{"id":1539,"date":"2019-12-12T11:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T11:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/?p=1539"},"modified":"2019-12-18T20:20:07","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T20:20:07","slug":"dana-simpson-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/dana-simpson-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-Winning Cartoonist and Graphic Novelist Dana Simpson On Backlogging Ideas, Drawing To Spark Her Writing, and The Artists Who Tend To Make It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who:<\/b>\u00a0Dana Simpson<\/span><\/p>\n

Claim To Fame:\u00a0<\/b>Dana Simpson\u00a0<\/span>first caught the eyes of devoted comics readers with the internet strip\u00a0Ozy and Millie<\/i><\/a>. After winning the 2009 Comic Strip Superstar contest, she developed the strip\u00a0Phoebe and Her Unicorn<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(originally known as\u00a0Heavenly Nostrils<\/i>), which is now syndicated in over 200 newspapers worldwide. There are eight\u00a0Phoebe and Her Unicorn<\/em>\u00a0book collections:\u00a0Phoebe and Her Unicorn<\/i><\/a>,\u00a0Unicorn on a Roll<\/i><\/a>,\u00a0Unicorn vs. Goblins<\/i><\/a>,\u00a0Razzle Dazzle Unicorn<\/i><\/a>,\u00a0Unicorn Crossing<\/a>,<\/i>\u00a0Unicorn of Many Hats<\/em><\/a>, Unicorn Bowling<\/em><\/a>, and The Unicorn Whisperer<\/em><\/a>, as well as two graphic novels,\u00a0The Magic Storm\u00a0<\/a><\/i>and\u00a0Unicorn Theater.<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>Simpson\u2019s books have appeared on the\u00a0New York Times<\/i>\u00a0bestseller list, and won the Washington State Book Award and the Pacific Northwest Book Award.<\/p>\n

Where To Find Dana:\u00a0<\/b>Her Website<\/a>,\u00a0Amazon<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Praise For Dana:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cSimpson easily straddles the line between kid and adult humor\u2014another way in which these books recall the heyday of Calvin and Hobbes.”<\/em> \u2014 Cory Doctorow<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

When<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0where<\/a>\u00a0do you like to write? Are you the\u00a0same-thing-every-day kind of writer<\/a>\u00a0or can you write anytime, anywhere?<\/h3>\n

I kind of have to leave the house. There are a lot of distractions here. My cat is here. My books and video games and Netflix are here. At the very least, I have to go sit in the backyard. It\u2019s better if I get farther away, like a coffee shop or even the beach (I live in a California beach town, so that\u2019s an option most of the year).<\/span><\/p>\n

Usually it\u2019s during the day, while my spouse is at work. I like to be done working when they get home, so we have the evening together.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you have any\u00a0pre-writing rituals<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0habits<\/a>\u00a0before you sit down to write?<\/h3>\n

Charging my iPad? I do almost all my writing on my iPad these days. I scribble out roughs in one of the free drawing apps that exist for it. I sit down, usually with coffee, and I get to scribbling.<\/span><\/p>\n

What do you do\u00a0when the writing isn\u2019t coming easy<\/a>? Do you struggle at all with that dreaded enemy of writing:\u00a0writer\u2019s block<\/a>?<\/h3>\n

I have a notecard on my phone where I write down random comic ideas as I think of them. Just walking around in normal life, I\u2019ll think \u201chm, I wonder if unicorns have FitBits\u201d or \u201cI wonder if unicorns eat at human-style restaurants\u201d or \u201chey, I\u2019ve never done a storyline where Phoebe goes to a school dance.\u201d And I put that in the file. So I usually have some backlog of potential ideas, on days when it\u2019s not flowing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The other thing is, I\u2019ll think about what I want to draw. If the writing end of things isn\u2019t cooperating, usually I can think of something fun to draw. So I\u2019ll be like \u201cyou know what would be fun to draw? A snowboarding unicorn,\u201d and then I\u2019ll try to write something where Marigold is on a snowboard.<\/span><\/p>\n

Usually that seed of an idea is enough, because I\u2019ve been writing these characters for years and their personalities are really well established, so once I set them loose on a premise, they kind of just do their own thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

