Graphic novel! Cassandra Calin, THE NEW GIRL
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[0:42]Cassandra Callin is the author of The New Girl A Graphic Novel.
[0:46]I have to say I had a very special guest, help me interview Cassandra, my 11-year-old daughter,
[0:52]who fell in love with this book, and so I reached out and lo and behold Cassandra said yes,
[0:58]and we got to entry her together, so I hope you enjoy. Cassandra is a cartoonist and humorous
[1:04]best known for her semi-autobiographical web comic series, Cassandra Comics, in which she talks about
[1:10]her life with curly hair, high expectations, and other daily problems. Originally from Romania, Cassandra
[1:16]immigrated to Canada when she was a child, and later earned her BA graphic design from the
[1:21]New Velsite due Quebec, a Montréal. Impressed, The New Girl is her long-form graphic novel debut.
[1:27]Learn more about Cassandra and her comics at Cassandra Callin.com.
[1:31]Welcome, Cassandra. Thank you so much for coming. On mom's, don't have time to read books,
[1:35]to discuss your graphic novel, The New Girl. Congratulations.
[1:39]Thank you. Thank you for having me.
[1:41]As I was just saying to you, my daughter, who is 11, is obsessed with this book, loved it so much,
[1:47]and told me about it, which is why we're here, and then I did dive into you, and I'm like,
[1:52]oh my gosh, how would I not even? How did I not know all of this already? So that's the
[1:57]great thing about being a mom. My kids introduced me to the coolest stuff. Oh, that's awesome.
[2:02]So can you please tell listeners what your book is about? Yeah, so to summarize a little bit,
[2:08]the book is inspired by my own immigration experience. I am born in Romania, and I immigrated to
[2:14]Canada when I was about 10 years old, but the main character, Leah, is 12, and during that time,
[2:20]I also went through my first period and puberty. So all these changes were happening at once,
[2:26]you know, new home, new school, new friends, new language that I didn't speak at all, and also
[2:33]new body. So all of these changes thrown at me at once, and you know, going to a new school and
[2:42]moving somewhere else is not easy to begin with. So Leah had so many things to deal with throughout
[2:48]her journey. And that's what the book is about. That's how she tackles those changes and how
[2:53]she is on her journey to acceptance. Why did your family come to Canada? Because, well, in Romania,
[3:00]the situation was not that great. You know, there's a lot of corruption and also it was just after
[3:06]communism and the conditions, the living conditions were not great. Economically wise, it was not great.
[3:12]And my parents always wanted to immigrate. And our options were either Australia or Montreal.
[3:19]And my parents chose Montreal because all of their friends decided to move there. So we kind of
[3:24]came as a big community here. And yeah, it all turned out very smoothly. Wow. So then did you
[3:31]have to learn French and English? So English, I knew a little bit because growing up we had a lot
[3:36]of cartoons in English. We had cartoon network. We had all those channels and they were subbed.
[3:41]They were not dubbed. So we were listening to English constantly. And French, I had zero knowledge.
[3:49]I just knew how to say hello, my name is Cassandra and I'm 10 years old or 12 years old or whatever
[3:55]my age is. Yeah. So how did you get through that? And how does Leah get through that? And how
[4:03]can other people it's about to be the start of a new school year? What is the secret to getting
[4:09]through a period of a lot of change, especially for someone at age group? Well, I was fortunate enough
[4:15]to have a welcome class, which is basically a class where immigrant students all come and no one
[4:21]speaks French. So we're all on the same boat. And that kind of helps because you gotta have to
[4:26]navigate the language in the same way. You know, if one of your classmates doesn't speak French,
[4:31]but they speak a different language from you, you have to talk through gestures or through
[4:35]translation apps or you kind of have to figure it out. But it kind of reassures you because you're
[4:41]not the one standing out. We're all on the same boat. So that really helped, fortunately,
[4:47]feel like one of the things about this age group in particular in this time of transition is that
[4:53]it feels like it's happening to you and yet to everyone. But everybody can be, I remember being
[4:59]very self-conscious about everything that was going on. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Especially at that age,
[5:04]I feel like you're very aware of everything that's happening and especially if you're moving to
[5:09]a new place, it's such a big change. Wow. Did you always draw winded drawing and illustrating and all
[5:16]that become an outlet for you? Oh, yeah. I started drawing since I was a toddler. I think I was not even
[5:21]one years old. I basically, as soon as I could hold a pencil, I was drawing all the time and I even
[5:28]drawn my parents furniture and fortunately, they were cool about it. But at first, they were, you know,
[5:34]a bit, you know, taking a back to see their furniture with a lot of scribbles everywhere.
