Jane Irwin: Q&A

Posted: Saturday, February 7, 2004
Posted By: Tim O'Shea

Jane Irwin, the creator of Vögelein, has a strong fan base at SBC. It’s not typical that two SBC folks will interview the same creator in the course of three months. But Irwin, the creator of Vögelein is worth it. So if my interview with her isn’t enough, travel back to the archives of The Mostly Park Show column, and find the first part of their two-part interview with her. 2003 saw the release of what is hopefully is her first of many graphic novels, which collected the first arc of her creation. For those unfamiliar with Vögelein, here’s a brief synopsis, courtesy of Irwin: “When Jakob, Vögelein's Guardian of 50 years, dies quietly in his sleep one night, her life is thrown into utter turmoil. Left without someone to wind her, and unable to reach her own keyhole, the tiny clockwork faerie has less than three hours to live -- unless she can find someone to trust. If she winds all the way down, her memories of the past three hundred years will quickly slip away, reducing her to a simple automaton unable to speak or move on her own. In her search for a new Guardian, Vögelein, must grapple with her own past, her current daily survival and a true Faerie who has taken an instant disliking to her -- all so she will not lose her memories -- and her self.” And that’s just the beginning of the tale.

Tim O’Shea: You've just gotten the TPB picked up by Waldenbooks. I was wondering, how do the challenges of gaining entry into national bookstore chains with your work compare to a few years back when you were trying to get into comic book stores and get picked up by distributors?

Jane Irwin: Actually, I've been extremely fortunate -- both times I was accepted right off the bat. I got into Diamond and Cold Cut on my first try, even before the book was printed. I sent them ashcans of the first four chapters, and they agreed to carry the book based on those photocopies. Waldenbooks was slightly different -- I live in Ann Arbor, where the company is headquartered, and I had the pleasure of meeting their Graphic Novel Buyer at a local convention. He really liked the book -- a very fortunate thing for me, indeed -- and wanted to support it as much as he could.

I have a feeling it's going to be much more difficult to get picked up by the other major retail chains, but at least now I have a foot in the door at Waldenbooks, and that will help my credibility a great deal. Getting reviewed in Booklist was also a huge coup for me and can only help my chances of getting picked up by other distributors.

TO: How important are libraries from your perspective in gaining an audience? I ask this because even before the TPB you had a rather strong mutually beneficial relationship with the libraries in general.

JI: Goodness, I can't overstate how important libraries have been for me so far. I have a good friend who's a Young Adult Librarian, and as I was getting ready to publish the single issues, she stressed how important it was that I pay as much attention to the library system as I could. She invited me to speak at her library, and that got my name out to other local librarians by word of mouth. Since then, I've spoken at about 20 different libraries, and I hope to speak at many, many more. I've even put up a section on my website devoted entirely to librarians, with handouts, recommended reading lists and information on my library talks. You can visit it here. Another great resource is GNLIB-L, a mailing list for librarians interested in graphic novels.

One of the things that I realized early on was that we, as comics creators, really need to inspire the next generation of readers -- otherwise there will be no one left reading our books in another 10 years. Young Adult Librarians are doing a phenomenal job of getting comics and graphic novels into the hands of young readers, and are probably doing more for the field than any other group. They're also leading the charge in legitimizing comics as an acceptable form of literature, and that's a subject very close to my own heart. I'm very eager to move comics into bookstores and libraries and schools, simply because they're an undervalued form of art -- a form of art that I love and want others to appreciate as much as I do.

TO: In developing the TPB, did you have to fight the urge to tweak elements of the story, as you looked at the earlier days with a more seasoned eye? Where do you go from here?

JI: Oh, there was no fighting that urge; I gave right in. I went back and changed several dozen panels -- mostly facial expressions and bad anatomy -- like the time in the first issue where I got V's hands on the wrong wrists. Yikes! I reserve the right to make changes to my work any time I want to -- right up until the darned thing goes to press. I'm not alone in this -- plenty of other authors do it, too. W.B. Yeats, for example, made changes to many of his best-known poems over time. The Stolen Child has several lines that differ depending on which http://www.web-books.com/Classics/Poetry/Anthology/Yeats/Stolen.htm>version you have.

