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1. What draws you to write for young readers and adolescents?
The target audience of every book I write is, well, me! I write a story that I would love to read, then publishers, librarians, and readers can decide which shelf to put them on. And they don't always agree! I've seen Banned Book Club shelved in childrens, teen, new adult and adult sections! Student Ambassador was written a decade earlier for adults, and then published as a Middle Grade book with zero changes.
2. What do comics allow you to do as a storyteller?
I started making comics when I was a baby. When I turned six, I decided I was ready to go pro, and started sending submission packets to newspapers. I kept bugging the same local paper until they finally hired me at sixteen. So making comics is just what I've always done! I've also written novels, audio dramas, television shows, short films, poetry, stage shows, and even went to college for animation but comics is the form I keep coming back to. I love visual storytelling, and I love that comics allow me to do that on my own, or with a small team. After college, I was certain I was going to move to LA and work in animation. Then I suddenly realized that I could either (a) spend decades doing grunt work until I was allowed to have a creative thought, then spend years with hundreds of people getting an idea onto the screen, or (b) make a comic about it and have it on the internet that night. I chose comics!
3. What message(s) do you want to share through your work?
When I first started making comics, I was so obsessed with making comics that I had nothing to say! That first comic I got published at sixteen was about an orange cat who was too lazy to chase mice. My only life experience was reading Garfield! But after college, I started traveling the world, having experiences, meeting people, and discovering amazing things. So now, everything I write about tends to encourage curiosity, empathy, and a sense of adventure. Banned Book Club, Occulted, and No Rules Tonight are about how a passion for learning can save lives or even countries. The Student Ambassador Series is about a boy adventurer who uses active listening and empathy as a superpower to solve international mysteries. I fill my books with fascinating things about the world that I am obsessed with, in hopes that they will send readers down rabbit holes of their own.
4. Would you like to share about any new/upcoming work, in particular?
In Fall 2022, look out for Occulted by Amy Rose and I, illustrated by Jeongmin Lee. It's the true story of Amy's childhood growing up in a cult just down the road from Heaven's Gate... and how sneaking into a forbidden library and reading banned books taught her everything she needed to escape. In 2023, Student Ambassador: The Silver CIty tells an adventure story about mysterious mine monsters in Zacatecas Mexico. Then in 2024, No Rules Tonight tells the story of a winter school trip in 1980s Korea that uncovered a surprising custom that gave everyone one night of freedom. I also have some fun novels on the way, but I don't know when yet!
5. Please tell us about your creative process.
For me, writing does not happen at a keyboard. It happens on walks through the park. Buses across the city. Bike rides across the country. I watch the story unfold in my head. Sometimes I'm under a deadline and have to do it fast. Sometimes I do this for years and years, or even decades, and it becomes like slipping an old DVD into the player, except that it slightly changes every time. Unmemorable bits are forgotten. New ideas sneak in. When I've watched it so many times I feel like it's an old classic I wish I could share with others, I get to a keyboard and try to write down the story I've seen a million times so that others can see it too! When I work with collaborators, co-authors, and illustrators, the story continues to change from there and gets even better!
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