So Lauren Weinstien, the creator of “Girl Stories” and a bunch of other awesomeness, came into my class yesterday essentially as a sub. Again, awesomeness. I stayed afterwards with another classmate and we all got to talking about the comics industry, self-publishing, expos, and autobiographical work. Lauren agreed with me that the independent graphic novel industry seems somewhat dominated by autobiographical stories, something she called “whiny white people stories” I think…
I’ve been wanting to do some autobiographical work for awhile, but I’ve felt hung up on that because, well, I’ve had a very normal, well-adjusted life free of traumas. If you look through the graphic novels featuring autobiographical stories, especially ones written by women, they’re twisted– child molestation, preteen drug use, tragedy, and fundamentally dysfunctional families are the norm. It’s incredibly hard for me to relate to these things because, well, I’ve had a pretty good life so far. Who knows, if I did autobio stuff then it might stick out of the market because it would be so DIFFERENT from all that: happy childhood, great time in high school, loving parents…my dog got hit by a car when I was in 4th grade, does that count as soul-crushing gripping tragedy? Anyone? Anyone? Beuller?
Oh, and why did I call this “Fangirly Goodness”? I asked for my first autograph.
In completely unrelated news, I dreamed I was making out with Jason Statham last night. OK, technically he was giving me CPR after I passed out due to a too-tight necklace, but you’d better believe I milked it for all it was worth!
Man, my dream-self is a HO.