[5:39]But I was fortunate to have really encouraging parents and they always wanted me to pursue
[5:45]to do whatever I love. So they really, they were happy that I had a passion for art and they
[5:51]encouraged it and they bought me pencils all the time and I even had a drawing table when I was
[5:55]little and I had a bunch of sketchbooks. So yeah, I started drawing since I was little and I
[6:02]never stopped. That's amazing. You have like almost three million followers on Instagram.
[6:09]How, what happened? And when did that happen? I read a little bit about how you were sharing
[6:14]your webcom experience and obviously very funny and you know when it's good at bed and you're
[6:19]crazy hair and all the stuff, all that. As you can see now, I mean all that. Thank you.
[6:25]But how did that all happen? And what has that whole experience been like for you?
[6:29]So I started making webcomics when I was in college. It was back when Tumblr was very big. So
[6:34]if you posted on Tumblr, you would most likely get reposted and, you know, re-blogs and all that jazz.
[6:41]So I was in college. I was kind of bored and I wanted to share my art with people because I was
[6:46]always drawing for myself and someone suggested just go on Tumblr. It's great. And I shared my first
[6:52]comic there and it blew up. It circulated so much and I wasn't expecting that. So then I thought,
[6:58]okay, maybe I could do something with this. So I just kept making those kinds of webcomics,
[7:04]which are about my daily life, beauty, hair, relationships, all that good stuff. And it kind of just
[7:12]went gradually and naturally. I grew an audience and then I started to post my stuff on Instagram
[7:18]and same thing just organically grew. And here I am. Oh my gosh. What is the difference? And this
[7:26]is probably a stupid question. A webcomic versus a regular comic. Is the link the same? Is it
[7:32]like a comic strip that used to be in the newspaper? Is there a different format?
[7:36]Well, webcomic is in the term. It's on the web. So it's really purely digital. And also,
[7:41]I think it's shorter form. I don't know if there are longer webcomics. Maybe I'm wrong on that.
[7:47]But it's mostly, you know, four or five, six panels. Maybe the punchline is right at the end,
[7:52]pretty quick. Versus a comic that is an entire book and you have to read. And it's,
[7:59]you can have multiple comics, right? Multiple books. It's a series more long form. So yeah,
[8:04]I think that's the main difference. So if there's somebody starting out today who's talented,
[8:10]but hasn't really found their audience yet, what are your tips? Or is it too different
[8:15]since you started a different time? Like, what would you suggest? I still think social media is
[8:20]a great way to start. I think that if you are passionate about drawing, you know, don't be afraid
[8:24]to try it out and try Instagram. Whatever there is Facebook, I guess. I don't know if it's still big.
[8:30]I never use it. But, you know, just put your work out there. And I think that is always a good
[8:35]idea. And of course, you know, with the algorithm, things can change. So you really have to adapt,
[8:40]you know, now Instagram, it's a lot more real. So let's say you like to draw, then maybe
[8:45]make speed drawings or make, I don't know, some sort of animation video, you know, you really have
[8:51]to adapt based on what's currently popular. But I just know that if you like what you do,
[8:57]it will show and people will be, you know, you will attract people because they will see that
[9:02]you enjoy what you do. So, you know, that's always a good thing. Yeah, any questions?
