this time, but that could change someday.


Do you think Rain will ever be animated someday?
As a matter of fact, there are a number of animations already available. Mostly cute, comedic skits, but there’s some more serious stuff too. Beautifully animated, with excellent voice acting, and even some lovely music. And yes, there will be more!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeDchSbV-sDWwEkzBRzhKMA


Do you mind if I do a fanart/fanfic?
I do not mind. In fact, please do! Just make sure you credit me as the creator of the original story (and of course, show it to me!). ^_^


Do you mind if I include one of your characters in my story?
If we're talking about a cameo for a page or two, that's fine (and again, I'd love to see it if you do). But if you're looking to take one of my characters and put them in active roles in your own webcomic or story or whatnot, that I can't allow. What's really being asked (whether you see it this way or not) is if you can use my characters in your own unique work as if they were your own. And that's really not okay with me.

I'm flattered that someone would like my characters enough for something like that, but my characters are my own. I worked hard on them and I'm proud of them. If you want a story of your own to be proud of, you shouldn't sell yourself short by using others' characters.


Do you mind if I ship _____ with _____?
Please do! I imagine a story with tons of teenage characters of canonically varying sexualities and genders would probably be a shipper's paradise. Who am I to take that away? Seriously though, I WANT people to ship my characters; I'm genuinely interested in what pairings people suspect and why.  I may question the REALLY odd ones, but I'm generally willing to approve any matchup.


Do you have any other comics I can check out?
Soon! With Rain complete, I’m already hard at work on the next comics, My Impossible Soulmate (a new romantic dramedy) and Moonlight Wanderers (a Pokemon Moon Nuzlocke), and I hope to see them both begin in 2022. Links will come soon!


IS THAT MUCH AWESOMENESS ALLOWED TO BE CONTAINED WITHIN A SINGLE WEBCOMIC?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
No, really! I'm not just tooting my own horn; someone asked this! It’s so flattering. Y’all are too good to me.
https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/222663319/1768470359