When did your aspirations to become a writer begin? At what age did you start writing in hopes of making a living out of it?<\/h3>\n

I drew my first comic strip when I was really young. Age five. I still have it\u2014my mother saved everything my siblings and I drew.<\/span><\/p>\n

And I think it was while my age was still in single digits that I first started entertaining the idea of drawing comic strips for a living. I mean, it was a job you could have. Charles Schulz had it. Bill Watterson had it. Why couldn\u2019t I grow up and have it?<\/span><\/p>\n

I went through a phase in my teens of wanting to be a professional musician. (That\u2019s me, keepin\u2019 it super realistic.) But when I was 19 I came back to comic strips, and never left\u2014I started doing a strip that came to be called \u201cOzy and Millie,\u201d which I then did as a web comic for ten years. My plan was to immediately get syndicated and make a living off my comics. It didn\u2019t quite happen like that\u2014it was another 15 years before my next strip after that, \u201cPhoebe and Her Unicorn,\u201d got its first book and its newspaper launch.<\/span><\/p>\n

Writers have to be master prioritizers \u2014 juggling all sorts of projects and deadlines at the same time. That\u2019s certainly the case for you. Do you have any methods for managing tasks and time to stay productive and not let overwhelm sneak in?<\/span><\/h3>\n

I guess I take it one piece at a time. There are writing days and there are drawing days. I can write a week of strips in an afternoon usually, then I send the ideas to my editor. Once I have her notes I start drawing. Usually doing a week of daily comics is 1-2 days of work. A Sunday comic by itself eats up an entire day, so there are days dedicated to that, too<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Deciding on an idea to pursue writing about can be the most challenging aspect for a writer. How do you come to find the\u00a0stories and lives<\/a>\u00a0that become the subjects of your books? Are there habits or daily tricks you use to think about book ideas?<\/h3>\n

Well\u2026there are currently 10 \u201cPhoebe and Her Unicorn\u201d books. Of those, 8 are collections of the daily comic strips. Writing those, I think kind of small. Daily comic strips aren\u2019t an especially good medium for telling complex stories.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s fine with me, usually. I\u2019ve never thought of myself as a storyteller in that way. It\u2019s part of what drew me to comic strips as a medium. Hanging out with my characters all day, putting them in situations that are either relatable (\u201cPhoebe takes a test at school\u201d) or weird and funny (\u201cMarigold introduces Phoebe to a dragon who barfs candy\u201d), sticking around long enough for a laugh or a pithy observation, and moving on to the next thing. Like I said, I have a file on my phone that\u2019s full of one-sentence ideas that I can have the characters riff on for a week or three. That\u2019s most of what \u201cPhoebe and Her Unicorn\u201d is.<\/span><\/p>\n

But then there are those other two books. The Magic Storm<\/i><\/a> and Unicorn Theater<\/i><\/a>. They\u2019re the two longest stories I\u2019ve ever come up with. So suddenly I\u2019m having to think about story structure and all that. Those two books were a learning experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Magic Storm<\/i>,<\/a> the idea was \u201cI want to take them on an adventure.\u201d So I ended up giving them a mystery to solve, a kind of suburban magic quest that ended up involving a dragon. For the next one, Unicorn Theater<\/a>,<\/i> I decided to do something different, and it wound up being more of a story about relationships and personal drama and how we (read: how I) end up channeling that into stories we tell.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having only done it twice, I have no idea what I\u2019m going to do for the next one of those. Maybe a ghost story? I\u2019m still learning how long stories work, to be perfectly honest.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are both a writer and an artist. Which came first for you creatively, writing or drawing? How do you strike the balance in your daily routine?<\/span><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s funny, because I always say that I\u2019m a writer who draws, rather than the reverse\u2014and I do think that\u2019s what comics are, at least the comics I make. The art can be so-so if the writing is there; if it isn\u2019t, it doesn\u2019t matter that much how good the art is.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the truth is that I was an artist first. I\u2019ve been drawing since I could grip a marker in my tiny fist. And drawing is fun and relaxing for me. Writing is something I took to later, and writing is work.\u00a0 I\u2019m always relieved when I\u2019ve written something, gotten it past my editor, and I can sit in my room and draw it all. Drawing is like my reward for doing the hard part.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like I said, there are writing days and drawing days. And they\u2019re fairly different headspaces. It helps keeping them apart.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you judge a\u00a0productive writing day<\/a>\u00a0or an unproductive day? What\u2019s the sign of a good day for you?<\/span><\/h3>\n

