STRIPS 4

They say to write about what you know.  That writers take little pieces of themselves and inject them into the characters they create.  I think this is probably true, at least while starting out.  The easiest way to get a believable story is by having believable characters.  By pulling from ones own life it's easy to create a believable story.  I think that's why Public Education has been well received.  I live it every day.

The kids vernacular and questions are taken as directly from my students as I can remember or jot down.  I'll edit things down occasionally to try and best set up the gag for the strip, but I try to get the speech down right as often as I can.  

I also benefit from having a built in audience to test my ideas on.  Chances are if the ladies at work find my story amusing, the joke has potential as a strip.  If I can't boil down a funny situation into a line or two I know it won't work as a Public Education.  A few teachers around the school are fans of the strip as well, so I can get real time feedback on the strips, which is a luxury I don't think many web comic creators are afforded.

In short I think Public Education works because I love my job.  Public Education is the quirky little whatever that makes my day special at work.  If I can share with the reader why my job is cool, then I think I can keep them hooked.

The picture above is a portrait one of my students did of me last week during their indoor recess time.  I love it.  It's awesome how many of my students love to draw.  I hope every last one of them keeps it up.

-Jon O