Oh Brother Update 2022

Back in 2016, I started work on a project I thought would take me a year (hah!). This project was to be my first graphic novel: a memoir about growing up with my brother (who is autistic and has an intellectual disability). My goal was to create a book for 12-year-old me, a book that reflected my experiences and feelings and would’ve (hopefully) helped me feel less alone in those feelings and experiences.

From a technical comics-making point of view, I thought it would be pretty straightforward. I’d made lot of mini-comics by that point (but nothing longer than about 40 pages) and I’d made lots of autobio comics before, even some about growing up with my brother. I already had in my mind a lot of the experiences I wanted to share, as a lot of them I already openly talked about with my parents and friends (they had become family fables such as the “Vegemite Parrot story” or the “Pad-peeing incident”. And I’m a pretty quick drawer, so I thought once I got the story down, the rest would be a breeze!

Spoiler alert: It was not a breeze.

I found that not only was there a steep learning curve in making a 300 page graphic novel vs a 30 page mini-comic (let alone watching my drawing style evolve and refine over that first year of working on the book), but there was also a steep emotional learning curve. Working on these stories meant that I relived a lot of my childhood experiences, and some, particularly stories about times when my brother would attack me, were a lot harder to relive than I expected.

Where I’m at right now

After years of working on the book in my spare time, or when I got the support of a residency or fellowship or grant for a more concentrated period of work, I was lucky enough to be approached by my now agent, Annabel Barker. With Annabel’s help (and that of another agent, Dan Lazar), I was able to talk to several publishers that were interested in working with me on the book. And in early 2021, Penguin Random House (PRH) picked up the book in a deal that means it will now be published (ETA 2024) in four territories (Australia, Canada, UK and US).

Although it is super exciting to be working with such a well-known publisher, it’s also been quite nerve-wracking to think that this book that I originally assumed I would be self-publishing is now to be published by one of the major book publishers in the world.

There have been a lot of changes that I’ve had to make while working with PRH (more on that in a future blog post). Last year (2021) and this year (2022) I have been working with my four editors (one in each territory) to re-write the script and thumbnails (the rough comic drawings). It’s definitely been a challenge re-writing something that is so personal to me (and so complex). I would be lying if I said I’ve enjoyed having to make big-ish cuts to a project that has lived with me for multiple years. But saying that, although the book is quite different now, I think I’m starting to feel proud of the type of book it has become.

So far this project has taken: 6 years, 1 scholarship, 1 fellowship, 1 grant, 2 mentors, 2 residencies, 3 peer feedback sessions, 37 blacking pearl pencils, 2 agents, 3 publisher rejections, 3 publisher bids, 1 publisher, 4 editors, 4 territories, 3 versions, 24 therapy sessions, 1 brother, 2 parents, 1 million cups of tea and 1 ongoing case of imposter syndrome.

I’ll be doing more posts soon about the re-writing process and how my art has evolved. But if you’re keen to read more about my early process with the book, check out the Oh Brother tag in my Blog Posts Archive. There are quite a few posts there (although these are from 5 or 6 years ago and I haven’t recently re-read them, so I’m not sure how similarly I feel now — I’m not ready to re-read them yet).

Also, for those who are curious about all the steps I’ve taken with Oh Brother over the years, here’s a timeline:

Timeline of making Oh Brother GN

2015

  • The idea for the GN starts forming

  • Created short comic stories about Rob and me that were published in Voiceworks and the comic anthology Australia

  • Took part in Comic Art Workshop residency on Maria Island (but workshopping a different memoir comic)

2016

  • Put aside other memoir comic to focus on Oh Brother

  • Received the Colin Thiele Scholarship for Creative Writing through Carclew

  • Worked with Mandy Ord & Pat Grant as mentors

  • Kept a weekly blog about the process of working on the book

  • Finished pencil draft of part 1 (approx. 100 pages)

  • Created a comic about growing up with Rob that was published on The Nib

  • Printed an Oh Brother mini-comic sampler

2017

  • Received the Ian Wilson Memorial Fellowship from the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust

  • Finished pencil draft of part 2 (approx. 150 pages)

  • Quit my day job at the ABC

  • Took part in Comic Art Workshop residency on Jogjakarta (received feedback on the pencil drafts of two-thirds of the book & the script of the final third)

2018

  • Dead year. Kept trying to tackle editing the final section of the script but struggled to get anywhere

  • Cried a lot

  • Did some other things. Probably

  • Spent 6 weeks in Melbourne working with 100 Story Building

  • Spent 9 weeks travelling overseas

2019

  • Started therapy for the first time, turns out most people don’t cry all the time

  • Co-organised the first Papercuts Comic Festival

  • Took part in Comic Art Workshop residency on Dangar Island

2020

  • Contacted by Annabel Barker (literary agent) through website

  • Signed on with Annabel & developed a pitch for publishers

  • Annabel brought in Dan Lazar (New York agent) to help with the American side of things

  • Sent out book pitch to publishers and waited to hear back

  • Had phone conversations with various interested editors from different publishers in US and Australia

  • Received Independent Artists and Groups grant from Arts SA

2021

  • Three publishers put in offers for the book

  • Accepted PRH offer!

  • PRH took forever to send through a contract (four territories even within the same publisher don’t often talk to each other)

  • Started work on re-writing the book, creating a new story outline (making the story more narrative) and taking away the adult perspective of the story

  • Received PRH feedback on the outline, which was as long as the outline itself :/

  • Wrote a new script

  • Co-organised the second Papercuts Comics Festival (and was totally burnt out)

2022

  • Received script feedback from PRH in January (four months after submitting script)

  • Feedback was extensive, with the major notes being that the page count needed to be reduced (and some elements needed to be adjusted for the American audience)

  • Started tackling thumbnails

  • Had to renegotiate the thumbnail deadline several times because taking on the feedback turned out to be harder than expected

  • Completed the thumbnails!

  • Will take part in Comic Art Workshop residency at Yarrangobilly Caves

  • Received Professional Development grant from Arts SA to attend Comic Art Workshop

  • Currently awaiting feedback from editors about thumbnails