Author Interviews

Interview with Graphic Novelist Liza N. Cooper

By on November 6, 2025   /   Author Interviews, kidlit  

I’m absolutely delighted to welcome Liza Cooper, author of Meems and Feefs, to the blog today! I can’t wait to hear how these adorable characters came to life. As someone who once had a ferret named Fern, I’m especially excited to learn what sparked the idea for this charming story.

Lisa: Tell us about MEEMS & FEEFS.

Liza: Meems and Feefs are two ferret brothers from a planet called Ferretonia, more specifically , from Dook Dook Island. They’re mischievous, adventurous, and always getting into trouble –but their friendship is at the heart of everything they do.

Feefs, the darker ferret, is calm and loyal. He’s great at navigation, can sniff out anything, and always follows Meems into adventure, usually without thinking twice.  Book cover of Meems & Feefs

Meems, the lighter one, is a curious inventor. He’s always tinkering with tools and experiments – usually things he probably shouldn’t be touching. He wears a little tool belt, carries his red screwdriver everywhere, and keeps goggles on hand for when things inevitably blow up.

Lisa: What sparked the creation of these lovable characters?

Liza: That’s a great question! I actually had two ferrets, Meemoo and Feefoo, nicknamed Meems and Feefs, and they were the direct inspiration for the series. When we first got them, my husband and I each got to name one. I chose the lighter one and called him Meemoo. My husband, being the copycat he is, named his Feefoo. And that’s how the names of the two ferret brothers were born. They even shared the same colours and personalities as the characters in the books.

Feefoo was the laid-back one, but incredibly skilled at finding hidden stashes and snacks—so his navigation talents made their way into the stories. He was very loyal and sweet, always following me from room to room. Meemoo, on the other hand, was more independent and mischievous. He loved stashing things and getting into trouble. He was also half-Angora, so he had longer fur with little tufts around his face, which you can see in his character design.

I started drawing ferret comics because, when I first got them, I realised there were loads of cat and dog comics – but almost nothing about ferrets. As an artist, I thought, “Why not make my own?” My first comic, Ferret Anatomy, went viral right away, and I think it proved my theory that ferrets were seriously underrepresented online. It’s been amazing seeing how much more love ferrets get now. Honestly, I like to think of it as a bit of ferret propaganda.

Lisa: Do you start with words, images or a mix of both?

Liza: I always start with words. That’s how I’ve written all my comics, even the short ones on Instagram. More specifically, I usually begin with the punchline or the ending. It’s much easier to build a story when I know where it’s going. I like to think of it like planning a trip – once you’ve booked the destination, you can handle any detours along the way, but you still always know where you’re headed.

So once I have my ending, I work backwards: where does it start, how do we get there, and what happens in between? For Instagram comics, I keep it casual, but for the books, I write full scripts, almost like movie scripts, so I can visualise the pacing, the setting, and how the characters interact.

I also break the story down by pages so I know how much text and action fits on each one. I try to make every page end on a small “cliffhanger” or a moment that makes you want to keep reading. After that, I move on to sketching, layouts, and panels – but it all starts with words first.

Lisa: How do you balance the storytelling between text and art?

Liza: My goal is always to show, not tell – but I’m quite a chatty person, so naturally, my characters end up being quite chatty too. I always try to balance that by showing as much as I can through expressions, little visual easter eggs, props, and the environment. Anything that CAN
be conveyed visually, I prefer to draw rather than explain. Illustration of Meems & Feefs embracing

That said, because Meems and Feefs is a middle-grade graphic novel, I can’t make everything too subtle or rely entirely on visual cues – kids still need the story to be clear. So the challenge for me is making sure the dialogue feels natural and fun, but trimming it down enough that the visuals still carry the story. Honestly, it’s the same struggle I have in life – trying to talk less and be more concise, haha!

Lisa: Were there any graphic novels or comics that made you want to create your own? 

Liza: When I was growing up, there weren’t many graphic novels around, but I was always drawn to books with pictures. I’m a very visual person, so even a few illustrated pages helped me connect with the story more deeply. Graphic novels just felt like a natural fit for me. What really pushed me to create my own, though, were webcomics. I loved their accessibility and creativity – people just putting their stories out there. And beyond that, I was heavily influenced by the cartoons I grew up with. To name a few, and to give away my age a little – Courage the Cowardly Dog, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Rugrats, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers. Sonic the Hedgehog was my absolute favourite, and you can probably see some of that energy in Meems and Feefs.

