HOPE LARSON ON CHIGGERS AND MORE

[MattBrady]

by Zack Smith

Hope Larson’s evocative work on her first two graphic novels, Salamander Dream and Gray Horses, earned her a 2007 Special Recognition Eisner Award. Now, Larson is poised to reach a new and wide audience with Chiggers, a new original graphic novel from Simon & Shuster about two girls forming a unique friendship at summer camp. We called Larson up to find out what readers can expect from this story, and how she drew from her own experiences to tell this tale.

Newsarama: Hope, what’s Chiggers about?

Hope Larson: Okay, it’s a camp story. It’s about nerdy girls, nerdy teenage girls, because there hasn’t really been a book about them, and I thought it was time. (laughs)

The main characters are Abby, who’s a little bit unsure of who she is, and Shasta, who is more charismatic, and a little bit of a troublemaker.

NRAMA: What age group is this aimed at?

HL: It’s being marketed to ages 9 to12.

NRAMA: Your past works have had some very surreal or fantastic elements to them – can we expect more of the same here?

HL: Yeah, there are definitely some fantastic elements to this. It’s pretty grounded, for the most part, but I can’t resist putting a touch of the supernatural into most things I write. I hadn’t heard the term until a couple months ago, but most of my work is squarely in the speculative fiction genre.

NRAMA: What are these supernatural elements, or can you tell us?

HL: I can’t! I don’t want to spoil it! I want it to be a surprise. (laughs)

NRAMA: Well, what can you tell us about the girls who are the main characters?

HL: The main character, Abby, is sort of shy, reserved. She’s been going to the same camp for a few years, so she has an established group of friends there. But she’s in her early teens, which is the age when you start getting to know yourself and reevaluating your friends. She’s not the same person she was the previous summer. When Shasta shows up, Abby’s given an opportunity to explore a different part of herself.

NRAMA: And who is Shasta?

HL: She’s the opposite of Abby – kind of a bad kid, ikes to be the center of attention. She tells a lot of stories about herself – like how she was struck by lightning – that may or may not be true. She’s also a huge nerd, into roleplaying and fantasy books, so she and Abby bond over that.

NRAMA: But it sounds like this friendship might have some dangerous overtones.

HL: (laughs) Yeah, a little bit!

NRAMA: Anyone who’s gone camping or to the beach in the South probably knows what chiggers are, but could you explain the title for readers who might not have heard of them before?

HL: They’re kind of like – if you’ve gone to camping in the South, you’ve probably gotten them. They’re little biting mites, and the bites itch worse than mosquitoes or anything. They’re basically the worst thing ever. (laughs). They’re so awful that my editors thought I’d made them up – that they were some kind of story campers used to scare each other!

NRAMA: What were your own camp experiences like, and why did you decide to set this story at camp?

HL: I wasn’t one of those kids who went to camp all through their childhood – I wasn’t camp-obsessed or anything – but I did go for two or three years. I went to National Wildlife Federation Camp, which was awesome. I got to take classes about trees and biodiversity and things.

Camp is such a weird little microcosm…it has all the same social elements you find at school, but because you’re only there for a couple of weeks, and you never get a break from anyone else, the experience is much more intense.

You know how, in school, class trips are the time when people hook up for the first time, and girls who have been friends forever decide they hate each other? It’s the same thing. I wanted to do a story about that.

NRAMA: How’d this project come to be at Simon and Schuster? That’s got to be very exciting.

HL: Yeah, it’s really exciting! I picked up an agent, Judy Hanson, through the Flight anthology. After I finished up Gray Horses, I wrote the script for Chiggers and put together a pitch, which included a few pages of art and incidentals.

Judy took the pitch around and sold the book within a couple months. Now I’m working with Ginee Seo, who is just the best editor ever. Her assistant, Jordan Brown, has been a dream to work with, too.

NRAMA: Well, that’s interesting given that you’re working in a more structured environment than with your first two books. What’s it like working with an editor as you’re doing a graphic novel, as opposed to doing everything on your own?

HL: Well, with my first two books, it was just me – I didn’t have any editorial influence at all, although I really wanted it. If I wanted feedback, it was a matter of begging my writer friends for notes.

That’s one of the main reasons I went to a book publisher: I didn’t feel like I was living up to my potential. I also wanted to focus all my energy on drawing comics, which meant I needed an advance. It’s worked out pretty well!

NRAMA: Are you working in a different type of art style for Chiggers?

HL: Yeah, I’m doing ruled borders, which is a change. I’ve gone from a two-color style to straight black-and-white. It’s been a natural progression.

NRAMA: Now, you’re poised to reach a very wide audience with Chiggers – what’s it like being faced with that level of exposure?

HL: You know, at this point, I don’t really know what’s going to happen. I’ve been working on this book for like two years, and my worst fear when I draw a book is that it’s going to come out and just lie there, and no one’s going to care about it.

So, I hope it does well. I’m curious to see what the reaction is from my target audience, because I’ve never written a book that’s specifically for 9 to 12, or any other age range.

