On the Spot at BSC: C.E. Murphy Interview

After a long time being away from the interview scene I am happy to bring C.E. Murphy to Bookspotcentral with an On the Spot with C.E. Murphy.  C.E. Murphy is the best selling author of Urban Shaman and The Queen’s Bastard and brings us something all new in Take A Chance.  I will be focusing on the Take A Chance series which is being put out by Dabel Brothers Publishing.  For all the regulars to our site, take not of how I snuck in a question about the covers of her books!

Damon:  How hard did you find it to transfer a story to the graphic novel format?  With a book you can take pages to set a scene if necessary and you do not have that luxury in the comic medium, did you have to make any sacrifices to the story?

C.E. Murphy:  I had to study! I actually went and got a book, PANEL ONE by Nat Gertler, and read about a dozen different writers’ script styles for comic books. Ultimately I chose something similar to what Neil Gaiman does, which, in essense, was “Write a bunch of ideas for frames and close ups and whatever, and then say “But you’re the artist, if you have a better idea, go for it.” It seems to have worked so far.

Fortunately, Chance is a story that was meant for comics–I actually can’t imagine writing it as a novel, and I can’t imagine actually transferring one of my novels into comic form. Someone else would have to do it, because I’d have far too much trouble deciding what should be kept.

I don’t feel like I had to make any sacrifices to the format, because I could choose where issue breaks went in. I just had to get more creative with how to write each story, because the shape of the thing was so different. I do use a lot of panels, which is something I’m trying to pull back on (I think I average about seven per page throughout the series, rather than a more typical 4 or 5), but my artist hasn’t killed me yet, so I think I’m doing okay…. 

Damon:  When you talk to other authors are they just a bit jealous you have stepped over into comics? Are they always asking you how much different it is from writing novels?

C.E. Murphy:  A surprising number of them are, in fact! I mentioned “Take A Chance”’s release on a SF novelists email list I’m on, and I was astonished at how many people said (in essense): AUGH HEY WAIT HOW DO YOU GET INTO THAT GIG?!?! It turns out there are a lot of us who want to be playing in the comics field.

I do have one friend who was invited to write for one of the Big Two, but he was under several book contracts and had never written a comic script before, and had to turn them down simply because he did not have *time* to learn a new writing format. There are just about as many novelist writers who seem to have that problem as there are novelists writers who’d like to be writing comics. So it’s not so much that people are asking how it’s different as they’re coming at it with the knowledge that it *is* different and that there’s a learning curve involved.

Damon:  How much control did you have over the way the artwork turned out?  How did you enjoy working with the Dabel Brothers?

C.E. Murphy:  I had complete control, in the sense that I went forth and found a genius artist who basically did exactly what I asked.   I found Ardian Syaf through digitalwebbing.com–he was one of about seventy artists who responded to my ad there, and the instant I saw his portfolio I knew he was the one I wanted to work with. Five issues later I’m still convinced. I’d keep him forever, if I could.

The character design for Chance is mine; Ardian and I worked together on the mask, and I gave him ideas on what I wanted the other main characters–Tazer, Nila, Murkowski–to look like, and he came back with…well. With drawings I immediately got crushes on, really, so that’s got to be a win. But out of what, 88 pages of art, I think I only asked for revisions on three or four pages, really. He just nailed what I was after, and I will be eternally grateful for the opportunity to work with him.

The Dabels are a terrific bunch of people with loads of enthusiasm, and I’m completely delighted with the quality of the product they’re helping me produce. It’s been an amazing ride.

Damon:  Yeah I have to say the Dabel Brothers really go out of their way at the conventions talking with the fans and they always seem to have time for me as well which is nice.  It is good to have a company that has a face and love in their projects.

Damon:  Is Chance based on anyone in particular?

C.E. Murphy:  *laughs* Well, on one hand you could say she’s a Mary Sue in the worst possible way: hey! She’s got brown hair and blue eyes like me! She’s totally buff, unlike me! She kicks butt, unlike me! She’s a superhero, unlike me! She’s just who I want to be! …except she’s not, because also unlike me, Chance is a leetle beet psycho, and I’d really rather stay here in the realm of normality…

I’d role-played versions of Chance in the past, long before I decided to write a comic book, but ultimately she became someone very new and different, not really based at all on the characters I’d played before. I had to create a world for her to live in instead of borrowing one from other companies, and by doing that I ended up with basically a whole new lead character and totally new people in her life, playing different roles than had ever been part of any game I’d played.

Damon:  Have you been to many comic conventions?  How does a comic reader differ from a novel reader?  How have the fans of your books felt about the comics?

C.E. Murphy:  I went to San Diego for the first time last year, and have been to Dublin, Ireland’s comics convention the past couple of years–those two wildly disparate cons are the only comic cons I’ve been to. I would desperately love to go to more, but that’s true about conventions in general. Getting out and talking to people who don’t live inside my head is good for me.

Fans of my books seem to be liking Chance a great deal. I kind of counted on that, but what’s nice is that people who don’t know the books have picked up the comic and have also enjoyed it. I just need to figure out how to get information about the comic to all forty thousand or so of my book-readers….

Y’know, I think–we’re always told “don’t judge a book by its cover”, right? And we all do it, of course, but we get that repeated so often that I think most of us tend to at least read the back cover, too, besides just looking at a book’s front cover. Comics readers, though, don’t have that back cover copy to read, and comics are so very, very much about the art that although I’m a writer, for me, the absolute most important thing about getting into a comic, whether I’m writing it or reading it, is that I have to love the art. If a book has an awful cover, well, ok, the words inside can still be fine. But if I open a comic and the art doesn’t grab me right away, I’m not terribly likely to give the words much of a chance. I think maybe a lot of comic readers are like me in that, and I think it might be one of the major differences between a novel reader and a comic reader.