I’ve always been drawn to small, scrappy characters thrown into big adventures. I love that sense of scale, tiny heroes facing enormous odds, and I think that’s something I’ve carried into my own work. The anthropomorphic side came naturally; animal characters are expressive, fun, and full of fluff.

I was also deeply inspired by Simon’s Cat, where I worked as an Art Director for several years. Simon Tofield, who created it, really shaped how I approach storytelling through observational humour and grounded character moments – and he even kindly provided a quote for my first book!

Lisa: Is there something you wish more people understood about making graphic novels?

Liza: I think a lot of people don’t realise that most graphic novels are made by just one person. You’re writing, sketching, inking, colouring, editing, basically doing the work of an entire studio on your own. It’s a huge process that takes a lot of time, patience, and organisation. On top of that, many creators, myself in luded, also handle their own marketing – creating previews, social posts, and reaching out to readers so the book actually gets seen. So you’re not just the artist; you’re the writer, project manager, and marketing team all in one. People are usually very supportive, which means a lot, but it does make it hard to reply to everyone or take on every collaboration. I always try my best, though, it just takes time when you’re a one-person studio.

Lisa: Is there a panel or page in the book that was especially fun or challenging to draw?

Liza: There are several pages like that, but one that stands out is when Liza arrives at Ferryway Hall for the trial, and all of the ferrets from the Dook Dook Island are there. I included some of my patrons’ ferrets as background characters, which was really fun to draw. It was tricky to give each little ferret a hint of personality without pulling focus from the main story, while also making the hall feel grand and slightly intimidating to Liza. Getting that sense of scale, architecture and atmosphere right was challenging – but really rewarding once it all came together.

Another scene I loved working on was the chase sequence. You’ll see it in the book: Liza, Meems, Feefs, and Leeloo are sprinting through the halls of the Citadel of Ferrets. I wanted it to feel fast-paced and energetic, so I angled the panels diagonally and varied the environments to make their escape feel alive.

Throughout the book, I’ve really focused on keeping each page visually exciting. One thing I’ve enjoyed most is experimenting with perspective, moving the “camera,” changing angles, and showing the characters from new viewpoints. It helps with the mood and storytelling flow, but
it also makes the artwork feel more dynamic. Of course, that means a lot of perspective lines in my sketches, but it’s worth it when it all comes together.

Lisa: How long does it take to complete a graphic novel from start to finish?

Liza: It definitely takes a long time. My first book took about a year to complete, and the second one took closer to two, partly because I had a baby in the middle of it. Adjusting to life with a newborn, then a toddler, meant I had to pace myself and take a bit of a maternity break. Even with some help on the colouring, creating nearly 200 pages – writing, illustrating, and designing the world – was a huge task. Thankfully, my publisher was really understanding, and my editor, Erinn Pascal, has been just incredible. She’s helped me grow so much as a writer and has been supportive every step of the way.

The next book is already in progress, and I’m hoping to have it out within a year, so hopefully readers won’t have to wait too long this time!

Lisa: Do you have any upcoming projects you’re excited about?

Liza: Right now, I’m working on Book 3 of the Meems and Feefs series. I’m actually sketching potential cover designs as we speak! This book will wrap up the trilogy, explore more of Ferretonia’s lore, and reveal a few surprises I’m really excited about. It’s a huge project, so I’m trying to stay focused and not overload myself with too many side ideas – though I do have a Quest Based pet board game concept waiting in the wings for after it’s done.

I’m also planning to pitch a few new book ideas soon, with the help of my amazing agent, Kathleen Ortiz of KOMedia Management. She has a real gift for shaping stories and making them stronger. Meems and Feefs actually became a trilogy because of her, she saw the potential for a bigger adventure when it was originally just one ferret story. Liza Cooper

Lisa: What advice would you give 12-year-old Liza?

Liza: I’d tell 12-year-old Liza to stop worrying so much about the future and just enjoy where she is. You don’t need to have everything figured out yet – things fall into place when you trust yourself and keep going. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, take chances, and most importantly, keep drawing and imagining stories. And I promise, you DO get to own a ferret one day. Actually… more than just one!

Lisa: Thank you so much for visiting the blog and for taking the time to share with us! It was a real treat to learn more about your writing journey and the inspiration behind your work. Your insights were both encouraging and inspiring, and I know our readers truly enjoyed hearing from you. We’re grateful you stopped by. 

