Hope of Deliverance: The Words of Hope Larson

by Vince Brusio

A writer who never quits is the best way to describe the volume of content that Hope Larson cranks out every year, both in the book and comic markets. Yes, Hope does not confine herself to just writing comics. She doesn’t even stay in the 21^st century when she’s thinking about how to entertain us. In this PREVIEWSworld Exclusive interview, Hope allowed us to pull her aside for a few moments and describe where her head is these days in writing about characters and plots that can put you in a costume one minute, and have you meet pirates the next.

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PREVIEWSworld: So what’s keeping you awake at night, Hope? How are you spending your hours burning the midnight oil?

Hope Larson: As far as what I’m working on right now, I’m working on Batgirl. I’m working on Goldie Vance, too, where we have a new story arc coming (that’s the second arc staring on issue five). And next June I have the sequel to Compass South coming out from Farrar, Straus & Giroux (that’s my graphic novel publisher). It’s called Knife’s Edge.

PREVIEWSworld: For your Batgirl/Goldie fans who may not be familiar with that title, how would you explain the concept behind that book?

Hope Larson: It’s a throwback pirate adventure with Rebecca Mock, which I’m pretty excited about.

PREVIEWSworld: How far back is “throwback”?

Hope Larson: Well, the story’s in New York City in 1860.

PREVIEWSworld: Yeah, that’s pretty far back. And pretty amazing. How do you change hats, so that you’re writing about a millennial in a bat costume one minute, a young girl detective the next, and then what life is like in New York City in 1860?

Hope Larson: Usually I try to think about who’s reading the book. And the age of the main characters. So for Goldie, she’s like 15 or 16. And her concerns are going to be different than Batgirl, who’s in her mid-twenties. That’s really the main thing I think about. And I build a plot around that. I really just want to write a fun and entertaining book. I’m not trying to go super dark with either of these. It’s just like filtering general life stuff that you’d be dealing with at whatever time in your life through a fun action/adventure story.

PREVIEWSworld: Do you reflect on any personal experiences when you write any of these books? Or are you more influenced by, say, what you’re reading at the time?

Hope Larson: No, it’s not really a lot of personal experience. I mean, you could ultimately say that anything that you’re writing is ultimately about you and your life. Which is true. But I’m not trying to go to therapy through my writing, or anything like that. Honestly, I’m just trying to write something fun and entertaining.

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Check out these books by Hope Larson that are available to order at your local comic shop!