If it\u2019s a writing day, one week of comics\u2014six dailies and a Sunday\u2014is a successful day. On an art day it\u2019s a little more nebulous. That takes as long as it takes. There are smaller goals within it\u2014lettering a week of comics, penciling a week of comics, inking a week of comics. Did I achieve something on that list? Cool, it was a decent work day.<\/span><\/p>\n

There ARE days when I\u2019m just not really feeling it. That\u2019s fine, you get to have a certain number of those. As long as there aren\u2019t so many you miss deadlines. Because I have nothing but deadlines. The strip has to be there every day.<\/span><\/p>\n

What books<\/a> or writers<\/a> have most influenced the way you think and the way you write?<\/span><\/h3>\n

I could talk about that all day! In terms of comics: Charles M. Schulz<\/a> (\u201cPeanuts\u201d<\/a>). Bill Watterson<\/a>\u00a0(\u201cCalvin and Hobbes\u201d<\/a>). Lynn Johnston<\/a> (\u201cFor Better or For Worse\u201d<\/a>). Tove Jansson<\/a> (\u201cMoomin<\/a>\u201d). Jeff Smith<\/a> (\u201cBone\u201d<\/a>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Last Unicorn<\/i><\/a> by Peter S. Beagle really helped define what unicorns are to me. Both the original novel<\/a>, and the 2010 graphic novel adaptation<\/a> (which lived on my desk when I was designing Marigold). And I think I have to credit Norton Juster\u2019s The Phantom Tollbooth<\/i><\/a> for nurturing my sense of the absurd, and for teaching me the word \u201cdodecahedron.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What is your\u00a0advice to aspiring writers<\/a>?<\/h3>\n

Write what makes you happy. Learn to be happy that something is finished rather than torturing yourself about whether it could have been better. Never quit\u2014success could be right around the corner, you\u2019re probably closer to it than you think, and the ones who make it tend to be the ones who didn\u2019t quit. (Someone, I think maybe Schulz, once said that a lot of cartoonists quit a year or two before becoming marketable, and that always stuck with me.)<\/span><\/p>\n

And honestly\u2026if at all possible, marry an understanding person with a \u201cnormal\u201d job, so you don\u2019t have to do the whole day job thing. That really really helps.<\/span><\/p>\n

___________<\/p>\n

Ready to create a writing routine of your\u00a0own?<\/h3>\n

Sign up now and receive our free guide\u00a0\u201c12 Essential Writing Routines To Help You To Craft Your Own<\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Learn from the routines of superstar authors\u00a0Stephen King, Gertrude Stein, John Grisham, Ernest Hemingway, Neil Gaiman, and many more.<\/em><\/p>\n

Get the free guide\u00a0here!<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who:\u00a0Dana Simpson Claim To Fame:\u00a0Dana Simpson\u00a0first caught the eyes of devoted comics readers with the internet strip\u00a0Ozy and Millie. After winning the 2009 Comic Strip Superstar contest, she developed the strip\u00a0Phoebe and Her Unicorn\u00a0(originally known as\u00a0Heavenly Nostrils), which is now syndicated in over 200 newspapers worldwide. There are eight\u00a0Phoebe and Her Unicorn\u00a0book collections:\u00a0Phoebe and Her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAward-Winning Cartoonist and Graphic Novelist Dana Simpson On Backlogging Ideas, Drawing To Spark Her Writing, and The Artists Who Tend To Make It - Writing Routines<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/dana-simpson-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Award-Winning Cartoonist and Graphic Novelist Dana Simpson On Backlogging Ideas, Drawing To Spark Her Writing, and The Artists Who Tend To Make It - Writing Routines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Who:\u00a0Dana Simpson Claim To Fame:\u00a0Dana Simpson\u00a0first caught the eyes of devoted comics readers with the internet strip\u00a0Ozy and Millie. 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