About: 

Liza N. Cooper is an artist and digital content creator who goes by the pen name Siberian Lizard online. Originally born in the wild and frosty Siberia, she has since settled down in a much warmer (and wetter) London, where she lives with her two naughty ferrets and a Pomeranian puppy. 

For more information, please visit her website. 

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INTERVIEW with CAROLINE CARLSON, author of THE TINKERERS (Giveaway too!)

By on October 30, 2025   /   Author Interviews  

I am thrilled to welcome Caroline Carlson to the Mixed Up Files blog. We met years ago when she mentored a group of writers in a Story Guild meeting. I was immediately struck with her generous nature and ability to create plots arcs and shape distinct characters. It is no surprise that this middle grade author crafted a brilliant new novel which is both heartfelt and thrilling.

CAROLINE CARLSON

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Caroline Carlson is the author of funny and fantastical books for young readers, including The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates trilogy, The World’s Greatest Detective, The Door at the End of the World, and Wicked Marigold. Her novels have won accolades from the New York Times, the American Booksellers Association, Bank Street College of Education, the American Library Association, and Junior Library Guild, among others. She is the children’s book columnist for the website Literary Hub.

Caroline holds a BA from Swarthmore College and an MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She grew up in Massachusetts and now lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with her family.

 

 

THE TINKERERS

SUMMARY OF THE TINKERERS

When Peter leads two Tinkerers to his family’s inn in Stargazers Valley, he imagines they’re like other astromancers, researchers from the Imperial College who study starstuff. The valley is a special place, where the magical aurora called the Skeins appear in the sky and starstuff falls in their wake, as thin and wispy as fluff from a seed pod. But starstuff is powerful, and astromancers are the only people allowed to handle it—a law enforced by the strict and stealthy Outbounder Task Force. When Peter discovers the Tinkerers have used starstuff to invent an incredible not-a-clock that can turn back time for a few minutes, he realizes it’s his
chance to undo his mistakes: if he can go back and put away his new boots, he doesn’t need to add their destruction by falcons to his list of ten worst mistakes (#7: stepping on a star-eating newt). But while using the not-a-clock is easy, stopping using it is hard. And maybe not everything that feels like a mistake at the time actually is.
In a starred review, The Horn Book describes The Tinkerers as “a brilliant synthesis of plot,
theme, and good-natured chaos.”

INSPIRATION

Jen Kraar: Tell me about the seed that sparked The Tinkerers. Was it character, plot or setting?

Caroline Carlson: The Tinkerers was the first story I’ve ever written, published or unpublished, that didn’t start with a seed of character, plot, or setting. The seed of this story was actually theme—an element
that usually comes much later in the writing process for me. I had been thinking about my own
perfectionistic tendencies and my own almost magical belief that if I could somehow get
through life without making any mistakes, nothing bad would happen to me or the people I
loved. I recognized, of course, that that was a ridiculous thing to believe. “Even if you never
made any mistakes,” I told myself, “terrible things could still happen.” And then I ran to my
desk and wrote that sentence down, because I could tell there was a good story hiding inside it.

Jen: Did you draw on your own life to tell this story?

Caroline: Since The Tinkerers is a fantasy novel set in a world apart from our own, its plot doesn’t borrow
many elements from my actual life. I’ve never found a magical device that could turn back time,
uncovered a spy network, or tried to pull the aurora down from the sky (although, like Peter,
my protagonist, I am pretty bad at hiking). But all of the emotions on the page are
real—particularly Peter’s anxiety and his struggle to figure out the “right” way to act in a world
that’s more complex and messy than he’d previously realized.

WRITING PROCESS

Jen: How did your story change as you revised it? What was something that surprised you as you wrote this story?

Caroline: I’m usually a writer who focuses on plot and worldbuilding before character, so when I finished
the first draft of The Tinkerers, I was surprised to realize that my characters and their emotions
were already working in the way I’d hoped they would. It often takes me several drafts to get
my characters to feel things, so this writing experience was a happy anomaly! The tradeoff, of
course, was that while my characters’ emotional arcs were strong, my worldbuilding needed
some help. When I revised my first draft with my editor, I added almost 20,000 words of
material to give readers more context and explanation for the events of the story.

