He says he always knows when I’m working on your comic, because my face gets all Play-Doh like. Pham: Yes! I have a mirror by my desk that I’m always looking at. With graphic novels, I’m even miming the body language and facial expressions right there at my computer. One hard thing about writing an emotional book is I let myself feel all of it so I can describe it. A reader can tell at a glance how each character is feeling. But these books are all about the emotions, which is why I took an enormous sigh of relief when I learned that you’d accepted the project. Getting those emotions just right on the face, and sometimes you give me some tough things to illustrate! It’s good to know you struggle with things I always feel like I’m the one struggling with these books. I thought this just came super natural to you. (I just said that last part because it rhymes.) So when I write graphic novels, I have to wake up a different part of my brain and work against the grain. Hale: I don’t normally! When I was studying writing in college, we were taught to “turn off the movie in your head and let the words lead.” I always try to write that way.
I’m guessing you write like a movie director-always picturing visuals? But the timing of your script was so solid, especially for the second one, that I didn’t have to alter much from what you’d had down. Not all graphic novel manuscripts are as well thought out as yours, and I think often times writers don’t have a clear idea of visual pacing. The truth is, you provided such a solid script that, except for some minor details regarding your neighborhood or local sights, I could picture everything really clearly. LeUyen Pham: You know, I never really thought about the whole process as impossible. Shannon Hale: Uyen, at what point in the process of collaborating on our first graphic memoir did you realize just how impossible the project was? And what a miracle that it somehow worked out! We asked Hale and Pham to interview each other about their collaboration and their real-life friendship. This month, the duo is back with a sequel, Best Friends. Hale and Pham also teamed up on 2017’s Real Friends, Hale’s graphic novel-style memoir about the growing pains of middle school. With her husband Dean Hale, she co-wrote Rapunzel’s Revenge, Calamity Jack, the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series, and The Princess in Black series, illustrated by LeUyen Pham. Shannon Hale is the bestselling author of many books, including the Ever After High series and Princess Academy.
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