TO: Back when we talked awhile http://www.orcafresh.net/Shea/sh22602.html>back, the next arc of Vögelein was going to be potentially 15 issues. Has that changed or evolved differently?

JI: I'm currently in the process of writing scripts for more Vögelein novels -- I'd like to pen the next three before I start working on the art for the second one. I know that sounds a little odd, but that's just the way I work -- all four books will tie into each other, so it's good practice for me to set things up ahead of time. The story arc I mentioned in that interview has been bumped ahead to being the fourth book in the series, at least for right now. It's been tightened up considerably, and I feel it's probably about 200 pages worth of material at this point. I also think it's the strongest thing I've written yet; I'm quite pleased with it, and am really excited to get working on it -- and the other stories -- as soon as I can. So yes -- things have a tendency to evolve rather quickly at Fiery Studios.

I can't be sure when the next book will be ready for press, but I can tell you one thing for certain: I'm never doing single issues again if I can help it. Any new Vögelein material will be published as original graphic novels. I give apologies at this point to any readers who prefer the serial format, but it's financially impossible for me to keep printing 'floppy' comics. Graphic novel format is the only way I can keep delivering my stories to readers and still stand a chance of breaking even -- and that's one of many difficult choices you have to make when you're self-publishing.

TO: Again, when we talked a few years back, one of the influences you mentioned on your work is Charles de Lint? For those less informed folks, care to explain his work and the impact it's had on you? Also in more recent years, have other storytellers grown to influence your work?

JI: I love Charles de Lint's work dearly. I first read his books when I was in 8th grade, and have been hooked ever since. Right now I'm reading Somewhere to be Flying; I just love his ability to capture characters and make you really care about them. He also manages to convey a feeling that there's real magic around every corner without being too corny or hokey. I believe strongly in the old saying "Good fiction should ask you to suspend your disbelief, but never your intelligence," and his books do just that. Some of his stories I like better than others -- he's definitely an author that's improved over time -- but he always writes solid, believable characters who react in believable ways, no matter how fantastic the plot becomes, and that's what I hope to bring from his books and put into mine.

Lately, I've been extremely influenced by Carla Speed McNeil's Finder. Carla's such an amazing writer -- she's just brimming with ideas. I love the deeply tangled web she weaves, and her unfathomable knowledge of her own universe. She knows every facet of her world, from the biology of the flora and fauna to the intricacies of clan politics. Finder is so engrossing for me because Carla is able to immerse her readers in anthropology that's as believable as our own, but subtly alien. Fascinating stuff, and I hope I get to know Vögelein's world even a fraction as well.

As for prose, I don't think anyone's influenced me more than Neil Gaiman. He's got a remarkable ability to turn a phrase that's up there with Bradbury, Ellison and John Crowley (author of Little, Big). His writing is phenomenal, in both prose and comic format; it's lyrical, natural, and just bounds along, pulling you with it wherever it goes -- and it goes some pretty darn cool places. I try my best to hold my storytelling -- the mood, the plot, the dialogue -- up to the high standard he sets. I may not always succeed, but if you're gonna aim, you might as well aim high, right?

TO: In terms of your work, at present where do you find your strengths to be as a storyteller, and what storyteller muscles would you like to exercise going forward?

JI: My strengths lie -- I feel -- in writing short scenes. I tend to write many small vignettes -- a snippet of dialogue here, a short interaction there -- and put them all in a box like brightly colored beads. My challenge is stringing them all together in a way that makes sense, and looks good to other people. I confess that most of Vögelein's future has yet to be written. I designed it as an open-ended series of books because I know I have lots and lots of ideas and plots that I want to play with, but I'm not entirely sure how they all relate to one another yet.

TO: What question did I forget to ask that we need to discuss?

JI: Well, I should probably warn readers: The Duskie doesn't appear in the next book. He's most people's favorite character, but he's just one character in an ensemble cast, and can't be onstage in every book, since he's such a scene-stealer. Not to fret, though -- there's plenty (plenty!) of Duskie in the near future -- you'll just have to wait and get it all at once.

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