[9:08]No. I asked a bunch. I can't think about that later now. Anything about the art,
[9:14]or pencils, what she is? How long did it take to make the book? So the book took about three years
[9:23]from, you know, from the concept to the script, to the sketches, to the final. It's a lot of back
[9:29]and forth. It's a lot of teamwork. It wasn't just me. So, you know, I had an editor. I had people
[9:34]at Scholastic who were commenting and helping me out. There was the design team and we designed
[9:39]the cover together. So it's quite a process. It doesn't seem like it, but it's about two or three
[9:45]years at least. Wow. That's awesome. I think once you're in it, it's a lot easier because, yeah, at
[9:55]first, it's daunting. But once you're in the rhythm, it kind of just, you don't see.
[10:00]time passing as much. As soon as she finished it, she asked me to look up to see if there was
[10:05]another book in the series and how many books were in the series and when could she get them?
[10:10]But then we sadly found out that there were no other books to buy in the series yet.
[10:14]Are they are going to be it and when? Yes, we kind of spoiled it because on the website whenever
[10:20]you buy the book, it says book one. I saw that. We spoiled it in the directly, but yes,
[10:25]there will be a book too and I'm working on it right now. Actually I have it right next to me here.
[10:30]Yeah. Can we see it? I don't think I can show, but yeah, it's on my computer and I'm currently
[10:36]sketching. Yeah. Wow. And do you do all your sketching on the computer or a button?
[10:42]So I do my thumbnail sketches by hand. The thumbnail sketches is like very small, quick sketches
[10:47]to make sure that each page is organized and what the panels will be, what the scene is about.
[10:52]But the main sketches, it's on the computer and everything else is on the computer too.
[10:56]And what program do you use to do that? I use Photoshop, but I want to try something new too.
[11:01]I want to try procreate at some point, but Photoshop for now is really good.
[11:05]So when you're writing the script, since you're the one drawing it, like, do you already
[11:10]have something in mind and how much detail do you put in to the outline versus like, because
[11:17]actually the two of us are trying to write on graphic novel to people. Oh, cool. Okay.
[11:22]Which has been really fun. And time we have a scene, we kind of write a couple things like
[11:27]she's sitting here or whatever. Like, how do you know how to craft the scene in the right way?
[11:32]And what are some of the tricks of the trade? So one trick I have also is to have a timeline
[11:38]and I have actually a schedule in front of me. And to make sure that the story flows,
[11:43]you have to make sure that it's happening at the right time. And I even have
[11:46]Leah's period schedule. So whenever she gets her period to make sure that it's consistent,
[11:51]I have it all written down in the calendar. So that's really important to keep the continuity
[11:57]of the story. And also how I write my script is basically I try to visualize it. So I kind of
[12:02]have the scene in my head as a visual and I just write down whatever's in my head. Even if let's
[12:08]say it doesn't really make sense like as a conversation, but I just write it down, have it there,
[12:13]and then go back to it and see, okay, maybe we can tweak this and maybe we can do this.
[12:17]But just basically writing whatever's in your head really helps and then going back to it
[12:22]after and especially going back the next day, not right after because sometimes with the fresh
[12:27]eye, you can see things differently. Do you have a vision of how long the series will be or how
[12:34]many books will be in it or is there something that you already know where you want to happen to like
[12:38]finalize the series or is this just you're going to do it as long as you can?
[12:42]I'd love to do it for a longer time. I'd like to see her even as an adult like growing up.
[12:47]I don't know. I have so many ideas in my head. So we'll see how it goes, but I even have ideas for
[12:53]her summer vacation and you know, what is she going to do in summer and what's going to happen? And
[12:58]I don't know. I have a lot of ideas. We'll see, but yeah, can say more than that, okay.
[13:04]Give me more questions like that. I'm trying to do that.
