Imagine Magazine Question for 6/15

[JeffsFort]

 

After quite a few conversations with other readers of the works of my favorite online bossy boss ::giggle::, I've come to the conclusion that we all have many things in common when it comes to how we respond to the characters in our favorite "Shack" story. I think it's funny that of any other author, if you ever said you had an honest crush on their main character in 'X' titled novel, everyone in the room, including the author, would probably give you a weird look. That's commonly not the case with our Shack group and a day going by without some form of character crush being outed is an off day for any of us. (I see you nodding over there

 

So, of all the stories that Comicality wrote, in all the worlds that he created, which character is your "I wish he was real..." character. You can wish it for any reason. You want to help him, you want to hug him, you want to be his boyfriend and do unspeakable things to him... You get the idea.

[JeffsFort]

For the longest time my answer to this question would be an easy "Taryn" from Gone From Daylight, as after reading "Taryn's Song" my heart just broke from his origin story. Even when things were looking up for him, there was another test around the corner. Something else in his afterlife that was intended to trip him up and break him down. But right now, he's not front and center in my brain.

My "I wish he was real..." character is/was to a certain degree very much real. I'm talking about "Zack" from "My Only Escape" which we all know is based the most closely on Comicality's real life situation in the overall story. Sure, every story he ever started has an aspect of his real life embedded in it but 'M.O.E.'  gave us a real glimpse into what our Comicality survived from his past. The first time I ever read it, it was hard for me to see past my own situation with my biological father. He was another who got some kind of twisted entertainment out of dominating and tormenting his children and wife. Being the oldest, I caught the brunt of it and when he started turning his messed up games on my little brother or even younger sister, I would get loud and in his face so he would leave them alone, as I had done in the past to get him to leave my mother alone. Who had it worse, I don't know honestly. Same yet different except, Zack felt he had no one in his corner. Comicality, just like Zack was an only child with a working mother who simply wasn't able to know all that went on when she was at work, and Zack even demonstrates how he did what he could to not overwhelm her with the situation. In his eyes he was protecting her by soldiering on.

In a way I guess this is cheating the question as Zack is or was in many ways actually a real person that I love and miss very much. In re-reading this story recently, I'm doing better at detaching my own past from the story. I'm finally not seeing my own father in the place of the father and Zack in my eyes is that young and tortured Comicality that I just want to hug and protect. Starting the read again, I find myself wishing I could be there to get between him and his father so he can focus on his crush on Brody without the storm cloud looming overhead. I wish he was real because I wish for some form of Comsie to not have this darkness be a part of their story. So, I'm going with Zack.

For unspeakable acts, I'd probably have to say Billy Chase ~or~ Jake from Shelter, but that would be another answer for another question   

[SilentandBroken]

Ok yes Zack is definitely a bit of a cheat and yeah he was mine too for many of the same reasons. But I often thought as I read MOE that I wish I had a Brody. Or at least, someone like him who pursued me and kept the positive reinforcement up and loved me despite my self loathing. Taryn is another 

[MrM]

I’d have to say Billy Chase. Yes, Billy with all of his stupid mistakes, big heart, and convoluted thinking. He is a real three-dimensional person modeled after an obvious expression of Comsie’s own experience. Perhaps, Billy is the dream of what could have been for Comsie had he not had to live Zack’s existence in My Only Escape.

One of the reasons I started writing Brandon Smiling was so that I could, sort of, inject myself into a reality where Billy really was my ‘boyfriend’ at fifteen. One of the magical things about being an author is that you can bend time, space, and reality to create a world in which you might want to live.

Billy was the boyfriend I never got to have growing up. The time in which I lived and my family situation just didn’t allow for such things. Also, I never met anyone like Billy that would have been the right temptation for me to throw the life I had at the time away in exchange for something better. All I had were my own fears and insecurities to keep me company.

So, Comsie managed to take an avatar of me at fifteen and sketch me like a caricature. He named me ‘Brandon’ and set me on a path of discovery to find Billy Chase and he did it through Billy’s eyes. Vicariously, I was able to live the ups and downs of a relationship I never got to experience as a teenager. 

It is a testament to Comsie’s ability to create three-dimensional, thoroughly realized characters that I was able to live a life I never got to live growing up. All of Comsie’s works can do this to some degree, but The Secret Life Of Billy Chase managed to do it with a depth of reality that I found the most compelling. So, yes, silly and imperfect Billy - I would have been his Brandon with all the obsession, jealousy, and insecurity that Brandon’s character represents. 

[SilentandBroken]

I’d have to add Randy as a very pursuable boyfriend from New Kid In Town. While Ryan is very cute and sexy … what attracts me most is Randy’s heart. Just like Zack. Just like Taryn or even Justin too. For me it’s always been the heart that mattered most. That’s how I always saw Comsie. That’s what hurts so much for me when I learned he passed. His heart was so caring. I’ll never understand why ppl who have such an amazing heart pass away so soon. It just doesn’t seem fair 

[Shadow086]

I've always had a soft spot for Scotty Lynch and his infectious energy. He's cute and earnest and I love his go-getter attitude, he'd be a lot of fun to be around. So I guess that would be my pick.

But it could be any of his characters, really. One of the things I really loved about Comsie's writing is that all his characters had that 'something real' that made them relatable. It's hard to pick just one because I've had that "I wish he was real" moment about ALL of them, whether it's wanting to give Zack or Billy Chase or Drew from 'On the Outside' a hug and let him know it's going to be okay, to just wishing I had a friend like Sam or Richie, to wanting to have a hot night with Deme and Jamie Cross (or punch AJ in the face, that would be satisfying ).

But the character I really wish was real, is his self-insert 'Comicality' vampire character in GFD, because that would mean Comsie would still be with us.

Edited June 14 by Shadow086

[SilentandBroken]

3 hours ago, Shadow086 said:

 

But the character I really wish was real, is his self-insert 'Comicality' vampire character in GFD, because that would mean Comsie would still be with

Well said!!