I Shall Never Fall in Love is now out in the UK!
My chronic illness makes events very difficult, but I was able to figure out an immune-safer signing with the wonderful Portobello books (coming in to sign before shop opening!) …
The dedicated and extra signed copies both sold out, thank you!!
…as well as a UK virtual launch with the excellent Lighthouse books, and cool and famous author host Lex Croucher. Thanks so much to everyone that came - there were lots of questions we didn’t get to, plus a few FAQs I’ve been getting, and I thought it’d be nice to collect and answer those below!
First: Enthusiasm is everything
One thing we discussed in the event is how making a graphic novel with a publisher differed from self-publishing and webcomics, and I said it was basically the same.
What I meant really is that the process is really similar, but of course the reaction - no longer getting live updates from readers and excited comments - is totally different! So after the experience of working privately on this book for so long, every comment, message and photo from people who’ve got their copies or are excited for the US release are all massively appreciated.
The author St John Starling recently said on a post that “Evidence that other people are interested in a project is vital to its survival” - he was talking about indie projects, but as a disabled author who’s mostly bedbound and not able to be out at book events or conventions, that’s definitely true for me, too!
Update: US edition release
I had quite a few messages about the US/ Canada edition, where the date changed and it was sometimes sold out. I found out there’s been a delay in the books literally arriving on the boat, so the release will actually now be November 19th. But pre-orders are open, and existing pre-orders should just be updated! Thank you so much to people waiting.
Q&A extras: on writing and making comics
* From James - How do you deal with pages which seemed simple in the thumbnail stage but turned out difficult?
I draw quite a lot at the first thumbnail rough stage, so usualy know when a page will be a nightmare. I just think ‘oh that’ll be a problem for future Hari’ and then curse myself later.
Here are some pictures of classic ‘I’ll figure that out later’ background nightmares I left for myself while making this book.
* From Haleandwellmet - question: At what point in the idea process for a story do you decide 'this is going to become a graphic novel' as opposed to any other medium or even just an idea you dont develop further?
Usually every story that gets past first scraps is something I really love and want to keep developing fully! Even when I’m just imagining first ideas, I know whether I want an idea to be comics or prose. The storytelling is a different mode in my brain - you can just fit less scenes in a graphic novel, but there’s this massive amount of atmosphere and emotion the visuals and body language coming across. Each medium has different strengths, and I end up wanting to tell different kinds of story with each.
* From Sally - I absolutely love the multitude of wonderful representations in your stories (…) do you also consider the various potential neurodivergences of your characters? (…)
Yeah, there are definitely certain stories where I am considering that quite consciously, and others (like ISNFIL, actually) where I’m just thinking more broadly about how different characters might think or be able to approach things.
To some extent I like leaving neurodivergence - and queerness - up to the reader to interpret in the stories themselves, to open up ways people could read them. Both seem like such broad spectrums with such a wide range of experience, and with different unexpected places those experiences might converge or relate, which I find really interesting.
* @ThetarotibleWitch- fun first, what your fave outfit and fave food you’ve ever drawn (hopefully it’s published)? Serious- what was the evolution of discovering fae emotional flora in Finding Home? Would love to hear about the research process as well!
No idea about favourite outfit, I think I’m always chasing being able to draw outfits better. Favourite food I’ve ever drawn is probably just everything in Finding Home, that was almost all things I was specifically wishing I could make and eat at the time.
And the flower meanings in Finding Home are a combination of victorian flower language and other global symbolisms, particularly South Asian. I’m afraid any notes keeping track of the exact (many) books or web pages I used seem to be long gone, as it was about 8 years ago now, which is strange to think about! Nowadays I try to keep track of research stuff much better.
Q&A extras: on writing historical settings
Using real places?
* quizzicalqueek - I wondered how much of the setting is based on real places (…) I've been to Peaslake and Chilworth and it was fun to see them referenced. Does your Chilworth Manor reflect the real one, or did you change it for the novel? Did you have a particular hill in mind for them to climb in Peaslake?
In the event, Lex asked about whether I use real buildings (the answer is no, I spend WAY too long making them up).
In terms of place names, those are all taken from real-life Surrey, it’s cool to see someone noticed! But I like things being one step from reality, so they’re combining names with other references I thought worked nicely with the plot, and it’s not one particular hill or to do with the real Chilworth Manor at all - I just thought chill+worth were appropriate for the story.
Chronic illness in old books
* quizzicalqueek - I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts on how chronic illness is portrayed in Austen and similar works, and if/how that affected how you wrote Eleanor's father
Okay… I have an essay of thoughts on this and will try to be brief! I think there are absolutely Austen and other classic books (and adaptations!) that do have chronically ill characters painted as hypochondriacs.
I can’t find it now, partly because there are loads, but I read a very interesting journal article about the portrayal of chronic illness in Jane Austen novels while I was making this book. One thing it suggested was that the author becomes more sympathetic in her later books like Persuasion, at a time where she herself was becoming seriously ill. (Which I think is true! I find the bedbound character in Persuasion really interesting.)
In this book, I was interested in taking the more ‘silly’ ill character trope and making it a bit clearer that he does have physical health issues on top of anxiety problems he can’t help. But this book’s kind of from the younger generation’s point of view, and doesn’t explore it in a lot of depth - it’s something I’d LOVE to explore fully in a future book.
Honestly, characters having serious, lifelong health issues that doctors can’t help with seems way more common in 19thC literature than modern media. As one of the many millions of people who lives with severe chronic health issues every day, it’s definitely part of what interests me in the period.
Unexpected history facts
* From Lynn - what has been your most favourite and unexpected fact - or thing to draw - that you’ve uncovered about the time period?
In the event I talked about how much Black and queer history was new to me, and why I wanted to put it in the back of the book. (There’s an illustrated summary of the history section here!)
But on a less serious note, some of my favourite more random facts are about how dark it was pre-electric lighting, but people still just read and moved about in the dark.
Parties got held on the full moon so you could walk home easier in the dark. And you see a lot of lower wall panelling/ dado rails in old buildings here, because pre-1800s (before this book, really) chairs would be kept against the wall until they were needed and pulled out, so you didn’t run into them in the dark of candlelight.
More historicals…?
* From Emma - do you have your sights on any other historical time periods to explore for a future graphic novel?
Because I’ve been researching this specific time, my biggest historical interest right now is only 20 or so years earlier, towards the start of the Napoleonic wars, and I’ll use this chance to post some teaser pics of an idea in progress…
I also love the idea of incorporating Renaissance European fashion and energy into fantasy stories that are more specific than general-faux-medeival, but combined with other historical cultures and modern elements.
But both of the big ideas pictured are still cooking, and most of the art for them is only on Patreon for now!
