Writing For Fun

by Matthew Driscoll

Recently, I asked a good friend of mine to help me illustrate a webcomic series. Here’s what I learned from the experience.

I like writing fiction.

Since I started my business program at NCU a couple of years ago, I have been writing only the driest papers. There’s no romance or danger or anything in these peer-reviewed business journals. There’s plenty of substance but no dessert! And I missed dessert. At some point, I had gotten distracted and given up on writing for fun.

Then, about a month ago, I messaged an old friend. She happens to be an amazing artist. When I asked her if she would do a comic series for DLG, she said I would at least have to do the writing part. So I sat down and came up with some imaginary people and gave them some imaginary problems. It was actually kind of therapeutic.

Negotiating is hard.

I wanted to share something that I loved with my favorite people. So naturally, when I called up my friend the artist and dropped all of this information on her head with effervescent glee, she hesitated. I forgot for a moment how intense I can be sometimes. Whoops. Now I have to go back and repair my interpersonal relationships before any of us ever get to see that comic.

Here is a sneak peak at the script for Episode 1, though…

Between Shifts

Chapter 1

Episode 1

The third-floor nurses' station at St. Jerome Hospital was a mess. Papers were strewn here and there across the counter, and a steaming Stanley cup of cafe au lait sat dangerously on top of the PC tower. Miguel sighed as he tried to focus his eyes on the small print of the patient intake forms while tuning out the chatter around him.

He took out his phone to check the time and stopped. The sunlight peeking from inside a nearby patient’s room told him everything.

“Tomorrow already. Ah! ”

“Miguel! ”

He moved his head to see around the monitor.

“Yes, what do you want, Angela?”

The head nurse’s jaw clenched as she exhaled through her nose.

“Hey! Is room five ready? I have a patient.”

“No! Not ready.”

She had already turned away down the hall when she stopped mid-step and locked eyes with Miguel’s. “Ugh. I’ll be back in five.”

He shouted through his fingers as she disappeared, “I said no. Five is not ready! ”

After a few moments alone with himself, he looked back at his clipboard and reluctantly grasped it.

“She hates me.”

Miguel felt a slight pressure on his arm. Nothing was there. He had definitely been awake too long and drank too many Stanley cups full of stale loungeroom coffee.

“Hey! You coming over to study tonight?”

A set of long, thin fingers rested gently on his opposite shoulder. The gleam of red and white roses on the fingernails reflected off his eyes.

Read Episode 2