I should also mention that my “target audience” isn’t something I thought about at all while I was writing the script. That sort of thing isn’t as much of an issue in the comics industry. I just wanted to write a book I’d like to read, and the powers that be categorized it as middle grade.

NRAMA: Well, there has been a big movement toward doing graphic novels for that age group in the last few years. What’s your take on the growth of that market, and how would you like to see it evolve?

HL: I think it’s pretty much going the way it should be going right now. In the last few months, there have been some really great books released for younger readers – Kevin Soo’s Jellaby and Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet are good examples. And of course, Raina Telgemeier's Baby-Sitters Club adaptations. And Jillian and Mariko Tamaki’s brilliant book Skim, which skews a little older. That’s really good company to be in, not to mention all the manga stuff.

It’s very exciting – I’m just hoping that these books sell well enough for the publishers to keep making graphic novels for that age range.

NRAMA: Chiggers is part of a two-book contract with Simon and Schuster – can you tell us about the second book at this time?

HL: I’ve already started the next one – the script is finished, and I’m about 30 pages into the art. It’s set in Nova Scotia, and it’s split between the 1860s and the present day, so it’s pretty ambitious for me.

NRAMA: Now, you lived up in Canada for a while – what about the area made you want to do a story about it?

HL: I think part of it is that there’s so much untapped lore in Nova Scotia. It’s really exciting, when you’re a writer, to come across a story that maybe no one else has written down – at least, not recently – and put your own spin on that. Finding that kind of raw material – that’s really cool.

The other thing is that it’s incredibly beautiful up there, and there’s so much history in the area – the Acadians lived there before being booted down to New Orleans, and then the British took over, and Loyalists moved up from the Southern U.S It’s a crazy combination of cultures. Very unique.

NRAMA: You’re also doing a story for the Tori Amos anthology Comic Book Tattoo. What’s that experience been like?

HL: I’ve mostly been working with Rantz Hoseley on that, and it’s been fun. He’s doing a great job, and everyone involved is so excited that the book is bound to turn out well.

NRAMA: One last question – you recently moved back to Asheville, NC from Nova Scotia. What’s it like being in back in the area?

HL: It’s really good. The area we’re living in, West Asheville, is charming and friendly, and has evolved a lot since I moved away in 2000. I’m glad to be back down here in the South – not having to shovel snow on Easter. (laughs)

It’s so nice. I know some cartoonists who say it’s good to have a winter, because then you’re forced to stay inside and work, but that just makes me stir-crazy. It’s easier for me to buckle down when I know I can go outside at the end of the day, and it probably won’t be snowing or raining.

[librarykat]

I, for one, am really looking forward to Chiggers. I work part time in a preK-8th grade school library, so I'm always excited to find more books like this that are age-appropriate. The students there already like comics and graphic novels, so I already have an audience.

[DreamKing]

I really enjoyed Hope Larson's previous two efforts.

I know this book isn't aimed at me, but I'll probably still check it out.

You and Bryan are the coolest, Hope!

[CitC]

I have it at home, but I haven't gotten far into it yet. It is my first book from Larson, but I am pleased so far. If the content stays suitable for elementary school use then I will be getting a copy for my class (and they might even review it!) Salamander was recomended highly by other poster "Not From Around", one of Newsarama Librarian members, but Amazon hasn't got it to me yet.

[CitC]

NRAMA: Now, you lived up in Canada for a while – what about the area made you want to do a story about it?

HL: I think part of it is that there’s so much untapped lore in Nova Scotia. It’s really exciting, when you’re a writer, to come across a story that maybe no one else has written down – at least, not recently – and put your own spin on that. Finding that kind of raw material – that’s really cool.

The other thing is that it’s incredibly beautiful up there, and there’s so much history in the area – the Acadians lived there before being booted down to New Orleans, and then the British took over, and Loyalists moved up from the Southern U.S It’s a crazy combination of cultures. Very unique.

New Brunswick is pretty nice as well. Do you do school visits in NS? My school (Riverside Consolidated in Albert County, NB) is always interested in bringing in comic creators.

[Not From Around]

Originally Posted by CitC

I have it at home, but I haven't gotten far into it yet. It is my first book from Larson, but I am pleased so far. If the content stays suitable for elementary school use then I will be getting a copy for my class (and they might even review it!) Salamander was recomended highly by other poster "Not From Around", one of Newsarama Librarian members, but Amazon hasn't got it to me yet.

I'm certainly interested in checking this one out. I hadn't heard about it before!

I live in the southern U.S.A. and know about chiggers. The insidious thing about them is that by the time the bite starts itching, the mite itself is long gone. You can wander into a nest of them and have your feet and ankles eaten alive by them and not know until it is too late! There's a camp in Tennessee (IIRC) that's actually named "Chigger Ridge." Just thinking about going there gives me the willies.

[CitC]

I just finished reading it. I really enjoyed it. Larson is masterful with the speach balloons and text boxes (or lack of them).

I would put it at about 11 and up. 'b--ch' said once or twice and some of the situations would require a solid reader to decode.

Really good.