[13:09]But that's something, one of the characters or something in the actual book are all the
[13:13]characters going to come back? Yes, they will. When I forget his name, but the other board from
[13:21]Romania at school and like that who like was from the same place for kind of like did you?
[13:28]Good question. Sorry, I didn't hear that. She said was there someone who also came from Romania
[13:33]but ditched you in the same way that it happened to Lea. So it wasn't as harsh. I did exaggerate
[13:38]that detail a little bit, but yes, I had someone in my class who was from Romania, but their
[13:45]assimilation experience was different. They were a lot more open to the idea of moving and they were
[13:50]just a lot more open-minded in general. And I kind of wanted to show that everyone has a different
[13:56]experience when they immigrate. It's not just one way, you know, Lea was a bit overwhelmed. She was
[14:01]taking a back. She wanted to go back home. But some kids, they're actually excited and they see it
[14:06]as an opportunity. Hey, like Canada's cool. We can see so many things. I've never been to North America.
[14:12]I can travel around and see the United States. I don't know. Like some kids see it differently.
[14:18]And I've known kids like that too. So I wanted to show that experience. It's just as valid.
[14:23]What has it been like connecting with readers? It's been great. I've been loving seeing parents
[14:29]commenting and saying that their kids have been reading the book like 10 times, 20 times in a row.
[14:34]And someone even said that their daughter was talking to them as if they were spilling tea about
[14:39]their own friends. Like, look what happened. Look what she did. Look what happened between those
[14:45]people. And I love that. I think it's so awesome that younger readers are engaged and they're actually
[14:50]reading the book and enjoying it because my audience is mostly young adults, adults, for my web comics.
[14:57]So it's nice to, you know, reach a broader audience with this book. It's amazing.
[15:02]What advice do you have for aspiring authors? Oh, I always get this question and I feel like
[15:09]I never know how to answer it properly because I think really when you write a book, you really have
[15:16]to just trust the process, commit to it. Sometimes it can be daunting. Sometimes it can be,
[15:22]you know, you have ups and downs. You have days when you don't want to do it. When you're just thinking,
[15:26]why am I doing this? Like, I could do something that's taking way less time and is way less,
[15:32]you know, energy draining maybe. But just trust the process. It is worth it in the end. You know,
[15:39]this book like I couldn't be more proud of it and it came out even better than I expected.
[15:44]So I think that, you know, if you're an author and you truly enjoy what you do, go for it,
[15:50]trust the process and trust that it will be a great product in the end.
[15:54]Amazing. And did you do all the coloring and all of it too? Do you color? Yes. Yeah, everything,
[16:01]everything from the ink, the color, everything. So impressive. I mean, because you have so many,
[16:08]what is this? How do you decide how many things to have on the same page versus not? Do you know
[16:14]I mean, like some of your pages have like eight months and some of them have fewer and some have
[16:21]words and all of that. How do you decide? It really depends. Let's say I want to show any motion and
[16:26]I want to emphasize it. Maybe I add more panels because I want to really get the reader in it. Like,
[16:32]if Leah's feeling sad, I want them to actually get in that scene and feel for her.