STARGAZING

STARGAZERS MAP

Peter lives in a country governed by an authoritarian empress, and a group of lawbreaking“outbounders” has been challenging the empress’s control over both the land and the magical
starstuff that falls from the sky. The broad outlines of this conflict are crucial to the events of the story, but since twelve-year-old Peter isn’t directly involved in the conflict, it mostly
happens off the page while readers are experiencing Peter’s daily life at home, at school, and in his community. My first draft focused on the story events that happen directly to Peter, while
my major revisions focused more on explaining and clarifying the events in Peter’s larger world. I hope that the final version of The Tinkerers feels like a fully formed world that you might really be able to visit—at least in your imagination.

CRAFTING

Jen: You tell your story in a unique way. How did the structure of your story come about? Were you inspired by any other multi-modal books?

Caroline: I love writing stories told in collections of documents, and this isn’t the first time I’ve done it.
My entire Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates trilogy is also written partly in letters,
newspaper clippings, and a mishmash of other formats. One reason why I decided to return to
this form in The Tinkerers was that it’s a lot of fun. My brain really thrives on a good structural
writing challenge. (In college, I wrote a lot of formal poetry—things like sestinas and
triolets—and I loved trying to make my words follow the rules of each form.) Figuring out which
parts of a novel can be told in different media and how all those pieces might fit together into
an understandable narrative is a tricky puzzle, but it’s also immensely satisfying. And I don’t
want to write a book that bores me! I’d never get through the first draft!

League of Pirates

The other reason why I like writing multi-modal books is that it allows me to share multiple
perspectives with readers. I’m not entirely limited by my protagonist’s viewpoint; I’m able to
give readers crucial pieces of information that my protagonist will never have. In a book like The
Tinkerers that contains a few different mysteries to solve, those crucial pieces of information let
readers start to see how the mysteries are unfolding a little bit before Peter does.
As for other multi-modal books, my all-time favorites are by Australian novelist Jaclyn Moriarty.
Her books are much more ambitious in form than mine, and I’m completely in awe of her
talent.

Jen: How was this novel different than your other novels?

Caroline: The Tinkerers is stylistically pretty different from my previous books. It’s still a fantasy novel,
but its setting has a contemporary feel, while my other work has more of an old-fashioned or“storybook” vibe. The other stylistic difference is that when I wrote The Tinkerers, I wasn’t consciously trying to be funny (although early reviewers have mentioned the book’s humor, so some of that must have seeped through the cracks!). There’s still magic in this book, as there is in most of my other novels, but the magic here is a little more subtle, and in many ways the fantastic elements of the book take a backseat to the friendships and relationships that are at the heart of the story.

Jen: Which scene was your favorite to write? Hardest to write?

Caroline: Toward the end of the book, there’s a climactic scene in the school gym that I’d been picturing
in my head for years before I got to write it, so I was really satisfied when I reached that point
of the story and it actually worked out the way I’d hoped. That doesn’t always happen with
scenes you’ve been imagining for years! I also loved writing the star tales, which are folktales or
myths that I created for the world of the story. I’d been listening to a lot of real folktales on
public radio’s Circle Round podcast with my kids, and the rhythms of those old stories had
worked their way into my head, so I found it really satisfying to create my own tapestry of
mythic figures and pseudo-ancient legends.

The hardest scenes to write were actually ones that I ended up cutting from the book entirely.
Over the years, I’ve learned that when a scene is very difficult for me to write, that’s a red flag
that the scene is not working properly and needs to be re-evaluated, re-imagined, or set aside
for good. It can be tough to remove a scene you’ve spent so much time working on, but now
that the book is finished, I’m so relieved those scenes are gone!

AUTHOR LIFE

Jen: Have you always been a writer?

Caroline: I’ve always been a reader, but it took me many years of wanting to be a writer before I had
enough bravery and discipline to sit down and write a story from beginning to end. Even now,
with seven published novels behind me, I think writing is often ridiculously hard work. But all of
the imagining and plotting and world-dreaming that goes into the creation of a new story? All
of the joke-crafting and word-fussing and structure-building, all of the fiddling with every single
syllable on every single page until it sounds just so? I really do love that, and I think I always
will.

Jen: What keeps you writing?

Caroline: Hearing from readers whose lives have been touched by my work is the most tremendous
motivation to keep telling stories. I hope I’m able to continue writing for as long as I have
something I want to say to the world, and for as long as I want to laugh.

Jen: What draws you to writing fantasy?

Caroline: I think I’m supposed to say something about how the fantastic uses metaphor to illuminate the
challenges of our own world, and I know that’s true—but honestly, I just like having the chance
to escape into another world for a while. And if readers want to come along, too, I’m glad for
them to join me!

