In this interview with Katie Risor, I asked her about the journey to getting her first book, the early reader graphic novel Welcome to the Forest, published.
Hey Katie! How did your journey to becoming a graphic novelist begin?
I was interested in comics and graphic novels throughout childhood and into college, along with all other forms of visual storytelling. I was pretty resistant to comics for a long time, though, because I felt there was a whole lot of work for not a lot of payoff.
The ratio of time spent drawing to time eyeballs spend on a panel is SOOO uneven, haha.
But the form kept sucking me back in. I always felt at home in narrative art, and even though I adore painting, making purely decorative pieces never held my interest. As I began to find my voice as a children’s illustrator and painting my creature characters, I just found myself using comic tropes.
But it took a while to figure out that comics and the creatures could go together.
However, the real inception moment doesn’t have anything to do with WELCOME TO THE FOREST. I was doing freelance work for self-published authors, but I knew I wanted to break into publishing with my own stories.
So I lay on the floor until I came up with an idea. When I started writing that idea, it kept growing and growing, until I had to admit to myself, “Aw crap, this isn’t a picture book. It’s a graphic novel.”
I discovered KCU shortly after that. That graphic novel idea is currently shelved but it was an important first step down this path.
Yay, I’m so glad you joined Kids Comics Unite, since that’s how we met! What aspect of KCU has helped you the most, and how did it help you?
I was part of the first cohort of Intensive students, which really helped me learn how publishing works and where I should direct my time in building my career.
Rivkah LaFille’s version of the writing & storytelling course the next year was also amazing. It set a good foundation for me and her critiques helped a lot.
But the biggest thing I got from KCU was my critique group. We have been meeting regularly ever since that second intensive, nearly five years now!
Since we started together, three of us gained agents (one was already agented), three graphic novels have been published, and two are out on submission. Having trusted critique partners and friends in the comics/publishing industry has been THE most crucial aspect to getting this far, and if I get any further, it will be because of my friends.
I have no doubt you’ll get a lot farther!
Where did the idea for your current early reader graphic novel series come from? How has it changed from the initial idea?
Around 2018-2019, as I graduated college, I started painting what I called “my weird creatures.”
It was the most “me” work I’d ever done, and I cut my teeth learning gouache on these guys. I loved them very much, but I didn’t really have a particular story for any of them, and I didn’t expect a publisher to care about them. The first book idea I had for them was to do an alphabet book, with a creature for each letter and maybe a short story or encyclopedic entry on them, a la Brian Froud’s Trolls, or Gnomes by Wil Huygen & Rien Poortvliet.
My plan was to either get enough followers on social media and crowdfund that book, or get an agent and publishing deal; whichever happened first. Obviously, the book that is out now is very different than that!
At that time, only one of the creatures who became a main character in FOREST existed, and that was Grumpkin. His personality hasn’t changed at all, he pretty much popped up fully formed.
Like I said, I didn’t have any big plot or story idea, just little vignettes and character moments. Eventually (with your guidance) that turned into doing short stories.
Once we locked that concept down, the book went through several transformations, but the core idea stayed the same: short stories around a seasonal theme.
Initially, there were 4 stories, but I realized that one of the stories would need to be much longer to work, so it was cut. The trim size changed a few times, and the stories went through many drafts.
One big change happened after getting the offer, though.
Throughout the writing process, all the feedback I got from professionals was that the book needed to be 60 pages or less, and much of my editorial woes were caused by trying to meet that benchmark.
Then, when Andrews McMeel made their offer, it turned out their new line of early readers were all 80 pages, and they asked, would I be okay with that?
I was very pleased, haha.
What’s your favorite thing about making graphic novels? What keeps you going when things get hard?
My favorite thing about making graphic novels is sitting around and making stuff up.
I don’t necessarily like every part of the process, but I do like how each piece is a puzzle to figure out.
The best part is that feeling of figuring out the puzzle, be it story or design — and getting that delightful “aha!” moment.
What would you say to fellow creators who are feeling discouraged (since getting a graphic novel published is a huge and very challenging endeavor!)?
Do what you can to let your ego go, and be objective about what will make the work better. You just have to accept that you’re going to be drawing and writing things over and over and over. It gets easier to do with time.
One of the hardest things for me was learning how to apply critiques. Often times, people will tell you, “You should add in this, to make X and Y make sense.” And it can feel like they don’t like what you are trying to say.
But often, it’s not that they don’t like it, it’s that whatever you are trying to say or do isn’t coming across successfully. They aren’t hearing it at all.
It feels very frustrating to put so much work into something, and bare your soul, only to be completely misunderstood.
It’s your job to filter that critique through your brain and ask yourself, “Okay, they aren’t picking up my point — what am I missing? What do I need to do to make it apparent?”
What I wish I knew earlier was to not waste my time (and everyone else’s time) defending and explaining my choices. Writing a paragraph about why a design choice is the right one won’t convince anyone, and will just make you look obnoxious.
There are times when you should stick to your guns, but usually email arguing isn’t the way to do it. Sometimes the only way forward is to make a new, better version.
You don’t always need to apply the specific request the critique made, you just need to make your version the right way.
When you get feedback or revision notes on something, don’t reply right away. Take a few hours to cool off that defensive instinct. Let it sink in.
That’s such great advice. I couldn’t agree more.
Creators usually love hearing how other creators got their agent — in this case, I’m your agent! Tell the story about how we started working together.
After my inciting incident laying on the floor and realizing I had to start writing again, I was gung-ho to learn more about publishing and try to get an agent. I had submitted to some agents with a picture book dummy, to no real luck, and then I started writing my middle-grade graphic novel idea.
I don’t remember the exact order of events, but I believe I found out about you and subsequently KCU through some SCBWI event or email. I decided to join KCU because I had recently started working on my graphic novel idea. I attended a few of the office hours, and then took your free masterclass which you did as a sneak peak to the Intensive class.
The timing was just so impeccable, it felt like fate. So I took the plunge.
I ended up doing one-on-ones with you, where you heard my elevator pitch and critiqued my portfolio. You really liked my illustration of Grumpkin, and wanted to know if he had a story.
A little bit later, Mossman and Wallace were born.
When Wallace came into the picture, I thought, “I think these guys are friends!”
Here’s the title page of the pitch we submitted to publishers:
And now the book is published, so people can get to know Grumpkin, Wallace, and Mossman better, hooray!
Yes, it’s very exciting.
What are you working on now?
I’m wrapping up the final art for Book 2 of the Welcome to the Forest series, which is focused on Summer, and in the very early planning stages for Book 3, which will have a trio of Winter stories.
I’m also having tons of fun developing the pitch for a completely new project that has the working title of Cats Around Town, which is aimed at even younger kids than Welcome to the Forest.
You’re busy! That’s great. How can people connect with you?
In addition to comics, I’m a big nerd about painting with gouache and color theory and stuff.
I write about craft on my Substack.
If you liked this blog post, you might like the stuff I write over there.
Thank you so much, Katie! Congratulations!
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