Broken Frontier

Bill Willingham’s Fables is moving into the world of prose novels with the upcoming Peter & Max. BF talks to the scribe about the novel and the Fables universe at large.

Sibling Rivalry: Bill Willingham Talks Peter & Max: A Fables Novel - Part 1


BF: What made you pick Steve Leialoha to collaborate with you on this project?

BW: Steve has been with the Fables team since day one as the main inker of the series. New comics readers might not know he also draws like a dream. Every year (more or less) Steve produces a small book to sell and give out at the San Diego convention. It’s a book of daily drawings, lovely flights of fantasy, which he calls: Line Dancing.

I look forward to these books every year and if you happen to find one, you’ll see why. They’re marvelous. When we first raised the question on who should illustrate the novel, those books of daily drawings popped right into my head, making the choice obvious.

BF: What can you do in novel form that you couldn't do with the comic or an OGN?

BW: Plenty. There’s no real short answer to this question, but I’ll try to leave it at this: Prose stories and comic book stories are two different animals, and what works well in one doesn’t work well in the other.

BF: Did you have to adjust your mindset or approach at all in moving Fables to prose?

BW: Absolutely. If I tried to write a novel in the same “voice” as I do in the comic books, it would have been an embarrassing failure. I’m not promising that the novel is, or will be, a success, mind you. That’s for the readers to decide. But it’s definitely not a comic book with most of the illustrations removed.

BF: Do you think there’s something particular about Fables that lends it to translate more easily to different media?

BW: I don’t know that there’s something specific to Fables. I think any sort of story can translate into other media, provided you’re willing and able to make the changes necessary to, and make use of the strengths native to that new media.

BF: Are you hoping the novel will draw the audience from the bookstores into the regular monthly series?

BW: That’s our plan. We very much want to convert book readers into Fables comic readers and vice versa.

BF: Why do you think Fables has been such an enduring success, when other new series come and go?

BW: I’m not sure. I’m almost superstitious about trying to too closely examine that question, for fear of inadvertently destroying whatever fragile tissue is at work here. What I do know is that I hope to be doing Fables stories – in any medium – for a long time to come.

BF: You're part of the writer's group Clockwork Storybook, and some of the members have also written in the Fables universe. Has being part of this group helped you at all?

BW: Out of all humility, I can’t say that Clockwork Storybook is the greatest writing group in the history of English letters. One would have to give that honor to The Inklings, which gave us both CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. Therefore I can only say that Clockwork Storybook is the second greatest writing group in the history of English letters.

We lucked out in getting a group of terrific writers together, to aid and support each other in our writing and publishing efforts. Each member is a talented storyteller, already mature in his craft. This isn’t a “how do we help each other learn to write?” group, it’s a fellowship of writers. That said, when we get together, we can be downright vicious in critiquing each other’s work.

The Clockwork fellows help keep me on the right track with my writing, steering away from cliché, avoiding excess, and so on. Since all of them have expressed an interest in writing comics, you’re likely to see more comics work from each of us in the future. Those Clockwork writers who are not yet household names in the comics field soon will be.

BF: How has the promotion been going for the book?

BW: Wonderfully. The men and women of DC Comics have pulled out all the stops on this project. After hearing so many horror stories from other authors about how their publishing company pretty much drops their novel out there to sink or swim on its own, with no promotional support, I’m quite indebted to DC and all that they’ve done, and are doing, to make sure this book has every chance of success.

BF: Has the Internet played a big role?

BW: Of course. The internet rules all aspects of the entertainment trade now. One can’t publish anything with a hope of success and not make vigorous use of the internet.

BF: Are you concerned about spoilers, being that it's a novel rather than the monthly series?

BW: Nope. I invite readers of Peter and Max to talk about it to whatever extent they’re willing to. Although it takes place in the Fables universe, and ties into key events there, it is primarily a self-contained story. Talking about it (with enthusiasm I hope) won’t ruin the Fables ongoing series, and will only help other readers make the decision to pick up the novel.

BF: Anything else you'd like to tell people?

BW: Yes. One of the things we in the comics business often fail, or forget, to do, despite all of the time, money and effort we put into promoting our books, is to actually ask readers to buy the books and read them.

So, as I always try to do at the end of every interview such as this, I’m asking those of you who haven’t tried Fables comic books yet to give them a try. You can find the first issue online at the DC Comics website, and many libraries now carry the complete Fables collections to date. So you can try them without a financial investment.

Once you do, I believe your investment in time and effort will have been rewarded. And I’d also like to invite you to pick up Peter and Max when it is published this October. Finally, I’d like to thank those of you who already read Fables and my other comic book work.