Thank you for joining us here at the Mixed up Files blog to share the story behind the story of The Tinkerers. I also found the craft details you included in your newsletter, The Scuttlebutt, to be intriguing and helpful for my own writing.

If you are a writer, I encourage you to subscribe:
https://carolinecarlson.substack.com/

Connect with Caroline Carlson

Website: https://carolinecarlsonbooks.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carolinecarlsonbooks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolinecarlsonbooks
Bluesky: https://carolinecarlson.bsky.social
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@carolinecarlsonbooks

GIVEAWAY

For a chance to win a copy of THE TINKERERS, signed by the author, leave a comment on this interview post. Giveaway ends November 6, 2025, MIDNIGHT EST. U.S. only, please.

 

 

 

 

 

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Interview with Author Angela Hsieh and her graphic novel: Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology

By on October 22, 2025   /   Articles, Author Interviews, Diversity, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers  

Welcome to From the Mixed-Up Files, Angela! It’s a pleasure to talk to you about your amazing graphic novel, Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology. The graphic novel was released on May 27, 2025, by Quill Tree Books (HarperCollins). Here’s the blurb from Bookshop.org:

Lu dreams of being a great adventurer, just like her ah-ma, who is a world-renowned geozoologist. Ah-ma has traveled far and wide, researching unique animals like dreamy cloud-jellies, enormous sunfish, and playful mossgoats. There’s nothing Lu loves more than reading Ah-ma’s letters about her quests, even if she and her mom struggle to understand the Cylian language Ah-ma writes in.

But when Ah-ma’s letters suddenly stop, Lu becomes worried. So when a nearby town needs a geozoologist, Lu decides to go on the journey to find Ah-ma. She charts a course with the help of Ren, an old friend turned new travel buddy.

As they follow in Ah-ma’s footsteps, Lu begins to discover the complex relationships between geofauna—and between people. What stories has Ah-ma never told her? And what’s Ren hiding from her?

What is Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology’s origin story?

As I get to know myself as an artist and writer, I’m realizing that there’s no one single origin for any of my stories. Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology is a combination of things I love and that have shaped my life: animals and nature, the relationships with the people around me, and growing up as part of the Taiwanese American diaspora. That being said, I can show you the very first illustration I ever made in the world of Geozoology:

Several years ago, I made a birthday illustration for a friend who really loves guinea pigs. My thought process was: “What if guinea pig… but BIGGER?” To really set the scene, I wrote a short travel postcard-style description on the back with fun facts about this guinea pig mountain’s behavior and ecology.

Needless to say, my friend loved it. So did a lot of other people, it turned out. So I set about drawing more giant landscape-animals (with proto-Lu for scale) and writing facts about them. The project transformed several times: from a series of illustrations that I thought I might turn into a calendar, to a picture book, to a graphic novel (though one very different from the Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology that was eventually published). 

Four years passed between that initial illustration and signing the contract for the book; another four passed before it was published. That’s a lot of years for ideas to meld together, come apart, and change. That’s also a lot of time for me to change as an artist. 

Can you share Angela Hsieh’s origin story as well?

I was one of those kids who loved reading and drawing. I had a vague idea that it’d be cool to make a book one day, but I wasn’t one of those “one day I’ll grow up to be an author” kids, you know? I read lots of manga and comics and watched a lot of animated films, so I knew that other people were out there making cool stories, but it all felt impossibly distant for me. I also thought I’d be going into the medical field for the majority of my education, so making my own stories was lower on my list of priorities for a long time. 

I don’t think there’s any one specific turning point in my life when I decided to make my own book, but rather a collection of events that led me down this path. One such moment was walking into my local Barnes & Noble as a high schooler and picking up the Flight comics anthology. Until then, I thought of comics as either 20-volume epic manga series (unattainable by its enormity) or daily funnies (something I enjoyed but didn’t want to make). Reading Flight made me feel like making comics could be an achievable goal. The seed was planted. I didn’t do anything with this revelation until about 15 years later, after I’d gotten an undergraduate degree in biology and finished my illustration degree, but I got there eventually. 

When did drawing evolve into visual storytelling for you? Have you always been drawn to telling stories with your art, or is it more of a long and winding path to get where you are today?

