Thank you so much Kayla for the interview. Kayla is the author and illustrator for the Click graphic novel series and co-author of the spin-off Besties.

Interview

What was your inspiration for the CLICK series?

The goal was to create a series about a person who gets along with almost everyone and makes friends easily, but doesn’t have a clear best friend. It’s allowed for Olive to spend time with her various different friend groups in different books and also means that she’s sometimes left to solve problems alone since she doesn’t have that one person she can always turn to. I have definitely been that person at times growing up and I like exploring how that experience feels.

What drew you to writing and illustrating graphic novels?

I went to school for illustration and I knew I wanted to illustrate comics, so I started making short comics and webcomics. It was through working on those that I realized that I enjoyed writing too and started taking the idea of being an author as well as an illustrator more seriously.

What was your process for writing and illustrating?

I write the entire script before starting on the art. I want to make sure the story and dialog is where I want it to be before I start drawing because the artwork for a graphic novel page takes a long time to do. For the first Click book, I did the line work on paper with pens, brushes, and markers and colored digitally– but my process has changed since then and now I do everything in Photoshop.

How did you choose which character to focus the story on? 

The concept for Click came before I created Olive, so she was sort of created specifically for the situation she goes through in the first book. For the rest of the series, it’s been fun to explore Olive’s other classmates and figure out what types of stories could be told about those characters. I’m lucky that there’s a large cast so I can focus on different characters as I go on.

What is your approach to world and character building?

I try to keep the world feeling realistic without being identical to the real world. All of the media and brands and locations in the books are made up, but they feel like they could exist. 

I also try to keep the characters realistic by making sure they have their own personalities and quirks outside of the roles they play in a particular story. I’m able to explore these characters more with each book since both the reader and main character, Olive, get to spend more time with them in each story and get to know them a little better. Building up the characters and sharing more of their personalities and backgrounds has been one of the most rewarding things about working on a series.

How would you describe the CLICK series in five words?

Fun stories about growing up!

Did you have a favorite moment to create?

I love coming up with and drawing Olive’s dream sequences. The books are realistic fiction, so it’s always fun to step out of that and add a scene that’s fantastical in some way since anything can happen in a dream.

Do you have a favorite genre to read?

When I’m reading for fun, I tend to reach for horror or fantasy. Occasionally I’ll pick up a biography. I love autobiographies by comedians. I also read any graphic novel I can get my hands on.