It is also possible that I’m utterly wrong, of course….

Damon:  I tend to agree as well, I need the artwork to work for me as well, no matter how good the story is.  It is funny for a shorter medium we really will not put in the time if it does not grab us right away.

Damon:  I saw you mentioned that this was a pet project for you for a few years, how did this all come together?  Did you go search out someone to do the comics or did they find you?

C.E. Murphy:  Oh, I searched them out. Chance was something I put together initially to pitch to Marvel when they announced they were re-opening their creator-owned Epic line. Marvel gave up on the idea, but I didn’t, and after some success with my first novel, URBAN SHAMAN, I hired an artist and a colorist to do the first issue of “Take A Chance”. I figured I would at least have the, er, chance (I hate it when I do that, but it happens a lot when I’m talking about the comic…) to see what a comic of my own would look like all finished, even if I never found a publisher.

Once it was done, of course, I did look for a publisher, and in time found one with the Dabels. In the meantime I’d decided that, since that first issue was a pet project done out of pocket anyway, that if I *did* find a publisher, I would give half the proceeds from the first comic to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The other half will go straight back into making more comics–I’m not getting paid for issue #1, not even when it goes to graphic novel, because 10% of the proceeds from that will also go to the CBLDF.

Damon:  That is a great idea giving a bit back to the CBLDF and using the rest to further your project of more comics.

C.E. Murphy:  Thank you. I hope we see enough sales to actually make it happen.

Damon:  In the comics Chance says “Saturday morning cartoons never have these problems”  What are some of your all time favorite cartoons?

C.E. Murphy:  *laughs* Um, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was my first love. Literally. I’ve had a crush on Spidey since I was 3 years old because of that cartoon…. I watched all those superhero cartoons, growing up, and in college I loved Gargoyles and Animaniacs and the X-Men animated series.

Damon:  Yeah I have just started to introduce my children to Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends as it was one of my favorites as well, how do you feel about the current state of Saturday Morning Cartoons?

C.E. Murphy:  Ok, bearing in mind that I’m living in Ireland and I have no idea what’s actually *on* Saturday morning cartoons in America these days…I am all about Ben-10. I *love* Ben-10 with a love that is probably not healthy in a woman my age. (And Ben at 15 is ZOMG cute! And Gwen! Gwen is awesome! And and and! ) I’m delighted with the new Wolverine & the X-Men, and generally speaking, Warner Brothers has made me very happy with their JLA and Batman stuff. I’ve got the new Wonder Woman animated film to watch, and I’m really looking forward to that.

Damon:  What are some of your favorite comic and graphic novels?  And if you could be a superhero you would be?  Or what powers would you want as a superhero?

C.E. Murphy:  I got into comics–comics beyond “Archie” & “Richie Rich”, I mean, which I assume everybody in America grew up reading–through “ElfQuest”. I read the original quest in graphic novel format when I was about 11, and I still love it. I went back and collected all of the original black and white issues, which has led to a lifetime love *of* black and white comics (there was a stage, when I was working with a different artist, when it was a very real possibility that “Take A Chance” would be B&W), so as a reader I’m always likely to take a moment and linger over something that’s not four-color.

I discovered superhero comics at seventeen, more or less the moment I moved to a town that had a comic shop. Jim Lee was doing his run on “X-Men” with Chris Claremont, and flipping through one of the issues, I gave my heart to Rogue and she’s never given it back. It took longer for me to get into the DC titles (despite thinking Batman was, you know, the epitome of awesome), but I’ve really enjoyed some of what they’ve done, especially over the past five years or so.

Let’s see, what else? I read “Strangers in Paradise” (and need to pick up Terry Moore’s “Echo”), I own most of the “Sandman” collection, and I think “Transmetropolitan” was probably the most awesome comic series I’ve ever read.

If somebody was handing out superpowers, I’d love the Classic Rogue set–her own power of absorbtion, plus Carol Danvers’ flight, strength, invulnerability and sixth sense–although ideally without the psychological problems that keep her from touching people. But if I only got one? Flight. Hands down, no questions asked. I wanna be able to fly.

Damon:  I think the female hero has really come of age in the last few years, Urban Fantasy (or paranormal romance) has really made waves, what do you think has changed recently to make that the case?  Can I also say that I really love the covers of the Inheritors’ Cycle in the same breath?

C.E. Murphy:  *laughs* You certainly may! I love those covers too. Rawr.

To answer the real question, though, in a word: Buffy. I mean, I think there were about a million other factors that led up to the surge in strong female leads and the fascination with urban fantasy/magical realism that’s so strong in our culture today. I think it’s the result of thirty years of pushing for equal rights for women and the result of the world becoming an increasingly scary place (thanks to melodramatic news reports if nothing else) and the result of Anne Rice writing about a vampire called Lestat back in the seventies and Dark Shadows and Beauty and the Beast on TV and–

The list goes on, obviously. But in a nutshell, I think Buffy brought the kick-ass, witty, vulnerable, brave (and kind of righteous) heroine to the forefront of the popular consciousness, and that we as writers have run with that. Now if we could only see it in film as well as on TV and in books!

_{C.E. Murphy was born and raised in Alaska, and now lives in her ancestral home of Ireland, where she spends far too much time writing and not nearly enough time getting out into the countryside.  You can visit her website at http://cemurphy.net/.  C.E. Murphy is the best selling author of Urban Shaman and The Queen’s Bastard and brings us something all new in Take A Chance.}

About Damon Cap

One of the partner/admins here at the site. We do what we want. Check out the site at BSCreview and our other cool sites BSCkids, Heliotrope, Spinetingler, Best Fantasy Book oh yeah I also am socialfocused on twitter will eventually be killing it over at Social Focused when it goes live in a few months.