I both drew and wrote from a young age, but I didn’t really take the idea of combining the two seriously until I was an adult. And even then, I didn’t find my way to comics until after I graduated from art school. I thought I’d be an editorial illustrator, which often requires a more symbolic/conceptual approach than a narrative one (though the two aren’t mutually exclusive). I found myself more drawn to the narrative approach than the conceptual one. I realized the things I wanted to say could not be encompassed by one illustration.

To be completely honest, I resisted making comics for a long time because of the amount of time and work they require. But at some point, I came to the conclusion that they’re the best medium to tell the kinds of stories I want to tell (at least for now), so I just had to take the dive. 

As a MUF STEM Tuesday contributor and career scientist, my reader’s radar activates when I see STEM used in a fantasy story.  You used real-life science and nature in Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology to create a believable world by grounding the fantasy with recognizable natural elements. How important was it to you to get the natural elements right, but with enough fantastical elements to engage the reader?

I hope I got that balance right! I was a nerd child who read Audubon’s First Field Guide: Birds from cover to cover. I also loved reading the Pokédex entries in Pokémon. Since Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology is more about exploring and learning about the world and less about, say, which geofauna would win in a wrestling match, I aimed for somewhere in between Pokémon and Audubon’s First Field Guide on the spectrum of fantastical to factual. 

In terms of telling a compelling story, the balance was less about fantastical vs. realistic and more about weaving the science-y stuff into the plot to such a degree that learning about the world felt like a natural progression of the story. I tried to approach worldbuilding in, well, a scientific way. If I change one thing (i.e., there are big animal mountains), what else will change? In a world where people have to live among these big animal mountains that move around, how would people interact with them? Some people, like Lu and Ah-ma, would try to learn as much as possible about them. If we follow these characters, we’ll learn about the world through their eyes. 

The geofauna’s behavior is based on that of real animals, and their geological features are based on real-life locations. The most fantastical things about them are that they’re (a) huge, and (b) made of rocks. Otherwise, most of their biology and ecology is pretty similar to the way nature works in real life. I didn’t feel the need to put a fantastical spin on something like hydrangeas changing color based on soil pH because it tied in neatly into the world and the story I was trying to tell. And because the natural world is already pretty magical, if you ask me. 

One part of your book I enjoyed was the use of the Cylian (Mandarin Chinese) language heritage to drive Lu’s interest, need, and frustration in understanding Ah-ma’s writings from her letters and travel journals. How challenging was it to incorporate the Cylian language into the story? (You did a beautiful job of this, by the way!)

Thank you! I very quickly came to the conclusion that whenever written Cylian showed up on the page, it would not be actual Chinese. The practical reason: My Chinese is not nearly at the level required to write letters, much less scientific field notes. The conceptual reason: Even readers who can read Chinese wouldn’t be able to read Cylian, so all readers would be put in Lu’s shoes when she struggles with the language barrier. 

My parents sent me to Chinese school when I was a kid, so my hand still remembers the shapes of the characters, even though I’ve largely forgotten what they mean. I was able to write characters that resembled Chinese, which, upon closer inspection, were incomprehensible. I took a lot of inspiration from Xu Bing’s installation, A Book from the Sky. I wasn’t aiming for semantic meaning as much as I was aiming for the emotional tension you feel when looking at something you “should” understand but just can’t wrap your mind around. 

Like many second-generation Asian Americans, I speak my parents’ mother tongue all right, even if my reading and writing leave much to be desired. My team and I went back and forth a couple of times when trying to figure out how best to represent Cylian (Mandarin Chinese) vs. Lirrish (English) dialog. We tried chevrons and colored speech bubbles, but we ultimately decided that the most elegant solution was to use colored text (purple for Cylian, black for Lirrish) and add a short note at the beginning to explain the difference to readers. The reader, like myself and Lu, will be able to understand spoken Cylian, but be at a loss when confronted with the written form. 

The drive Lu feels to understand the language deepens her connection with Ah-ma and reveals her strong curiosity about the world. How did you connect Lu’s curiosity to her problem-solving skills of following Ah-ma’s trail?

Curiosity and problem-solving often go hand-in-hand in real life. I find that people who want to understand how the world works are also the same people who’re driven to create interesting solutions to challenges. It only made sense to me that a curious kid like Lu would try to understand the world as her ah-ma, her idol, would see it in order to find where she’s gone. Lu wants to know things. The only way to know things is to go out and find answers!

