Here is another batch of writer notes on Sorcery 101. If you want to read ahead on these got ahead on these head over to my patreon.
Title page
I went with blue green cause since this part of the chapter’s title page. That’s cause it’s mostly in one location and deals with Pat’s suicide attempt. I also kept it mostly monochrome since the only none room scenes are flashbacks. The title is from another Barenaked Ladies which I was also trying not to have this whole chapter be melodramatic.
page 1134 – 1136
I wanted Kayla to come in slowly since she doesn’t know what state Pat is in. I wanted a slow build up until Pat says he can’t stand. I also wanted to show that vampires end up immobile before they starve to death. Also I wanted to build up to Pat’s statement about not caring. Kayla taking it to mean something different is supposed to be a comment on how he has treated her in the past.
page 1137 – 1139
So I read A Man’s Search for Meaning in high school and one line stuck with me. I would need to look up the exact wording but to paraphrase it’s a man with a why to live can endure almost any how. It was something I always kept in mind with Pat and I’ll probably keep in mind for any extremely depressed characters like him. Before this chapter Pat’s why for going forward was the possibility of a cure. Kayla’s question about Danny, Will, and herself are her clumsily trying to find Pat a knew why. And since she doesn’t actually know much about him, they don’t stick. She can however through his asshole remarks back in his face, which is maybe not the best way to deal with someone who is suicidal.
page 1140 – 1145
Pat is full of shit when he says becoming a vampire instantly changes you. That’s just what he was brought up believing. It helped him be more ruthless while killing demons, werewolves, and vampires. Pat’s exchange with Kayla about his wife is cause I wanted to make it clear they weren’t some whirlwind romance. He says what he had with her before the flashback. That’s community, family, purpose. Stuff he is severely lacking now.
Flashback scene is based off pictures I took in Southern France while I did a semester abroad. That guy with one arm is Pat’s brother. Remember how Pat instantly knew the cult who nabbed William’s deal? Basically that’s how his brother lost an arm. I nothing you is statement wish popped more in media. Obviously stronger emotions cause more drama but this can be so much more brutal if you really do care. This isn’t that case but I did want their overly formal pragmatism be a contrast to what Kayla probably imagines after hearing that Pat became a vampire to save his wife. Even Pat putting his wife on a train to save her is fairly calm.
page 1146 – 1150
Kayla should never work for the suicide hotline. Hey Pat, you aren’t killing yourself correctly! Also, Pat is going with what he thought would be the least painful.
I like the series of silent panels where Kayla is done arguing with Pat and just feeds him. I wanted to show how quickly Pat gets some of his strength back too. He is also hungry enough that survival takes over fairly quick even if he is still suicidal.
I tried my best to draw the same panel before and after the flashback. This flashback could maybe thought to show Pat loved his wife more than I meant it to. Really he’s thinking about what he was looking for/his why before the books. Kayla mentioned 47 years and well Pat’s about a hundred. He definitely had a few decades as a vampires before his book search. And now he needs something else to keep going.