[16:38]Or if let's say the scene is a bit at a slower pace, then we're going to add more panels just to
[16:42]make it breathe a little bit. If it's faster paced, then obviously we're going to add a lot of
[16:46]panels at once and a lot of things happening at once just do like forward time fast forward,
[16:54]right? So it really depends how you want the story to flow, what the scene is about, what the
[16:59]emotions are in that scene. Those all play a factor. There's a scene where Leah gets her period and
[17:06]she's an excruciating pain. I feel like she might need a doctor or something. But anyway, she said,
[17:10]nothing about this pain is easing and you just can't help it, you know, really feel for her in this
[17:16]moment. What was the situation that put you in a lot of pain like this? Oh, so I've had terrible cramps
[17:23]all of my life since I got my first period. And I just know that that pain can feel so isolating
[17:29]and so you're so vulnerable in that moment because you don't even know what to do. You're kind of
[17:34]just, and you saw on the bed she's doing like so many positions trying to make herself comfortable,
[17:39]but nothing works. And I really wanted to illustrate that feeling of your desperate for that pain
[17:44]to go away and you don't even know what to do. You're just trying your best and going through it
[17:50]and it feels like it takes forever, even though it's like maybe an hour or two, but it just feels
[17:55]awful. And I wanted to show that. Amazing. Any other questions? No. Do you have plans for more
[18:06]adult books coming or now? No, because this is my main focus, but I would love to do maybe
[18:12]something with animation in the future or, you know, something a bit different. I always look
[18:17]for new projects and new challenges. So anything creative, I'm up for it. So we'll see by animation,
[18:25]do you mean like a TV show about her? Maybe TV show. Yeah, that would be great if that could happen.
[18:31]If not, just short animations or movie. I don't know yet, but I'm open to anything. Amazing.
[18:38]Okay. Well, that's it then. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you coming on. Thank you for
[18:44]all of the advice and making my daughter and all the girls out there feel like they have someone
[18:51]who's their friend who they haven't even met until now because we got to meet you. So it's really
[18:55]wonderful. I'm curious what your graphic novel will be about if you can share a little bit like a
[19:00]general. Yeah, we can share a little bit more. Yeah, let me share. So it's basically about
[19:07]these girls. We don't have very much. Wait, I know, but just the premise of it. Well, so
[19:13]give her the title. It's close, spoilers. It's called diary numbers. Okay. It's about these girls
[19:20]who they're all friends from school and they stumble into their moms. One of the girls' moms
[19:26]office to look for the data for your books, but they come across her mom's diaries. And when
[19:36]they start reading, they get stuck back in time. Their mom, her mom was her age. No, okay. Interesting.
[19:48]So we have so far. So that's fun. It's about the group of girls and one of their younger brothers
[19:54]and they can go back in time to their moms through their moms diaries. And the whole point of it
[19:58]is that the group.
[20:00]girls realize that the mom,
[20:02]that they're more similar than they thought
[20:04]and it helps repair their relationship
[20:06]and feel less blown.
[20:08]So, yeah.
[20:09]I love mom daughter relationship type of stories.
[20:12]I feel like they're always so much fun to read.
[20:15]Oh, we're working at it.
[20:16]It's great.
[20:17]Yeah, yeah.
[20:17]Working with an illustrator.
[20:19]Oh, that's fun.
[20:20]Yeah, we're just having a good time.
[20:21]Are you planning to make it a series or just one book
[20:24]or we were planning to make a series?
[20:27]Okay.
[20:28]That would be cool if all the girls could do it
[20:30]because they're four girls.
[20:31]Oh, that's fun.
[20:32]Okay.
[20:33]Maybe a collection of four books,
[20:35]one from each of their perspectives.
[20:38]Oh, that's awesome.
[20:39]Yeah.
[20:40]Yeah, that's the goal over time.
[20:41]But, you know,
[20:42]I'd love to read it.
[20:43]I'd love to read it.
[20:44]Oh, thank you.
[20:45]Well, we can send you what we have.
[20:47]You can tell.
[20:48]Awesome.
[20:49]Yeah.
[20:50]I'm a huge fan of graphic novels, so yeah.
[20:52]Awesome.
[20:53]Amazing.
[20:53]Well, thank you so much, Kendra.
[20:55]So impressed by you in every way.
[20:57]And thank you for spending the time with both of us today.
[21:00]Yeah.
[21:00]Thank you for having me.
[21:01]Okay.
[21:02]Take care.
[21:03]Take care.
[21:04]Take care too.
[21:05]Bye.
[21:06]Thanks for listening.
[21:07]Two moms don't have time to read books.
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[21:11]And follow us on social at Civi Owens and at Civi Readers.