Page 70 might be my favorite page of the book. It’s a masterclass on how to represent the passage of time and space on a single page. The four panels at the top of the page depict the passage from night to dawn and are set over a sweeping landscape establishing shot of Lu and Ren entering Ambyton. (Wonderful work in my opinion!) How difficult was it to come up with a solution to the problem of representing time and distance in such a compact space? 

Thank you! Playing with the passage of time is one of my favorite things to explore in comics, right up there with the page turn. It makes me feel clever when I’m able to pull it off, haha. One of the interesting challenges of making a graphic novel that involves a lot of traveling is showing the days on the road without the story dragging or the pages getting repetitive, but still getting across to the reader that days or weeks have passed. On a comic page, the gutter—that is, the space between the panels—represents the passage of time. More, smaller panels will slow the reader’s eye down and make it feel like more time has passed. It’s one of those things that I didn’t think about consciously when I was just reading and not yet making comics, but now that I’m creating comics, I’ve learned it can be used to great effect when done with intention. 

For this particular page, it wouldn’t say it was terribly difficult—mostly because I’d been itching to use this technique ever since seeing other artists do it. Shaun Tan has a breathtakingly understated spread in The Arrival that depicts a lengthy journey by ship via the changing shapes of the clouds, day by day, in a grid of sixty square panels. This is followed by a page turn to a splash page of the ship on the ocean, a small shape dwarfed by the cumulonimbus clouds towering above it. Just gorgeous. When I see someone do something well, I want to try it too. 

As creators, we are interested in the creative processes of other creators. In my graphic novel critique group, it’s an oft-discussed topic. Three members of our group are sketch-to-script creators, while I’m firmly grounded in the script-to-sketches camp. For your graphic novels, what’s your approach?

You can’t see me, but I’m giving you a script-to-sketches fist bump. I do some visual development ahead of time for characters and locations, but when it comes to the story, I have to write it down first. I don’t draw very fast, so I want to make sure the beats and pacing are right before I commit to drawing hundreds of pages. I work in a fairly straightforward way, from script to thumbnails to sketches/pencils to colors. (Since I worked in a lineless style for Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology, I skipped inks and went straight to colors.)

Having the script first means I can plan for putting speech bubbles on the page from the moment I begin drawing the book. I always make sure to plan the layout of the speech bubbles when I thumbnail. Dialog takes up a lot of space! Even with a “finished” script, I ended up cutting lines as I drew, trying to keep only what was necessary so that the pages didn’t feel overly cluttered. 

Do you have a critique group or a group of fellow creators/friends with whom you bounce your work and ideas off?

I do! I’m part of a few groups, both local and online. I’ve got a couple of trusted friends who see the early stages of my work, before they’re anything near a fleshed-out story, and I’ve got critique partners who see the more refined draft and help me work out the rough spots. I try not to bring too many critique partners into any particular story I’m working on. There’s definitely such a thing as too many cooks in the kitchen. 

I’ve got to give a special shoutout to Middle Grade Escapades. It’s not a critique group, per se; it’s a marketing collective made up of 2025 middle grade debut authors. It’s been invaluable to have the support of folks who’re also going through the same roller coaster of an experience that is putting a book out in the world.

Apart from art and your creative practice, how do you spend your free time?

I’m a big believer in doing things that aren’t directly related to my creative practice. It both expands my world and gives me things to make art about. I love baking. My sourdough starter from 2020 is still alive and contributing focaccia to the household. I also practice (very amateur) bonsai. Every time I pass my window, I can’t help but stop and stare at the little garden we’ve got out there. One of my favorite things to do is hang out on my couch with a book or a crochet project and a cat on my lap. I play D&D and do my best to carve out time to spend with friends. 

After the release of Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology into the world, what’s next on your plate? Book promotion? School visits? Back to work on the next graphic novel?

I’ve spent my summer jetting about the US on my self-styled “book tour”—as of writing this, I’ve just gotten back from the wonderful Bigfoot Kids’ Book Festival in Washington—and I’m ready to hibernate in my apartment and just work on my next book! Though I met many wonderful readers and fellow authors this year, book promotion takes a lot out of me, and I found myself without any energy left to create. I’m looking forward to getting back into the rhythm of making things again. 

The From the Mixed-Up Files family wishes you and Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology the very best of luck, and hope it finds its readers! Thank you, Angela, for being our guest! Your book is absolutely fantastic. 

Thank you so much for having me, Mike!

Links

Angela Hsieh Website

Kids Comics Unite! Interview

Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology Publisher’s Page

 

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