grom1o,
How about some characters that can appear regularly? I'm thinking about a sea otter and a pelican. If you surf in Santa Cruz, then you probably have seen the sea otters. One day I was paddeling out and an otter popped up behind me. He started chattering and barked a little. He was clearly angry about something. Another surfer was paddling by and asked what I did to make the otter mad. I said, "He thinks I snaked his wave." So, maybe you can have a cranky otter. The pelican might wish he had arms so he could paddle to catch waves. Every now and then, he could have dialogue with a nerdy surfer (think skinny, heavy framed glasses, pastey without tan, and not very good) that wishes he could soar like the pelican.
You might also think about having two regular muscular surfing types that often appear on shore with a cute girl and a talking dog. Maybe the girl surfs better than the guys, but the guys don't know it. That could lead to her winning a competition in disquise. She and the dog probably talk to each other a lot because the guys leave them on the beach. Perhaps a good setting for this is Steamers lane in Santa Cruz.
Your strips don't always have to be blatantly funny or cute. For example, one of the longest running color Sunday comics in the US was Prince Valient (1937 to 1971,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Valiant). If you wanted to go this route, or even if you don't, you may find some inspiration in
Caught Inside by Daniel Duane.
In addition to the recurring animals suggested above, the surfers in your story might occassional wait for Maverick waves. One of my co-workers has told me endless stories from his youth in which his brother and buddies would go out waiting for Mavericks. They weren't really in the right location, but if they thought there was a storm coming, they'd get out and wait. Rarely did they catch, let alone see, a Maverick wave. Another common thread in his stories involve getting fish tacos after surfing or monsterous burritos before surfing. These monster burritos would provide nourishment all day and were often placed on the dashboard of the automobile or truck used for transport.
Last idea: consider having a character named Niagra. He has this name because he rarely catches a wave and usually goes over the falls.
If you get some drawings and/or strips going, please share them with us here at Surfing Waves forum.
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 2:50 am